We all have that one hardest pass that we would like to complete. Some may have been working on it for several years and others may have just got into that next line length. It’s undeniable that anxiety plays a role in building that hardest pass up in our minds. Let’s have a look at how anxiety and visual triggers can make that hardest pass harder than it actually is. If you are reading this magazine you are hooked on water skiing and chances are you’ve been chasing buoys for a lot of years. You probably have a very good understanding of what you were trying to accomplish in the slalom course but there’s that one pass that seems so much harder than the one you complete 95% of the time. When you first learned how to run the slalom course you were probably told that you have to hustle or go faster when you complete the turn in order to get early enough to make the next ball. These are instincts that are engrained in us from the beginning: when I get late, I need to go harder and faster to make sure I get early again. In the beginning that sense of urgency and a little bit of panic is actually helpful, but as our skill level improves and the rope shortens, panic and urgency become bad rhythm that will actually punish us more. I’ve heard countless times from skiers say “I just need to be patient.” In my mind I think “ How can you be patient when you’re late? How can you go against every instinct that you’ve trained your whole life?”
Those red buoys are visual triggers and the further we go past them, the more we panic and the harder we go to get earlier for the next buoy. I have sat at countless tournaments either watching and waiting or judging and I see how most people structure the tournament ski set. It never ceases to amaze me how down course people are willing to run even on their easiest opening pass. I often wonder if maybe they forget the most basic rule of the slalom course: turn as close to the ball as you possibly can! It’s very simple, but I wonder why so many ignore it. When we go past the ball, the visual trigger tells us to go hard; when we go hard, we spike the rhythm of the boat too early; then we get punished as soon as we release the edge on the other side. If I’m early at the ball the visual trigger tells me to relax because there’s no need to panic and I am free to focus on where I want to be strongest. Once we start to get a little bit late in the course and the anxiety takes over, we go in to defense mode. Big turns, big pulls out of the ball, early edge changes, loss of direction off the wake- it’s a domino effect that inevitably will cost us at some point. Spend the next few sets putting a premium on turning as close to the ball as you possibly can. This will allow you to ski a rhythm that is more in tune with the boat rather than a rhythm that is in tune with your timing in the course and your anxiety of constantly getting a little bit later. When you finally do get to that hardest pass focus on creating enough space that it gives you the opportunity to turn early. It will take some getting used to; but it will help relax your anxiety and allow you to ski a more productive rhythm.
Anxiety and your hardest pass
