I take issue with the video piece's use of the phrase "foot rotation" to describe what is used to make a hockey stop. That terminology can be misleading, because the rotation should be of the full legs, starting at the hip joint. I think of "foot rotation" as being rotation of the feet relative to the knees. This movement is made entirely below the knees, and results in flattening of the skis, not at all what one needs to create the edge angles for braking in a hockey stop. It's very important for developing skiers to reach an understanding of the difference between these two movements.
However, the demos in the video are fine.
This is a good exercise to practice. The goal should be to develop the ability to make the hockey stop in a straight line down the hill. This requires management of the relationship of the center of mass to the skis, management of flexion of the joints, and refraining from tipping the feet into the hill strongly until the skis have pivoted perpendicular to the fall line. A common fault you will see is a skier scooting out into a fish hook before stopping. This is a result of too much edging, and too much pressure on the edges, too early, before the skis have fully pivoted.
In the last part of the video, the demonstrator shows how hockey stops can be modified to use as a method of ending one turn, and making the transition into the next turn. Some of us like to call these "hockey gos." These can be quite useful in steeps and tight spots, but I would NOT recommend making them a basis for your go-to turn pattern. Most of the time, we look to avoid jamming on the edges, which is fundamentally a braking maneuver.
. Went to the green and I tried the new inside leg rotation approach first and found it to be a little tricky. Not sure what was blocking me exactly but I found it tough to get a turn initiated and if I did my skis would go different directions throwing me off balance. I tried the new outside rotation approach next and found that more natural, probably because Im used to using that leg to initiate. Took a couple runs just focusing on that pivoting feeling in both legs, seeing how far I could separate, etc. and not caring much about my turn shape or flexing to release. Decided to give the inside leg method another try while also focusing more on the flex to release part and then suddenly it clicked for me. I felt the balance and passive rotation on the outside ski, the active focus on flexing and steering the inside bringing the tips around together, it was satisfying! Now if I will say if I had someone there to instruct/correct me I think the inside rotation focus might have worked better initially. I think though I needed to wake up that pivoting feeling first before I could use it effectively on the inside leg. I did seem to occasionally run into an issue where, when flexing to release, the new outside would tend to diverge and run down the fall line, leading to some rather awkward looking fumbling around I'm sure. My guess is that's because I didn't actually transfer my weight and still was weighting the new inside too much and wasn't trusting the new outside?
