Good stance and balance are important for any skier, but even more so for ski racers. This year’s Women’s BC Ski Team athletes have begun working on their stance and balance by improving the foot alignment in their ski boots .
In late August, Paul Rauhala from OKAPED kindly offered to sponsor our team by supplying us with 'custom bilateral foot orthotics' for use in our ski boots. Mr. Rauhala dedicated many hours (in his spare time) to ensure a perfect fit. He assessed each racer's foot structure with respect to form and function. In his own words "these orthotics were designed by taking a non-weight bearing cast of the foot. They were fabricated out of XPE material from a plaster positive cast of the foot. Fore and aft balance and knee alignment testing was then done with the finished orthotic in the ski boot at the OKAPED clinic in Kelowna."
In the end, the result we look for is something like what Sarah Elliot (Big White Racers/CAST Prospect) described when she started using her new ski boot orthotics from OKAPED during the New Zealand summer training camp. “Right away I felt both turns were more balanced and I think the orthotics also helped me to be cleaner at the top of the turn”.
In our first week in Chile at Valle Nevado, the BC Team girls used our orthotics for the first time. Although it took a few days to wear them in, once the foot cramps wore off, it made the fit of our boots exponentially better. A lot of girls felt that it made the start of their turn stronger as they had more support in their arches.
OKAPED has University trained Certified Pedorthists in five locations in the Okanagan valley of BC for assessment of stance and balance in ski boots.
Thanks to Mr. Rauhala and OKAPED! Below are a few of the pics we took during the process. The last photo was taken at the Rauhala's home in Kelowna. Thanks Kirsten and Paul for the great dinner and fun evening! (left to right: Kirsten Rauhala, Silken Rauhala, Kailee Darlington, Charley Field, Alix Wells, Jocelyn Ramsden, Sofi Leroux)
~ Submitted by the Women's BC Ski Team
