Mental performance coaching for skiers
It is interesting that when reading various ski instructor and sports coaching manuals how much is written about technique and how little is written about mental state. For instance one ski manual I know of has 200 odd pages on technique, ski exercises and drills etc. and just one page on mental preparation. It is great to have a solid understanding of ski and sport technique, but what is really interesting is how little effort is focused on the mental aspect of teaching and coaching skiing or in fact any sport. This is even more interesting when you actually get out on the mountain and start teaching and coaching the public to ski. How many times do you here the classic ski instructor line ‘don’t be scared’? If skiing was just about the 200 odd pages of technique and nothing else why is your friendly ski instructor telling you not to be scared? Or how many times have you heard one of your athletes say ‘I can’t do that’? Or some other limiting decision they are choosing to vocalise, maybe to protect or prevent them from achieving their full potential.
So, now you get out your handy instructors manual and refer to the one page on mental preparation and all is solved?! Or maybe all isn’t solved?
So what is the solution?
One approached is to carry on as normal and hope everything works out fine!
There is a problem with this approach: To carry on as normal will produce the same results as nothing has changed. Your input as a coach to the coaching equations is the same, so the result will be the same, as the client or athlete in front of you is processing this same information with the same brain which will come to the same conclusion. And around you go in the same circle again, probably leading to a frustrated instructor or coach and maybe a disappointed client. Not really that successful.
Maybe a better approach would be that the instructor or coach has been trained both in ski / sports technique and mental coaching and is able to help the client facilitate real change and achieve their goals.
Keep an eye open for our blogs on ski mental performance coaching on Chalets Direct. If you are interested in building your chalet with a different type of wood and want to move your skiing to another level then maybe now book your place on an Alpinemojo summer performance ski courses on the Saas-Fee glacier
