BASI has expanded the elements that it shows in the Performance Profile Chart, so here are the reasons. Understanding this will help you to succeed on your BASI course and in your career as a snowsports instructor and performer.
There is a new family of Elements in the chart, called FLOW.
Under this heading we have grouped the following elements:
Managing the flow of forces through the snow, equipment and body.
This new element allows us to deal more easily with a sophisticated aspect of snowsports performance: dealing with complex and changing forces.
Understanding these issues allows performers to train more productively and perform with more accuracy and sensitivity. It involves developing accurate inputs and responding to complexity with accuracy and sensitivity.
Examining this element in more detail has also allowed us to address these issues more directly in our training courses, helping us to prepare you for success.
Fluency and ease
This new element clearly expresses qualities that we all recognize in skilful performances. Our courses now address the issues of how to train for these qualities.
Coordination and Rhythm
These were previously listed under Body Management. They have been placed here to represent their importance as an interaction with the snow and the terrain.
Here's how the elements will look in the left hand column of your Performance Profile Chart.
Performance Elements
There is a new family of Elements in the chart, called FLOW.
Under this heading we have grouped the following elements:
Managing the flow of forces through the snow, equipment and body.
This new element allows us to deal more easily with a sophisticated aspect of snowsports performance: dealing with complex and changing forces.
Understanding these issues allows performers to train more productively and perform with more accuracy and sensitivity. It involves developing accurate inputs and responding to complexity with accuracy and sensitivity.
Examining this element in more detail has also allowed us to address these issues more directly in our training courses, helping us to prepare you for success.
Fluency and ease
This new element clearly expresses qualities that we all recognize in skilful performances. Our courses now address the issues of how to train for these qualities.
Coordination and Rhythm
These were previously listed under Body Management. They have been placed here to represent their importance as an interaction with the snow and the terrain.
Here's how the elements will look in the left hand column of your Performance Profile Chart.
Performance Elements
- Body Management
Posture
Balance
Movements
Steering
Pressure
Edging
Rotation
Control
Control of speed
Control of line
Adjustments
Adjustments for snow
Adjustments for terrain
Flow
Balancing the forces of the curve & terrain
Fluency and ease
Coordination and Rhythm
Great performance has always been a sophisticated, coordinated whole, rather than a collection of parts.
The new family of elements helps us to work to integrate all of the other technical content into a skilful, sensitive, coordinated performance.
The Performance Analysis Checklist will help you in your work with your clients and it will help you to understand how your trainer evaluates your performance.
It will also help you to understand the nature of the training on your course:
Some External feedback from your Trainer and your fellow course members, on technical content, can be useful in the early stages of the development of accurate inputs.
Some External feedback from your Trainer and your fellow course members, on tactical application, can be useful in the early stages of the development of Control of Speed and line and adjustments for snow and terrain.
Intrinsic feedback (feeling it for yourself) has to take over if your performance is to progress to late practice phase and beyond. (BASI rating scale 4 and beyond).
All of the elements in the Flow family are developed by intrinsic feedback (feeling it for yourself) and this makes the difference between a mechanical performance and one that is sensitive, accurate and in tune with the snow.
Much of the time on your training course will be aimed at helping you to develop your performance by moving beyond the limitations of external feedback.
Most of your on snow training, both on your BASI course and after it, should involve lots of skiing and riding, using intrinsic feedback to shape the quality of the performance.
This is how the movements and applications are grooved and the flexible responses are developed. And it means you get to ski and ride a lot. Which is fun, right?
On your BASI course, the activities develop from simple routines and subroutines (drills) to more sophisticated performances. And from simple terrain to more complex conditions.
It's fun, it's effective and you'll love it.
Have fun with this stuff and good luck on your next BASI course. Hugh
Hugh Monney is a BASI trainer, Director of the British Alpine Ski and Snowboard School in Les Gets and is BASI's Research coordinator.