The Ski Coach, which looks like a small Camelback water reservoir, contains a curved tube with a ball bearing inside. The bearing clicks against washers at either end of the tube when skiers are making proper turns.

By J.P. SQUIRE
The Okanagan Saturday

Banff ski pro Chris Braisby has developed a new tool to help skiers in the Okanagan and around the world make better turns.

The Ski Coach, which looks like a small backpack, provides an instant audible signal that helps keep shoulders level with the slope.

Guy Paulsen, a North Okanagan professional ski instructor-coach with 23 years experience, learned about it during a national convention two years ago.

"Like most people, I was very skeptical," he admitted Friday.

"If anything, I admired Chris's commitment. That won me over."

He brought a sample back to Vernon and asked a client of 15 years, a lifelong learner, if he was game to try it.

"It just clicked, no pun intended. There's an audible click every time you have good lateral balance on turns. It's broadened my thinking. Kudos to Chris; he has gone where no one has gone before."

The Ski Coach has a tube in the shape of an arc, like a banana or a horseshoe, with a metal ball inside. The correct centrifugal force (Newton's law on force and gravity) makes it rise over the arc. With the proper skiing technique, it goes from side to side, clicking on washers when it hits the bottom of each side.

"You have to have the correct body position (and speed) to maximize that centrifugal force. It's not the magic pill; you don't strap this on and ski like a national team member. There's a lot of other things (dynamics) going on when you ski but for correct lateral balance, it's the best thing I've seen," said Paulsen.

Braisby's web site, www.theskicoach.com, explains this pursuit of the elusive, yet oh-so-important angulation another way.

"To get the skis on edge, we must tip them with our feet. A common mistake made by many skiers is to tip the shoulders (often referred to as leaning into the hill) instead."

That causes excessive skidding and inhibits learning, he warns, explaining The Ski Coach will help keep shoulders level to the slope as skis are tipped with the feet.

It works best in good snow conditions. High speeds, wind and hard-packed snow will diminish the sound quality.

Paulsen agrees with Braisby that many people plateau at the low intermediate level so he uses it with long-time clients.

"Every time I've used it, it has been successful. If I had 30 of them, I would use it a lot more. And it's not something you would use just once. People forget; they get lazy. It's a good reminder for lateral balance."

He recommends wearing it for a morning or afternoon early in the ski season until proper lateral balance becomes second nature.

"It's become more sleek each year so you're not embarrassed to wear it. I just loaned it to the North Okanagan disabled skiers. Newton's Law doesn't discriminate," said Paulsen.

Braisby studied sports science in the United Kingdom and has taught skiing around the world. He found that students often reverted to their old habits after a lesson so he developed The Ski Coach while he worked in Europe.

"No one had ever done anything like this before. I found people progressed at a faster rate, Our challenge is to get it on people's backs," he said, noting it works on the same principle as the bank meter on an aircraft.

Braisby doesn't recommend it for novices but those who can parallel ski, albeit with a few bad habits.

"We don't sell them in the (ski) shops. We prefer people go to a ski school where it's introduced during a lesson. We want people to learn how to use it properly."
He has a patent pending through his company. The Ski Coach Co. Ltd. The Ski Coach is manufactured in Calgary/Banff and sold online for $50.

He gave away hundreds to instructors and ski schools across North America and in Europe last year. This is the first full year he's promoting it. Braisby will swing through the Interior next week. He plans to be at Silver Star on Jan. 4, Big White on Jan. 5 and Sun Peaks on Jan. 6.