By Chris Ericson

Don’t do this……..don’t do that……..that’s not what I’m looking for!

Are these words that you use in your lesson?  So often as instructors we find ourselves crammed for time, trying to help out our student as much as possible in that one hour lesson.  Starting out, telling everything our student is doing wrong is not the answer to having more success with your lesson.

Talk to your student and find out what they do when they are not skiing.  Chances are you may be able to relate other activities to a desired movement in skiing.  Whether it is tennis or getting onto a barstool at their favorite pub, there are relationships to both in skiing.

Most of all, describe the movements you LIKE in their skiing and work from there.  “Hey, you had nice speed control coming down that section of the trail.  Lets now see if we can get the snow-spray from your skis to go more towards the woods.” 

Focus on the positive!