OWN YOUR OWN DEVELOPMENT: HOW TO GET THE FEEDBACK YOU NEED TO SUCCEED
By Robin Barnes I
n developing your skills as a ski or snowboard instructor, you’ve probably spent lots of time working on how to give feedback to your students. After all, that’s an invaluable part of the learning partnership. But how do you – as a teacher,
trainee, or athlete get the feedback you need to perform at your best and strive for even greater mastery of your skiing and riding skills? Feedback, in this context, is information
you receive about your on-snow performance. You can gather it on your own – turning your movement-assessment lens on yourself – or you can get it from someone else. In either case, you and you alone are responsible for seeking, receiving, recognizing, listening to, and processing that feedback. Yep, it’s on you. But, good news, here’s some guidance to get you going.
HOW TO SEEK AND RECEIVE EFFECTIVE FEEDBACK
I developed a Long Term Instructor Development Program that, in a nutshell, outlines ways that you can take responsibility for your own development – both in terms of
the processes and the outcomes. Te program includes such elements as instruction vs. coaching, critical thinking, self-coaching, and fitness considerations (more of which I’ll cover in future 32 Degrees articles) as well as the topic of this article, feedback. I presented the program at the 2016 PSIA National Academy in Breckenridge, Colorado, and my hope is to continue to develop it and share it as a resource for schools, trainers, and instructors.
Finding Feedback on Your Own One form of feedback that likely creeps into just about every run you make is self- assessment, by which you perceive and observe things about your own performance. It might take the form of a casual and practically automatic sense of whether things or jelling or you're struggling with the given terrain
or condition. Or, you can make a concerted effort to focus – truly focus – on what you’re doing to make your skis, board, and body do your bidding. Below are some examples
of how to do that. QFeelings: What you feel (proprioceptively, not emotionally) gives you feedback. For example, if you know that you want to feel your hamstrings contract at a certain part of the turn or feel your ankles, knees, and hips flex into a toeside turn, you can sense whether or not that is happening and use that information constructively.
QEquipment: You can observe and analyze the tracks that your skis or snowboard leave in the snow, or you can listen to how they interact with the snow and use that information. Is the track thin and the sound quiet and smooth, indicating more of a carve? Or is the track wide and the sound loud and harsh indicating more of a skid?
Q Video: You can watch yourself on video and consider what you are doing vs. what you strive to do. Having a buddy film, for instance, your short-radius turns in a narrow chute or your practice sessions in the halfpipe can offer valuable visuals as you tweak technique in the next run or study the footage to plot more comprehensive adjustments to your technique. You can watch video of others that you would like to emulate and see how their performance compares to yours. Tat’s also valuable information. It’s important, however, not to continue to watch video of what you don’t want to be doing. Use it as a reference to see where you are and then put it away.
Want to be more masterful on your skis or snowboard? Learn how to seek, receive, and process crucial feedback.
50 | 32 DEGREES • SPRING 2017
QDrills: I especially like the ones that you either can do, or you can’t. For example, making skidded, round, short turns on one ski, one-legged hockey slips to hockey stops, or keeping your inside ski off of the snow throughout and entire turn. Tese drills will tell you when you’re not doing them right; you put your foot down or fall over. Conversely,
LINDA GUERRETTE
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