Change: Its About Trust

By: Ed Younglove

Illustrated by: Karin Hrjo

Spring 2001

If you want to improve your skiing, you need to change the way you ski. It is my hope this article can help you change.  

 Teaching others to ski, my own skiing has changed profoundly. One of my many mentors, Bob Barnes, former PSIA Demo Team member, was fond of reminding me that teaching skiing was about teaching people to change. I can hear him now. Me, catching my breath after chasing him down the front side of Crystal Mountain, where he was then the director of skiing, “Eddie, you want to change your skiing, right? So change is a good thing. Well, change is uncomfortable. Feeling uncomfortable is good.” Then he would challenge me to try to do something different than how I usually skied.

 Being a lawyer, the logic of this syllogism appealed to me, even though the “uncomfortableness” did not. It also made intuitive sense. The things Bob asked me to try certainly felt uncomfortable. The concept also helped me understand why I felt so awkward, so inept, as I tried to improve my skiing. He was telling me that it was okay to feel uncomfortable, that it was a good, in fact, a desirable thing. 

Frequently comfortable movements are inefficient. Either they never were efficient or they have become less efficient because of changes in technique due to equipment evolutions, etc. Even first time students bring physical movements to their skiing that can inhibit efficient skiing (negative skill transfer). These inefficient movements are what we need to change.

 The tasks given to me by Bob, and by others since, have often focused on trying to get me to stop bending at the waist (over flexing in the hips and spine). This is my favored way of dealing with fear, terrain changes and other things which interfere with my balance. The tasks related to staying taller, pushing and pulling the feet to keep them under the hips, and staying in balance by flexing and extending all the joints more evenly. This provides a more effective means of maintaining balance. It also gives a greater range of muscular movements. Bending at the waist still feels like “home.” But, with increasing frequency, I now manage to stay a little taller. It feels less uncomfortable. In fact, it feels good. The discomfort I felt is now replaced by the exhilaration of feeling a freedom of movement I had not felt before. (Unfortunately, this has not been the only issue in my skiing.)

 My experience is not very different from that of a great many other instructors who strive to improve their skiing. Consciously or not, we have practiced the movements we use for some time. Those movement patterns have become well integrated into our skiing. To change them is not an easy matter. In fact, I understand it normally takes two years for even the top skiers to ingrain "to own" a new movement in their skiing. If this is so, then we mere mortals trying to change our skiing had best be prepared to feel uncomfortable for a considerable period of time. And this assumes that we are practicing correctly.

The concept that change feels uncomfortable is not limited to skiing. Dr. Tim Cahn, psychologist and avid skier, tells me that "all change whether behavioral, psychological or emotional is uncomfortable. Change often occurs when we have no choice or the alternative is much worse. However, the change we are describing is a form of self-control, a striving for self-improvement and actualization, a really noble pursuit."

 The concept of change being uncomfortable certainly applies to any physical skills related activity. Have you ever had a golf pro or tennis coach change your grip? Did you careen balls off the next court or fairway while practicing this new grip? It certainly felt uncomfortable. To endure the uncomfortableness, not to mention the embarrassment of having to apologize to people on the neighboring court/fairway as stray shots are repeatedly retrieved, requires the courage of conviction that it is worthwhile, that improvement will occur.

 Skiing sometimes requires a kind of physical courage to overcome the timidity or, in certain situations, the downright fear of feeling a loss of control associated with using movements that are unfamiliar. Surely we also think, if it feels this awkward, it must look worse. Sometimes when we isolate skills and movements for practice (lateral learning), it does. A psychological form of courage is required to endure this embarrassment. Normally, we take pride in the way we ski. As ski instructors it is part of who we are. We want to look and feel good when we ski. At these times we are really tempted to go back to what is comfortable. Confidence in the coach’s knowledge that discomfort will somehow translate into improvement can fortify the effort. This is as true about ourselves as it is of our students.

 Skiing is experiential. If we want students to apply different, more appropriate movements to make them more efficient (more skilled), first we have to convince them to try to do something differently. This assumes we have correctly identified skill deficiencies and are giving them tasks appropriate to help them acquire efficient skiing movements. If it feels good, and comfortable, then they are using the same old inefficient movements. They have to be willing to feel uncomfortable to change.

 How do we get students to attempt changes, to be willing to feel uncomfortable? I believe the answer is “trust”. This article was originally entitled “Its All About Change." While writing it, I realized that change was only the effect. The cause of change is the willingness to try. A key motivator to try and more importantly, to persevere in our effort to change our skiing, is trust.

 How do we gain our students’ trust that improvement will be the result of their enduring discomfort? One way is by our skills demonstration. Creating a picture our students want to emulate. Another way is demonstrating the knowledge of how to accomplish the desired change. Helping students identify worthwhile changes, changes that will be effective and have demonstrable effects on their skiing, is often a first step in gaining their confidence in our knowledge. Formulating realistic (accomplishable) goals, with measurable results, provides continued encouragement as goals are progressively attained. Providing tasks and focuses that are effective in facilitating changes will instill confidence, encourage trust and cement the relationship between student and teacher, which promotes learning. Dr. Cahn assures me that "[r]esearch on therapy outcome has shown that therapist belief and enthusiasm are related to positive therapy outcomes, regardless of model. In other words therapists who communicate enthusiasm and believe strongly in their model tend to produce the best results, regardless of which model they use. One factor that appears related to therapist enthusiasm and belief is having direct personal positive experiences with the technique. In other words, we tend to teach best what has worked well for us, and we tend to communicate trust when we teach something we really believe in. Conversely, it is hard to teach somebody when we are wishy-washy, inexperienced and lackluster." Demonstrating the sincerity that we want to help may be our most trust-inspiring attribute.

 It is no different with regard to our own development. Too often instructors lose the potential benefit from clinics by insisting on skiing the same old way. They appear unwilling to tolerate the physical and psychological discomfort change causes. Want to change your skiing? Find a mentor/coach that you believe has the skills, the knowledge and the sincerity to help you. Then trust that person to help you to make changes. Better yet, find more than one. Give them permission to make you uncomfortable. PSIA Demo Team, PSIA-NW Tech Team, Divisional Clinic Leaders, Training Directors, Ski School Clinic Leaders and Instructors, each has to trust the other. My experience is that our division has done a very good job of creating a staff instructors can trust. Next time you take a clinic or go to one of the division’s camps or multiple day events, allow yourself to trust your coach. The price is feeling uncomfortable, and maybe even looking awkward as you make changes. The reward is improving the way you ski.