By Dylan Henderson
The Whitewater Ski Team has a new athlete this year who is visually impaired. Brenda MacDonald is able to see a fuzzy image with one eye and no vision with the other. Her dad, Stephen, is her guide and they communicate through a headset allowing her the freedom to follow or lead.
Brenda has been racing in her home province of Nova Scotia for four years and has come to B.C. to attend Selkirk College and enjoy her passion of para alpine ski racing, hoping to one day compete at the world level.
The training process for Brenda is just like any other athlete — it just takes a bit more courage to do what the rest of us take for granted. Our training goal is to carve a cleaner turn, and lately we have been focusing on turn initiation.
The start, or initiation of the turn, is right after you pole plant, which is the scary part that takes us out of our comfort zone. It is scary because we give up control and let ourselves fall into the turn and have to trust that the turn will catch our fall. We all experience this falling sensation on some level whenever we have a great turn, but imagine this falling sensation while not being able to see.
The drill that I will share with you is the pole drag. This drill requires you to remain facing the fall line from turn to turn while moving your skis freely under you.
Start on an easy run and prepare by getting into what I call the dead cowboy stance. Press your shins to the front of your boots with hips over knees over ankles and relax your muscles until you feel that just your skeleton is holding you up. In this position you can feel how easy it is to use your ankles and knees to roll your skis up on to edge.
Hold each pole by the top of the grip and press down so that you get a few pounds of pressure at the points. Now start sliding and with equal pressure on each pole while pointing straight out to each side. Begin rolling your skis from edge to edge with your ankles doing a crescent shaped carve.
It is important to keep your body facing the fall line and drag poles in one straight corridor while your skis move under you in a flowing rhythm. As you gain speed, your skis will move quicker, but continue maintaining a disciplined upper body. Feel the “falling” sensation as you roll your skis at the top of the turn and then the “catching” sensation as the skis carve under you and scoop you up like a big hug.
Let some of Brenda’s courage inspire you to become the skier that you want to be! Visit her website at: www.brendaparaalpine.com.
Dylan Henderson is the head coach of the Whitewater Ski Team. He is a certified Development Level coach with the Canadian Ski Coaches Federation and a Level 1 ski instructor with the Canadian Ski Instructors Association. Henderson was also named 2017’s top ski coach by B.C. Alpine.