Helping a younger one progress and keeping it fun!

[h2onhk]

So my 7 yr old is a sponge right now on the water. Soaking up everything she can and having a blast while doing so. She starting skiing on 2 late last summer and has already just about mastered the deep water slalom start this year. Her balance and feel for the ski are really good for her age. She can slowly traverse each wake and then cut out very well. She wants to learn to run the course and has played around in it early this year on 2 skis just for fun. I'm not a coach and have never been professionally coached so looking for some help. I hate using the term "drills" and want to keep our water and boat time fun and not work. She skis 21mph and RFF so we will work on the "correct" handle grip nipping that one right away. Any suggestions on some simple "drills" we can work on to help her progression and build confidence on turns and eventually pulling through the wake the correct way? She also skis 15off vs. long line and looks more comfortable at that length. Is this ok or should we switch to LL and bump to 15off later? Would love to have her learn good techniques while shes a sponge vs. trying to correct bad habits later. Many thanks!

[Intheday]

All about the fun. Get her to shadow the course to get used to where the bouys are. Then look to get her to shadow the course an get six ball. Then once she has got that mastered get her to get one ball shadow the course and still get six. Gradually aiming to get additional bouys. Mix up the rope length between fifteen off and full length.

 

Focus on tummy up and hands down

 

Lastly both mine have loved getting professional coaching. I don't know why but they always come back smiling afterwards

 

Have fun and it's not all about the PB or balls

[Luzz]

@h2o.nhk great to hear your little one is enjoying some swerving action! I would stay at 15, and possibly get her a thin slalom rope. I know Masterline has this one, we use it with young rippers at our ski school and it makes it much easier for their light weight.

The reason why I would not recommend going to long line is that it becomes too much a game of bungee rope, hence preventing her from learning how to feel the line tight and using it to her advantage.

Crossing the wakes is a skill to master, and there are very few "drills" you can do. If you want to improve her stack, I would use the usual pull on the sides of the boat, so that she can find that comfortable and strong position. And, you can make this one fun and challenging by counting how many seconds she manages to stay on the side of the boat before being slowly drifted back to the wakes.

When it comes to the course, I would first have her turn three buoys without wake crossing. So pull out for 1-ball, then back close to the right wake, then pull to 3-ball, back in, and out for 5-ball. Then, on the way back, same thing for 2-4-6. This will get her to turn some buoys and get the addiction in B)

Then, you can step up to the mini course. Basically, you run the boat in between the 1-3-5 buoy line and the left boat guide, and you have her run a smaller version of the 6-buoy course. So 1-3-5 will be red, 2-4-6 will be yellow or whatever color you use for boat guides :)

 

I think that's already a lot of fun lined up! :)

[h2onhk]

@Intheday and @Luzz , great suggestions! I like the ball shadowing and 1-3-5, 2-4-6 approach. Actually jogged my memory when I was little. The pull game also sounds great as well. We use an Insta-Slalom and we only put it in for the day we are using it to prevent damage from other boats so free skiing time will be higher than course for now. The tummy up hands down is a good call out while doing the pull game for finding that strong position. Thanks guys!

[ScarletArrow]

I would slow the boat down... a lot. 21mph is pretty quick for a 7yo just learning the course. The minimum speed increment is 15.5.

 

You can even go below that. There is a suggestion somewhere by @Bruce_Butterfield that having a child go 10mph on 2 skis helps build confidence and reduces their fear when they inevitably take a fall.

 

I'm doing this right now with my 6yo, he just started running the course at 10.0, 10.5, 11.0 and 11.5mph.

 

@GK has his son doing the same thing right now but on a trick ski.

 

There are different schools of thought on LL vs. 15. I'll just add my .02 that I think LL is the way to go until they can at least run the course through 21mph.

 

I think the wake is less intimidating thereby allowing them to work on their body position behind the boat. IMHO the "bungee effect" is a non-factor with the thin rope. Currently, my 10yo runs LL into 30mph (though we will drop it right after Nationals).

 

I agree with @Luzz, get the thin rope. Makes a huge difference.

 

Good luck!

[Orlando76]

I think one of the biggest things to keep her interest is to teach a peer of hers at the same time. Then focus on rope, wake, and buoy approach.

[Chef23]

Definitely get the light rope. I didn't have one for my son but I should have.

 

I had my son run the mini-course where we ran the boat next to the boat guides and had him go around the turn ball and the far buoy. I both upped the speed and shortened the line while he was doing that.

 

Once that became easy we went to the full course at a slow speed. I think I started him at about 17 mph. One night the light clicked on about pulling through both wakes and he went from running 2 or 3 balls to running the full course. In the beginning we weren't using gates just pulling out wide and starting at 1 ball.

 

When he was beginning I would up the speed by .5 or 1 mph every time he made a pass. Once he was running 21 mph we began to put gates in and had him to 17, 19, 21. He progressed very quickly as kids do.

[Bruce_Butterfield]

Some good info for you here.

http://goo.gl/0ZkZcR

[h2onhk]

Really appreciate everyone's feedback and suggestions. For the record she has only been free skiing at 21mph no buoys involved. We will definitely slow way down for the first time ball shadowing and will look into the thin rope for LL. @Bruce_Butterfield great article! The whole larger ski surface area at slower speeds makes a lot of sense and I happen to have a 64" KD7000 laying around when she's ready to try something new.