CHALLENGE TIMING AND RHYTHM WITH GATE TRAINING BY MICHAEL ROGAN
where you want. It challenges you to change the timing and rhythm of your movements… which is not always comfortable. We should all do more of it. You might think students who want to race have a certain level
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of ability, but that’s not the case. Tey simply want to improve. Tey recognize that their equipment has high-performance characteristics that support carving, and they want to learn to use them.
acing is a great example of risk versus reward and control versus speed. You’re forced to turn where the gates dictate, not
On ONE CONDITION
FEEDBACK COURTESY OF THE CLOCK One of the best things about competing against a clock is that skiers get immediate feedback on how one run stacks up against another. You can augment that feedback with comparative video, pinpointing where the skis ran well and what scrubbed speed.
3 GATE CRASHING TIPS FOR INSTRUCTORS Because it’s such a great way to work on technique, I think racing should always be a part of our development as ski instructors. My advice for fellow teachers is to: 4. Race gates a lot. Te more you do it, the better you’ll get. 5. Set expectations. It’s hard to ski like Lindsey Vonn or Ted Ligety, but they have to go around the same blue and red gate as you do. Emulate their technique. Skis have no idea who is clicked in to them; they do what you say. Basic technique is the same for everyone.
6. Keep it simple. Over-analyzing and over-thinking things can consume you.
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ASSESSMENT AND THE WARM-UP TRACK Assessing student readiness is much like any other assessment; you ask what they want to do, and then observe their skills. If student skills measure up, I typically have them warm up outside of the gates with turn sizes similar to those in the course. Many of these skiers can carve pure turns, which is great… but all too often those turns get very big and have little in common with the way a course is set. Work on the same-size turns as the course. Anything bigger will throw off their timing when they get in the gates.
THE 3 MOST IMPORTANT ELEMENTS TO TEACH When tackling race terrain with students, I focus on three things. 1. Proper “line.” Tere’s a large range between a turn that’s too round and one that’s too straight.
2. Te goal in racing is to go fast, so students need to get comfortable with speed and pushing their personal comfort threshold.
c. Poor body movements cause poor ski
performance.Rotating the upper body and failing to commit to the outside ski are the big issues that impact all levels of ski racing. Keep things simple and emphasize the need to be balanced against the outside ski.
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THESNOWPROS.ORG | 27
A FAVORITE SUCCESS STORY In Portillo, Chile, I witnessed Olympic Gold Medalist Tina Maze not finish a single Downhill run for two weeks straight. It was difficult to watch a great champion struggle so much. On the last day of training she called her coaches from the start radio and said, “I think I have it figured out… watch this.” She proceeded to connect amazing arcs and jumps from start to finish; and repeated it for the next (and final) five runs of her training camp. Can you imagine spending a small fortune in time, effort, and money to “fail” for two weeks straight? And stay engaged all the way to the end when things click? It’s a reminder that “you never know until you know,” so stick with it.
Michael Rogan, who has been a member of the PSIA Alpine Team since HQWHUV KLV UHFRUG VL[WK WHUP RQ WKH WHDP DV LWV QHZ FRDFK WKLV \HDU
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