Single Best Technological Advance Since the Video Camera
Guest Blog Post by Brandon Dyksterhouse, former Head Coach US Women's Ski Team
I often get asked the question, "what is the best thing I can do to improve my ski racing?" My response is always the same, “MAKE EVERY TURN COUNT!”
Unlike soccer or basketball, our sport is weather dependent and has a significant cost associated with each training session. A typical day consists of 6 to 10 runs in a course, meaning an athlete has less than ten minutes in gates to make meaningful change.
What if I told you that I could make each run in gates significantly more valuable and expedite your athlete's improvement? Until recently, it has been incredibly challenging to quantify change. Most teams have an optical timer, but that does not allow an athlete or coach to see the level of detail required to make data-informed change.
Coaches often give technical or tactical instruction with the hope of positively impacting total run time. In alpine ski racing, the objective is clear: the fastest athlete from start to finish wins. What is less clear is how to implement change based on snow conditions, course set, terrain changes, and line variations.
Today, video and GPS athlete data linked together provide insight into the metrics that actually make an athlete faster.
Protern is the culmination of years of testing with elite athletes, resulting in a comprehensive analysis tool that fits daily training. I used to spend countless hours analyzing every turn of every run in search of that hidden hundredth of a second.
After my first season coaching Mikaela Shiffrin, I deconstructed every GS race run to learn how she could improve from 3rd in the world to standing on top of the podium the following season. Through still-frame analysis, side-by-side comparison, and manual split downloads, I learned that her turns were already among the best in the world, but she was losing tenths on terrain break-overs.
In 2020 and beyond, we now have the ability to perform this type of analysis instantly.
What stands out about Protern is that you do not need a data scientist to interpret the information. Want to add a split? Do it virtually on your phone or tablet. Curious about entry and exit speed out of a hairpin? Access it directly in the app. Training privately without carrying a traditional timer? Use your smartphone.
The product shines when you begin to segment the data into “quantriqs.” Conventional timing tells you who is fastest overall. Protern allows you to see where meaningful change can happen within the run.
Using clear performance comparison, coaches and athletes can instantly identify the sections where time was gained or lost and connect that to tactical decisions.
The biggest challenge in ski coaching is validating the feedback we give athletes. When instruction is confirmed by measurable outcomes, improvement accelerates. Protern supports that validation process.
I would argue that modern GPS-based ski analysis is equally important in improving a coach’s coaching as it is in improving an athlete’s skiing.
If you want to understand how this fits into daily capture and review, see How Protern Works or talk to us.
Look forward to seeing everyone on the slopes.
Best,
Dykster
