Need a drill / tip for my daughter

[Miller]

My ten year old daughter was hit by a snowboarder this year and it has really rattled her. Prior to getting hit, she was an early intermediate skier making parallel turns down blues and easy blacks. Now she had developed a bad habit of sitting in the back seat and steering her turns, even relying on wedge in some conditions.

I realize a lot of this is her getting her confidence back, but are there any fun drills we can do to help her find her balance and positioning?

Thanks

 

[Mendieta]

My ten year old daughter was hit by a snowboarder this year and it has really rattled her. Prior to getting hit, she was an early intermediate skier making parallel turns down blues and easy blacks. Now she had developed a bad habit of sitting in the back seat and steering her turns, even relying on wedge in some conditions.

I realize a lot of this is her getting her confidence back, but are there any fun drills we can do to help her find her balance and positioning?

Thanks

I had a collision with a beginner skier who lost control and ran into me in a cat-track last year. I was at a similar place since I learned to ski just 3 years ago. I'll let instructors opine on drills (I did open a thread on drills for moving my stance more forward, this summer, you can look that up too).

But here is something that might help her: try to get her to ski empty runs. Even to this day, my skiing is a lot better on an empty run. I still struggle much more with too many people around. As I improve on my technique, I hope I will feel more comfortable with crowded runs, but honestly, there is only as much as you can do to prevent others' mistakes. Sigh. Best luck with that, and enjoy your princess. Hopefully she still loves skiing!

 

[surfsnowgirl]

Another vote for skiing uncrowded runs. I had a snowboarder take me out in the worst take out of my life in early December. Saying it rattled me to my core is an understatement. My confidence was wrecked and I became more paranoid than ever about who was barreling up behind me. Skiing on empty or otherwise uncrowded runs helped me tremendously as it slowly but surely is restoring my confidence. I'm still freaked if I hear that scraping sound and I'll still pull over if I hear a herd behind me but skiing uncrowded runs is restoring my confidence and allowing the ability to ski overcome my fear of who's behind me.

I really, really try to avoid looking up behind me as I turn because I will see people skiing towards me and I freak. They obviously, well hopefully will be turning before they get to me but I've realized seeing that doesn't help me. I have to trust that they see me and will turn. One thing I like to do is pick a stretch of terrain and ski it nonstop not thinking about who's in back of me. I try to make this stretch longer and longer until I've skied the whole run. I realize I have no control if someone's going to hit me from behind but I have to do this exercise to help me just ski and try and let go and have fun.

 

[Nancy Hummel]

Maybe take her in nastar course where there is 0 chance of someone hitting her. Make the goal -making nice turns-and not going fast.

Go out early in the morning when no one is there so less people and nicely groomed snow.

Try a new ski area so no memories of crash.

Bring her to Snowmass and I will spend a day with her just having fun.

 

[wallyk]

My ten year old daughter was hit by a snowboarder this year and it has really rattled her. Prior to getting hit, she was an early intermediate skier making parallel turns down blues and easy blacks. Now she had developed a bad habit of sitting in the back seat and steering her turns, even relying on wedge in some conditions.

I realize a lot of this is her getting her confidence back, but are there any fun drills we can do to help her find her balance and positioning?

Thanks

That stinks.......feel really sorry for her......

IMHO just get her back skiing, forget about style and related drills for the moment and just focus on letting your daughter rebuild her confidence at her own pace. Impossible to force it, the style, on her. Let her be rattled. Just so skiing and emphasize the fun aspect, maybe bomb a couple of runs, goof off make fund of snow boarders, do some jumps, because if she likes skiing then the confidence and form should reoccur naturally.

FWIW my 10 yo daughter took a nasty digger racing this year and had a similar regression in technique. She developed an "annoying", well annoying to me, propensity to revert to a "wedge" style when faced with a ambiguity or lack of confidence in a situation. To help her regain her confidence and form she skipped the next race and 2 race class and just free skied for a couple of days with me and her younger sister. We went with a friend once and she had a ball. During this time I improved the flex of the boot and we did a few runs where she would focus on moving her feet. I took a video on my iPhone on green trail that captured/illustrated her bending/flexing the ski. I gave her the requisite amount of praise/encouragement and she was happy and good to go.

By letting her just ski and and enjoy the sport, skiing IS all about having fun!!!!, she forgot about the wipeout and is back to being a 10 year girl who likes to ski fast!!!!

 

[Seldomski]

If you figure it out, let me know. My wife is very fearful of collisions on the slope after having one and I don't think she will ever recover her 'mojo' at this rate. Recently she had another collision from behind and remarked that it was a 'good thing.' The overtaking skier was much smaller than the last guy - she said it was good to have a wreck with no major consequence to either party.

She does better when no one else is around, but that's pretty hard to manufacture...

Personally I try to ski fast enough and wait for gaps in skiers so that it's very rare for someone to pass me. Also, I try to ski runs with the fewest people on them. Doesn't work for my wife though.

 

[BGreen]

Maybe take her in nastar course where there is 0 chance of someone hitting her. Make the goal -making nice turns-and not going fast.

+1. Closed, netted hill. Gates tell her where to turn so she doesn’t have to think about anything.

 

[Chris V.]

Hmmmm. The back seat feels safe to her. The wedge feels safe to her. These are what she will revert to any time she feels threatened.

Look for things that you can do together that are FUN but on slow, protected terrain. Does your mountain build micro-terrain into the bunny hill? Is there a children's terrain park with very small features on a gentle slope? Can you find an area of natural micro-terrain way out in the woods? Anywhere that there aren't other skiers and snowboarders around, or where they are all moving slowly. Find these places. Then do sideslips. Do the falling leaf. Learn to ski switch. Do some little jumps. Make up your own games.

All of this will ingrain movement patterns that in reality are more effective and safer than what your daughter THINKS she should be doing when intimidated. Works for preparing for the steeps, too!

 

[DavidSkis]

The NASTAR idea is great if the course is mellow enough for her, as it's certain to be secluded.

It might help to play with turn shape, seeing how many turns you can make. A shorter turn keeps you to a narrower more consistent part of the run, which is ultimately safer and more predictable.

It's worth considering how your actions are affecting the situation too. If you're always behind her trying to run interference, that could lead to upset (for many folks it's not comforting hearing someone scraping behind you on every turn, and seeing them at the edge of your periphery!). Try having her "ski in your tracks" instead or do some family synchro skiing. This is another good way to create an excellent, safe turn shape.

Good luck!

 

[T-Square]

The idea of going to lightly used areas is great. Also, let’s lower the terrain a bit until she is up and running again.

Here’s an idea that might help with confidence. Do the Daddy protective thing. Tell her you’re going to ski in a blocking position to help protect her. Then ski behind and a bit uphill from her. Keep your head on a swivel. This is the way adaptive instructors protect their students from out of control skiers. From this position you can move to head off skiers and riders that may be in line to hit her.

With her fear issues right now make sure you let her know that you are there to protect her. This should help take the edge off her concerns.