Quoting the latest technical theory probably isn't all that significant, unless you are in a room full of other coaches. Your athletes are only concerned with the following: being faster with better racing times, and improving their skiing from a technical and efficient point of view. If you are one of those coaches who stands at the top of your training course, telling every racer to "move forward and start your turn early," then you aren't really doing your athletes much good. First of all, in a random sample of alpine ski racers, there is a good chance that some skiers are turning too early, some are turning late and some are turning just fine. So telling everyone to turn early is mostly a waste of your "good voice." It probably only helps some of the skiers anyways. A better approach to helping your athletes with their line, is to ask them where they feel they are losing speed and where they feel they are able to gain speed. Also, it is important to ask them how it feels when they ski through the course. For example, are the gates coming too fast? Or or they coming too slow. This gives insight into what could be going on with their line. Sometimes, athletes need to work on speed management skills, so that they can manage a more efficient line. It is also important to ask them what they think of how it went. For example, to one skier, the gates coming at them more slowly could mean they have improved their timing, line and speed management skills. To another skier, this could mean that they are skiing on a slow line, and they need to pick up to a more direct, faster line. One of the most important things a coach can realize is that although it is important to be up to date, with the lastest technical knowledge, it has little meaning to your athletes because alpine ski racing is not a "one size fits all" sport. Your athletes will find success, if you as their coach work with them as individual's and not consider them to be carbon "cut outs" of the lastest "alpine ski racing god."
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