Once you’ve made the decision to take your kids skiing there’s things there’s skills you can work on while at home.

Table of Contents

1. Table of Contents
2. Skills
3. Balance
4. Stance
5. Conclusion

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Skills

When you’re skiing there’s five skills you need to focus on. Balance, edging, rotation, pressure and stance. Of these skills balance and stance are easily practiced at home and here’s how.

Balance

The better balance you have, the easier skiing will be. When catching an edge, doing a high speed hocky stop and even when making a normal turn, good balance is what you need. Kids don’t have the best balance but practicing at home will improve their chances of picking up skiing faster.

• Obstacle Courses – We set up small courses in our basement using foam blocks and a balance beam. All the parts let the kids make a different course every time. The kids like to race to see who can do it faster and using them to cross the floor when it turns to lava.
  
• Yoga – Basic yoga poses are great for balance, the kids love trying the tree pose, airplane pose, and other fun poses. You can make up a story and use different poses to go on an adventure in your living room.
  
• Balance Boards – When I was a ski instructor we had a skateboard deck and a bowling ball that we would practice balancing on. I don’t recommend doing that since it’s not very safe, but there are boards you can buy online made for it. Once your kids learn how to balance on it you can try playing catch while standing on it.
  
• Hopscotch – We use these rings indoors to play hopscotch and to add extra steps to the obstacle courses. It’s also fun to set up a target to throw the rings around. I use my kids’ heads when they’re not paying attention.
  
• Board Walks – This is a balance, coordination, and teamwork exercise. It’s better for kids out of the toddler stage and takes a bit of setting up. Take 2 boards, give 2 to 3 feet of length for each person playing. Drill a hole in the front of each and 2 or 3 feet behind for the next person. Take some rope and tie them through the holes so they’re handles. Each kid will stand on the boards and have to work together by lifting the boards and stepping forward. This makes your kids work together and helps with hand, foot coordination while practicing balancing on one foot.

Stance

A good stance improves your balance and your ability to react faster in critical moments. Some of these are the same from balance. A ski stance is not only helpful when skiing but is also a good athletic stance for other sports

• Basics – Before playing any games to improve their stance, your kids need to know what proper ski form looks like. Just like any athletic stance, the ski stance is to improve balance and reaction speed. The proper stance is shoulders over toes, knees bent and butt over heels. Small children are often more balanced with their head over their toes instead of shoulders since they are top heavy.
• Balance Board – Practicing a skiing stance while on the balance board will make using the board easier. Playing catch or jumping while using it and going right back into the stance helps make standing in the stance feel more natural.
• Skia – This is a tool I found online when I was looking for a way to practice in the summer. It’s a sweet spot trainer. Strap the Skia to the bottom of the ski boot. There are different difficulties that clip into the bottom of the Skia. Practice standing on these, going into your stance and out of it. You can also practice rotating your feet, just try turning both feet at the same time while remaining in your stance and balanced. This is for older kids, I don’t think a two year olds boots would fit very well but their website says you can tape kids feet onto it and it will work.

Conclusion

Practicing skiing at home is a fun way to spend time with your kids. It’s not only fun but good exercise and developing these skills will help in any athletics they decide to participate in. Being successful in these activities also builds confidence that can carry over into other aspects of life. Remember to be safe have fun and build lasting memories.