Movements in the head

Skiing starts in the head

We are often convinced that we can ski. We have conquered every run in our favourite resort, and we put any hesitation down to not being in shape or not skiing as often as we would like. But are hundreds of kilometres on snow or hours in the gym a guarantee that we will ski better and simply feel good about our skiing? What if all we really need is to discover what modern skiing on modern equipment is about, and what “correct” technique really means?

Most readers remember ski courses from school and maybe training in a ski club. Some have read or been given guaranteed advice on how to ski better. Either way, each of us has an idea of how to ski “correctly”. Sometimes those ideas are simply mistakes that have become an obstacle to improving. Let's think together about skiing and the simple fact that every movement of our body starts in the head. Most skiers, and experienced ones in particular, forget this and try to improve by repeating their old movement patterns or by consciously practising common mistakes and myths.

Ski instructors and race coaches focus on the lower body and often tell their students: “You're rotating your upper body. Start the turn from your feet, not your head!” For the feet and lower body to work properly, that information has to come from the control centre in the head, the brain. When we ask skiers how they would solve a certain situation, or simply what they think about skiing, their answers very often match the mistakes and gaps that hold back their development.

Does the skier start the right movements and just can't execute them well, or are the movements wrong because that is what the skier believes skiing should look like?

Without solving this riddle, it is impossible to help anyone effectively. One of the biggest myths of ski teaching is the drill that “guarantees” progress and fixes mistakes. As we said above, a drill without understanding of the right movement is a waste of time. Excellent instructors and coaches connect the idea of the ideal movement with its actual execution, because they know that skiing always starts in the head.

Take Burke Mountain Academy, where Mikaela Shiffrin spent many training days at the start of her racing career. The coaches there ask their athletes: “Why are we doing this drill? Which skills are we working on?” and they stress that this is the core of their approach to race training. Whether it works, her results speak for themselves.

This approach works not only for top athletes but for a wide range of skiers. The best ski teachers try to find out what their students already believe about movement, and then add to it, deliberately take it apart or just refine it. They play with the mental image of the movement first, and with the movement itself after. Whether the student has understood or changed an idea, it always has to be tested in more demanding conditions, without exposing the skier to more risk. Sometimes a movement that is already good just needs to be emphasised or strengthened. Either way, this is the stage of learning where drills come in and make sense.

Drills don't teach skiers to ski. Drills test whether skiers have understood. Good instructors and coaches draw their students into the game and make them part of their own learning. They turn passive recipients of information into partners. They encourage students to take part in changing their own ideas and movement patterns. They don't so much teach as guide. They help their students change the movements in their heads.

How to do it?

Autumn is in full swing and the new season is just around the corner. Many of you are impatient and shorten the wait for the first snow with a trip to the glacier. For the first few runs you will probably feel unsure, the skis won't work for you and your muscles will scream and beg for a break. Don't worry, that's natural. We already know that skiing starts in the head, so think about your turns and ask yourself: Why do my legs get tired so quickly? Am I balanced over my skis, or am I fighting for balance? Are my skis under control? Do my turns look more like a Z or an S? Do I turn with my whole body, my legs or just my upper body?

We'd love to hear about your own “movements in the head” and how skiing feels to you. Your thoughts can inspire us and others, and thinking about these ideas together helps all of us on the way to better skiing.

Written by Tomas Mical, Jiří Nohejl and Zdeněk Černík. First published in Snow Ski University, SNOW magazine 82, October 2014.