Today I led the instructional session in the Stowe parking lot. We started off in sneakers for our warm up, (led by former USST member and current University National Team member Brian McLaughlin), and after everyone was loose we had a refresher on basic athletic stance. By refresher I mean... 45 minutes. 
Now, on a scale of 1-10, Basic Athletic Stance scores a generous 5 for excitement. However, on the same scale it scores a 10 for importance. In ski racing, athletes are only in this position for a split second each turn and spend most of their time on the edge of the skis either initiating turns, creating pressure at the top of the turn, accelerating in the fall line through the apex, or accelerating through the completion of the turn. Despite this differential, basic athletic stance is so important because it allows skiers to enter each turn in the proper position. A balanced position in the transition reduces potential mistakes and makes body movements to start each turn more efficient and the athlete operates within the correct movement track.
Once of skates we transitioned through a balanced jump progression into GS and SL turns. I was extremely impressed by the improvement for all of our campers. The counselors were also fantastic, working with each camper and showing the special attention and direction we pride ourselves on here at SDSC. We finished up, as always, with the SL Challenge to push some limits.
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