Before he became an Olympic Champion, Seth Wescott has been a spokesperson for the Winterkids program; www.Winterkids.org. Winterkids is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting lifelong habits of health, education, and fitness in children, specifically during the winter months. Thanks in part to changes in lifestyles, children have mirrored adults in becoming more sedentary with a resulting increase in childhood diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and other lifestyle-related afflictions. The cold weather that arrives with winter can make it even more difficult to keep children active in the face of competition from video games and snacking. With Seth’s help as an awesome role model, Winterkids has been promoting several programs that encourage kids to get off the couch, get outside, and have fun in the outdoors!
Archive for February, 2006
Many skiers and snowboarders hear instructors or fellow sliders talk about the fall line. Normally it comes up in conversations about what path to follow or where to start or stop a turn… if it is “in” or “out” of the fall line.
So what is the fall line? The fall line is a specific path down a slope where gravity will have the strongest impact. Does that help? We didn’t think so.
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Skiing and riding in the trees relies on both physical and mental aspects to successfully make it through a run. While the physcial aspects are most important, you can help set yourself up for success by developing mental concepts that support those moves. Since avoiding the trees is the goal, you can be more successful at that goal if you let yourself think different about what composes a turn in the trees. Instead of thinking of turning around them, you can create more room for yourself in the trees by thinking about skiing at an angle past them.
The final men’s alpine skiing event of the Torino 2006 Olympics will be held today, Saturday, February 25, 2006; Men’s Slalom event. America’s Bode Miller will be attempting to score a medal after coming up short in the other four alpine events. Even if Bode doesn’t make the medal podium, we can learn alot about making good short turns from his technique. Check out his runs and focus on the following:
Seth Wescott, Olympic Gold Medalist in the Men’s Snowboard Cross at Torino 2006, will return to his home at Sugarloaf/USA in Maine on Saturday, February 25, 2006 for a celebration of his accomplishments. A special recognition will be made to Seth for being the first Mainer to win an Olympic gold medal. It’ll be an opportunity to get an autograph, take a photo, and meet a hometown hero in person. A sample snowboard cross course will be set on easy terrain in front of the base lodge to allow kids of all ages to test their skills. For more information, check out Sugarloaf/USA’s daily report and hope to see you there!
It’s just human nature to want things to come easy and the frustration level can rise with an activity that requires a substantial amount of learning before you master it. Skiing requires thorough learning which builds methodically to bring you to a higher level of ability. If you rush that process, you may create a situation of diminishing returns as you abandon what’s come before in a hurry to get to what’s next. In skiing, telemarking, and snowboarding, use patience turns to give your gear a chance to do the turning for you.
Snowboarding is surely a pledge to the edge in that creating balance on one edge is more challenging than how our skier friends create balance on two edges. The sideways stance in snowboarding dictates that creating edging to each side is inherently a different set of movements. Whether you are regular stance or goofy stance, every rider has a toeside and a heelside for edging purposes. Unless you’re incredibly double-jointed, the way in which you flex your legs to create toeside and heelside edging is significantly different.
An earlier post discussed the four basic styles of learning: doing, thinking, seeing, and feeling. This post explores the seeing learning style. and does so by explaining the same improvement focus as the previous post; isolate your upper body from your lower body.
You can improve your skiing and snowboarding turns by checking out the tracks you leave behind in the snow. Find some level (preferably corduroy) snow on easy terrain and make some turns. Climb back up and take a look at the evidence. Do your turns have a section where the tracks go in a straight line?
Skiing on hard snow conditions requires that you modify your movements to compensate for the slicker surface under foot. It’s like being under a magnifying glass; any small loss of balance is signaled by a much larger movement by an arm, leg, or torso as you try to regain control. You don’t have to always be in a reactive mode when skiing hard snow, however; there are a number of adjustments you can make to your skiing to create steadier balance and increase grip.