Park skiing from a skiers point of view

S

.stevens

New member
So i am having this debate with my parents about park skiing. They do not understand how it is possible for someone to know how to ski properly if they do not have a coach. They keep saying i am doing stuff wrong and do not know how to properly "twist" in the air or on the rails since i did not have proper training. This aggrivates me because its something u pick up by skiing and watching others do it too. I know what im doing and know the ways to do each trick on and off snow. However they are still not understanding me. Help me out NS, what should i tell them or show them to shut them up and make them understand that u dont need training in park skiing to know what u are doing.
 
well you could say that there is no real "proper" coaching for freestyle skiing and each person does things differently, then show them some videos. but to be honest if they are offering you freestyle coaching i certainly wouldnt turn that down.
 
Use an analogy they can relate to. Do you need a coach to be able to paint? No. Will it help? Yes
 
the thing with this analogy is the coaches in park skiing at local mountains are a lot worse then kids who go hard in the park so therefore coaching for them would be stupid, unless u are coached at windells by pros but then again those pros prob did not recieve any coaching themselves...
 
not necessarily, coaches can know the right technique to something, but not be able to do it, but anyways some good kids are bad coaches, and some bad kids are good coaches
 
You but you really can't coach much park skiing. I mean I guess someone could kind of teach you certain rotations, but I find it is easier just so see someone to it and then try to mentally see yourself doing that trick in your head, then when you feel confident enough do it yourself.

However I will tell you can def be coached on trampolines much easier than on snow. You can break down certain rotations on a trampoline and do them halfway and not have to worry about dying. But when it comes to snow, a "coach" is usually just gonna give you the confidence to hopefully commit to whatever your trying.

 
Okay i had the same conversation with my parents several times and they still bring it up. I mean i can see where they are coming from because i have been to a few camps and you definitely progress and master you tricks when you have a coach that has been doing there longer and has more expertise. Even tho you dont have a coach you can still learn and progress fast, it was hard for my parents to understand this too. (they still dont really understand well) Try saying it in a way that they would understand. They are thinking about it like its a normal sport, like baseball, or soccer, or basketball, where they always have a coach. Try to have them relate to it so they will understand. But personally even tho i do not want a coach i do know that sometimes a coach can really help.
 
its a south park reference and you should have a horse bite there dicks off. And tell them that freeskiing is all about free expression. Doing the tricks your own way is just how you express yourself and there is no right way to do it because its how YOU do it.
 
Sounds like your parents might pay to get you some coaching... if you weren't such a little bitch about it.
 
who are u to call me a little bitch, they DO NOT wanna pay for coaching because they do not support my skiing AT ALL. Im simply trying to explain to them how freestyle skiing works due to coaching and all tht stuff. Use ur head before writing something, set an example u have an orange name for something...
 
Honestly they have a good point. I'd say most pros have had at least some coaching in their skiing career. That being said just dont go hucking. Actually watch how pros do tricks and try to emulate it. Not for the style but for the takeoff, positions in the air, when they spot, etc. I dont know what you should show or tell them though.
 
then don't be on your local mountains team? most the local mountains around here the team riders kill it harder than anyone. I also think a lot of pros have coaches
 
What am I reading? I mean I understand where you are coming from but no, just no. Have you seen gymnastics coaches? Sure they might be able to do somethings but for the most part they themselves were never on or in the same level as the students they are teaching, be it Olympic or provincial or whatever, if they were why are they coaching and not being beasts themselves? Or retired, as sponsorship money for being awesome leaves you set for life.

Coaching will, no matter what help you out, they get you in the right mood and mindset and can help you with problems, if you don't know what you are doing wrong chances are they will see it and help you correct it.

In terms of freeskiing, I am sorry but most of it really isn't, yes you can do what you want but when it comes to competition scored by judges it isn't that free now is it? You have to hit x amount of jumps and rails for slope, yes you have limited options and if you choose to skip stuff you won't get a great score. In gymnastics you won't get a great score if you leave out certain elements or tricks and so on.

PARK SKIING IS NOW AERIALS.
 
This is true, but to a certain extent. I think that the serious competitors (Bobby B, Wallisch, Goepper, etc.) have coaching to not only progress their skills, but learn tricks that will impress judges at the big comps. Also, with the olympics coming up, skiers will definitely want to get coaching to help get those scores a little bit higher.

Also, if any of you goons went to the BANFF film festival, you saw in Josh Dueck's movie that he used to coach TJ Schiller.

But that's beside the point. OP, your parents probably did gymnastics or some other 'proper' activity when they were younger, and that's why they're being so butthurt. You should say something along these lines: There's no "proper way" to ski park. Everyone has their own style, one that works for them. I have a certain style, and it works for ME. I could really care less if you like the way I ski.
 
Hate to call you out, but its COULDN'T care less.

And OP, just ignore your parents. Tell them park skiing isn't about doing things a certain way.
 
Whether coaching helps or not is completely the wrong argument to be having. That is the real nexus of the issue here.

First off, your parents are right. Coaching helps! I worked at high north for 6 years and was a camper for 3 before that. The things I learned in those years made me 10X the skier that I was before. Having someone help you out with your tricks is for sure helpful.

However, by no means do you need formal coaching. By no means does this make your experience any more fun. When you're freeskiing, you don't have to win the olympics... you don't have to win local contests... hell you don't even have to be good if you don't want to. If you want, you can just ride with your buddies and throw straight airs in the park your whole life and you have every bit as much right to call yourself a freeskier. You're free to do whatever the fuck you want... including not being coached.

Your parents likely grew up in a generation before, where there was a much deeper emphasis on competition. There wasn't the same kind of outlets we have today, such as video parts. Someone making a video part uses skiing more as artistic expression, so they are just as much artist as they are athlete. A coach can teach you how to pop properly, and how to do a better job stomping your tricks, but will fail at teaching you to have a personal style that is unique to you.

So if you want to 'win' the argument, simply bring up the fact that yes - they are in fact correct. If you wanted to win the X-games, likely a bit of coaching would help you get up to the ridiculously high level needed to win that contest. However, if you choose to progress your skiing in the direction of video parts, then coaching could hinder your own personal unique style. Perhaps it could assist on a few basic mechanics, but it is by no means the be-all-end-all.

Really in the end a lot of us end up coaching each other. I know my buddies and I always used to teach each other stuff, and pick things up from guys around us. In a way our culture helps coach each other as we go. I'll always let someone who is doing their first 360's they need to pop a bit harder off the jump if they want to stop landing backseat. I'm not coaching... rather just helping out a fellow newschooler.

Conclusion? Coaching doesn't always suck... sometimes even just shredding hard with a super rad skier who happens to be able to explain themselves really well is a really good experience.

Bottom line though, skiing is whatever the fuck you want it to be.

 
The way i have head one of my coaches explain it to some parents was "if your kid wants to learn a dub 10, we can teach him. we can't do that trick but we know how to teach it".

 
If you take park laps with kids that have had coaches and kids who haven't, you see a big difference. Usually the kids that have had coaches are good, and can go do basic stuff and hard stuff, because they have a foundation. A lot of kids I know who haven't had coaches can do nice cork sevens, but no straightairs or straight three sixties, this is bad especially if you want to ski pipe or moguls. If you want to get serious about freestyle skiing you will probably need a coach and real training.
 
That's how I am. I'm not great at jumps and just okay on rails but I can watch someone way better than me and correct them or tell them how to do a trick with pointers, ect.
 
just to clarify, a lot of people like lj and dale and a lot of other pros came up through east coast ski academies, so Im gonna go ahead and say coaching can help a ton. They also probably have spent tons of times on ramps. That being said however, as MR Bishop is saying, if your just having fun it doesn't matter and it definitely is awesome to teach yourself something. Your pretty good at rails and theres always new stuff to teach yourself but things like tramping and shit can help alot. But parents can be unbelievable stubborn so I don't know how to help you there.
 
If I were you, and they're offering to pay for it, i would take the coaching, but if you don't want to, your tricks look fine to me, just ask them what they think is wrong with them cause i dont see it
 
Sounds to me like you're the little bitch in this situation, lets assume his parents were offering to pay for coaching for him, he's asking whether it'd be beneficial or not, not wanting to waste his parents money.
 
Pretty much this.

Your parents are probably emberrassed because their kid is a no-steeze beater scrub. And they would like to get you some help so that they can be proud of something about their failure of a child.
 
Pretty much this.

Your parents are probably emberrassed because their kid is a no-steeze beater scrub. And they would like to get you some help so that they can be proud of something about their failure of a child.
 
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