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Technical
Information for Coaches (and anyone else
who is interested) Quick
link to Weekly practice plans Link to NENSA Gaining Ground
coaches clinic, March 28-30, 2008 Table of Contents 1. Links to
elite ski videos and articles with technique commentary 2. Upcoming EMBK
Events for Coaches 4. Weekly
practice plans and practice schedule for 0708 5. General
Information about EMBK Coaching Video Links & Articles Videos Here are some videos that
illustrate high hands and body swing as part of explosive upward movement of
arms. Think “pinky in the eye” to get
the sense of the correct hand height: · Andy Newall winning a
WC sprint quarterfinal All skiers have high hands, Andy Newall (victor in
this WC quarterfinal) seems to have more “swing” than the other elites. No one style is necessarily best (but don’t
mimic the Germans) (posted 12/20/07) · Kikkan Randall winning a WC
sprint race. She has a position
part way between Newall and the “truck driver” position. Note how they all engage the abs and have
lateral (soccer) kicks on the final hill.
(posted 12/20/07) · USST
roller skiing at Lake Placid.
There are two videos, the second (skate) is more illustrative of the
high hands although it is also evident in the double pole segment of the
first video. (posted summer 2007) · Finish of Men’s 4x10 relay – 2007 World Championships In addition to noting the high hands in the
V2 and V2 alternate, note the “hang arm” position in the opening few seconds
of the clip which is V1. The hang arm
is more bent and held closer in than we have been teaching it – we will see
if this works, the risk is that the skiers will bring it too far in then
collapse on the hang arm. The purpose
of bringing the arm in is better to transmit power from the core to forward
motion – not to sag onto the hang arm! (posted summer 2007) Articles Additional
skate drills by Justin Freeman (1/10/08) Ian
Harvey on downhill technique (1/08) Upcoming EMBK Events for Coaches, 2007-08 Updated 12/9/07 Coaches Clinics by
Jim Stock All coaches are
expected to attend one skate and one classic clinic – we all need to be on
the same page. (Attendance is optional
for Powerpop coaches.) Please RSVP to
Jim Stock which clinic you will be attending. Mon. Dec. 10 6:30-7:30 (skate), Mon. Dec. 10 7:30-8:30 (classic) Wed Dec. 12 6:30-7:30 (skate -
repeat)* Wed Dec. 12 7:30-8:30 (classic -
repeat) Sat. Dec. 15, 7:45-8:45am (skate -
repeat) Tues. Dec. 18 6:30-7:30 (skate –
repeat) Tues. Dec. 18 7:30-8:30 (classic –
repeat) *Note: the 12/12
6:30-7:30 clinic will be concurrent with practice – this will be for coaches
from countries that are not having practice that evening. Coach and Board
meeting Sat Dec. 15, 10:45-11:45 (after
practice). The purpose of this meeting
is to discuss pros and cons of hosting the Festival in 2009, something NENSA
has asked us to consider. Clinic by Stuart
Kremzner, BK director for NENSA Wed Dec. 19, 7:40-8:40 after
practice (technique TBA), start outside, this probably will continue inside. experience) for some
light running, dry land progressions, hill running with poles. General notes on coaching clinics The club’s instruction methods are
based on the 2006 USST DVD “Cross-Country Technique Fundamentals” and the
2002 instructional video, “US Ski Team Skating and Classic Technique and
Progressions - 2002” (Instructional Series VI019), modified for young
skiers. The modifications omit or
downplay the strength-related drills and add some fun/kid-oriented
interpretations of the other drills.
The modifications also include some teaching innovations that we have
found helpful for young skiers and incorporate current NENSA instructional
approaches for young skiers. The
technical progressions are summarized in the following two documents: ·
EMBK skate progression and tips (old version – under
substantial revision) ·
EMBK classic progression and tips These documents are terse – they
go over the technical fundamentals of the progressions but they omit the
games and clowning around that makes skiing (and coaching) fun. There are lots of ways to add fun to the
basic technical instruction, this will be covered in the coaching clinics. There have been some technique
developments in the past couple of years that we will be incorporating into
our program at all levels. These
mainly have to do with the strides with symmetric upper body (double poling,
V2 alternate, V2, and double pole-kick) although there are implications for
classic diagonal stride as well. The
main change is higher hands and hands closer in to the face. In brief we will be replacing the “truck
driver” position with “pinky in the eye”.
This (a) allows better core power
application and (b) is effective in bringing the hips forward/rotate the
pelvis up (this helps to avoid the “outhouse position”. Starting mid-October,
we have held weekly
roller ski practices for a dozen of the older skiers to work on making these
modifications to their technique – and to give coaches a chance to practice
coaching this new technique and see what works for BK-age skiers. (We did not open
this up widely because roller skiing is really difficult and for extended RS
practices to be useful you need to be quite comfortable on skis.) Tips and ideas emerging from these sessions
will be passed along in the EMBK on-snow coach clinics in early December. New technique DVD - 2006 USST “Cross-Country Technique Fundamentals” – this
has new on-snow drills, also there are some technique modifications relative
to the 2002 USST video, especially the “high hands” method We will be incorporating the 2006 drills
and technique changes into our 2007-08 season instructional program. Those of you who went to the spring 2007
NENSA Gaining Ground clinic got this DVD – if you didn’t go please either get
it or borrow the club’s copy (email Jim Stock). The DVD is rather annoying to use – it only
seems to work on a computer, not in the TV – but the material it contains is
very good and it has some excellent instructional footage. Also, here is a general interest article about youth coordination and skill development Weekly practice plans and Practice Schedule for 2007-08 I will try to post
practice plans here the day before practice but I won't always succeed. I'll bring printouts of the practice plans
with me to practice. Some general
scheduling comments about 0708 practices (a) On snow - Saturday mornings, 9:00-10:30: Here is the approximate schedule: 8:45: coaches' meeting
in the lodge – go over practice plans 8:45 - 9:00: waxing
(classical days) 9:00: start ON SNOW,
ON SKIS – immediately break into country groups, warm up, and commence
practice program. 10:10 – 10:30: games
(Peter Hoenig is Game Lizard) – this might start and end later if we have
enough snow to share it with Dover-Sherborne. 10:30 – we must be off
snow in limited snow situations – the deal with DS is that in low snow
conditions we get the snow until 10:30, they get it thereafter. If there is sufficient snow to share with
DS then we can extend the games or simply ski in small groups. This schedule is the
one that we settled into last year after a shakeout of trying different
things in the first few practices – this worked well. (b) On snow -
Wednesday evenings, 6:30-7:30. We
meet inside at 6:25, divide into countries, and stick with those groups for
the entire session. On-snow start time
is 6:30 (skiers and coaches should arrive early to wax if classical.) The general pattern of practice will be 10
minute warmup ski; 15-30 minutes of one or two drills (weather-dependent),
then some fast-skiing activity such as a sprint relay, a high-energy game, a
cone relay up and down hill, etc. We
end promptly at 7:30 because it is a school night. For safety reasons, in low-snow conditions
we will only open Wednesdays to the more experienced groups. Once there is sufficient snow we will open
Wed to the full team (except not Lollipops). (c) On snow -
Thursday evenings, 6:30-7:30. We
will have an optional Norway-only optional practice Thursdays, 6:30-7:30,
timed to coincide with the CSU practice (but run separately). This will mainly be strength and speed,
less work on technique. The reason for
limiting this practice to Here
are the weekly practice
plans from 2006-07. General Information about EMBK Coaching Comments
on our Technical Instruction Our focus is on
developing technique and making sure the kids have fun. Some of the kids really like to race and
are competitive and we support that, however it is not a requirement. Our objective is to provide our kids with
the love of skiing, enthusiasm, technical fundamentals, and experience that
they need for them to become top competitors when they are in high
school. This means: (1) having the kids
think of XC skiing as fun - instilling a love for the sport; (2) developing sound
technical fundamentals now; (3) developing
quickness and balance and a high top end speed; (4) avoiding negative
XC experiences that can turn them off; and (5) avoiding
burnout. Precisely what (4) and
(5) mean depends on the skier, but for all of them in my view it means not too
much racing too soon and not too much pain.
It’s better to be left wishing for more racing, than being burned out
and wishing for less. Our technical
instruction is based on modern ski technique as executed at current elite
levels, and as summarized and presented in the video, “US Ski Team Skating
and Classic Technique and Progressions - 2002” (Instructional Series VI019),
and in the 2007 USST CD, “Cross Country Technique Fundamentals”. There have been some changes between the
2002 and 2007 versions and when there are conflicts we go with the 2007. The video is available through the National
Cross Country Ski Education Foundation, http://www.nccsef.org,
and the USST CD is available through NENSA.
We follow the video and CD as closely as possible, with a few
exceptions. First, some of the
subtleties are beyond all but our best skiers so we focus mainly on the more
basic aspects of balance and body use.
Second, some of the video and much of the CD is focused on power
application and that isn’t a very useful concept for a 70lb skier! Third, ski technique continues to evolve
and we try to incorporate modern developments to the extent that it is
reasonable for our age group. For
example the notion of forward foot extension (the "soccer kick") at
the end of the skate stride is very effective in introducing uphill power –
it is not in the video but it is in
the CD, it is nice to see that the USST has caught up with a trick that we
have been teaching now for four years! Our technical work is
progressive, that is, what we do one Saturday builds on what we did in
previous practices. For the first few
practices, most of the work is done without poles, working solely on lower
body movement, forward body position, and weight transfer. We add poles and speed later but try to
return to fundamentals at least a bit in every practice. This means that for the skiers to get the
most benefit from our program, they should plan on showing up for all our
Saturday practices. For the vast majority
of kids, we do not emphasize training in the sense of improving physical
conditioning. We DO focus on obtaining
as high a top speed as possible. A 40
second sprint is an excellent way to integrate technique and balance and excitement,
and one fun way to do this is in short mixed relays towards the end of a
practice. Technique is always
evolving and there are always ambiguities, so please feel free to approach
the head coach with suggestions, to ask questions, to suggest improvements,
etc. Even if we disagree on some fine
points, it is very important to have a single unified technical message that
we give to the kids. It is terribly
confusing if different coaches tell skiers different things about where to
hold their hands for double poling, etc. – we need to resolve any
disagreements or confusion among ourselves first, then stay on message. A key purpose of the two EMBK coaching
sessions in early December is to make sure we are all on the same page so we
tell our skiers the same things. EMBK Country Structure At the beginning of the year,
skiers are placed into country groups, sorted primarily by level, goals, and
experience and secondarily by age (however there is a separate group for
lollipoppers). Each country has approximately
25 skiers, one head coach and 2 or 3 assistant coaches. The country head coach generally has
considerable ski and/or coaching experience and most country head coaches
have attended a NENSA Gaining Ground coaching clinic and have NENSA Level 1 coaching
certification. The country head coach is in
charge of the country group practice.
Country groups start and finish practices together, but practices also
typically include time in which the skiers are divided into smaller groups consisting
of one assistant coach and 4-8 skiers.
The country head coach is responsible for tracking progress of
individual skiers and coordinating with the club head coach. The country head coach is also the primary
point of contact for parents of skiers in his/her country. The country head
coach should contact the club head coach if s/he thinks a child should be
moved to a different country – ideally we would like to make such moves in
December. This 25 skier/3-4
coach country structure has many advantages.
One of the greatest is that coaches get to know the kids in an ongoing
way but there still is flexibility for coaches to miss some practices. This model allows for both structure and
spontaneity over the course of a practice.
Other advantages of this model include: parents know who to go to
about their child; it can handle considerable heterogeneity and skier
attendance fluctuations within a country; and it gives the skiers a
classroom-sized cohort of skiing friends.
Finally, a great advantage of this structure is that it is scaleable. How much experience do I need to be
an EMBK coach? Surprisingly little. Some parents have started out helping with
the Lollipoppers or our beginning skiers, and have progressed to more
advanced skiers as they have learned more.
You certainly don’t need to be a better skier than the kids to be a
good coach. Updated 2/23/08 |