I have had this idea in my head for a couple of years….
What if when we talked about stuff like “opening your hips at the wakes” or anything else only referenced the following:
Center of mass
Handle position
Attitude of the ski in the water – pitch, yaw and roll
As an example:
The only conversation about opening your hips extra that made any sense to me was with “skier x” who said that Mapple and Smith do something to get the ski flatter in the water on the way out to the ball line. With the ski flatter sooner it has less drag and they get to the ball line faster and earlier.
Understanding the goal means a lot more to me than wondering if I need to move my big toe to the left
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-Force Vector from Boat(Rope Tension, AKA Handle Position)
-Force Vectors on Ski (Lift/Drag - which pitch, yaw and roll affect greatly)
-Color Coordination (degree to which your ski gear matches)
If this is the kinda clear thinking and reasoning that comes with days on end of staring at an empty ski lake....I think you're on to something @Horton !
Looking Forward To Getting On The Water, It Has Been A Bleak Winter
You can adjust pitch or roll with binding and fin settings, so how do you distinguish?
I was talking to @ShaneH this weekend about getting his ski flatter in the water / less pitch from the wakes out to the ball. He wanted me to tell him how. Fact is we all experience or think about this stuff a little differently. I told him to not over think it and to not change much. Just move his COM forward after the center line.
So the instruction was get his ski flatter by moving COM forward. The words knees, ankles, handle, head, or hips were deliberately not used. I assume that once he understood the goal he may have applied it in a way that works for him with words like knees, ankles, handle, head, or hips.
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Connelly ☆DBSkis ☆Denali ☆Goode ☆GiveGo ☆MasterCraft ☆ Masterline
Performance Ski and Surf ☆ Reflex ☆ Radar ☆ Rodics OffCourse ☆ S Lines ☆ Stokes ☆
At least for me.
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Connelly ☆DBSkis ☆Denali ☆Goode ☆GiveGo ☆MasterCraft ☆ Masterline
Performance Ski and Surf ☆ Reflex ☆ Radar ☆ Rodics OffCourse ☆ S Lines ☆ Stokes ☆
I had to figure out the mechanic that worked for me. Which in this case was to squeeze my butt cheeks together which moves the pelvis forward and flattens the skis trajectory outbound. What I found was that much like the photos @MattP posted of Nate, I found the ski getting to the buoy line with my COM more over the top of it. So effectively, I got to the same width without having to get the ski as far out away from me and rolled up on edge as far. This was the concept that Horton brought up initially. I wasn't sure how it would work out, but the first time I did this I immediately knew there was something to it. Think about this. If you get to the same width and you're more over the top of the ski, the geometry dictates that the boat is not as far away from you. Which is exactly what we see with Nate and @Mapple, I believe.
Unlike golf, another complex system to model, we don't have 300 yrs of history that has winnowed the extraneous non-critical actions from the critical moves that are common to the top performers. Looking back to the 20's, golf had many of the same debates we're having today, about, for example, if a specific player's "twiddle" at the top of his backswing was adding yardage or just a personal aberration that didn't happen to get in the way.
For example, my view on trying to determine where a certain skier has his eyes focused 6 feet in front of the ball is analogous to a twiddle at the top of the backswing. But that's only my view.
As we evolve, (if the sport does survive all the threats we face), I expect we'll pare the description of the perfect pass down to the basics, the must do's. But we're partially dependent upon feelings to use as an input to separate good from bad.
That is my favorite part of the sport. A bunch of feelings that roll up into a hardcore performance measured from 0 to 6. Analog to digital.
So, I think the simplest way to get from people's description of how it felt ("flowy"?) to actionable coaching is to go to the basic physics. COM, momentum, and two opposing force vectors. Everything that happens is governed by those variables. The words to describe what a skier does to balance and control those can then evolve as they are most easily understood.
At any given time, the ski is pitching, yawning and rolling all at the same time, while the skier's COM may be pitching, yawing, and rolling in other directions. And this is all happening relative to which axis, the water's surface, the ski's centerline, or the skier's spine? It seems more complicated, not less.
Maybe we use the terms we use because after decades of study, they are the terms professional coaches have settled on as being the most helpful.
I am not an engineer, but the KISS approach is understood.
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Connelly ☆DBSkis ☆Denali ☆Goode ☆GiveGo ☆MasterCraft ☆ Masterline
Performance Ski and Surf ☆ Reflex ☆ Radar ☆ Rodics OffCourse ☆ S Lines ☆ Stokes ☆
I am thinking his input would be valuable on this topic.
Until then, I will be focusing on decreasing pitch, increasing roll and inducing slight yaw at the exit of the apex of the rotation, unless told otherwise.
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Connelly ☆DBSkis ☆Denali ☆Goode ☆GiveGo ☆MasterCraft ☆ Masterline
Performance Ski and Surf ☆ Reflex ☆ Radar ☆ Rodics OffCourse ☆ S Lines ☆ Stokes ☆
Support BallOfSpray by supporting the companies that support BallOfSpray
Connelly ☆DBSkis ☆Denali ☆Goode ☆GiveGo ☆MasterCraft ☆ Masterline
Performance Ski and Surf ☆ Reflex ☆ Radar ☆ Rodics OffCourse ☆ S Lines ☆ Stokes ☆