From our infancy we begin to use the emotional expressions of others as references to develop our own behaviors. As skiers, an example of these psychological references can be seen in the simple act of subjectively interpreting a signage with the different colors of the slopes and we relate them to our perceived difficulty that each color signifies to us.
When we ride a bicycle, we learn that the effort we exert by pressing our foot and extending our leg on each pedal forward and downward gives us a reference for acceleration, so we tend to lean our torso forward, activating our abdominal muscles. Almost unconsciously, we incorporate the anterior and posterior muscle references of the torso to compensate for inertia.
When we perceive that our speed is higher than we need or are comfortable with, we make a muscular effort with our fingers to press the brakes of the bicycle, which gives us a reference for deceleration and braking if that effort is sustained for a period of time.
If we lean the bicycle too much to one side when riding slowly, we will surely lose our balance. Then we notice that at higher speeds we can lean more to the sides without falling, so we will take inclination in combination with speed as a reference to balance ourselves.
Later, when driving a vehicle and perceiving that the vehicle in front of us increases in size by enlarging our visual focus of expansion, we realize that our speed is higher, so we obtain a reference for speed: the focus of expansion increases at higher speeds and decreases at lower speeds.
As riding a bicycle at high speeds, we then react by pressing the brake lightly or sharply with our foot and the contained extension of our leg, while compensating for inertia with our torso by keeping it upright or leaning it back, depending on the magnitude of the braking inertia, activating the posterior muscles of the back, which gives us a reference for deceleration.
If we get lost in the mountains and ask how to get to a certain place, we will surely be given directions using landmarks as references: a certain slopes’ intersection, the name of a trail, or some natural icon which we will take into account to reach our destination.
When skiing, references are varied and used in multiple contexts. The references in our skiing behavior are observed and learned patterns (technical, tactical, social, ethical, emotional, cognitive) that guide our actions from habits to reactions to sounds or movements, showing how we learn to adapt and interact with the mountain environment, based on social influence and our personal experience.
We can think of references as ‘memory aids’ that allow us to quickly relate theory to practice. Changing edges or shifting weight are theoretical concepts that we relate to what we have to do, how we have to do it, and which part of the body we need to use to execute it. These references are specific, that is, we focus on a precise indication (reference) to perform a particular movement or action, which may be specific movements of different parts of the body, or visual movements to determine points on the slope, snow condition, trajectories, etc.
Group lessons are the first reference point we have when learning to ski, as they provide us with reference models that we imitate, in addition to our instructor. As we improve our skiing, these models vary.
When we encounter a challenging situation, we look at our current points of reference like an instructor, a friend, or other skiers in the group to assess the context, so we form an idea of how we should deal with it. Not only we establish our own references through our perceptions, but we also take other people’s reactions as references to understand the situation we are experiencing.
What we mean by all this is that, by constructing references, we try to make sense of the environment we find ourselves in, especially in situations of uncertainty. Therefore, the more references we obtain during our development as skiers, the better skiers we will become.
We must emphasize here that obtaining references is not about imitating others but rather building our own, which is an active mental process through which we give meaning to our actions on the slopes.
We can conclude this reference frame stating that references are benchmarks that show us the appropriate way to act in each situation, and are key to ski learning, understanding this as our ability to attribute thoughts and intentions that help us comprehend and reflect on our mental state when skiing.
