Twice a week my Valley Kids come to ski school. They’ve just come back from a two week Christmas break. Before Christmas I spent four days with them practising our pizzas on some green mats, the easy hill that has a 10 meter run. After four days of doing pizzas you go a little bit crazy. What else can I do to progress these kids? But sometimes it just takes time and practise.
After all this time I thought they may have forgotten what a pizza is altogether. Then my four year-olds came… After one run on the green carpets I took them onto the magic carpet. Four of them could control their speed in a wedge and number five was struggling. He just pushed his legs out into a bit split. Then I told him something and I guess it clicked. O my god! Number five was stopping! I could now take him without worrying too much.
On the second day of the week we were skiing down in a line and nobody was crashing into each other. Most of the times anyway. The four boys and girls with more control can now turn through a slalom of big fake flowers and I taught them how to stop safely, the way we would on the big mountain. We came flying down as airplanes and did jumps. Even number five is slowly improving. If he really wants to, he can turn.
It is amazing to see these little guys progress. I am so proud of what they’ve achieved so far. The road can be frustrating, but in the end it’s something you’ve accomplished together, as a team. It is great to see them smile, to notice they listen to you and to know that you’ve been part of this.
