INTRODUCTION: The paper explores the potential of practical knowledge of experienced skiers and coaches in the development of a theoretical model of alpine skiing technique. METHOD: The approach is praxeological and phenomenological. Broadly speaking, praxeology is the study of the logic of intentional and goal-oriented human action. Phenomenology is the study of human intentionality, or, more specifically in this context, of the search for meaning in embodied interaction with the environment (Merleau-Ponty 1962). RESULTS: Based on knowledge and insights of the expert practice community, three main technical elements of alpine skiing are identified; balancing, finding support on the surface, and gliding (Joubert 1980). Each main element gives rise to a series of technical sub-elements with varying degree of relevance in various environmental settings. A forth technical element is identified which is that of movement rhythm. Movement rhythm is not associated with technical sub-elements but plays nevertheless a strong and constitutive role in expert conceptions of alpine skiing (Loland 1992, Loland and Haugen 2000). DISCUSSION: A discussion is made on the possibilities of exploring from a scientific point of view the these technical elements. It is argued that balancing, finding support on the surface, and gliding can be operationalized and examined in strict, analytic ways. Movement rhythm, however, seems best understood in non-analytic and holistic terms as a principle unifying other technical elements into efficient, meaningful wholes. It can be argued that it is precisely such holistic qualities that characterize expert skills (Dreyfus and Dreyfus 1986). CONCLUSION: It is concluded that a praxeological-phenomenological approach can provide a fertile framework for the study of human movement technique. The approach opens for strict, scientific testing of main assumptions as well as for pedagogical and didactic developments. In addition, a better understanding of movement rhythm ought to be pursued to achieve more comprehensive insights into what human movement techniques are al( about.
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