In-Depth 2022 Post 3
By Julianne Moseley
During my mentor sessions so far, things have gone quite well. I have received a lot of feedback each time and both my mentor and I are communicating well. I say this because we are both on the same page and check in with one another occasionally to make sure we are on track. This is how we maintain a connection with one another. If it has been a while since we have talked, one of us reaches out to the other to keep the project moving. During each session, I ask him questions, tell him about my progress, my major focuses at the moment, and ask for feedback on the videos I have shown him so far. This is our routine every time we have a discussion, and it is good to have a routine to stay on track. Something else that has been going well is we both are taking a leadership role during the conversation. To explain, I mean that not only one person is contributing to the conversation while the other listens. We both have our points and listen to each other, making our meetings balanced.
One of the largest logical communication challenges we have faced so far is meeting in person. I do not get to see my uncle every two weeks, so often our meetings are over the phone. To add, we both have different schedules, so it is hard to find a day that works for both of us to ski. His sons play hockey on Saturdays, so his family skis on Sundays. But my family has soccer on Sundays, so we ski on Saturdays. Therefore, we have produced a new system. Instead of being on the hill on the same day (which would be the most beneficial, but there is not much I can really do to change that), I send him videos of my progress. Occasionally, he will send videos of himself, so I can see his form and the way he does certain drills. This way he can see my form during drills and racing, and I can see his form to help improve mine. After sending him the videos, I receive feedback from him. Over spring break, I am going on vacation with my uncle (my mentor), so during this time, I will get a lot of time to ask him questions and meet in person with him. We will not be able to ski during this time, but we will be able to exchange information. I think meeting in person is more beneficial, so hopefully I will get to talk to him about my progress and gain a lot of feedback over spring break.
If I could improve the quality of the interactions I have with my mentor, I would try to plan for a video call instead of a phone call. In a video call, at least we can see one another, which is a step up from a phone call. This would make our meetings closer to an in-person meeting. I would also get my mentor to show me the angle my skis should be at on turns by moving his legs (how far I must lean onto my edges), so I can try to get to that angle. I am trying to carve and am making progress, but I do not think I have completely gotten it yet. I think I need to lean into my edges even more. The third thing I would change is I would try to plan meetings more in advance than I plan them now. I usually ask my mentor if we can have a meeting one or two days before we end up having the meeting. But it would be nice if I asked him when he was free about a week in advance to make sure there will be a time that we are both free to chat.
So far, I have made substantial progress. I have researched and looked at large muscle groups used in ski racing. A lot of the large muscle groups are in the legs, which I expected. Some major muscle groups involved in downhill ski racing are the quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, and muscles in the feet. This is good because I play soccer, so most of my strength comes from my legs. In the first blog post, I mentioned that I was able to make it down the GMC Race Centre in 24.8 seconds. After running through the track again this week, with carving as my focus, I am now down to 23.51 seconds. As I went down the hill through the track, I focused on carving my skis instead of sliding them across the snow. I think focusing on this helped me to get a better time.
In this video, I am in the white jacket, practicing my carving down the slope. I think the angles of my legs are getting sharper, improving my form. Carving has been my main focus for the past few weeks, and at the beginning of this project the first time I went through the GMC Race Centre, all I was thinking about was going fast. Having a focus as I went down the track helped me, and I was able to improve my time by over a second. I am making progress with carving. I have not yet nailed it, but my form is getting better. My mentor told me that I need to have a wider stance to get onto my edges for carving, so this is what I tried this week. It helped a lot because this week I noticed a different feeling of being on my edges. When I practiced, I also thought about the Olympics, because I watched quite a bit of skiing and tried to notice how they carved on their edges. I know my form is nowhere near the form that the Olympians have, but I tried to mimic their form to improve mine. I think the Olympics have helped to contribute to my carving progress. I am happy with my progress and will continue to lean even more on my turns and improve my time. I have erased one second from my original time so far in this project and have two more to go to reach my goal.