About

Your Ski Coach

 
 

My name is Rick Schnellmann, and I've spent 46 years in the sport of skiing.  As a youth I was intensely involved in ski racing, eventually competing  internationally as a representative of the United States in FIS level competition.   After I retired from racing I decided I wanted to give back to the sport, so I went into coaching with a goal of helping other kids realize the many life gifts that skiing had bestowed upon me.


Coaching Experience

For the next 30 years I coached in, ran and designed high intensity training programs that consistently produced great skiers, successful college athletes, FIS level athletes, National level athletes, and even an occasional World Cup skier and World Champion.  While this was very rewarding for both myself and my students, something always troubled me.  When I would look around the ski slopes we trained on, there was always a huge and striking contrast between the level of skiing of my students, and that of the general public.  While my racers were progressing in ability to the top level of the sport, able to ski any slope with confidence and effortless grace,  most recreational skiers were struggling in futile battle against the mountain, handicapped by lack of the basic skills I successfully taught everyday.


The Problem - Cost of Private Ski Lessons

It troubled me that adult skiers did not have access to the same level of information and instruction my students did.  I understood the problem.  My racers trained 6 days a week, and the technical skills they learned were broad.  The cost for an adult to pursue such training would be very prohibitive for the vast majority.  Here in Colorado a full day private lesson is often over $600.  Doing the math based on that figure, a full year of training similar to what I offered my athletes would cost an adult over $50,000.  Obviously, few adult skiers would consider that a reasonable option, so their lesson experiences typically consist of the occasional one or two lessons a year.  Ski Schools understand that, so they design their lessons to provide a quick bang for the buck.  A student's skiing is rapidly evaluated, quick fix tips are issued, and the student is then sent on their way.  There is little time for the broad skill development required to support true expert skiing, so the student generally just continues to flounder in the land of the "terminal intermediate".


The Solution - Ski Instruction Video DVD

So the dilemma was defined.  How to make available the information and training needed to pursue true expert skiing, and at a price almost everyone who was interested in becoming an expert skier could afford?  YOUR SKI COACH  is the solution.  It's my attempt to bring to the masses the type of information and training that has been used to develop the best skiers in the world for years.  Through our detailed and comprehensive BUILDING BLOCKS INSTRUCTIONAL SERIES DVDs, we provide the means for every skier to have access to a personal training program that teaches all the skills they need to become expert skiers.  Within BUILDING BLOCKS is a wealth of information and drills that would take years of one-on-one lessons to cover and refine.  They explain and teach all the base skills I've used to produce world class skiers for 30 years, something rarely available to the average recreational skier, and all for the mere cost of a half day private lesson.  I truly believe BUILDING BLOCKS has the potential to fill the instructional void that I've observed for so long.


To support BUILDING BLOCKS, we will be providing a library of articles on ski technique and general skiing topics.  These articles will be offered free of charge, and will help explain the principles contained in the Ski Instructional DVD's.  I want to thank you for visiting the site, and reading of my vision.  I sincerely hope that together we can overcome the information barrier that exists in the sport of skiing today, and set you on the course to becoming the expert skier you may have always thought was out of your reach.  I want to see you derive even greater pleasure from this life long sport we both love.


Sincerely,

Rick Schnellmann

The Story of  YOUR SKI COACH

YOUR SKI COACH  is best described as the product of a vision. 


How to make available the information and training needed to pursue true expert skiing, and at a price almost everyone who was interested in becoming an expert skier could afford? 


YOUR SKI COACH is the solution.


Through our detailed and comprehensive BUILDING BLOCKS INSTRUCTIONAL SERIES, we provide the means for every skier to have access to a personal training program that teaches all the skills they need to become expert skiers.