Athletic Stance
Athletic Stance or Princes Power Pose(PPP) is the form that helps students stay in control. Feet should be shoulder width apart, with both feet facing forward. Weight is out over the balls of your feet so that your shins are applying pressure to the front of your boots. Your ankles, knees, and hips should be bent as well. Your hands should also be out in front of you. Your shoulders knees and toes should all be in line with each other
The stances shouldn’t be stiff and the skier should respond to challenging terrain, but it serves as the form that a skier should return to.
Characteristics of a good Athletic Stance are:
- The feet are approximately hip-width apart to provide a base of support
- All major joints are flexed
- Weight and balance is toward the balls of the feet
- The arms are raised slightly above the waist, with the elbows just in front of the body and the hands positioned slightly wider than the elbows
- The pelvis is neutral (with the lower back neither arched nor the tailbone tucked)
- The head is up with the vision forward
The importance of this stance cannot be overstated; any style or habit that negatively impacts these elements of an athletic stance will have a negative impacts on the skier’s ability to move effectively. %% Athletic Stance %%