The purpose of the present master's thesis was to investigate the characteristics of modern ski teaching of off-piste skiing and to define the Slovenian skier population and their attitudes towards modern skiing trends.
By analysing 106 videos collected from YouTube, we gathered data on the modern ski teaching of off-piste skiing and their popularity among users. With an anonymous online survey, we collected data from 873 skiers on the possibilities of incorporating modern trends into the Slovenian space, based on their popularity and their priorities for acquiring various skiing skills.
By analysing the content of the videos, we defined and investigated the following categories based on the responses of users: side sliding, bumps, side sliding with pivoting, kick turn, skiing in the low light, tree skiing, skiing with skins, steep skiing in general, skiing in challenging conditions, pole plant, spot turn, step turn, jump turn and cliff jumping and freestyle moves.
Most of the respondents were male and under 30 years of age, with 52% without official skiing qualifications. They are mostly motivated by enjoying unspoiled nature, good snow conditions and maintaining physical condition. Individuals with professional skiing qualifications attributed significantly greater importance to general skiing skills. Most categories of skiing knowledge were rated high in terms of importance, in line with the popular categories of YouTube video analysis. Contrary to the video analysis, the cliff jumping and freestyle moves were considered the least popular among the respondents. 52% of respondents already used YouTube with the aim of acquiring and developing skiing skills. The results indicate the need to expand the range of ski teaching in this area also through online video content. Considering the low level of importance of the step turn among Slovenian skiers compared to the results of the video analysis, it would make sense to include its usefulness in off-piste skiing in the Slovenian ski school as a version of the basic turn.
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