Topic: Dry Land Work
Concept: Upper Body Position/ Staying on Toes
Skill:
1. Students will understand the key concepts of the upper body during
water skiing
2. Students will be able to adjust their lower body to balance on their
toes during the ski
3. Students' skills will be challenged while they are pulled around
the grass on skis holding an actual ski rope.
Objective: Students will grasp the basic knowledge of water
skiing and be able to put that knowledge into actual water skis.
Lesson Activity:
Materials Needed: 30 life jackets ( Type I preferably but any
will work) ~ students will not be in any water but they should be required
to wear a PFD whenever they have skis or a wake board on! 30 sets of skis
( actual length and perfect sizing are not factors for this lesson), 30
ski ropes ( approximately 6' feet ~ these can be made from cutting down
old ski ropes), 60 cones ( large size).
In this lesson students will receive an introductory course on skiing
and the basic fundamentals they need to concentrate on. They will then
form into groups of four ( one skier, two rope pullers, one evaluator/spotter).
It is essential to entail safety into this lesson and briefly talk to the
students about pulling and using their legs not their backs to pull. Groups
should be put together according to size and weight ( not known by the
students but some preplanning could take care of this).
The skier will be pulled around the grass getting the feeling for being on skis.
They will then apply their skills into a course ( set up by cones) and work
on leaning into the turn ( turns should be very slight and little turn should
be needed ~ you can go to LESSON SEVENTEEN
for more information on cross overs).
Upper Body Teaching Cues:
( As teacher is describing these the students should be mocking his/her
actions and asking any questions when they feel lost).
A Straight Back:
The one area that will have the greatest impact on skiing is keeping
the back straight. It is also one of the biggest battles students will
have against the boat ( pullers). Have students imagine that they are playing
a game of Tug of War with the boat (pullers) which is trying to bring them
forward and pull the skis down course. As the boat (pullers) pulls against
them, they will have to resist by keeping their backs straight. A straight
back will give them better leverage and more strength to resist the boats
(pullers) pull.
Hips Up:
The best way to keep the back straight is to keep the hips up to the
handle. By pulling the hips up to the handle the back will straighten.
Keep the handle low and arms straight while reaching up to the handle with
the hips. As students arch their backs they should keep their knees and
ankles bent. They should hold their head up and focus their eyes in the
direction they are going.
Push Chest Out:
As students pull their hips up to the handle, they should stick their
chest out between their arms. This will help them to arch their backs and
bring their hips closer to the handle.
Head Up:
The motto is " If you look down, you fall down." By looking down, the
body and shoulders will slump forward creating an uneven weight distribution
and loss of natural balance. Students will also not see where they are
going. So they should keep their head up and eyes focused on where they
are going.
Keeping Balanced On Toes:
Tell students to balance or keep their weight on their toes ( balls
of their feet). This has the affect of keeping them off their heels and
consequently off their backsides. It is virtually impossible for a student
to keep their arms straight when the sensation of falling backwards occurs.
Having the weight on the balls of the feet makes it much more difficult
to fall backward.
Arms Straight/Knees Bent:
Tell students to keep their arms out in front of their bodies as straight
as they can ( they should not be locked but close to a locked position).
This will allow the boat (pullers) to essentially help them be pulled up
very easily. It is also important for the students to keep their knees
bent in order to adjust to the changing conditions on the water; also they
should work on keeping their knees close together and not let them get
too far spread out ( smaller than shoulder width is perfect).
Activity:
Students shall get into their groups, decide who will be doing what
jobs in what order, and find an open space in the grass field and begin.
For this activity the students students will not begin in a seating position
( as they would in the water) but in a standing position. It is important
that you tell the students to work together as a team to ensure safety,
when the skier is ready to go he or she will say "HIT IT" and then
the pullers will walk (not run) around while pulling the skier. The fourth
student should analysis the skier and tell them what is happening and go
over the teaching cues with them.
After every student has done each job, they have the option of going throughout a small cone course working on actually turning the skis slightly (pullers should not run and do only very slow turns to let the skier get used to balancing themselves when turned a different direction.
Assignment:
For the next class students are to complete the following water skiing
word scramble:
Water Skiing Word Scramble
Below are 10 word scrambles. Complete each scramble and then
hand it in tomorrow in class. Worth 10 points.
1. O T B F A O G R N I E ___________________________________
2. A I B D O R N ___________________________________
3. K S I ____________________________________
4. T E P W D A E R E ____________________________________
5. M S O A L L ____________________________________
6. D B R A W O E K A _____________________________________
7. I T L H O S N R E _____________________________________
8. K W E A ______________________________________
9. S E W I T U T ______________________________________
10. V T F E L E S I ________________________________________