Did you come here from a link on another website? See page bottom for latest version of this page.
 This site is not associated with any ski area. Use of any page means you accept our Site Use Agreement or EXIT NOW.  

   "SKIING IS A SLIDING SPORT":
 Conventional Skiing Wisdoms (CSW's) 

by Bill Jones, Ski Instructor
Certified Professional Ski Instructor (Registration #110478), Level III
How to reserve private ski lessons with Bill Jones

 CSW #12: "Practice makes perfect."

The famous football coach Vince Lombardi is said to have noted that "practice does not make perfect." He noted instead that "Perfect practice makes perfect." So be sure when practicing a new ski maneuver so that it will be drilled in that you practice it correctly else you will drilling in the wrong movement. Then you will have to work even harder to "un-drill" it and "re-drill" the correct pattern.

The same thing said another way, "Practice is not what you do to learn a maneuver; practice is what you do once you have learned the maneuver." Thus you "Fail Until You Succeed" with the maneuver, then you practice the learned maneuver until you have drilled it into your skiing.

Ski lessons are designed to give time to practice new maneuvers so they are understood and experienced. But there is rarely enough time for students to declare ownership of new maneuvers, so it is important for students to perfectly practice the learned maneuver on their own later. Ideally, perhaps, they would stay with their coach-instructor all the time to monitor progress. At least it is good if students come back to their mentor for periodic evaluations, for our own eyes and minds often trick us into thinking we are practicing well when we are not.

It is especially frustrating for instructors to watch their former charges out on the slopes skiing just as they did before their lessons and not practicing perfectly. Instructors need to see they have helped. In the long run, progress toward skiing goals will likely to occur sooner with continual or renewed feedback from an instructor-coach.

main CSW contents
prior CSW #11: "Skiing faster is th way to learn to ski"
next CSW #13: "Don't wax skis; they would then go too fast"

"SKIING IS A SLIDING SPORT"--a skiing web manual:     Skiing Web Manual Contents   Why Read This Skiing Web Manual  That First Skiing Lesson   A Little Skiing History  Motion in Skiing  CONVENTIONAL SKIING WISDOMS  Skier Excuses    Fear in Skiing  Conditioning for Skiing  Equipment and Technique  Skiing Equipment  How Skis Work   How to Develop Balance on Skis  A Skiing Turn Simplified  The Final Skiing Skill: pressure management  Tactics for Terrains and Snow Textures and Racing  Skiing Tips and Tales--a potpourri    Exercises for Developing Skiing Skills  Children and Skiing  Age and Skiing  Gender & Skiing  Culture & Skiing  Skiing Ethics and Survival  Slope Safety  Skiing Environment  Glossary Acknowledgements SkiMyBest Website Contents  

This "CSW #12: 'Practice makes perfect'" page last modified January 9, 2022. Did you come here from a link on another website? For latest version of this page, copy to your browser: http://www.SkiMyBest.com/skiCSW12.htm. Copyright © 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022. William R Jones.