Start Your Ski Season in Balance


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You made your first turns of the season and maybe those turns felt a little shaky. The #1 issue I see in the early season is balance. If you aren’t centered, then all the other skills are impacted. I use several balance drills to help my students find their center at the beginning of the season.

The first drill is a called the shuffle. Start this drill on an gentle groomed slope and as you get more comfortable, gradually move to progressively steeper slopes. Move one foot then the other forward and back alternatively while traversing across the hill and making big wide turns. You may find this simple task surprisingly difficult at first.

If you feel like you are getting “stuck” and can’t initiate a turn while shuffling your feet, it means your hips and backside are too far back. Use your hamstrings and glutes to pull your feet back under your torso while keeping your core strong. Once you “get” this drill (which may take a while), gradually diminish the shuffling until it’s gone. Ideally, you’ll still feel balanced.

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Ski Coach Z: Dave Zientko

Dave ZientkoSki instructor Dave Zientko will be joining NYSkiBlog as the author of a multi-part series on how to get more out of skiing. Dave is a PSIA Level 3 certified instructor who has been teaching at Whiteface since 2000. He has been teaching skiing for 24 years. Before coming to Whiteface, Dave worked at Killington after starting out at Vernon Valley. He’s also had staff training roles in both the Whiteface and Killington Snowsport Schools.

Early on Dave taught adults, but after his son Zach was born, he widened his focus to include working with children. He has extensive experience with advanced level kids in all-mountain skiing and has coached in Whiteface’s acclaimed Cloudsplitter Club program for the last eight years.

Dave has experience skiing across Europe and the West including France, Switzerland, Austria and Italy as well was most of Colorado, Utah and British Columbia. Dave has logged several cat skiing days out West and has attended two PSIA National Academy’s including one in Chamonix in 2006.

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