“It’s a relationship that has been ongoing, and has kind of ebbed and fl owed in the past, and been nurtured by instructors [and former PSIA Alpine Team coaches] such as Shawn Smith and Mike Porter,” said Rogan. “PSIA-AASI is fortunate now to have the foresight of people like Sasha and Ron Kipp who have the foresight to look ahead and see how we can help U.S. ski racers be the best in the world, with a combination of sound instruction and coaching.” Added Rogan, “PSIA-AASI members are educators, and I believe the goal is to get to a place where the instruction world and the coaching world are working so well together that they are inseparable. It’s an exciting time because of all the possibilities, and I think the fact that the U.S. Ski Team wants to work with PSIA- AASI off ers that much more credibility to our organization.” In particular, Rearick stressed how the new
PSIA Alpine Technical Manual applies to every level of skiing, including racing. Tying into PSIA-AASI fundamentals of skiing, Rearick’s National Academy presentation off ered a broad range of takeaways. Here are the highlights. “Skiing is simple. We are the ones who make it complicated,”
he said. Rearick went on to boil down ski racing into its three most important elements:
1. If you are making turns too round, you are going slower. Going straight can also present some problems. But, really, you want to take the straighter line.
2. You want to be carving instead of sliding. 3. You want to pressure your skis in the fall line.
World Cup standout Steve Nyman (in gray) thinks PSIA clinics helped put him on the winner’s podium.
SKI TEAM SPREADS THE WORD ABOUT PSIA’S EDUCATIONAL EXPERTISE
Rearick also drilled down into the two racing disciplines that bear the most resemblance to how instructors and recreational skiers enjoy the mountain – the sweeping arcs of GS skiing and the short-radius turns of slalom skiing. GS skiers, he said, rely upon fi ve basic elements:
1. Good lateral balance 2. Independent foot action for active weight transfer
3. Much more movement forward to carve all the way from the tip to the tail
4. Skiing around the gates (i.e., making clean turns around them instead of skiing through them)
5. And, with the stiff er GS skis of today, having the strength and endurance to race on them
Following the 2015 joint clinic between the USST and PSIA- AASI, the ski team posted a press release with the title, “Ath- letes and Staff get Schooled by PSIA.” In part, the release stated, “When Steven Nyman (Sundance, UT) embarked on the fi rst-ever U.S. Ski Team/Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA) collaborative clinic last spring, he never imagined it would create a solid foundation for what would be his most successful season with the U.S. Ski Team to date. But it did. This year, more athletes participated in the educational clinic to learn about what PSIA is about and how its approach to teaching can impact the ski racing world.” The release also noted how the “collaboration focuses on improving the fundamental skills of national team athletes and improving the teaching skills of coaches.” With Nyman’s success providing a tangible example of how working with instructors can benefi t racers, the USST also pointed out that, “PSIA members are experts at ski teaching: the meth- odology, how to build progressions, and how to start from very, very basic levels. For the athletes of the U.S. Ski Team, who have been coached at an elite level for so long, this was a diff erent way to learn.” Here’s to a long relationship in which both entities can continue to share ideas about how to teach, how to coach, and especially how to learn. — Peter Kray
THESNOWPROS.ORG | 37
GS SKIERS
SKI RACING
SARAH BRUNSON/USSA
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