Welp.
We just finished our first day training this weekend (Sunday got rained out), so I wanted to report back to you guys here. It was an informal “getting back on the snow” first day out, I think the program gets structured and serious after the holidays. The ski season here is pretty short, typically starting some time in December, maybe late November if we’re lucky, and ending mid-March.
About half the kids in the program came out, and most of the coaches. I, along with 3 other coaches took the U16’s, and one U19 joined us, about 15 kids in the group. We all stayed together, and one of the “experienced” coaches (I’m guessing a dad who has coached there for several years) was sort of the group leader. I shadowed most of it, which is what I was hoping to do the first day or two to get a feel for what goes on in this race program.
Sigh.
Yikes.
Yikes Yikes Yikes.
YIIIIIIIIIKKKKEEESSSSSSSS.
Where do I begin.
HeluvaSkier, man you nailed it. Ever since my instructor days in the 90’s, I made sure my skiing and demos were always above ANY student I may encounter. Oh Lordy.......the top 20+% kids/racers in the program over the age of 14 out-ski 80% of the coaches I saw on the hill by a noticeable margin. I was actually taken aback when 5-6 of the kids in our group skied much better than the other 3 coaches. And I never realized how hard it would be to be an observer, witnessing these teenagers getting some of the worst coaching advice I could imagine.
The lead coach, word for word, presenting “long leg, short leg.” He is a Level 100 coach.
“So OK… who can tell me how to make a strong turn in a race course? What do we have to do? (I’m thinking, what the hell kind of question is this). C’mon, you returning guys should know this. Remember? It’s that strong outside hip! Right? (I’m already dreading where this is going) Who can show me a strong outside hip?”
He takes off his skis. We are standing on a slight pitch.
“So. Strong outside hip needs what?? We need to raise that hip UP, and straighten that leg, guys. Show me. Like this… we extennnnnnd that leg straight, lift that hip and LOCK IT. Show me. See? That’s how we get on that ski nice and strong. Right? And what else? Remember? What about the shoulders? The shoulders what? They stay what? They stay PARALLEL and square with the hips. Right? Our shoulders and hips never get out of alignment. Nice and square like this. Right? Strong hip, strong shoulders, nice and square. Got it? Show me. That’s it, show me. You, show me. Yup, and you show me. Yup. OK. Got it? OK. Let’s see some turns with that strong outside hip now. Nice and high and stand on that ski. One at a time.”
I’m consciously minding my facial and body reactions to what I just witnessed, and I watch the lead coach ski down, not doing a friggin thing he just talked about (because, who COULD actually do what he demonstrated with his skis off), smearing flat skis at the top of his turns then hitting hard edges in Bottom C and popping up to start it all over again. I then watch the other 2 coaches skiing similarly with undisciplined arms and poles. I decide to stay up, and tell the kids I’ll go last so I can watch them from up here. 3rd kid in line says to me, “Am I doing this correctly, coach? I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing.”
Sigh. That was the first run of the day. It did not get any better after that.
Another coach. Ugh: (word for word again. Trust me, these presentations are burned into my memory forever, word for word)
“So I saw some of you guys kinda sitting back you know, like in between your turns? (Yup. You all here know EXACTLY what he’s referring to). So OBVIOUSLY, we need to work on pressing on the front of the skis. So how do we do that? Huh? (looking at the kids) Anyone know how we do that? I’m going to tell you something. And it’s something that you guys have never heard before (Oh God. If you saw this coach ski, you’d be scared at the thought of what he’s going to tell these kids. I was.) This is cool. You guys are gonna love this. Because it’s so cool how it works. So here’s what you do, OK? This is what you do. Everybody do this. FLEX YOUR ANKLES. (blurted out loudly, to sound authoritative) Like this. Just like this. See it?? Like this. (Here’s what you would see: him extending his knees straight so his upper body tilts and leans forward like he’s about to launch off a Nordic ski jump) So, what happens when you flex your ankles? What happens to your body? (he looks at the kids for several seconds) Do you all know what I mean by flex your ankles? OK. Look. Here. (He holds his arm straight out in front of him, palm down). THIS (holding hand and fingers straight out) is called EXTENSION. And THIS (extends wrist so fingers point up, LOL) is called FLEXION. Flexion, extension. Flexion, extension. Flexion, extension. So, you do that with your ankles! That’s cool, right? Feel it. Feel yourself flexing your ankles and how that brings you forward. Feel it? Like this. When you flex your ankles, your body moves forward on the skis! And that's all there is to it. That's what does it. OK, so let’s go down to mid-trail and we’re gonna do what this time? (Kids are silent and have zombie faces at this point) FLEX YOUR ANKLES, right??”
As you can imagine… no progressions, no traversing/garlands/partial turns, no individual feedback or even group feedback. All command-style teaching, boring as hell… I thought, there is so much more I would be able to extract out of each run than just a couple minutes of talking at the top and then a top-to-bottom run.
Harald, you have totally obliterated my tolerance for traditional skiing and coaching to the point that I find it absolutely repulsive. I hope you’re proud of yourself.
I’m proud to report that my skiing and demos got some compliments, I was told on the lift that I made “nice angles” by one of the better racers in our group. (Yes, her angles were nice as well) I saw 3-4 other coaches out of about 25 that day who looked like racers and could actually tip a ski and bend it. I offered tidbits here and there to the group whenever I thought it was appropriate, and whenever I was asked to. It felt great to actually interact with the kids a few select times, even if it was just to ASK them what THEY thought, and how they felt on what we just demo’d and tried. It was great to get them laughing, especially as we self-deprecated together on how awkward we felt (and must have looked to each other) doing certain drills. I can’t wait until I get MY group of kids for the season, after the holidays. Then I’ll REALLY get to work, without ruffling feathers or stepping on toes as the new coach on staff.
Let me run this by you guys:
After what I saw just after the first day (I saw a lot, and was watching lots of aspects of this program very closely), I have a gut feeling of which coaching slot I would be best placed into. The Director mentioned to me before that he’s not sure where to put me… I’m sure he has coaches that want to be with certain age groups, for various reasons. (their own kids, don’t like younger kids, they want pick of the litter, whatever) From what I can see, the top half/stronger racers in U12, U14, U16 and above are solid enough skiers that they can go with most any coach (in this program) who will hopefully shutup and let them ski and run gates/brushies/stubbies with minimal instruction and tweaking. The bottom half of those age groups are lacking fundamentals big time. They can barely hold an edge on blue terrain, they’re obviously (to me, anyway) intimidated in the group and intimidated doing drills and demos just thrown at them randomly and without focus or context from typical coaches… I think these are the toughest kids to coach, will need to change and improve the most to be brought up to speed in their age groups, and likely will have the most concerned parents who want to see results. I feel almost obligated to suggest to the Director that he place me with “bottom half” kids somewhere in that age range. As a side note, the only way I can wrap my brain around the skills of the stronger racers in this program is that they learned much of their strong skills somewhere else, race camps or trips or something.
Is my head in the right place?
I appreciate all the advice so far. I think I’m going to need it this season from you guys here, or I’m going to end up spending way too much time at the bar after coaching days “de-traumatizing” myself.