Can anyone confirm if I'm understanding these two correctly?
It's my understanding that a drill is a focused movement designed to isolate one (or more) individual skills, mainly used to introduce and/or develop that skill without necessarily worrying about any other skills. (boot touch exercises, tipping in traverses, super phantoms, Angry Mother, etc.)
A task is more of an "end level" or comprehensive "challenge" that requires effective blending of all (or most) skills, mainly used to check overall technique. (Javelin turns, one ski skiing, thousand steps, even one or two footed releases?)
Typically, a drill is used for learning, a task is used for testing/checking.
I know this is probably not a black and white distinction, but I'm a stickler for professionals (coaches and instructors) using clear and accurate terminology. For example, I've been recently watching other race coaches use (well, attempting to use) A LOT of one ski skiing -- taking one ski off at the top of the hill -- as a learning tool. And that learning tool consists of the coaches skiing down halfway to watch/video, showing the kids their video during lunch, and telling them little more than "See that, Kayla? Where are your hips? Gotta get forward more to get pressure on the front of the ski!!! OK?"
More than half the kids struggle with it... all I can see is ALL of the skills they may be working on this season just deteriorate into a run of multiple bailouts and body disorganization as they try to survive their way to the bottom.
That's it. That's the extent of coaching for that TASK (Am I right? Am I right?) of one ski skiing. Nothing before, nothing after. Then off to set up a course for gate practice after lunch.
To me, that's not a "drill." And it sounds wrong to hear a coach say "OK! Let's do some one ski skiing drills!"
Thoughts?