Today, on day two of NAC training, we discussed and practiced countless games to help students improve their turning skills. Based on training time dedicated to it, I'm guessing that building comfort in turns is a big block for many people. As a result, it's awesome to have a deep repertoire of tips and ski games to keep students engaged.
A few of my favorite ski games and tools:
The two-point hold can be used over short distances. It's a way of using slight pressure on a student's knee and hip to help them experience steering.
Over longer distances, tip clamps and tethers can help students practice turns in a controlled environment. Tethers also substantially reduce the chance of accidental runaways.
Follow-me or synchronized skiing. Have a student either follow in the instructor's tracks or try to turn at exactly the same time as the instructor. Synchronized skiing is hard. I've always considered myself a fairly rhythmic person, but when I lead synchronized skiing...well, let's say the goal isn't to trick your student into failing. Guess that's something I'll be working on for the next few days.
Use a steering wheel to guide turns. The idea here is that often, people will subconsciously start to turn if given the right stimulus. Sometimes that's just looking uphill to complete a turn. Other people respond better to a wheel they can turn to remind them turn their skis as well.
Reverse airplane. We all know how airplanes bank to turn. A bank to the right (right wing down, left wing up) means a turn to the right. However, this doesn't work great for beginning skiers. The reason is that banking to the right puts more of a student's weight on their right ski. But that's the uphill ski in the turn. We want most of their weight in their downhill ski. So instead of airplane, we play reverse airplane. Bank to the right, turn to the left. At first, it feels strange and unnatural. But fairly quickly it feels totally normal. And it really does help with weight distribution.
My favorite turning game remains High Five Turning. Basically, as the instructor I ski to the side of my student and encourage them to ski towards me and give me a high five. Once they've done that, I skate over to the other side and repeat. My goal is to force them to "complete their turn" and slow themselves down. Their goal is to get as many high fives as they can. It's fun to be all enthusiasm for a few minutes, and experienced instructors report that it really works for many participants.
Unrelated PSA
Put your sunscreen on, folks! I forgot for a whopping three hours yesterday morning, and my entire face stings and smarts. Yayyyyy lots of time outside. Take care of yourselves, y'all.