| Getting Started How to start your own Synchro Team The women of Aspen Team Diva are very excited to act as hosts for the Annual Aspen World Synchro Championships since 2003. If you want to join us, here are some ideas on how to get a team started. |
| Aspen World Synchro Championships |
| How to start your own Synchro Team training These are just some ideas on how to get started. Please feel free to share your ideas with us on what your team does to get in Sync. For some inspiration, please read PSIA-RM Pg 15 Winter10/11 Article-Synchro Competition at the 50/50 Teams can be either 6 or 8 person teams with one alternate. Since the contest has one mandatory figure, the School Figure, you could start by training that one before attempting to design your own figures. You can see the German team performing the school figure in this youtube video right at the beginning after ti says second run. It's not necessary for all skiers to ski on the same ski, but helpful if they are at least of similar dimensions and turn radius. Most teams use a slalom type ski. Training ideas (always with safety in mind first) There are several different cues to use while syncing. - pole touch (leader should be consistent with timing of both swing and touch) - edge change (watch the skis) - body (watch the body movements, try and hide behind the leader if you are sync with them) begin by training in pairs One person in front of the other Have the pairs start turning in the same direction In sync The lead person needs to pick a fall line and try and stick to it as well as stick to a consistent turn size and speed down the hill. It's easiest to start with Short turns. The 2nd person needs to try and match the leader's turn shape, rhythm, speed down the hill keeping the same distance between them. Spacing should leave enough room for another skier to fit between you for safety sake. Once you have several pairs able to do this, switch the pairs around, switch leaders and start to notice who is better at leading. The leader should be very consistent, and the followers will express which leaders are easiest to follow and keep the fall line. Then try the pairs in op sync, meaning they turn in opposite directions. The leader turns right first and 2nd skier turns left first. 2nd skier tries to match the leader's turn shape, rhythm, speed down the hill keeping the same distance between them while staying in opposite sync with the leader. Continue with this slowly increasing the numbers in the groups, 3 people in sync, 3 people op-sync (1st and 3rd turn right, 2nd turn left.) Then groups of 4 and so on always keeping safety first. Another move to learn is Pops This is when the rhythm of the turns remains the same as the leader, and with an extra hit to the edges, you change lanes or fall lines. A figure can be designed where all members do this together or only certain members Pop to change the shape of the figure. In this example, you have 8 skiers forming 2 vertical lines op sync. (fig 1) All the x's are turning one way and the o's the other. Skiers one and 3 (x's) of the lines turning right while skiers 2 and 4 (o's) are turning left When everyone pops, the effect is to separate the two lines into 3 lines (fig 2) center line with 4 people and the two outside lines of 2 people. When you do a 2nd pop, the separation is 4 lines of 2 or boxes. (fig 3) fig 1 fig 2 fig 3 o o o o o o x x x x x x o o o o o o x x x x x x Starting This is one way to start: The skiers stand on the slope facing down the fall line in a wedge. Use the poles in front of you positioned in a manner which will hold you on the slope once your skis are together. Have the back person direct the lineup to make sure all are in position. Have someone further back in the line (not necessarily last) with a loud voice do the call. Pole Cue (team members raise the pole for the direction they are going to turn, this way you can correct anyone who has the wrong direction before you leave) Ready (team focuses) Right ski (all team members move their right ski to center on the word 'ski') Left ski (all team members move their left ski to center on the word 'ski') push two all members push hard with both poles once push one all members push hard with both poles twice. and.... Then the lead skier raises their right pole high up and on the drop of that pole, everyone turns out of the fall line. By saying push two before one, everyone knows how many pushes there will be. Some steeper slopes will only require one push or even just a release. Stopping 3 different ways of stopping while you train (Be extra careful to make sure all know which method you are using before starting so you don't have the front people stopping and the back continuing and running over them.)
(in this case facing right on the left foot downhill ski) If everyone in the line starts counting this down loudly, there is less chance of someone at the back missing it because they didn't see the pole rise. You can see this exact stop in the same youtube video of Team Germany doing the School figure. When it comes to competition, your stops have to be precise without sliding forward or backwards, hold the stop so that you don't receive a deduction from the judges. Designing your Own figures Please refer to the rule book to see how the scoring works and what has more value. On the other hand, you might be served best trying to choose things that you can do properly rather than fill the slope with complicated moves which you might very well mix up or not perform cleanly. You'll find from practicing the school figure, one of the hardest things to do well is to have people line up perfectly on the long radius turns. Since this is the most difficult thing to do, try to avoid it in the figures you have to design your own. Repeats are allowed, so for a first year team, learn 2 more figures as well as the school figure and you can repeat the one you are performing the best. Fine tuning comes getting people to pressure the ski with similar pressure and timing as the leader. We especially look forward to welcoming new teams to join the returning teams, National and International. We look forward to hearing of your interest and any inquiries you may have. We hope we have sparked your interest and we look forward to hearing from you soon. Please pass the word. Come sync with everyone in April. For further details visit: www.aspenteamdiva.com/synchro or email: TeamDiva@hotmail.com happy and safe training! |
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