It’s where the feet are that matters

This is the first coaching piece of the upcoming season. I hope to post blogs throughout the autumn and winter most weeks giving perspectives on developing your skiing and enjoying it. Keeping the content light, avoiding jargon and technical detail I’ll aim to keep things real and applicable to all skiers.

In this blog I have chosen a focus which I mention to most of my students, what ever ability level they are. Where the feet are. Let’s start with the bigger picture; if things are going well, they will be under your body and not above your head. The general aim is to keep both feet underneath you and in contact with the snow, this is a great starting place, one which we can all relate with when things are going well.

The feet are your base of support for the rest of the body; they are the contact with the snow through the boots and skis. The first point of bodily contact which can feel the pressures and forces when skiing in curves. Begin to sensitise the feet noticing where you feel the pressures on the sole of your feet, side and top of feet. Yes, top of feet also, the part we feel when we lean back. Be aware of where the top of the boots is pressing against your shin or calf, for how long and how much. Realising these sensations, we are more in tune with where our body is over the skis.

When you feel like you’re skiing well it’s likely that you will be standing over the whole sole of the feet, not overly on the heel nor the balls of feet. Through the instep arch. A common misconception is that we must press continuously through the balls of the feet ‘getting forward’ is not as helpful as ‘getting middle’. Another character of good skiing is that we don’t rely on the boots or skis to maintain balance. Standing in the middle we feel freer of the equipment. Not using it as a support releases us to use the boots and skis as a tool. To master their use in shaping the curves and gaining control of our speed.

All levels of skiers can learn and benefit from moving the feet under the body – forwards, backwards and to the sides. When practicing, focus less on the knees and hips bending and more on moving the feet under the body ‘feet focus first’. Moving the feet will result in the ankles flexing and extending. Useful drills will develop the movement pattern first, getting comfortable with moving the feet under the body rather than making a position with the body over the feet. Once you have learned to move the feet and familiar with shifting the feet when skiing in lines and curves your control of speed through changing the size and shape of curve will become more accurate.

You will feel more in control, have more comfort and confidence increasing.