by HeluvaSkier » Tue Jan 28, 2020 9:43 am
Some kids have an innate sense that a ski works best when pressured. They don't always know how to best accomplish that... but they know they need to and come up with ways to do it. Size doesn't matter as much as knowing how to harness the momentum of the mass one has.
The biggest issue I often see with very talented kids, is coaches who look at that skiing and say: 'this is great there is nothing to work on...' I think there are instances where they truly believe the skier is complete, and instances where they just don't know how to coach the skier to improve that level of skiing. Both situations are a disservice to the athlete, no matter how great they are at a particular age. Over time, we too-often see a U8 who wins by 4+ seconds per run, become a U10 who wins by 2 seconds per run... move on to become a U12 who wins, but not by much... and a U14 who is relegated to the top 10. It is not uncommon for them to no longer be in the sport by U16... When that happens, the only place to look is at the coaching and how it has repeatedly failed the athlete over and over again.
I hope none of that ever applies to this little guy. He rips.
Discipline is the refining fire by which talent becomes ability.
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