Nordic Combined - How to Play?

Till now we have understood the basic mechanics of ski jumping. Now it’s time to learn how to play this sport through step by step procedure.

Dress Yourself

This is the initial part, though it is a simple one, but the beginners often find it difficult to remember the process. The player has to put his boot into the binding perfectly and the most important fact is that the player has to make sure that the leaning angle of his boot and the ski must be same.

Regarding the front of the binding, the player has to slide the lip of the binding into the toe cup of the boot. For safety issues, the skier has to align the heel of the boot and bring it down into the heel cup along with the back of the binding.

For tightening the binding clips over the legs, the skier has to push the heel as much as he can into the heel cup. Once the skier put on the skis, he has to be careful about the following facts −

The ski must be lying along with the slope to reduce friction while moving.
Without sliding anywhere, the skier must stand sideways.
If any foreign snow particle is present at the bottom of the ski boot, then the player before starting the movement must remove it.

Putting off Skis

The first point before entering into the process is the player has to stand on a steady path. He should not move sideways at that time. To dismount himself from the heel of the boot, the player has to push the heel lever which is on the back of the binding.

After this process, an upward rotation of the heel cup will take place which will result in releasing of the heel of the ski boot. It will be very easy for the player to take out his boot.

Travel in Straight Line

Snowplough is a method of travelling on a straight line. In case of a slope, the player can have control over his speed but not on direction.

To make a snowplough, the player must ski along a V-shape in such a manner that the tips of the player remain at a minimum distance of 10 cm. The main thinking behind this position is to prevent any two skiers from colliding with each other or running over each other.

This type of position is very important for the players as it acts as a brake while travelling. More is the distance from the tip of the skis, more will be the braking action and with stable maintenance of the body.

Here technically the skier is moving in a straight line path, but his skis are aligned alongside in diagonal manner which will create resistance.

Take turns

Earlier we have discussed about the snowplough to learn about the speed control. Now we will discuss about the snowplough that will let us know the changing direction methodology.

The skier has to place his skis in a V shape and in such a manner that the right ski will try to go to the left side and left ski will try to go to the right side. The skier has to distribute the weight of his body in an even manner on the skis and should try to align himself more on the ski through which he wants to change the direction.

This is because more weight on a ski will create a low resistance path below that and the skier will travel very easily while making a turn. The basic formula for this is that if the player wants to turn towards right, then he has to apply more weight on left and if he wants to turn left then he must apply more weight on his right.

Move up to the height

If the player or the skier will fall back, then to rise up from there, first of all, he has to bring himself towards the side of the skis. The skier has to bring himself as close to the skis as he can and then he has to push on his knees and try to stand up.

The skier really needs to push himself to his greatest limit in order to stand back on his feet. That’s why the player must bring the weight on the boot of the forward ski.

The skier must position his downhill arms diagonally down and over the ski boot and his uphill arm should be very close to the uphill ski. The skier must push with his uphill arm so that he will be able to stand up again on his feet over the skis. At this time the downhill arm of the player should be in crouched position as it will help him immensely to go back to his original position immediately and safely.