THE SKIING - ON SNOW.

Ski Learning groups, unless by agreement with the group, are never more than six people. This means that I should have the time and concentration free to treat you as an individual and work with you as such.

Our ski learning will be done on gentle slopes, not on steep, highly variable, or otherwise difficult skiing terrain. The reason for this is that in order for us both to focus on one small incremental improvement at a time, we need to create a skiing environment in which we are not being distracted by any more apprehension, tension, or other distractions than are unavoidable.

The objective of our play together is to help you improve, not to just ski you about the mountain ticking off pistes, or seeing how much adrenalin we can create. However, we will use plenty of piste, and you will get plenty of skiing.

It is good to remember this simple rule - the best place to develop new skiing habits and behaviours is on gentle, predictable slopes. The best place to learn to ski well on Blues is on Greens; the best place to learn to ski well on Reds is on Blues, and the best place to learn to ski Blacks is on either Blues or (perhaps) Reds. After all if you cannot do on a Blue, the things you'll need to do on a Black, you shouldn't be on the Black!

After recapping what you know, we work from the known to the unknown in small incremental steps.

At each stage we will be concerned first with planning the step, then as much as possible imagining the step, then some attempts at it, followed by brief discussion and feedback, and further attempts until it is learned. Because the process is gentle and incremental, you will be able to achieve your goals, and these successes will build into further successes.

Quite often you may find me not even skiing, but instead carrying out my duty of watching you, so that any feedback I share with you will be precise and meaningful.

This all sounds a little serious, but I assure you it is even more fun than just "blasting about".

My starting (and indeed finishing) standpoint is :

E N J O Y M E N T  *  L E A R N I N G

In that order.

In the eveningsif it suits you, I will offer the whole group an approximately one hour seminar on a topic such as the mental game planning aspects of sport psychology, NLP, or similar, or perhaps a discussion on some physical aspect of skiing such as the basic physics of it, and what we are trying to get our skis to do for us.