Asher practice 41 Boat view

[matthewbrown]

[Than_Bogan]

I'll admit it. That guy's decent.

[Chef23]

That looked way too easy unbelievable skiing. My son got to ride in the boat to watch him ski at LaPoint Ski Park probably 7 years ago. Kris Lapoint was in the boat helping with fin settings. It was a pretty cool experience for my son. He got Will to sign his ski as well. Will was super nice to him.

[bojans]

Did he miss the entry gates?

 

[bojans]

Not picking on Will. I can't imagine the timing it takes at 41. I lost a lot of productivity getting this picture to confirm my first thought.

 

[Chef23]

@bojans who really cares it is a practice pass. I like to watch the skiing not obsess over the gates.

[Horton]

@bojans meh.

[JackQ]

If you aren’t missing the gates occasionally in practice you aren’t trying hard enough. When you get a good gate at 39 and 41, you think you are going to miss and the boat pulls you just, in at centerline.

[bojans]

@JackQ I agree. That pass looked so perfect I was just surprised at the gates.

[Horton]

I've never understood this but a lot of pro skiers routinely miss their gates in practice

[JackQ]

Don’t think I would want to miss them routinely, maybe 1 in 5 or 10 at my hardest pass. But I frequently just “shadow” (ski in front of the buoys, at buoy width) on my hardest pass, shadow once, try to run it, then shadow, them try to run, and again. Good drill but takes patience and is harder than it sounds, was a common routine for Lucky Lowe.

[Horton]

@ColeGiacopuzzi used to miss his Gates all the time but only in tournaments for some reason. I'm pretty sure we beat that behavior out of him.

[matthewbrown]

This is the second time I’ve posted video of Asher running 41 in practice and with each case someone has pointed out that he missed his gates. The essence of the video is to show the performance of one of the greatest slalom skiers we have ever seen, which is what any die hard slalom junkie would die to see, to dissect, digest and strive to emulate. If your first thought is “he missed his gates” this tells me that you are not a die hard slalom junkie...but that’s ok.

[ColeGiacopuzzi]

Agreed @matthewbrown well said.

[Horton]

@matthewbrown and we wonder why the best skiers in the world generally don't have time to post in this forum.

[Than_Bogan]

@matthewbrown I think you're misinterpreting the situation a bit. The posted video is implied to be a complete pass, and so there is a "moment of discovery" when the viewer may think they are the first person to notice that the gate was missed.

 

I think this could be eliminated by posting with something like "(Practice pass. Gates missed.)"

I don't think anybody cares that the gates were missed. So take away that "moment of discovery" and nobody will comment on it at all.

 

Probably...

[Horton]

@Than_Bogan it's a frustrating internet culture of people are looking for the error instead of celebrating something amazing. Technically speaking Asher's score is 0 but holy shit is that an amazing 41 off pass. That is the point.

 

If Willie posted "hey look I ran a legit 41” then I would understand people acting like judges and pointing out the gates. But this was @matthewbrown posting and saying holy crap look at this performance. Willie is amazing and he's running 41 in tournaments right now. We should be talking about how he's doing it and not the fact that he sometimes misses his gates in practice.

 

I'll say it again, this kind of thing drives Elite skiers away from having conversations on the internet. Why would Asher want to show videos himself doing something amazing if somebody with 1% of his achievement is just going to look for the mistakes.

[skidawg]

Also, looking at missing gates, does it really matter an inch either side advantage or dis advantage, gates are stupid

[elr]

Professionals are concentrating on things other than the gates in practice. I'm sure that in the next tournament his gate timing will be informed by what he is doing in practice.

[DavidP]

I had the opportunity to watch Will from the boat 9 years ago at Ski Paradise. His physical skills are amazing and mental approach to his craft demonstrates he is a true student of the game.

[ColeGiacopuzzi]

Like @skidawg said that 3 or 4 inches isn't going to make a difference, so in practice I'm not to worried about missing them, leading up to tournaments I obviously focus more on making them. My thoughts are definitely other places like @elr said then being worried about missing my gates by 2 inches. MUCH bigger more important things I'm focusing on.

[klindy]

Actually I appreciated @bojans comment. Not because he's right or wrong, I don't care if Will missed the gates or not - like was said many times, it was practice!

 

What I appreciated about the comment was I watched the video a couple times, thought the same thing about how easy and fluid the pass looked - I was truly impressed! But until I scrolled down to see @bojans comment, I never saw the gate. I reviewed the video again at full speed and still hard a hard time even questioning it. I clicked frame by frame and went "hmmm, maybe he did!" Again, makes zero difference, the pass was still as amazing either way! But as someone who spend a lot more time officiating these days, it surprised me that I didn't see it the first time thru.

 

So for me, I watch skiing videos not only for the incredible athleticism and abilities of whomever is in the video, I also watch them as sort of a 'practice tool' for judging. Trick videos especially but also for watching buoys. And as part of that, "credit/no credit" is part of the evaluation.

 

All that said, the view from 44 degrees ahead of the gate on the shore is a far better vantage point. The gate may be perfectly acceptable viewed from the shore. But I find it interesting that someone else looks for that stuff too (I bet lots of people do with or without even realizing it)!

 

Either way Awesome skiing Will Asher!!

 

[ForrestGump]

Missed gate or not.......that gate shot is a thing of beauty.

[ForrestGump]

I'm pretty sure that back when I was skiing once with Will, trying a ski out, and working on gates, that he told me that he misses 1/3 of his gates or more in practice.

[bojans]

@Horton, I understand the frustration at the internet culture of finding fault, but this was not my intent. As an aspiring slalom judge something didn't look right with the gate and I looked more closely. After further review I updated the post with pictures.

 

I was unaware of the phenomenon of pro's missing gates in practice. I watched a few other videos and noticed gates being missed at 39 and 41.

 

No offense, disrespect or trolling intended. Certainly not trying to take anything away from a well done video of some impressive skiing by a tremendous athlete.

 

[dave2ball]

Gate mean nothing in practice. Only a small percentage of skiers both pro and 55K can run the pass. There is so much to learn watching this pass. And people are worried about the gates.

[matthewbrown]

@Than_Bogan understood, but instead of me changing the title of the video, perhaps the viewer, if they must comment on the gates, could first comment on the skiing ability/technique since this was posted in the short line skiing section of the forum, not the “catch the mistake if you can” section.

[Zman]

Good boat path too. Just saying.

[9400]

Was in a tower with Jennifer last weekend and she gave us an interesting bit of trivia. Kris Lapoint has never missed a gate in a tournament.....over 50 years of tournament skiing. I know it’s kind of off topic but had to share that.

 

[Horton]

@bojans not grump w/ you. Is systemic with community

[ScottScott]

Obviously I'm at a totally different end of the skill range, but the coaching i've had suggests a lot more focus in practice on many things OTHER than going through the gates. In fact I get yelled at if I go through the gates with bad angle, or from not enough width. The focus that is stressed with me is pulling out at the right point (considering speed, wind, etc,) enough width, then turning in at the right speed and with good angle. All of that takes precedence over going THROUGH the gates in practice.

[MillerTime38]

[MillerTime38]

Will is a beast and the fact he has been skiing at such a high level for so long is a testament to his athleticism and training. No sense starting out a pass in practice by giving up your angle behind the boat just to hit the gates. His onside turn is the best in the business

[drewski32]

Thread officially derailed

[pcmcon729]

I have to admit, I always time the skier from gates to gates (Old Luck L. trick) to check the speed. I got a 16.10 on this one. Great skiing, amazing talent.

[ForrestGump]

Mooooooooooooney!

 

[Drago]

Needs to straighten his back leg

[brettmainer]

Any of us can miss the entrance gate at 41. Very few can make the exit gate at 41. Even fewer can make the part in between look that good.

[Horton]

@brettmainer Very few of us can get close to the gate at 41 and then get around 1 ball.

 

@drago I am beginning to think you are just a grumpy contrarian. If you disagree with my logic then throw down some wisdom and let's talk about it. We might all learn something.

[jercrane]

@Horton I just read everything @Drago posts with < sarcasm > < /sarcasm > tags added. :D

[Drago]

I try @jercrane . Thank you for recognizing my skills. It means a lot to me.

Seriously.

I’ll work on something more meaningful, but the short reply is there are several ways to skin a rabbit

[Than_Bogan]

@Drago I'm veering way off topic, but I have to mention this about skinning. I was reading a book advocating a specific "technical model" (for pole vaulting, of course...) The author talks about how many coaches refuse to accept there is a "best way" and say "there are many ways to skin a cat." The author then claims that he talked to a taxidermist friend of his who said "There really is just one best way to skin a cat." :smile:

 

No clue if that's apocryphal and I don't know any taxidermists to ask. But made me laugh for sure.

[Drago]

@Than_Bogan Cats, yes, but rabbits are a different story. I agree their is s “best model”, but no way can any ol’ body do it and there are better ways for individuals.

 

[Horton]

I just informed my wife that my readers are discussing feline taxidermy.

[Than_Bogan]

Yep, that's why you pay me the big bucks for my content.

[markchilcutt]

@matthewbrown thanks for posting! It's always a privilege and pleasure to witness greatness behind the boat.

[MillerTime38]

@Than_Bogan I am not a taxidermist but have skinned several different animals being an avid hunter, I have skinned animals head up, head down, hanging or flat on the ground. But the only cat I have skinned is a bobcat and you could definitely skin them several different ways ?