Sometimes it is the gear

Working with children is always a challenge. Even when you ask what you think are the right questions, it doesn't always mean the children will respond with proper answers. For example in my pre-class checks I like to investigate the boot fit as it's not uncommon for people to rent boots too big. I run through a series of pre-class questions that look kind of like this:

How do your boots feel?

Are they too tight?

Where are they tight?

Can you feel your toes touching the front of the boot? (When standing up)

Can you try to bend your ankles?

I'll also do some checks where I see what has been stuffed into the boot (socks, jeans, etc) and check space for the shin bone. Often times just adjusting a little bit of the boot tongue is enough to make a tight boot suddenly feel a lot better for kids. This past week I had a student, lets call him Brian, who ran through all of these steps and everything looked okay. As a class we took some time to prepare indoors for wedge and parallel positions, walking, getting in and out of skis, and general starting processes like that. Once the class made it outside, Brian suddenly had all kind of difficulty in moving around on the snow. It wasn't terribly clear to me at first what was going on, or why he couldn't do simple tasks like a straight glide. Some of that was because Brian was a constant ball of movement even when standing still. About half way through the outdoor segment I started to see what was going on, his left leg was inverting at random times. It wasn't clear why but at lunch I had the chance to better inspect what was going on. It was at this point Brian was showing to the other kids in the school that he could turn his boot sideways and pop his foot out of the boot. The Kids School director and I promptly got Brian a new pair of boots that were a few sizes smaller, which made all the difference in his ability to control the leg. It did not however slow down his endless motion.