HOW SHOULD WE GET THERE?
What makes those tree trails so darn exciting, anyway? In the eyes of your students, it can be a mixture of things; from the thrill of finally being old enough to hop into the trees to the nostalgia of chasing good friends through Mr. Bill’s bumpy loops. Trees feel like a safe place as well as an adventure. Tey are physically challenging without being steep, and mentally stimulating without being exhausting.
Which is why the transition can be tricky. I suggest using the “Play, Drill, Adventure, Summary” approach. When kids are first entering tree trails, the runs fall into the Adventure category. Students worked hard to build skills before they could get into the tree trails, and then they were able to explore their well-deserved reward. After a while, however, tree trails become
memorized routines for many students. Tey become Play rather than new Adventure. When this happens, students might begin to perfect old movement patterns, but without a new challenge they won’t develop new skills. If this becomes the case, tree trails must consciously shift from Adventure to Play in your lesson plans. Once it’s appropriate, try shifting your lesson plan to something like this: After a safe warm up, run your students through some trails to Play around with their movement patterns. Next, take them into a safe area to Drill exercises related to their performance in the trees. Tis could include outside-ski turns, pivot slips, hockey stops, or any other movement your students have explored in the trees. Once they’ve demonstrated some level of competence over this exercise or movement pattern, seek a new Adventure. Some ideas for this are discussed below, but get creative and find the one that best meets your students’ motivations and abilities. Finally, don’t forget the Summary – ask your students to reflect on the movement patterns they have explored, and how they built their skills to be able to find new Adventures.
WHERE SHOULD WE GO?
Tere are a few different options for your students’ new adventure. Choosing the path that’s right for you and your students is a decision that needs to incorporate their interests and motivations as well as your ability and expertise.
108 | 32 DEGREES • WINTER 2017
Use children's love of tree runs to lay the groundwork for the skills they can apply all over the mountain.
Tere are a variety of really great options. Tese include, but are certainly not limited to the following: Introduce your students to the park.
Taking students from tree trails to the world of park skiing is a great way to engage them on a new path. I encourage you to take an in-house or division clinic on park skills before introducing your students to this world. Being able to teach a slide progression on a box or a 180 spin off of small jumps is a worthwhile adventure for students. Spending quality time in the park is also an opportunity to introduce concepts of pre-ride, re-ride, and freeride along with ATML (Approach, Takeoff, Maneuver, Landing). Tese ideas are key for your students as they begin to explore new terrain, drops, or jumps outside of the park. Take your students to gladed terrain. Locating tree runs – as opposed to tree trails – allows your students to experience the familiar adventure of tree trails without getting stuck in pre-determined routes. Tree runs further develop skills directly from tree trails and allow students to start exploring more difficult runs on the mountain. Start looking for small drops or airs. Te thrill of having your skis leave the ground can be an exhilarating, if unsettling, experience. Preparing your students emotionally, physically, and mentally for this process is important. Tis can be partially achieved through terrain selection. When first starting to practice, find small (less than three-foot) drops or airs with an even approach, a clean runout, and soft
snow. Once students are comfortable with this drop, you can begin shifting variables, one at a time. Maybe find a bigger drop, with similar conditions. Or find a drop that is part of a “flow” but with a small air. Reviewing the technical and tactical skills needed to plan and execute drops is an important part of this adventure. Self-assessing your comfort with steeper
tree runs, gladed skiing, the terrain park, or starting to drop off cliffs is imperative to ensuring your students have a safe and positive experience. If you’re not ready or willing to take the next step with your students, find someone who is. Or, work to improve your knowledge and training.
WHAT DO WE DO THERE?
Whether you choose the park, drops, or more trees, chances are you can find a way to incorporate the fundamentals of rotational control, edge control, and pressure control – all of which certainly apply to anything and everything we explore on our skis. Your students will benefit from understanding that what they have mastered on the tree trails can now be used to explore a new part of the mountain. Here are a few examples of the skills your
students are practicing in tree trails, and how those can transfer to new environments:
Rotational Control In the trees, students have to be alert and stable to twist their way through the sneaky trails. Tis involves a stable upper body that
PAUL BOWMAN
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