Over the past couple of winters you probably have been exposed to the "Common Fundamental Movement Patterns" and possibly even run across "The Unofficial Guide to Bad Skiing and The Unofficial Guide to Good Skiing". Those materials were developed to help improve our understanding of skiing by providing us detailed descriptives in the form of visual cues, as they relate to body parts, to explain what is taking place when a skier skis. I enjoy working with these materials as they have given me a starting point for a variety of situations and I feel, have simplified and improved the effectiveness of my feedback process.

So what can you do to improve in providing feedback to your peers?

To start with: Know what skill you want to improve. Through your training you should be able to assess the basic needs as they relate to the Center Line development path. Prioritize skill development in this way to simplify your general focus. Depending on the task or situation these can shift, but it helps to have the initial starting point.

Day one and forever, balancing movements; balance over the whole foot.

Wedge Turn / Wedge Christi - rotary movements, ability to turn the legs and feet underneath the body.

Wedge Christi / Open parallel-edging-control movements, the ability to release and engage edges with lateral movements of the ankles, knees and hips.

Parallel / Dynamic parallel - pressure control movements, the ability to flex and extend with movements generated from the ankles, knees, hips and upper torso.

Be specific in the task and expected outcome. Let your group in on your thought process, by telling them what you see and how it effects them in there overall performance and goals. At some point be sure to state why developing certain movements can improve their performance. I firmly believe that any turn is a good turn until you have some parameters in which to base a judgment or opinion. In racing your set on beating the clock, in the bumps maybe your focused on completing a full run, in tree skiing you try to stay in the white spots. Feedback is pretty straightforward in these types of situation. On an open groomed slope it sometimes requires more of a qualifying statement of what you are looking for in order for you to effectively provide feedback in assessing a skiers performance. Asking that the group " keep their hands out in front" to a challenge of "lifting the inside leg from the fall line to the completion of the turn", can create an opportunity to provide constructive and specific feedback on individual performance. Your feedback can now relate to body parts and also has some parameters, once again keeping feedback to a manageable focus. The important thing here is to know where you are going with the task or exercise, what movement pattern do you really want to see and why you want to improve a particular skill.

When you are beginning to create a dialogue, state the part of the turn you were looking at. Let them know where you are looking. Starting off with a statement such as, "At the initiation of the turn…" or "Through the belly of the turn…" can be enough. This is important for maintaining control of your thoughts and also in keeping the examiner from thinking of a question based on where his/her mind was wondering. It’s true we do not all look at things the same way. But when we are trying to explain ourselves it helps when the rest of the group is on the same page, same side of the fence, looking through the same window, has our perspective, knows where we are coming from…

Be specific by stating the part of the body that is your cue. In any turn there are a multitude of areas to look at and a lot going on. Narrow it down with a body part focus such as "I noticed your inside hand…" or "Your shoulders were…". Each body part movement can be expanded to a cause and effect relationship based on your own experiences and understanding of information you have gathered in your training. Practice using the visual cues described in the fundamental movement patterns to help keep the feedback focused on what you actually are able to see as your student comes down the hill. Once again, create a target phrase helps direct attention of the student and examiner to your area of focus. This allows you to explain what you see happening in your own words and how it effects the skill development and blending of skills for that particular set of turns as those movements and skills relate to turn shape, speed control, or line of travel.

Create a link to your students experiences from your own by relating to a desired feeling, sensation or outcome, with questions such as, "What did you do…" "What did you feel…" or "Did you notice…". Responses to these help you in determining how well your student is doing and can also let the examiner know you have a good understanding of the technical aspects of fundamental movements as they relate to the task. This also helps in determining your next move and allows you to individualize your feedback. When there is room for improvement, continue to direct the skiers by letting them know how they can improve on the task by stating that you want to see more or less of a particular movement, or a different movement as the case may be. Be specific to a body part or parts and the desired movement patterns as they relate to good skiing. Practicing this dialogue helps you anchor the concepts as you develop your understanding.