By John Gillies, Eastern Program Director and CSIA Head Coach, Interski 2011

With all the variables of good skiing, it is helpful to focus on the overall qualities demonstrated by expert skiers, not just their mechanics and positions. Here are some questions to ask yourself that will help prioritize skiing and teaching decisions.

Is there strength and momentum ?

A skier’s alignment and movements should maximize biomechanical strength (maximum force). Does the skier stay strong, with access to all the joints and a natural separation of the upper and lower body? Maintaining this advantage is strong and efficient and creates a smooth flow and momentum.

Is there rebound and ski reaction?

A skier’s skeletal and muscular structure along with skis and boots can create the effect of a trampoline. Is this energy being used to create dynamic deflections, generate speed, and to play with terrain? Look to see if the skis are bending and gripping and if this energy is well controlled and directed. Separation of upper and lower body also stores energy and contributes to these dynamics.

Are the turns linked and fluid?

Moving from arc to arc creates the “free-fall feeling” of skiing. The mass should flow smoothly from turn to turn and this starts by looking ahead and anticipating the line. The skier can then choose the best way to get there. The amount of rising between turns can be controlled with flexion or increased through extension. These decisions vary with terrain, conditions and speed.

Is the steering versatile?

Skis are designed to turn on an arc on parallel edges. The skis can skid, steer or carve and good skiers can mix all three. First, establish whether the overall objective is to reduce, maintain or generate speed. Then determine if the skier can vary their turn shape and steering to achieve their objective. Sometimes the solution is technical, sometimes it is tactical, but the bottom line is that good skiers can do it all!

Let function determine the form!

Put expert assessment and development in context by considering the situation and targeting specific outcomes. Keep in mind that the way a skier looks is a result of what they are trying to do. Determine which of the above functions is missing and use your technical and tactical knowledge to develop solutions.

Excellent job Josh.. We look forward to seeing at some point this season..

Ben spent week’s end training SG with the Kimberley North Stars and the Regina Alpine Race Team. Here’s a little glimpse of some of the action:

Enjoy

Turns out Brian saw the video I put together on www.Ski2Win.ca and commented on how much he enjoyed it and pointed me to a video he did last season for the ODART team. The funny part of this story is that Brian had no idea it was me and that I still enjoy his work so much that I had to blog it. Hearing Will only wanting to do “Slalom gates” brought so many memories knowing that some things don’t change change much.

Brain you continue to do fantastic work and thanks for still follow our sport!

Canada will not announce its Paralympic team until February, which means athletes like Josh will have to wait a while longer, but being among the 13 chosen to be on the national team is a very good sign.

Josh Dueck had a breakthrough season last winter, not only winning the Canadian Championship in Giant Slalom at Sun Peaks last March, but also winning a World Championship downhill race in Korea in February, following that up with a win at an IPC World Cup at Whistler.

The summer was spent training mind and body for the all important Paralympic season.

Mom Vickie Dueck, who with dad Peter, still live in Cranbrook, says he is focused and ready, and also excited because he will be a torch bearer for the Olympic flame in Vancouver on February 11, just a day prior to the opening ceremonies.

Josh also recently scored two Telus awards of excellence for Alpine Canada. He was the recipient of the Fan Choice Award, receiving 34 per cent of the votes cast. This is quite an achievement as he was competing against able-bodied national team skiers as well in this category. He was also the recipient of the Breakthrough Star of the Year, recognizing his great achievements in 2008-2009.

Canada has high hopes for Paralympic gold next March.

“We had a tremendous season last year, finishing first overall at both the World Championships and the IPC World Cup. But the stakes are even higher this season,” said CPAST High Performance Director Jean-François Rapatel.

“Our main objective will be winning 17 medals at the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games so all our preparation and focus are geared towards that objective. It is an ambitious goal, but with the athletes that were named on the CPAST we have the potential to do it,” he added

Josh now lives and trains at Silver Star in Vernon, which was the site of the skiing accident that left him in a wheelchair almost six years ago. Since that time he has, through focus and determination, learned to use a sit ski and worked steadily up the ranks from development team to national team to contender to World Championship winner.

But all of last winter’s success has only been building to one dream — making the Paralympic team, and now it’s so close he can taste it.

As he told the Bulletin last spring, “As it stands I know I’ve met all the criteria. Technically I’ve qualified. With the results I’ve gotten this season, I’m well on track. I will be jumping for joy to hear I’ve made the team. It’s been a nice season but the goal has always been the Paralympics.”

November 19, 2009
Carolyn Grant, Kimberley Daily Bulletin

Brian’s presentation to Ontario Ski Instructors at their Professional Development day was received with a standing ovation. Great sense of humour and a fantastic Canadian promoter of of sport we love so much.

Thank you Brian for taking the time to share your inspiration! Watch his entire presentation (unedited) in 4 parts by click on the links below.

Part 1 – The first 10 minutes

Part 2 – The second 10 minutes

Part 3 – The third 10 minutes

Part 4 – The payoff & closing remarks

Kimberley builds a global reputation

By Bruce Constantineau, Vancouver Sun, August 28, 2009
The small East Kootenay town that morphed into the Bavarian City of the Rockies in the 1970s wants to become the Paralympic training centre of Canada in the new millennium.

Kimberley expects to have Paralympic ski teams from Canada, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand and other countries training on a dedicated run at Kimberley Alpine Resort just before the Paralympic Games next year.

The Dreadnaught run was developed to accommodate downhill, slalom, giant slalom and super-G events, with safety netting from top to bottom and new communications and timing equipment.

The facility is fully equipped with ski equipment required by disabled athletes and International Paralympic Committee World Cup events were held there in 2005 and 2007.

Now, city officials hope to capitalize on the run’s international reputation by building a $6-million Paralympic Training and Conference Centre at the base of the mountain by late 2010.

“International teams are talking to us now about the possibility of coming here and training in the future,” Kimberley Mayor Jim Ogilvie said. “So throughout the Olympics, we’ll make it known we’re going to have this centre available.”

The provincial government committed $3.9 million to Kimberley’s Paralympic vision four years ago and the city has used some of those funds to help develop the ski run and to make its civic arena and curling rink more accessible for disabled athletes.

The arena’s players’ benches and penalty boxes now are at ice level, allowing for smooth transitions on and off the ice for sledge hockey players, while dressing rooms have been renovated with automatic doors, accessible washrooms and showers, wide benches and equipment boxes.

Curling venue upgrades include covered ramp access and automatic doors leading into the building. The city’s two-year-old aquatic centre is also wheelchair-accessible.

“What we’re saying is come here and train here because we really do have the complete package,” Ogilvie said.

The package won’t be totally complete until the new ski-in, ski-out training and conference centre is built next year, but he said most of the project funding is already in place — including $2.5 million left from the provincial grant, another $2 million in federal-provincial infrastructure funding and $1 million from the city.

The facility will have training facilities, change rooms, meeting rooms, audio-visual equipment and conference space for up to 500 people.

Kimberley didn’t send delegations to previous Games, but Ogilvie noted several international sport federations found out about the city’s Paralympic aspirations at the B.C. Pavilion in Turin in 2006.

He credits renowned Canadian ski instructor Jerry Johnston for giving Kimberley so much credibility as a centre for training disabled athletes. The 73-year-old member of the Order of Canada moved to Kimberley from Alberta in 1980 and brought his groundbreaking training skills with him.

He began training disabled skiers in the early 1960s and he and his wife, Annie, established Canada’s first disabled skiing program; they created the Canadian Association for Disabled Skiing in 1976.

Johnston helped establish the Japanese Handicapped Ski Association and headed the disabled skiing exhibition at the Olympic Winter Games in Calgary in 1988. He’s not an active trainer these days, but he remains an important consultant in Kimberley’s Paralympic plans.

“Paralympic skiing in Kimberley has been very successful,” Johnston said. “Things have really opened up for a lot of teams to train here and they don’t have to run around looking for equipment for speed racing.

“A lot of resorts won’t shut down a hill, but we have an agreement that we can do that for training.”

Kimberley will continue to attract high-level competitions for disabled athletes, he said, but it will be hard to become a permanent fixture on the IPC ski circuit because so many countries want to hold the events.

“It’s good to move the events around because that helps increase the popularity of the sport,” Johnston said. “Disabled athletes still aren’t respected at all in some countries and we have to change that. People thought we were crazy the first time we went to Japan but they really accepted the sport when they saw what the athletes could do.”

Kimberley Alpine Resort representative Matt Mosteller said the proposed new training centre will become a year-round facility for able-bodied and disabled athletes, with fitness and dryland training taking priority in non-winter months.

“The sport has been a very big positive for the community,” he said. “Athletes come to live and train in the area and there’s an economic win when you create and host events.”

Kimberley will host a Nor-Am competition for able-bodied snowboarders just before the Olympics in February next year, then hold a Nor-Am event for disabled skiers before the Paralympics begin in March.

The city expects to attract disabled curlers to its curling venue before the 2010 Paralympic Games and the Canadian men’s sledge hockey team is scheduled to play against an international opponent in the Kimberley Civic Centre on March 1.

Steve Bova, an instructor who runs a disabled ski academy at the resort, noted the Canadian snowboard team trained on the mountain last year and the Nor-Am snowboard event will attract snowboarders from all over the world.

“The main thing is to market what we have now and get the people here,” he said. “From a coach’s point of view, the venues are what’s important and we have them.”

bconstantineau@vancouversun.com

ECONOMICS OF THE OLYMPICS

The third in a four-part series looking at the economic impact of the 2010 Winter Olympics on communities throughout British Columbia:

Aug. 7: Comox Valley

Aug. 14: Prince George

Aug. 21: Kamloops

TODAY: Kimberley

Have a great season Bart and bring home some GOLD!

View Bart’s profile by clicking here..

Dryland is the preparation an athlete must undertake prior getting on the lift for their 1st run of the season. This includes the evaluation of your physical skills, mental skills, equipment, goals and planning. Let’s look at some questions to ask yourself and if need be act upon:

     Physical:  What is my current strength level in terms of endurance and cardio? What do I need to do improve my current levels? Do I have an exercise routine that I adhere to? Am I working with a personal trainer? Use the gym as much as I could?

     Mental:   What ski technique articles have I read lately? What are you prepared for? Not everything is going to be as envisioned. Are you ready for it? How flexible am I mentally? Visualization, meditation, stress relief techniques? What is and is it for me? Are there others? Do I need outside help like sports physiologists? The travel requirements, highs/lows of racing, fear, risk taking and other pressures put on you whether self imposed or outside interest. How are going to handle it? What exercises are you doing to prepare yourself?

     Equipment/Resources:  What condition is it in? What repairs where needed but not made last year? What is required to make you successful? What new equipment do I need? What is my coach telling me? Have I investigated other resources and camps?

     Goals/Planning:   What are they (training schedule, camps, races..)? Have I set achievable goals and is the timeframe realistic? What resources do I require? Where can get them? What camps should I attend? What is my financial budget? What backing and/or support team do I need? What am I willing to sacrifice to make it all happen?

Dryland is so important! It is the time to get focused on what it will take to make YOU successful this season. Here are some next steps that I hope will help you get going:

1. Start today! What are you top 3 goals this season?
2. Evaluate your current status.
3. Plan and execute! Be honest with yourself and get help with a positive support group.
4. Start your Exercise routine; both mental and physical.
5. Investigate and commit to outside camps and coaching.
6. Get your equipment in race condition.
7. Think positive and view yourself getting to where you want to be. Put success pictures up around you home/office.

Have a great season and let us know if we can help you get off to a great start.