Rossi Answers Chapter 2.1 (Vision)

[Horton]

http://www.ballofspray.com/images/2014/rossi.gifThanks again to all the Ballers who are participating in this contest and continued discussion. As I read through your questions, it is apparent to me that most of them are very similar. My hopes here are to help fill in those voids that you have so that we may dig deeper into some new questions. I would also like to encourage questions from our longer line, slower speeds skiers too. This is not meant to be an elite level discussion. What I have found through the years of skiing and coaching is that what you don't understand is what holds your skiing back and that most of us would rather focus on what we do know as it is easier to practice and more rewarding. I have always tried to understand things off the water first and then spend time with the on the water practice. I feel as though a lot of skiers reverse this and try to do the actual practice portion of skiing without understanding the theories. A really good homework assignment for each of you would be to write down in detail what you believe happens from setting up for your pull out through the completion of the course. Be extremely detailed in every area. Any place where you struggle with detail shows an area that you can start to dig deeper into. Now onto this chapters winning questions...

@skier2788 - Mr. Rossi thank you for doing this again. I have been told that I stare at the tip of my ski during my turns. I was wondering where your vision is during your pullout glide, centerline, entering the buoy, during the turn, and at the finish. I have been told to look at the next buoy and then set a line to be there earlier than the buoy. Also have been told to look straight across the lake at the far shore. Was wondering what your thoughts are and where you look during the various segments of the course. Thank you.

Another great question! Vision is a key component of successful skiing no matter what the skiers ability level is. I use the left hand pre gate as my visual for when to pull out. In my glide for the gates, I take a grand look at the course. I like to see my width versus buoy 2 width but I'm not fixated on buoy 2. For my turn in for the gates point, I look for the right hand gate ball and the front of the boat,. The moment I pick my "go" time, I pick my vision up and focus on buoy 1. This is very simple to do but will feel awkward at first. I keep my vision locked on buoy 1 as I start accelerating toward the gates. The boat impedes my ability to see buoy one at some point, but I keep focused on where buoy one is (try and use your x-ray vision here). As I enter the wakes, my vision picks up buoy 1 again and I remain focused on it through the edge change and pre turn. I keep my vision on it right up until the point that I am confident that I will make it around the buoy. At the moment I know I will clear buoy 1 with my ski, I take my vision to buoy 2 and repeat the above process. If you have never worked on vision, this will definitely mess you up for a bit. What I can tell you is when you are skiing well, you have good vision (but probably never realized it) and when you are skiing bad, well your vision is all over the place. By implementing vision into your skiing, you will ski more consistent and will find it easier to implement other new techniques into your skiing. For a much more detailed article on this please go to http://slalomguru.com/articles.php?article=vision

I look forward to continuing these discussions in the forum and also plan on answering many of the non winning questions as their own topics under the "Ask Rossi" heading.

Radar Skis, Tige Boats, Performance Ski & Surf, and Aseda Raw Honey

[skier2788]

Great article and great advice. Thank you for the insight. Definitely working on this my next set out.

[SkiJay]

After 18 months and counting, changing where I look has been by far the hardest habit to change I've ever worked on, and one of the most beneficial . . . when I get it right. Thanks for affirming how important it is Chris!

[ozski]

@Skijay - I spent a few days skiing with Nate and he certainly coached me to look well in front of the ball. I've spent some time working on it and your correct its not an easy thing to change. One of the benefits is that looking and skiing into that space in front of the ball helps you relax a little in the turn. It creates the perception of more time and I think it helps.

[skier2788]

@skijay say it isn't so I have only begun to change this if it took 18 months

[andjules]

Same spirit, different targets:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1bhjpYn3n8

 

*edit* don't know if people are passionate about what to look at after the current ball (the next ball, the next gates, straight down the course), but I suspect whatever keeps you from overturning is what's key.

[ForrestGump]

One thing I think we should clarify........... shifting the vision does NOT necessarily mean swinging the head.

[ForrestGump]

Building the muscle memory to consistenly look at a specific spot across the water/front of the boat has got to be one of the toughest things to do. That little red ball is just so damn pretty! I honestly think this might be one of those things where slowing the boat down for like a month would help.

[skier2788]

@shaneh can you explain not swinging your head?

[ForrestGump]

Just keep in mind that your body follows your head. If you make big movements with your head, you'll make big movements with your body, which can cause you to cut off the apex. We're talking about vision here and your eyes are not stuck straight ahead in the eye sockets, so you don't need to initiate the vision redirection Rossi speaks of with your head.

[jimbrake]

@ShaneH - that's not an absolute. There are definitely skiers that can turn their head and not mess up their turns. Two that come immediately to mind are April Coble and Nate Smith on his offside. I am not counted among them. I have to keep my vision down the buoy line on each side to ski back to the handle smoothly.

[ForrestGump]

Oh I realize that. Regardless of what April and Nate do, I still maintain that the average skier is going to do themselves a disservice by moving their head with their vision as opposed to shifting the eyes to redirect the vision and then letting their head and body follow.

[A_B]

I would agree with Shane. 30 years ago people said you helped your turn by turning your head and looking across course. I tried it and a friend tried it, he liked it and I didn't, and he still does it. Just because someone picks their nose with their free hand and runs some passes doesn't mean it's for everyone, unless their shoulders are somewhat countered and level....