Slalom Body Position Instructional Video

World record holder and Pan Am Games gold medalist Regina Jaquess discusses the importance of slalom body position.
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[@kellydeanbishopatgmaildotc9774]

I saw one video years ago of Regina pulling out of a turn that most would have dropped, but she sure pulled that one out. I'd have a tip for Regina as you're getting older to not so much want to get yanked out of turns; it's how I learned back in the early '80's. It's a tip that you might try as far as "never to old to learn something different. In the '80's, I was 20 when I got my first boat and since I was about 220 lbs; the people in the boat said that I would tail wag the back of the Glastron. In about 1992 three of us couples went in on a Master Craft. Anyways, in my watching skiers like the friend I skied that had slolomed free style like a buoy course, but without the bouy's and he skied on the longest length rope all of the time (he never shortened the rope from the longest length) I decided on a slightly even different approach to sking. For me and those watching from the boat, he was more impressive to watch than Andy Mapple at the time. This friend that I learned from make some of the fastsest speeds across the wake and the most impressive swooping graceful turns that I had ever seen. If you practice at most any sport twice a week or so for 20 years and you're half way athletic; you kinda just get better (ain't braggin' if you can do it, as the saying goes). That taking into consideration that our ski season only lasted from about college break time in the spring to about mid October, so we didn't have full year seasons :( But what I did was to make my own knot in the rope even further than the longest tournament length. What that did was to facilitate me slowing down even further on my turns, and rip through the wakes at as fast; maybe even faster than your top professional skiers. (I had spills hitting the wake so fast that the flips felt like split second tumple flips). One technique that I tried to develop in the slow "elbow to water turns" was simply try to get into the discipline of was to tilt my head toward the water, instead of how most slolom skiers tilt their head away from the water. It takes some practice, but it's a whole different feel of ... how to say, "trust"; it's like a two second feel of "whoooo" to just "slow the curve".... Just watch most slolomers... watch their body angle on the turns.... I'm saying a lot in one paragraph here, but maybe you kind of get what I'm saying this summary. What most people's body position looks like on their turns is that their hips are usually bent toward the water.... Try raising that hip up, so that your body is either straight, or the outside hip that's toward the air is actually slightly bent up toward the sky, as apposed to bend toward the water. ...and also try to maintain your neck position so that your head is slightly bent toward the water going through the turns. You also get a lot higher rooster tails on your turns when you have gone across the wake at a higher speed with that rope length just a little longer, as on approach to your turns, you're ski knifes through the water differently, thus making the larger rooster tails.

[@user-gg2dq2ne5r]

Very well explained! Do you do clinicals?

[@jseski9209]

Regina is a great presenter. This video is too short. I like the fact you are breaking down one specific part (hopeful to see other videos of other parts of the course & "what to do"), but this good video could be made great by adding to this with things like: slow-mo & as well as stopped/screen-drawing-lines specifically at the point of the video where she is behind the boat to better illustrate what she's saying. Also, adding angles...getting a stop-view perpendicular to the boat path (camera at 90^ angle w/Regina being the axis, so have somebody with a camera buoy-width, half-way between the distance of two consecutive balls; ie: half-way between the distance of 3&4...not between 2 & 4 which would be simply opposite of ball 3. You would then be behind her wake crossing). Love the idea though, & think a quality video series on the course is needed. What's out their for videos now is either dated, or 20 minute videos on minutia that pertains more to high-end competition skiers (too technical) & not on beginner/intermediate skills (teaching general fundamentals). A serious of short videos (well, not this short...say 3 to 5 minutes each) starting w/ overall, course basics, video #2 gates, #3 turns on-side & off-side, #4 wake crossings (kind of a repeat of this one, or expand this exact one), #5 general ski setup/configurations (ie: fin adjustment, binding positioning, etc), & also, how to train/ski without a course (working on form & rhythm when you don't have access to a course). This would be a good video series to hopefully spark some interest back in slalom for the general public... remind them that there IS still something other than surfing that you can do behind a boat.

[@vpcha]

...and better sound/voice capture

[@brothershaft2478]

C ouldnt hear a word she said,my stereo in background, loud,her skiing did the talkin😮

[@billkrokoship]

Very well explained! Do you do clinicals?