Dec. 07, 2011 - Issue #842: Hroses
Simple ski games for kids (and big kids)
Master the basics and you'll soon be on the chairlift
Get a grip on sliding on snow with one ski on before you tackle two.
While on flat ground, clip one ski on by pressing the toe into the front of the ski binding, lining up your foot and stomping down with the heel. You'll hear a click and a piece will pop up at the back of the ski once you're clipped in. With your weight on your free foot, try sliding the ski back and forth along the snow a few times. Then try pushing off with your free foot and gliding a little way on your ski. Remove the ski, switch feet and repeat. As confidence builds you can see how far you can glide, pick up the pace or have a relay race.
Quick tip: The vast majority of skis do not have a left and right, so you can use the same ski on both feet.
Practise speed control and stopping using a snowplow or pizza.
Start on flat ground with your skis hip width apart, your knees bent a little and your weight leaning forward. Push the back of your skis out without lifting your feet and the tips should come together—but not touch—forming a V shape. This is known as a snowplow or pizza. Now slide your skis back to parallel; these are your french fries. A big pizza slice will slow you down and an even bigger one will stop you, while moving the skis closer to parallel—french fries—will cause you to pick up speed. Try varying the size of the pizza slice until you're comfortable with speed control and stopping. Tell children you're feeling very hungry and only a giant slice of pizza will do, then a smaller slice, then add in some fries.
Quick tip: Once kids start to master stopping and skiing slowly, continue the fun with a game of red light, green light. Skiers set off fast when you shout green light, ski slowly for a yellow light and stop for a red one.
Use an easy slalom course to practise your turns.
Find a wide area of slope easily visible from above and create a straightforward slalom course by placing ski poles or large snowballs on the snow in a well-spaced straight line. Have children ski through the slalom course making turns around each ski pole. On the next go round, have them ski the course the opposite way to last time. You can vary the difficulty by placing poles closer together or by patterning them in a zig-zag line down the slope, forcing your student to make wider turns.
Quick tip: Use lightweight or soft items to create your slalom course so no injuries are causing by a wayward skier crashing into them.
Practise turning with the weight on your outside—or downhill—ski.
Once you're starting to gain confidence with turning, zoom down the hill like an airplane to practise shifting your weight from one side to another—a key ingredient of a successful turn. While traversing a slope, hold your hands straight out from your sides like an airplane. As you approach a turn to the right, create a nice big snowplow to control your speed and bend down to touch your left knee as you turn, coming back to centre once you're facing across the slope again. On a turn to the left, bend down and touch your right knee.
Quick tip: Children can get confused as to which knee to touch, so get them to follow behind you in a spaced out line and copy your actions.
Practise stance and balance using little bunny hops as you traverse a slope.
While standing on flat ground, crouch down by bending your knees, hips and ankles, while your upper body remains upright. Do a little jump up into the air and see if you can lift the entire length of your skis off the snow an inch or two. Once you're comfortable, try this while traversing a gentle slope. Bunny hops are an excellent way to get comfortable with moving more on your skis and a good way to perfect the correct stance. If you're leaning too far forward or back, you won't be able to lift both the tips and tails of your ski when you jump.
Quick tip: Once you've mastered bunny hops while traversing a slope, then try them while turning.
Performed in a snowplow or with parallel skis, figure 8s are a great way to practise teamwork, observation and turning.
This game is best played with slightly older children, ages seven and up. Form pairs and spread each team well apart across the slope, keeping an eye on traffic from higher up the hill. Appoint a leader, who will ski slowly down, making nice round turns. The follower will ski a turn or two behind them and try to mirror the turns, forming a string of figure 8s in the snow. If your leader makes their first turn to the right the follower will turn to the left and then cross the leader's tracks in the centre. Before setting off, select a stopping point where the leader and follower will switch. Have your skiers examine their tracks in the snow to see how well they did.
Quick tip: When playing figure 8s, try to match the speed of the two skiers or ask them to go slowly so that nobody is rushing to keep up.
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