Chris Rossi

@ToddL "What is the one or two things that you had to learn/master to get over one of your biggests plateaus in running up the ski rope? These might be things that you have so incorporated into your style that now they are automatic, so think back... Also, how did you obtain that skill or ability?" I'd say my biggest two breakthrough concepts were: 1) Be ok with my vision or sight line being narrow of the buoy line. Like many here I was stuck at 35 for a long time. I could run 32 every set but struggled to run 35. It took me a while to realize that I was trying to make 35 look like 32 but at this line length the rope is closing in on being short of the buoy at 90 degrees to the pylon. I found myself pulling harder and longer at 35 but still ending up narrow! It's very frustrating so say the least. I did not start running 35 consistently until I grew my confidence so I stopped pulling so hard/long, and finally the lightbulb went off that I will not see outside the buoy line on any line lengths past 32 off. 2) Turns are not where you make up time in the course. The turns are where we as skiers are vulnerable. To try to make up for mistakes here is the greatest mistake. Where do we fall almost 100 percent of the time? Not until I started focusing on completing the turn (no matter how down course I am) and skiing into a stacked position (power triangle http://slalomguru.com/articles.php?article=power) did I start to get consistent with my skiing.

Sequence plate is our performance plate and offers the skier the most adjustment options for fore/aft movement and for boot rotation.

You are correct @Jordan‌

Thanks @ShaneH‌. As I stated in @Texas6 post, I just want to give back some of what I've picked up over the years.

@Texas6‌ thank you very much. I am very appreciative of everything I've been able to learn/accomplish in this sport and would like to share as much knowledge as I can with the rest of you. None of what I write about is set in stone, just what I've come up with through trial and error.

Heres the link Kevins original question and video: http://www.ballofspray.com/forum#/discussion/10057/ask-rossi-chapter-2

@Klundell "I'm going to ask my question through a video of my skiing and see if you would want to critique it either through the coaches eye app or just by writing something. This would obviously be helpful to me but as I described earlier I think it would also be very helpful to everybody on the forum. I'm talking in this video and I ask my question there..." Three things come to mind when evaluating your video. The first one is that you are too narrow and slow on your gate glide. The second is mostly a result of the first problem and that is you do not get in your stacked position soon enough on your gate turn in. This causes your acceleration to come too late. One ball will feel ok, but the acceleration zone will once again fall too late and you end up narrow and carrying a lot of down course speed into 2. And the third thing is that I believe your fin is not set up right. Your fin looks like it is either too long or too far back. What ski, length, boot position, fin and wing numbers are you running. I use tips of the caliper for the length measurement. If you have any questions as to how I measure, check out this video; Let me know if you have questions on the first two and I look forward to checking out your set up numbers. Chris

I have missed my fair share of gates in my career so I can relate to how disappointing it is to miss. It is also a major component of our sport and adds to the excitement and so called "drama". While the skiers with the best potential may not make it through every round of every event, the best skiers of those individual rounds do go through. Who knows if Andy or others who missed their gates and ran the pass would have if they had waited later to turn in? May have hit some rough water and been worse at buoy one. Never know. That's why we have to go through those gates and why we feel so bad when a fellow competitor misses them.

@Jordan's question "I am interested in the mental side of competing. So, my question is how do you take what you practice and what you are currently working on and put it into play in competition without over-thinking?" Practice every set with the mental focus of a tournament. I have a warm up I like for tournaments so I do it before every practice set. The warm up allows me to get my body ready and calms my mind. It isn't always the most convenient as I would like to just go ski or I'm late, but I do not ski without going through my warm up. Then for every set, I have my same "3 keys" I discussed in "Rossi Answers Chapter 2.0 (Mindset)" to focus on. When I get to tournaments, I do my same warm up and I make it my challenge or goal for the tournament to do my "3 keys" to the best of my ability. I'm not focused on buoy count, I'm focused on my "3 keys". After the end of the tournament I take time to reflect how well I did in accomplishing my "3 keys" and how that related to my final score. Then I take that back to practice and go back to work. Chris

It seems like the water is fairly rolly when the skiers are pulling out and gliding for the gates. I would guess that a lot of skiers are not getting a comfortable pull out, are bouncing a bit more than they are used to in the glide, and thus their positioning and timing for the gates is thrown off. Add that to what @Chad_Scott said about the actual gate buoys moving/bouncing and you get a very unpredictable set up at Moomba. On top of that you have the boat making a turn into the pregates on the second pass which does not give optimal set up for the skier. Makes for a crazy tournament and adds to the lure of the event.

gator1 Baller January 13 I'd like to know if he is aiming for the same position in both weak side and strong side pull, and they just look different due to the fact theyARE weak side/strong, or is he trying for different positions to maximize the available (and different) mechanics of weak/strong stance. In other words hips rotated cross course on weak side, and more open to boat strong side. On purpose, or of necessity? Or optical illusion I shouldn't be seeing? Gator, I haven't thought about it this way in a long time. I work on trying to be balanced with my weight centered between my feet so that I feel powerful in my stacked position. There is a difference between off and on side and how your body is torqued. If you stand in your skiing position and then put your arms out to your side so that you are making a "T" shape and then rotate your upper torso to the left and tot he right, you will find a different torque point. The greater the difference of the catch point, the more unbalanced you will tend to be on the course. I work on my stance (boot rotation) of both feet to find an optimal balance. For me it's 1/8" rotated out with my front boot and 1/2" rotated out with the rear boot. I like to work on shoulder positioning, arms straight, and being light on my ski to allow myself to find my natural, centered stance on the ski. Hope this answers some of what you were looking for. I will be answering more of the questions you all have posted before we continue with the "Ask Rossi" contest. I look forward to the continued discussions on these topics. Chris

Congrats to @joelhowley for the win. Love seeing Emma skiing well too! Looking forward to see who makes it through at Moomba.

Another great round of questions everyone. Lets close chapter 2 and I will pick my winners. I will also do my best to answer the non winning questions before we start chapter 3. Thanks again for everyones participation!

Another great start to this thread. Keep the questions coming!

I vote for Kilo that way when your new baby hangs with my son Kai, you've got some spiced entertainment.

Go green and don't look back!

@ShaneH I believe this to be false. The handle path as @Than_Bogan has described is set by the rope length. The shorter the rope, the later we are able to cross the buoy line and the smaller window we have to make a turn. The ski rotation must already be happening before buoy line, which in my world should also be done with two hands on the handle. The more the gap between the optimal handle path and the typical "get as early as possible to the buoy" path, the earlier the skier is forced to release the outside hand (or get ripped narrow) and the less the ski can be rotated. To answer the set up question, every ski is designed differently, so the fin set ups to accomplish this will vary. Shallowing the fin does help to release the tail to smear, skid, rotate, or however you want to describe the notion. Be careful though as there are consequences to every fin change. And while shallowing the fin may help the ski to its desired effect, if the skier is not utilizing the correct techniques, it will lead to poor results. As always, fix your approach/technique before touching your ski. I'm going to sign off on this topic. Feel free to continue the discussion in a positive manner, but please hold your questions for me until the next chapter of "Ask Rossi" which will come soon.

I'm just sharing what goes through my head and using terminology that resonates with me. @SkiJay did a very good job of summing things up. I think the thing to take away here is that we need to get the ski rotated earlier in the pre turn and we all can do things to better accomplish this. I look forward to the next round of questions.

@mwetskier that would be a good assessment of smear. @Razorskier1 Sounds like you are on the right path.

@jimbrake I would consider it to be anti-counter rotation with two hands on the handle. @Skoot1123 You've got the gist of it. I like to simplify things too.

@OB, centerline would be where the edge pressure needs to be released so the way you described it works. I'd say most coaches are not coaching this and I'd say most pro skiers are still edge changing too late. Your kids are great and I look forward to playing with them again soon. @JJVDMZN in a theoretical world yes. But as @OB explained above, the edge change is not immediate so the outside spray will happen when the ski lands after the second wake. @jimbrake that is a very good statement and question. The goal is to utilize the two hands on the handle to slide the rear foot outward in the pre turn. Do you have another term instead of 'smear" that will describe the skis motion? @Horton I've never heard of this concept. I believe engaging the front of the ski decreases speed BUT that it does allow for the tail to wash out and get the ski rotated WHICH will make it feel like the skier carries more speed thru the finish of the turn.

@ToddL I like how simple you made it sound. This is a key to success.

@SkiJay that is a great photo. In an ideal world, the ski would be smeared a little more by this point. @robhawaii I understand how this ca be confusing. I think the "not loading the rope" concept is more of an idea. If you put a strain gauge on the rope for any professional skier, there will be considerable load or strain put on the rope. I think the concept is to not hold the load in your body IE in your arms, chest, upper back, and to not be trying to pull the boat backwards. Its about lean in that concept. So yes, at all line lengths the ski should start to edge change at the center line. It becomes much more important as the rope gets shorter but it is the ideal location to edge change. This does not mean the body stands up out of the lean, just that the ski is transitioning from the cutting edge to the turning edge.

@SkiJay that is a great photo. In an ideal world, the ski would be smeared a little more by this point. @robhawaii I understand how this ca be confusing. I think the "not loading the rope" concept is more of an idea. If you put a strain gauge on the rope for any professional skier, there will be considerable load or strain put on the rope. I think the concept is to not hold the load in your body IE in your arms, chest, upper back, and to not be trying to pull the boat backwards. Its about lean in that concept. So yes, at all line lengths the ski should start to edge change at the center line. It becomes much more important as the rope gets shorter but it is the ideal location to edge change. This does not mean the body stands up out of the lean, just that the ski is transitioning from the cutting edge to the turning edge.

@foxriverat you are very welcome. I am excited to hear your results.