December 2020
apsi snowpro 28
During Interski 2019, Jane Scheer and I conducted a workshop on progressions for teaching basic skating. The approaches to teaching basic skating have evolved rapidly over the last few years. In Australian Nordic ski schools, there is a lot of demand to teach skating to first timers which is challenging our notion that skating is an advanced skill and only taught after learning the fundamentals of classical skiing.
One of the approaches we demonstrated was the use of the half-skate, also known as the marathon skate. America’s Bill Koch first observed the skate step at a Swedish marathon, then applied it to win the 1982 World Cup and the first non-European to win a medal at a World Championships. While the marathon skate is a well know technique by instructors, it is not often used as a teaching progression. The half-skate involves keeping one ski in the diagonal track with the other skating. It is a very useful approach to teaching skating because it isolates the skating action to one side at a time, the diagonal track provides stability to the skier when gliding and skating on one ski at a time emphasises the edging action required to provide power via the “push” leg.
By Zac Zaharias
The HalfSkate Or Marathon Skate?
The progressions are shown in the table below. This should be done without poles and on flat terrain. The first stage is to introduce the concept of push from one leg and glide while balancing on the other ski in the diagonal track. This progression is also used in classical skiing, however there is a variation in that rather than pushing off the ball of the foot, we angle the foot with the toe pointing out to imitate a skating action. This should be practiced on both sides by swapping the gliding ski. The second stage involves placing the ski back onto the push leg and angling the ski on the push leg so the skier can “edge” the ski to push off before transferring weight onto the glide ski. The more power that is needed, the more acute the angle between the push leg and the gliding ski. Common errors include; not edging but sliding the ski on the surface, the foot placement being too far to the rear of the gliding ski (the skier needs to place the ski forward before edging) or pushing off the ball of the foot rather than edging. This stage is critical to correct errors, focus on correct stance and weight transfer. Ensure that you provide lots of practice and feedback. The third stage introduces greater power and flow into the action as well as a bit of fun. As the skier pushes off on an edge, the skier swaps track with the gliding ski. This simulates the stepping forward action on a full-skate and also frees the skier from being locked into a single track. Emphasis is placed
