Hands On Thighs

A companion to HandsInView. No, not a dating gambit, a skiing pattern. It really ought to be written as a pattern, but haste, haste...

Invented for (my) children, age 5 and 7. Their instructor taught them the Pizza (snowplow), but had them stick their hands out to the sides. You skiers will recognize that they very soon let the hand get behind them (HandsInView) and lose control. The problem with children (just a teensy more than it is with adults) is that they cannot remember more than one instruction. What instruction? So I asked them to put their hands on their thighs while they Pizza. It sets all the right body weight, angle, etc. parameters to give them good control. Hands are in front, knees bent, shoulders square to the hill, etc. It permitted the 5 year old to take on the intermediate slope this year.

-- AlistairCockburn