Fundamentals

Goals

• Freestyle skiers are being expose to all the freestyle disciplines and the main focus is on learning the fundamental skiing and acrobatic skills to build a solid foundation. THIS IS CRITICAL!
• Develop  fundamental movement and  fundamentals skiing skills  in fun, structured and unstructured environments. 
• Learn the proper ski and acrobatic technique, movement patterns and refine the fundamental movement. 

Key points 

• Girls: 6-8 years old / Boys: 6-9 years old
• Previous research demonstrates that without the development of the  fundamental movement skills, many children and youth choose to drop out of sports participation.    
• Proper development of the fundamental movement skills allows skiers to excel in freestyle skiing and in various  complementary sports. 

Athlete Skills

Athlete Development Matrix 

Children should be doing 180 minutes of activity per day, with 60 of those minutes spent completing some vigorous physical activity. 

At this stage, the technical goal for the freestyle skier is to develop the fundamental acrobatic and skiing skills for all the discipline to be polyvalent, agile and able to adapt to different context. This development will happen in structured and unstructured environments. 

Physical  

• Period of slow-steady overall growth and development. 
• Muscles and bones:  
  • Strength and muscle coordination will improve rapidly through participation in complementary sports.  
  • Ligaments and connective tissues are becoming stronger, but the bone ends are still in the process of calcifying.  
  • Larger muscle groups are more developed than smaller muscle groups 

• Work with the skiers on:  
  • Spatial awareness, action and reaction response and adaptability.
  • Balance 
    • Stability Skills - Ability to adjust rapidly and accurately with the appropriate compensation movement.  
  • Flexibility 
  • Agility and coordination  
    • Complete short 5-10 second bursts of activity when working on agility and coordination exercises. 
  • Basic strength:
    • Squatting Movement – Body weight double leg squat.  
    • Pulling actions – Chin up, pull an object toward the body, play tug of war, learn to row 
    • Pushing actions by learning how to push up properly   
  • Postural control and core strength:
    • Body position games and simple core exercises 
  • Locomotor Skills - Movements responsible for transporting the body from one place to another 
  • Manipulative Skills - Movements responsible for either sending away, receiving, or travelling with an object 
  • Low intensity, aerobic, training sessions as the heart size increases. Anaerobic system is not fully developed. 

Ski  

Important to focus on the fundamental skiing skills to develop a better skier and learn the basics.  

• Skiing skills:  
  • Introduce edging and carving.
  • Introduce separation of the upper and lower body.
  • Basic body position and alignement, weight shift and loading while doing medium radius turns on groomed runs.
  • Learn the pole plant timing
  • Able to do 5 to 10 consecutive turns in the mogul course (no jump).
  • Standing on the outside ski.
  • Weight transfer and independence.
  • Controlled turn shape.
  • Can power plow in switch skiing.
  • Ski quarter pipe, smaller jumps with pipe entry, curved transitions, pump track.
  • Features:
    • Slide box both directions
    • Slide rails and flat rails.

Acrobatic  

It’s really important for the athlete to develop the acrobatic skills at the same time as the skiing skills, if not before, to have an optimal progression in freestyle skiing.  

To maximize the athlete development in acrobatic, it’s recommended to prepare the athlete on floor and trampoline first and then work the skills on water ramp/air bag and then on snow. 

At this stage, the child will keep on developing spatial awareness. The focus on the execution of proper technique, movement patterns, refine of the  fundamental movement skills  and gaining quality is still the main goal.  

• Floor skills:  
  • Very important to help the child be aware of his body and work on the body tightness in a stable environment.  
• Work on:  
  • Core strength position (hollow, plank, push up hold, candle) 
  • Rolls in different direction  
  • Steps for the handstand 

• Trampoline:
  • The trampoline is an essential tool that is being use for the development of all the freestyle skiers. It’s important for the child to be introduce to that tool as early as possible.  
  • Work on:  
    • Proper basic bouncing technique (arm circle, high body position). 
    • Controlled and solid stop bounce.
    • Emphasis on being able to do consecutive straight jumps with a variety of positions/grabs.  
    • Straight jumps with spins (180°, 360° 540°) both directions. 
    • Jumps with the basic landings (Seat drop, Front drop, Back drop) 
    • Easy combination (Seat drop to Front drop, Front drop to Back drop) 
    • Roller skills (Seat rollers, Back rollers, Front and back turntables) 
    • Progression steps for Front tuck and Back tuck 
    • Front turn-tables, Misty roll over  

• Water ramps/Air bag :
  • At the end of this stage, the athlete can be introduced to the water ramp and/or air bag training. Learn to swim with skis on, be comfortable in the water, ride ini-ramp and jump turn.
  • For air bag, make sure that the child is comfortable enough on skis to make it to the air bag. 
  • Work on:  
    • In-run stance, body position approaching the jump and on the take off.
    • Proper landing technic 
    • Control and precision in the air 
    • Up-right jumps in a wide variety of positions/grabs, Double up-right jumps, 180°.
    • Triple up-right and 360° for more advance athletes. 

• On snow small jump:
  • Learn the security and the signs for the air site and the snow park. 
  • Work on:  
    • Confidant stance in front of the jump and body position on the take-off.
    • Learn the pop.
    • Control and precision in the air. 
    • Strong and controlled landing. 
    • Up-right jumps in a wide variety of positions /grabs, Double up-right jumps, 180° both ways.
    • 360° for more advance athletes. 

• On snow quarter-pipe:
  • Work on:
    • Spread eagle, 180°, 360°, 540°.

Psychological  

• Start thinking in more complex ways. 
• Increase of the attention spans, but still have difficulties staying attentive for long periods of time. 
• Introduction of basic concepts of sportsmanship, fair play, teamwork, and rules of the game. 
• Provide fun and inclusive activities to develop the passion for freestyle skiing. 
• Promotes a feeling of success to help increased motivation to overcome challenges. 
• Build confidence through competence. 
• Develop self-esteem through the reinforcement of the effort, creativity, enjoyment and learning new skills. 
• Introduce tools for dealing with fear. 
• Ensure athletes are comfortable in their social environment. 
• Encouraging positive self-talk and thinking. 
• Repetition will promote the consolidation of most movement patterns.  

Training Structure

• All activities are based on fun. 
• Get involved in the Fundamentalz program of a freestyle ski club.  
• Skiing with  parents  as often as possible.   
• Freestyle ski activities recommendations; aim for:  
  • Ski 30 + days per year where 75% of that time should be structured and unstructured ‘playtime’. 
  • Trampoline 40 to 60 hours per year (structured and unstructured) 
  • About 120 to 175 jumps on the water ramp. 
  • Other structured and unstructured sports and activities. 

Example of the programming for this stage:  

• December to March:  
  • Ski 1 day or 2 half-day/week with the ski club 
  • Trampoline 1h/ week organized by the ski club or a gymnastic club 
• April:  
  • Ski with parents in unstructured environment 
  • Do other activities 
• May and June:  
  • Trampoline 1h or 2h/week organized by the ski club or a gymnastic club 
• July & August:  
  • Water ramp 1 day or 2 half-day/week  
  • Trampoline 1h/week 
• September:  
  • Do other activities 
• October and November:  
  • Trampoline 1h or 2h/week organized by the ski club or a gymnastic club 

Coaches  

Coach pathway 

• Coaches need  the following coaches’ courses:  
  • Fundamentalz on snow module 
  • Make Ethical Decision 
  • Making Head Ways 
  • Teaching and Learning 
  • Planning a practice 
  • Air 1 (if you are coaching the trampoline courses) 

Terrains  

Terrain guides for MO, HP, SS 

Events & Competitions

Fundamentalz events 

• Compete in one Fundamentalz event in the season. 
• In-house “mini competition” or skills events. 
• Skiers should complete 10 to 15 training days prior to entering any competition/events. 

Judges and officials 

Judges pathway 

Officials pathway 

• No freestyle ski judges are needed for the fun activities at this stage.
• No freestyle officials are needed for the fun activities at this stage.  
• Officials are trained at the provincial level and they have their official level 1 to 3 for the provincial events. 
• For the regional events, officials have their level 1 and 2. 
• Provincial events are organized by local clubs and supported by the PSO.  
• Regional events are organized by local clubs and supported by the regional association and/or by the PSO.  

Other Influences

To come