To understand how to teach skiing, one must first understand how a ski/snowboard/tool interacts with the snow. There are many factors to this that include the design of the ski/snowboard, how it might be tuned, how the rider is setup on this tool, snow conditions, and many other factors.
One thing remains the same though: how a ski/snowboard can move through space is the same. No matter what. It doesn’t matter disability, ability, or who is riding the tool, it can only move through space in finite ways.
- The tool can tip over from side to side
- The tool can rotate
- The tool can bend from the front or back
- The tool can be weighted and unweighted
- The tool can be twister (intentionally or unintentionally)
Knowing how the tool can move through space is important, especially when we are trying to compare/contrast how different modalities can change how these movements can happen. For instance, if I wear skis and lean forward (into the cuffs of my boots), I might bend the front of my skis, whereas on a snowboard the same movement might result me tipping the snowboard over. Rotational forces might be initiated for a stand up skier in the femoral socket, but for a sit skier might initiate from the free spine (lumbar region).
Regardless of ideal or less than ideal movement patterns, it is best to readily understand which joints in the body coordinate to which movements in the tool. I can bend the front of my snowboard by shortening my front leg (flexing) and extending my back leg. If I did the same exact movement on my skis, then I would be either edging (tipping my skis) or weighting one ski and unweighting the other.
It is interesting to note that some movements are more readily accessed by different tools. For instance, in a snowboard, it is very easy to do edge to edge movements (tipping). It is so easy, in fact, that many people may tip themselves all the way over into a fall. The same movement pattern on skis would allow me to leverage on the fronts/backs of my boots and I would stay standing. As an instructor it is important to identify these movement patterns and to be able to select a tool that accentuates the positive movements the athlete you are teaching to exploit.
This is why it is essential to understand, as an instructor, which piece(s) of equipment you are selecting, and what movements, and where from in the body are most effective for this equipment. As an example, a person who can tip their head from side to side may affect turn shape by tipping a bi-ski, but the same isolated movement may not affect anything for a mono-ski.
—
Ryan Latham is Challenge Aspen’s Adaptive Snowsports Manager and has been with the team since 2008. He is a Level III certified Adaptive Ski instructor as well as a PSIA Rocky Mountain Trainer.
