The kids

Children start ski racing at age 5 in general. I was fortunate enough to ski for two weeks with three World Cup athletes. Sara Schleper World Cup Podium Racer, U.S. National Champion & 2000 World Cup Team, Uros Pavlovcic, Slovenia World Cup, U.S. National Champion and Tasha Nelson, long-time U.S. Team member.

It's a rare opportunity to see and hear the best athletes in the world telling and showing the kids how it's done.

The kids at the camp, mainly the nation's best 40 or so junior olympians, watched and took coaching perls from the champions during the two week session.

There were a few perls that seemed to fall out the coaches' mouths time and time again. Here they are:

1. Keep your feet apart
2. Keep your feet, hips, and shoulders relatively squared
3. Keep your feet on the snow
4. Quite down all unnecessary movements

Now to most of you, this seems like the same old stuff, but rest assured this is quite difficult when you are going 30 mph down an icy slalom.

Last year, I was lucky enough to have one 10 yr. old boy to coach on a private basis. I was able to take him from the end of the Far West USSA rankings to being named the Far West Slalom Champion.

How was it done?

Mostly, it was the method in which I was able to teach those same perls mouthed by the World Cup Champions.

With teaching kids, it's not the content of your coaching, It's how you deliver it.

I've seen many coaches go through the early season training program by the program director and soon, they feel confident they can give the kids the right message.
But the season wears on and the kid never seems to improve.

The problem... the kid knows what to do, but not how to do it

If you are familiar with any type of teaching, you know the success depends on the delivery. This is why my student last year ended the season as the Far West Slalom Champion. I was able to watch an 8 second improvement. My student went from wondering why he was so bad at everything to loving life. He could win a race with 100 other athletes.

The greatest accomplishment as a coach is giving an athlete the understanding that they can win and achieve success. All it takes is the courage to try and the belief in yourself.

Alpine Skiing School section in english version of WWW.SKI.BG is based on
"A Guide To Becoming An Expert: From First Time To A Lifetime"
by John Mukavitz Copyright © 1998