To anyone with passion in life more then skin deep, here's a profound interview from a couple of highly successful graphic designers/artists and their perspective on “passion and art”. Their perspective is not bound to drawing and painting, but rather anyone who expresses themselves on any given medium. This drew my attention for MANY reasons…... thought I would share, they may have well been talking about WATER-SKIING!
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Monday, September 6, 2010
The Hidden Sources of Energy in the Slalom Course:
This is the first of a series of articles focusing on building blocks of slalom skiing, and summarizes a few concepts in slalom skiing that I feel are extremely important for a slalom skier to understand if they want to continue to improve up the line. Experience has proven to me, time and time again, that natural raw talent will only take a person so far in any sport. Those athletes, who have made it to the top, have taken the time to understand their sport at the most fundamental level. In nearly every sports, these fundamentals equate identically, which is what allows us to look across to other sports disciplines for powerful incite on how to execute movements, accomplish tasks and overcome the challenge at hand. Let this be the start to your journey of learning something not only about slalom skiing, but perhaps a thing or two about all things you do on a day to day basis. Remember that energy is not created or lost, but rather transferred through one source to another and one form to the next.
As a skier, there are many factors that we are constantly fighting against in our attempt to successfully navigate a slalom course; things like drag, balance, and the boats power, etc. Many of these factors are givens and we have no ability to counteract them. A few of these factors, however, can be used to our advantage and make our job as a slalom skier much easier.
IMO, the most common thing that separates the smooth and consistent skier from the choppy struggling skier is a keen understanding of these critical components to slalom skiing.
Here, I will explain what I view as some of the most critical factors we are up against in slalom skiing: The Boat, Gravity, and torque. Please understand that in no way am I trying to discount the many addition skills and movements required to slalom ski. I believe that those additional skills will quickly develop as one begins to form a solid foundation to their knowledge of energy transformation within the world of slalom skiing.
THE BOAT
It is a known fact that the boat is going to pull you, and drag you down the lake. A skier is a very large mass, with a lot of drag and resistance against the direction the boat is traveling. It is inevitable that there will be line tension, and load from the boat. Your job as a skier shouldn’t be to try and increase the amount of line tension and load from the boat, but learn to harness the boats power in a manner that will transmit the energy of the 350 hp engine up through the pylon, down the rope, through the handle, through your body, and directly into the ski. This requires sound body position, dynamic movements and thorough understanding of the progression of events taking place. Without these, one is just putting themselves in a position against the boat that is just causing unnecessary line tension, load and drag, thus making their job on the water 10 times harder than it really needs to be. The boat is an enormous source of energy, and when properly harnessed will provide massive returns to your slalom skiing.
GRAVITY
This is a force that is always acting on every mass here on earth. I believe that one of the things that separate a great athlete from a mediocre one knows how to use gravity in a way that is beneficial to the outcome of the intended objective. If you don’t have gravity working for you, then it is working against you, and making your job harder. Think about it, would you lean back when trying to sprint uphill? This is a point that very few skiers I have encountered have even thought about, let alone optimizing the massive potential energy that gravity gives us on the water. Learning how to successfully harness this energy will take your skiing to new levels almost immediately. Harnessing the enormous power of gravity will give you true acceleration in the slalom course, in addition to the ability to maintain energy like never before.
TORQUE
Another force that people overlook is torque. You might have a questioning look on your face now, but it’s a real, very powerful force, that again, if you’re not making it work for you, then it is always working against you! The torque I am talking about is the equal and opposite force that we are applying to the handle. When our body is leveraged and loaded against the boat, in any fashion, were are in essence applying a force to the handle in a manner that produces torque against our body. Don’t forget that every action has an equal and opposite reaction, so the torque you exert on the handle is being directed right back at you. Understanding how to utilize this force can maximize your ability to generate speed, angle and width in the course, and when executed properly in addition to using the boat and gravity to your advantage, amazing things will happen to your skiing, and life will be good!
Conclusion
Sometimes taking a new perspective on what appears to be such a simple chain of events, is all that we need to do to become a better skier. A new perspective can teach you great lessons that no amount of gym time and skiing would ever teach you. You don’t need to spend a thousand hours in the gym, or on the water to make progress, if you just take a new perspective on how your current actions and movements on the water are affecting you, and see if you can change the thought process, and execution of skills in order to optimize things like, gravity, the boats power, and torque from the rope. If you can harness energy of just one of these things, you will become a better skier. If you can harness any two of them, you will become a great skier, and when you master all three, well fill in the blank…….
If your reading this article, then I’m guessing that you have read countless articles talking about being efficient, dynamic and doing more with less, yet no matter how much you read, your still dealing with the same issues on the water. Begin to put energy into focusing on the topics I have discussed in this article for a little while, and really think about how you might begin to overcome these challenges on the water. I will soon provided more theory, and a great deal more of the ‘how to” information in the weeks to come. After you wrestle with these concepts in your mind, you will get a lot more out of the information that I will put up in the coming weeks.
Thanks and stay in touch and let me know how your skiing is coming!
As a skier, there are many factors that we are constantly fighting against in our attempt to successfully navigate a slalom course; things like drag, balance, and the boats power, etc. Many of these factors are givens and we have no ability to counteract them. A few of these factors, however, can be used to our advantage and make our job as a slalom skier much easier.
IMO, the most common thing that separates the smooth and consistent skier from the choppy struggling skier is a keen understanding of these critical components to slalom skiing.
Here, I will explain what I view as some of the most critical factors we are up against in slalom skiing: The Boat, Gravity, and torque. Please understand that in no way am I trying to discount the many addition skills and movements required to slalom ski. I believe that those additional skills will quickly develop as one begins to form a solid foundation to their knowledge of energy transformation within the world of slalom skiing.
THE BOAT
It is a known fact that the boat is going to pull you, and drag you down the lake. A skier is a very large mass, with a lot of drag and resistance against the direction the boat is traveling. It is inevitable that there will be line tension, and load from the boat. Your job as a skier shouldn’t be to try and increase the amount of line tension and load from the boat, but learn to harness the boats power in a manner that will transmit the energy of the 350 hp engine up through the pylon, down the rope, through the handle, through your body, and directly into the ski. This requires sound body position, dynamic movements and thorough understanding of the progression of events taking place. Without these, one is just putting themselves in a position against the boat that is just causing unnecessary line tension, load and drag, thus making their job on the water 10 times harder than it really needs to be. The boat is an enormous source of energy, and when properly harnessed will provide massive returns to your slalom skiing.
GRAVITY
This is a force that is always acting on every mass here on earth. I believe that one of the things that separate a great athlete from a mediocre one knows how to use gravity in a way that is beneficial to the outcome of the intended objective. If you don’t have gravity working for you, then it is working against you, and making your job harder. Think about it, would you lean back when trying to sprint uphill? This is a point that very few skiers I have encountered have even thought about, let alone optimizing the massive potential energy that gravity gives us on the water. Learning how to successfully harness this energy will take your skiing to new levels almost immediately. Harnessing the enormous power of gravity will give you true acceleration in the slalom course, in addition to the ability to maintain energy like never before.
TORQUE
Another force that people overlook is torque. You might have a questioning look on your face now, but it’s a real, very powerful force, that again, if you’re not making it work for you, then it is always working against you! The torque I am talking about is the equal and opposite force that we are applying to the handle. When our body is leveraged and loaded against the boat, in any fashion, were are in essence applying a force to the handle in a manner that produces torque against our body. Don’t forget that every action has an equal and opposite reaction, so the torque you exert on the handle is being directed right back at you. Understanding how to utilize this force can maximize your ability to generate speed, angle and width in the course, and when executed properly in addition to using the boat and gravity to your advantage, amazing things will happen to your skiing, and life will be good!
Conclusion
Sometimes taking a new perspective on what appears to be such a simple chain of events, is all that we need to do to become a better skier. A new perspective can teach you great lessons that no amount of gym time and skiing would ever teach you. You don’t need to spend a thousand hours in the gym, or on the water to make progress, if you just take a new perspective on how your current actions and movements on the water are affecting you, and see if you can change the thought process, and execution of skills in order to optimize things like, gravity, the boats power, and torque from the rope. If you can harness energy of just one of these things, you will become a better skier. If you can harness any two of them, you will become a great skier, and when you master all three, well fill in the blank…….
If your reading this article, then I’m guessing that you have read countless articles talking about being efficient, dynamic and doing more with less, yet no matter how much you read, your still dealing with the same issues on the water. Begin to put energy into focusing on the topics I have discussed in this article for a little while, and really think about how you might begin to overcome these challenges on the water. I will soon provided more theory, and a great deal more of the ‘how to” information in the weeks to come. After you wrestle with these concepts in your mind, you will get a lot more out of the information that I will put up in the coming weeks.
Thanks and stay in touch and let me know how your skiing is coming!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Kories Lake Ski set
Heres a clip from Kories Lake this weekend. I will try to go through at some point and add some critique, and let you all know the things I am forgeting to do out there. Like Palm up in the turn, not falling away from boat out of the ball, staying moving down the fall line, and more.
I think technique is cool, but what good is it if you cant scrap a little! Heres 32 on B2, 35 and 38 off on C1.
I think technique is cool, but what good is it if you cant scrap a little! Heres 32 on B2, 35 and 38 off on C1.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
So whats is this guy doing???
Take a close look at this picture. What is this guy doing at this exact moment in time? Take note of what you see. He has a pole over his head, arms fully extended and hips underneath him.
Here is a man in the first moments of flight; a pole vaulter in the middle of a progression of dynamic events and movements, in an attempt to propel himself to the highest apex possible, and literally fly through the air over a fixed point.
Wow, actually, that almost sounded like a description for a guy navigating a slalom course!! Weird? Not so much. Actually, This sport, along with many others, equates identically to slalom water skiing. A skier, just like this vaulter, converts kinetic energy to potential, and back again through a continuous chain of dynamic movements. We can learn a lot from other sports around us, all we need to do is look at the basics.
So what do you think? Is he pulling down on the pole? Take another look. Actually you answer is largely related to your understanding of the end goal. For this pole-vaulter the goal is to cast his body over the bar at an insane height; similar to a slalom skier at an insane line length who is trying to cast himself out to a buoy. To do this, the vaulter must take all the energy generated in an approach run, transfer that energy into the pole, store the energy in the pole and body in such a manner that will allow him to recapture that energy to fly over a bar. We could more closely relate vaulting to skiing if rather than the bar going higher as the athlete clears a height; we leave the height the same, and make the pole shorter and shorter and shorter. Now can you see the similarities? Slalom skiing, much like vaulting is a process of energy creation, energy transfer, energy storage, and recapture. To understand these pieces to the puzzle, and the sequence of events that takes place on the water, will instantly take your slalom skiing to another level.
Take a look back at the picture again. Take a look at where this athlete is focusing his energy? Can you see what muscles are engaged? Where his body is relative to the ground and the pole? Does this change your conclusion?
Now your brain may be shifting. Are you starting to see from the little clues this athlete gives us that maybe his in NOT pulling down on the pole, but instead pushing against it? The reality is that he is pushing against it. It is the only way to effectively transfer the energy he generated on his approach run into the pole such that he can recapture the energy as he swings up, inverts, and flies over the bar. The purpose of this article is to show that what we think we see is not always the true reality of the situation, and that what is really going on takes a bit more understanding of the sport.
It is my hope that next time you watch youtube clips, photos, and training videos of pro slalom skiers that you take a second look at what you 'think' you see them doing on the water. Much like this pole-vaulter, things are not always what they seem. Making a transformation in your regular thought process and understanding of what is really happening, may allow you to see things you never saw before and open your mind to many new possibilites on the water.
Slalom is not rocket science, and with a little effort you can learn how these pro slalom skiers make it look like they can run 38off in their sleep. Do your best to think outside the box, ask questions, be stubborn, and be open to how all other sports and activities in your life can teach you a thing or two about skiing. Knowledge is power, and it might be just the thing you need to get through that next line length.
Stuck in a Rut?
Are you that guy? The guy who has a brand new stick, new bindings, vest gloves and a rope every year just to go out and work on the same pass and buoy score that you've been "working on" for the last 5 years? Or are you the guy who has a 15 year old ski, worn out and tattered vest, shredded gloves and a frayed whipped rope ready to break at any moment? Either way, there is one thing both of you will have in common: Spending countless hours, countless gallons of fuel, countless mornings with a sore back and aching forearms and still wearing out the same old worn out loop and landing in the same hole on the backside of three ball.
Well I have to ask. How much time do you spend off the water working on your skiing? Or if for nothing else, how much time or energy do you commit to finding yourself a coach to work with during the season? I know and fully understand that there are not a lot of trustworthy resources out there that are economically feasible for most skiers. I mean, by the time you add up the cost of flying a couple thousand miles, buy time to get on a pristine lake, and pay for a high end slalom coach, it's easy to see that the little hint about settling down your gates or staying open to the boat cost much as your ski did! Then you go home and spend an entire summer attempting to recreate the movements and feelings you had on that ski trip, and just keep saying, "Ill get it next set" over and over and over, frustrated to no end, making your life and everybody's around you less then enjoyable. And worse, never really understanding how or why things were different on the trip.
Well I am here to tell you that you have other options out there my friend. Options that are more beneficial for not only your wallet, but also your overall skills and knowledge out on the water. Now, I'm not talking about flying a coach in to do a one day clinic for you ski buddies. But rather finding a resource to develop your overall comprehension of slalom skiing in more dimensions then you ever thought possible. So how would you like to develop your skill set through knowledge and understanding rather than pain and suffering? If this sounds like something you would like to do please contact me and I would be happy to help you work on your skiing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)