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abjectwoe
May, 2025

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Beep beep - fellow freeride coaches/freeriders

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Momo.
Posts: 219 - Karma: 1,259
This will be my 3rd year coaching freeride as my side hustle (though it's turned into my favorite part of the season). The kids are rad and watching them progress has totally reinforced my love for the sport - they're stoked, I'm stoked... It's awesome.

With this being said though, I am trying to figure out bringing in some fun new drills or advice to my team of goblins. They are all excellent riders, but the skill level is pretty spread-out (ages 12-17). There are 4 coaches total, and I usually break off with a smaller group of rippers that are a bit more competitive. With the smaller group it's a bit easier for me to figure out ways to push them, and they are all super quick to learn so finding creative hits, bigger cliffs, some fun laps through the park, or working on bigger tricks are the go-to. The group as a whole is about 23 kids and they are all very receptive, and they trust me enough to nudge them out of their comfort zone.

So, wondering if y'all have any fun drills have you found work particularly well? Or are there any creative games or techniques your athletes always get excited about? And also, maybe any advice that worked well for you when you were being coached.
6 months ago
8 0
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flat0
Posts: 101 - Karma: 503
Make them backflip Hollywood or they get kicked off the team.
6 months ago
28 0
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Rock_Inhabitant
Posts: 1543 - Karma: 16,711
Just get them to compete against each other and they’ll get going, I know that worked on me when I was like 11. Set up little freeride comps with you as the judge, and the judging criteria being what skill you want them to work on, like air control or technique or something like that
6 months ago
4 0
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senderbud
Posts: 29 - Karma: 169
the great equalizer....

you find a mellow blue pitch with smallish moguls, powder moguls or crud and ski it a once or twice as a group to get to know it. don't say anything drill wise. go back to the top of your chosen slope, tell everyone to un buckle their boots and turn all the buckles around so they cannot close. loosen the power strap a bit too. ski the slope one at a time. this forces everyone to be centered and over their toes and still in contact with the front of the boot, basically forcing correct, athletic body position. age does not equal skill, this may be humbling for the backseat 12/13yr olds and a little eye opening for the lazier 17yr olds. if everyone if falling everywhere, you need to find a mellower slope. if they nail it move towards black and beyond. I wouldn't spend more than 1 run a weekend on this though.

i got a bunch!
6 months ago
12 0
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olichalk
Posts: 9 - Karma: 30
1 in sw1 out mogul to mogul (keeps body upright, spotting), late 1s/counter shiftys (develop ability to land under or over rotated spins), using nose and tails to press/pop things (recovery and Ollie skills), javelin turns down the steepest gnar you can find (forward pressure and separation). Anything that brings focus to range of movement and fore/aft balance, tight core and rotational/linear separation. Pressure them into going big. Straight line stuff that makes them scared. Lapping big kickers until it bores them. Mogulsmogulsmoguls. Gapping moguls, tail press multiple moguls in a row(get them to compete on it), moguls on one ski. If you have inversion progression setup get them upside down as much as possible backies get results. Big fan of appropriate peer pressure, encourage athletes to encourage one another, sometimes they need prompting. Gaps are sick for encouraging commitment. Always found kids react really well to borderline insane challenges if you can manage to demo it.
Momo.This will be my 3rd year coaching freeride as my side hustle (though it's turned into my favorite part of the season). The kids are rad and watching them progress has totally reinforced my love for the sport - they're stoked, I'm stoked... It's awesome.

With this being said though, I am trying to figure out bringing in some fun new drills or advice to my team of goblins. They are all excellent riders, but the skill level is pretty spread-out (ages 12-17). There are 4 coaches total, and I usually break off with a smaller group of rippers that are a bit more competitive. With the smaller group it's a bit easier for me to figure out ways to push them, and they are all super quick to learn so finding creative hits, bigger cliffs, some fun laps through the park, or working on bigger tricks are the go-to. The group as a whole is about 23 kids and they are all very receptive, and they trust me enough to nudge them out of their comfort zone.

So, wondering if y'all have any fun drills have you found work particularly well? Or are there any creative games or techniques your athletes always get excited about? And also, maybe any advice that worked well for you when you were being coached.
6 months ago
5 0
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bennwithtwons
Posts: 1749 - Karma: 17,175
filming your athletes is a great way to encourage stoke and progression. i used to make edits for my athletes all the time and they loved it. when the camera comes out (these days, maybe just a phone with good video quality), they naturally start throwing down. as long as you know that they're roughly capable of what they want to try (no dub backies from the kid who can barely clear the knuckle), their own desire and skills will determine what they try next. after 3 years, i am sure you have a great sense of how each athlete feels about their skiing and what their realistic goals are. have an awesome winter out there!
6 months ago
3 0
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partyandBS
Posts: 5877 - Karma: 91,678
have them do a slvsh style bracket but make it easier with just playing to ski. if you get eliminated, your job is now to hype and encourage the other shredders. got to go to features/areas as a team though. but could be fun and will push people to do their best and get creative with where they are skiing. ive seen some ridiculous hits off of some of the most righteous side bootahs mon.
6 months ago
3 0
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