Teaching Tips for All Age Clients
Senior Moment #1

by Ed Kane

This is the first in a series of short articles devoted to providing information that may be useful to you in your in your classes, regardless of their age. It is my intention to make this column open to contributions from our membership. If you have some valued tip that you have found to be very effective, please send it to me at the PSIA-NW office so that I can include it in future issues of this series.

Balance The Start of Efficient Skiing

 Efficient skiing movements are fundamental to the enjoyment shared by all of us who love this sport. Efficiency is especially important as the age of the client increases because it is related to their stamina and how long they can maintain a reasonable level of performance. It is well known that recoveries consume large amounts of energy and require increased muscle tension beyond what is required to control one’s path down the hill. A well balance skier will experience much less tightness in the thighs if they maintain balance over the whole foot and rely on the tongues rather than the backs of the boots to stay upright.

Here are several exercises that can be used to enhance balancing movements and skills at any level of ability. These are especially effective for beginners or for long term skiers who are trying to climb to the next level. Introduction of these should be done on relatively flat groomed terrain. As the skier begins to master the ability to stay balanced over the whole foot, they can practice these on steeper terrain and in more difficult conditions. As these are practiced the skier should develop an awareness of contact between their shin and their boot tongue. Best learning takes place in conditions that just challenge the confidence of the client rather than in those conditions that overwhelm the individual.

• Straight run on one ski keeping the lifted ski parallel to the slope.
• Traverse on downhill ski with uphill ski lifted and parallel to slope.
• Straight run hopping from ski to ski while gliding on only one ski between hops.
•  “J” turns from the fall line on one ski (in both directions so that turns can be accomplished on either the inside or outside edge).
• Turns on the outside ski with the inside ski lifted and kept parallel to the slope.
• Turns on the inside ski with the outside ski lifted and kept parallel to the slope.
• Linked turns at slow speeds on flat terrain.
• Linked turns on one ski.

During the Symposium, I was asked by several individuals “What is the Senior Tour?” My response was “It was originally conceived to meet the needs of our aging demographics, by offering technical content in the clinic format at a more relaxed pace while preserving the social environment that we all enjoy when we ski with friends.” In other words, it is a Legends session with some technical content.

Attendance at Senior Tour events this year experienced a phenomenal 700% growth this year. Programs were offered indoors at the Fall Seminar and on snow in Seattle, Portland, Spokane and at the Sun Valley symposium. In addition, a one day member ski school event was given at Silver Mountain. There were insufficient sign-ups for the night clinics and for the Senior Tour Series in Portland or Spokane but the 6 week night series in Seattle was held again with 60% increase in enrollment. The Series was revamped to include 4 on snow nights and 2 indoor sessions to provide feedback and set goals. All of the on snow events included video feedback which proved very useful in achieving noticeable changes in the skiing movements of the participants.

The curriculum offered at both the indoor sessions focused on how to form groups of senior students, what to consider in evaluating their needs and some movement analysis practice. On snow there were 3 choices of skiing improvement which included Work on the Basics, Approach to Adventure Skiing and Polishing Exam Skiing Tasks. The focus of all of the on snow sessions, by choice of the participants, was to improve their personal skills with a smattering of Exam Skiing Tasks thrown in to support a check for understanding and help the participants where they were in terms of achieving their personal goals. Based on this experience and upon feedback received after both the indoor and on snow sessions, it appears that the focus should be shifted a bit to include some additional focus on teaching skills with an emphasis on the needs of senior students.

As a result, the same number of opportunities will be offered in 2005 but the content will be expanded to include more on Teaching Skill Development. The emphasis will be on the basics that are important to all age levels with some specifics on the needs of “seniors” (who are defined as anyone who has passed the bullet proof age or state of mind mind). The following schedule outlines what will be offered in 2005 and the potential locations. The program is very flexible and can accommodate special events such as Member Ski School events and events at other locations than the ones identified below if the interest is sufficient to support the hiring of a clinician. These special events can be scheduled through the office or by contacting your Board Representative in your region.