Derin, Defne - Résumé

Derin 2012

Derin made constant progress throughout the week. She has an impressive ability to really understand everything thrown at her. If she was skiing for another week right now she would really be flying by the end of it! She has a wonderful way of laughing at her own fears and then just getting on with things. In a very short while she was built up from a "back of the boots" child skier to a proficient all round developing skier with a real sense of movement and full understanding of everything that made it work. Her only run in a very much tougher than average slalom course with absolutely no race training - under difficult snow/ice conditions - saw her only 1 second off the "Flechette" calibration.  Children Derin's age don't get much faster than that due to their size (their surface area is too great in proportion to body volume (mass) to push through the air).

The following is a list of the main subjects covered during the week. Much of the work involved the relationships (and combinations) of the different subjects to each other through common qualities - such as edge control, relaxation (physical and mental), coordination, accelerations, terrain, snow conditions,  physical awareness, timing, mental focus, psychology, understanding and perception.

Mont Blanc 4810m (15780 ft)

Skating with gravity

Sideslip
Forward diagonal sideslip
Backward diagonal sideslip
Skiing backwards
Focusing
Touching shin against boot
Seated stance
Pivoting- assisted
Pivoting - oustide ski - adductors
Carving - rolling feet and moving Centre of Mass for edge change
Off Piste
Pivoting - inside ski
Bumps
306° spins
Anticipation
Perpendicularity
Body sensing
Listening to legs
Compression turns
Centre of Mass
Foot forwards
Front of ski pressure
Slalom
Dynamics

Defne 2012

Defne's potential really did shine through this week. Until now Defne did not really know what she was capable of. One BIG lesson learned is that a good night's sleep is essential! That's the same for anything when you are pushing your limits and developing. Defne demonstrated that she could confront and beat her fears in a strong and positive way - once she knew  A - that she had this choice  B - that it was essential for her to confront her fears  C- that nobody was going to force her to do so. That's a BIG call for a 9 year old. Once her stance and timing were sorted out she was really flying already in carving - I mean FAST! She took that confidence into some very gnarly deep and steep snow (not on video) and picked her way down through it thoughtfully and in control of her body and mental processes. Although Defne skied less time than Derin she had to deal with some much trickier technical issues and did an excellent job of this. Sorting out "hip rotation" requires a serious amount of body awareness by any standards.

The following list of the main subjects covered during the week is slightly larger than Derin's. As for Derin much of the work involved the relationships (and combinations) of the different subjects to each other through common qualities - such as edge control, relaxation (physical and mental), coordination, accelerations, terrain, snow conditions,  physical awareness, timing, mental focus, psychology, understanding and perception.

View from La Tovière 2695m (8841 ft)

Sideslip
Forward diagonal sideslip
Backward diagonal sideslip
Skiing backwards
306° spins
Focus
Touching shin against boot
ChiWalking
ChiSkiing alignment (hip/shoulder)
Skating with gravity
Posture - pelvic tilt - lower abdominal crunch
Real skiing (values and priorities)
Adductors
Pivoting - uphill ski
Bumps
Carving (Adductors - correcting knee twist)
Fear management
Skating timing
Pivot - inside leg
Close stance
Banked track
Anticipation
Listening to Legs
Seated stance
Compression turns
Off Piste
Centre of Mass
Perpendicularity
Foot Forwards
Front of ski pressure
One ski pivoting
Carving - refining edge changes
Compression turns - refining timing, dynamics, pivot and pole use