Tim, while there may be a fine line between a correctional and developmental perspective, because “back seat riding” has never been part of any developmental progression, I think that a correctional approach would be best. What that means is that while many other aspects continue to need programing, they cannot move forward with their programming until current habits of flawed movement patterns associated with the more basic movements are addressed. If more refined movements up the skill pyramid are allowed to develop over flawed fundamentals, everything just gets worse and development becomes deadended. There is just no “schmoozing” over the fundamentals (of anything) on the way to success. While there may be some truth to the efficacy of teaching new patterns over bad ones without too much focus on the bad ones, that is not always possible.
A correctional approach requires taking backward steps that can be difficult to swallow. As an example, if you learn to pole plant in the back seat, guess what? You may have to take a step back by skiing without the poles altogether and then relearning a new pole plant after fundamental corrections are made. Otherwise, due to their association, that pole plant will help to “keep” you in the back seat. That said, many skiers do not pass the intermediate stage of dev because because their CoM is almost always too far behind their BoS resulting in a probable fact that every group lesson ever taught at any level has included discussion over the fore/aft relationship between skier’s CoM and BoS, whatever the language used. It is not only in every first time beginner lesson but also a daily focus of top WC racers, all of whom pride themselves on the fundamentals and this one specifically. The very best racers in the world loose races due to getting caught in the back seat on just one damn turn. Other than memorizing their line, I bet it is the most common pre race focus in the WC starthouse bullpen. The thing about the fundamentals of any discipline is that their concern tends to span all ability levels. They are both the first and the furthest of concerns.
The relationship between the CoM and BoS is latent to anyone who does things like getting up out of a chair, walking, climbing and descending a staircase, etc. It can really be as simple as training a skier to think about what they already know how to do but while skiing. I think that there are a lot of people who simply have trouble maintaining such a focus while they are sliding down a hill and all the distraction that comes with it. I think an intellectual comfort needs to be developed so the mind has freedom to think more clearly. Removing issues such as poor boot fit (especially fore/aft geometry), being over terrained, being over skied by friends, getting too excited, poor visual focus and vision retention while moving in the skiing environment, etc., is very helpful. Also, many people approach the sport of skiing as a recreational, vacation activity without the slightest idea of any conceptual approach and, before they recognize the need, have already ingrained defensive movement habits, almost all of which include being in the back seat.
Every day analogies work best. I like the cutting wood analogy for its carving tool relevance. Are you going to use a saw on a piece of wood while sitting in a recliner? I tried and it is VERY difficult. Or are you going to stand up, put your beer down, get your center of mass over the piece of wood and line the blade up between your CoM and the piece of wood? Most people already know this, if not only on an instinctual basis. Skiing in the back seat is the equivalent of trying to cut that piece of wood while sitting in the recliner and, probably, with beer in hand. After all, they started skiing while on vacation. There is too much talk about how learning skiing is very difficult because it is non intuitive and goes against our instincts. Based on the above logistics, I don’t agree. Teaching people how to ski isn’t about teaching new instincts, it is about teaching them to use the instincts they already have.
That said, for the average expert level skier, the fore/aft position of the CoM over the BoS is always a simple yet critical focus during a change in terrain or while on any challenging terrain. It is good to remember that the faster we are moving and the steeper the slope, the smaller or shorter our conceptual base of support theoretically becomes and, non-theoretically, the finer control that will be required to manage it.
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