He finished 2nd in all 3 events at the last races held in Kimberley last March.
Cory also participates in basketball with Special Olympics, and last year he moved out of the C-level basketball program in Delta to the B-level program in Richmond . Well this year, that program has been reclassified as an A-level program. So Cory has moved from C-level ball to A-level ball in one year. It's a big jump - pun intended!
It means he is up against primarily bigger, taller, and stronger opponents. And at least for now, better skilled opponents.
At Cory's first practice last week...some 3 on 3....a bit of slalom to get started, something he's quite familiar with....then a futile attempt against a taller opponent....but not intimidated at all as he carries and passes the ball....and goes to the net where all the action is....and positions himself well for a score...
With more players expected to attend practices, 5 on 5 against those big guys will certainly be a new challenge for Cory, especially at the pace of A-level play. And there should be some interesting competitions over the winter, though Cory's focus will obviously be on his skiing.
Cory and I were reviewing various videos of him racing and of some famous ski racers. Over the last couple of years, Cory has developed a rather unique style at the start gate. No other racer we've seen drops as low as Cory does. He did this completely on his own, no one instructed him to do so. I've wondered if his low position was helpful or a hindrance. But it was his style, and I figured it would be best to just let it be.
And then today, we came across this....Herman Maier - the Herminator as he was called, one of the greatest skiers ever - and he's copying Cory!!! Hey!
Well, it's obviously a good thing for Cory to do, if it's good enough for the Herminator. Cory just needs to make a small adjustment - keeping his hands high and his poles perpendicular to the snow, not at a slant. We'll work on this right here at home before the season starts.
That will be just some fine tuning but last season Cory developed a bit of a bad habit of being too far back on his skis...this is from training at Sun Peaks last February....with much of his weight too far back towards the tails of his skis, and his knees perpendicular to his feet, he is not getting enough pressure on the tips of the skis - the real steering wheel of race ski as it is at the tip that the skis are the widest, once on edge that wide edge would dig into the snow and help him carve a cleaner turn. Here you can see most of the snow is flying from the tail end of his skis and his skis drifting to his left as he tries to end a turn to his right...
compared to racing at Sun Peaks in 2015...body more forward, body weight forward of his heels, knees at a 45 degree angle to his feet, putting more weight into that wide part of the ski at the tip, allowing it to dig into the snow and make a clean carve to his left.
So a bit of work to do there too...Provincials are in Silver Star near Vernon on Feb 21/22. Got some time to fine tune the champ!
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