Interski report
	New Zealand Korea 2007 Matt Mohr New Zealand, Our nearest skiing relative. The Kiwis presented an extremely well put together presentation that was an overview of skiing NZ style. Firstly instead of teaching the traditional skills such as Stance and balance, Rotary, Edging and Pressure control, the Kiwi’s focus on 4 planes of balance. Lateral, Rotational, Fore aft and Vertical. This in itself was a really interesting concept to find out about and an area that certainly holds plenty of water in my books. It made me consider this theory and how I teach. Essentially it really is very similar to our Basic Skills but in a slightly different slant on it. Lateral looks at edging and inclination, how we do it and how we change it. In this portion we were told that they are focusing on keeping the legs quite long throughout the turn and focusing on making sure the hips stay over the feet and not fall behind, consequently they seem to have very small focus on angulation and when they ski the look is what we would call “Banked”. But bear in mind this is what they believe to be the strongest biomechanical position. Rotational looks at how we turn our skis and what we use to turn them, this is where I found the largest difference to our system and upon trying it was surprised at the results but although I may be biased I felt we are creating a stronger skier and a safer position for our spine. The NZ system talks about rotating the leg and hip to turn the ski whilst creating counter by a rotation of the Spine in the lower section between the bottom of the ribs and top of the pelvis. Now don’t go and start saying it’s weird or bad or anything they work very closely with the top world cup coaches and are very well educated. It feels very odd at first but ultimately seems to work. Fore Aft looks at how we stay centered on our skis and what we move, bend etc to keep us standing. It was a focus that I felt we called pressure control. How do we maintain a good athletic stance through out all our turns? Vertical considers a similar area such as dealing with forces and allowing things to bend and adapt to the variances of terrain and an ever changing surface. How tall do we stand what to do to maintain good contact etc.   The New Zealand presentation was very interesting to see and was very a relaxed environment for us all to see there system and give it a try. I think that we should look into what they are doing and how their 4planes of balance affects their students compared to our current system. I don’t necessarily agree with all of the biomechanical differences but believe it would be valuable to explore their concepts.  Overall a great 90 minutes that explained what they are doing and why. Well Done New Zealand. Hungary Korea 2007 Matt Mohr At Interski this year Hungary presented a great concept to the Delegation. They are working on moving away from the Traditional style of putting groups together by classic abilities and grouping instead by 3 learning styles. Firstly they are using catchy names to help people decide where they should group themselves. Hips Don’t Lie – For the technically minded those who would like to learn by means of descriptions, Biomechanics, physics and a more detailed lesson. For the thinkers. Soar Like an Eagle – For those who like to feel their way down the hill using plenty of just try it style of learning, Lots of analogies and plenty of time visualising. For the feelers. Lionheart – For the Brave!!!, well really for the people who want to get out and give it a go. Get stuck into it, minimal stationary teaching and plenty of skiing.  For the doers. Overall the Hungarian presentation was well put together and defiantly made me think about what we do and how we group people. This in mind I did feel that this is something we already teach to our instructors and cover well in our manual. It was a fun 90 minutes that gave me a refresher on really reaching out to all the different people in our groups everyday it was a concept that I really hope all our instructors were already doing. To read more reports click here.