Centered Sliding - Page 3
By Todd Murchison, December 10, 2000

The Athletic Position

How well you stand over your snow tool is the key to your success and enjoyment of snow sliding. A basic athletic stance is a good place to start -- it's similar to your stance on the tennis court waiting to receive the ball. Keep your hips over your feet, knees and ankles slightly bent, hands up and looking ahead. This position allows for solid alignment over your skis and keeps you ready for anything.

The flexion in your knees and ankles allows your knees to act as shock absorbers as you go over moguls or irregularities in the snow. Keep your hips centered over your feet keeps you in a powerful position of balance.

Keeping your hands in front of you allows your hands to function as counterweights, much as a cats tail does. If you were running down a rocky hillside I’ll bet your hands would instinctively come up for balance, sliding on snow requires the same adjustment.

Your body will go where you are looking. If you are driving your car and turn to look at some cute person walking by, you’ll probably find that you also start steering that way. I’m sure many accidents are caused this way each year! Things work the same way on a snowboard, skis or a monoski. Your body starts to turn in the direction you are looking. Look up where you want to go, not off to the side or at the snow directly in front of you.

In each of the snow sliding sports there will be times where you have to regularly get into an ‘unnatural’ stance for a moment. The trick is to minimize the times, and strive to stay in as natural and as functional a stance as possible. You will conserve strength, be able to react more quickly, and hit the snow less often.

Todd Murchison is a Ski School trainer and instructor in Vermont. He was crushed when as a child he found he could actually make his own rainbows with a garden hose.

<<<BACK

Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3