We generally believe that when a new learning method, or a variation on existing methods, is proposed, it is an improvement on the previous one. This is sometimes true, but not always as there are traditional methods that have been used for a long time and are still practical and easy to apply. They continue to produce good results and should not be discarded simply because they are ‘old’.
What will be developed here is not a new method, but an improved variation of presently learning methods, called the Referential Learning Method.
We can begin this presentation declaring that a reference is an allusion to something. It is a set of data or certain characteristics that allows us to identify and link our vision of a situation, whether technical or tactical. It is a mechanism that establishes a direct relationship between technical-tactical elements from past situational contexts that has already been learned and a current one that is yet to be learned.
References are used as indications that allow access to the source of information about something in terms of its relationship, dependence, or similarity to something else.
Skiing is a sport that requires a certain skill in determining references. Therefore, teaching only stereotypical movements has limited value. Current ski teaching should complement existing methods with the recognition of different skiers’ personal references.
We state that teaching should shift from the mere practice of “exercises” on what to do to practical and personal references. The same is true for error correction, where it is common to use the method of determining the error and avoid repeating it, when it would be more efficient to use and easy-to-remember references, as biomechanical analogies or visualizations, that indicate the precise technical execution. The use of references adapts to changing situations. By perceiving changes, we will know how to manage the most appropriate references.
Ski instruction currently uses the traditional Analytical Method, which breaks down the components of the technique, allowing for the understanding based on the individual incorporation of each element or for correcting specific errors; and the more up-to-date Synthetic Method, which allows to first perceive the overall picture of what we are going to learn.
The Referential Method does not replace either of these, but rather complements and enriches them. It is applied once we have already experienced learning through both methods with the aim of facilitating effective practice after the lesson.
In our performances, there are usually moments when we need to organize our ideas, creating a system of references that functions as a systematized script for incoming actions. The Referential Method proposed here is motivated precisely by this need and, of course, it is not intended to be a universal proposal but rather a personalized one in which each skier constructs their own reference systems.
We know that ski technique has references, that is, technical references that we take into account when trying to progress. These references may be the product of the creativity of a Technical Committee, other technical references, or be based on physics and biomechanics. In the latter case, the ski technique is based on scientifically proven elements and attempts to evolve and progress based on them through “methods” or ways of incorporating them effectively.
What we propose is to improve skiing through a method that allows to use known technical, postural, spatial, sensorial, tactical and other references logically and coherently to develop new ones specific to each skier.
The relationship between the different references will generate new technical-tactical procedures that will constitute a practical guide for executing the technique and strategies for adapting to the context. The Referential Method is not about looking for structures but rather finding points of connection that allow us to ‘translate’ different technical-tactical elements and incorporate them into our own skiing.
We must clarify that this method does not only involve the achievement of specific references defined through the procedures outlined above. In other words, once we have achieved the references on which we will develop our skiing, these should not constitute an obstacle to our imagination, but rather a solid foundation that can (and in many cases, should) be broken down in order to expand at the necessary and precise moment.
In everyday skiing we tend to act more on sensibility and perception and not so much on rationality, as there would not be enough time to weigh up the various options for the available actions and speed variables that we may experience. We carry out our actions according to accepted references in order to simplify and thus solve typical problems. Therefore, if we do not have solid references, we will doubt our actions, so that is why we use them to control many of the situations we encounter in our daily skiing. When faced with unusual circumstances, we look for new references to manage them, and even though we are dominated by pre-existing ones, we will always have the ability to modify them. In these situations, biomechanical analogies are important references when executing movements and actions, especially in situations of uncertainty or limited space-time.
