Practice Won’t Make Your Skiing Better. But Deliberate Practice Will!

Mark Sedgwick finished this winter as #1 on the CARV global leaderboard for short turns, with a Ski IQ of 180 — the highest recorded this season. In this episode, I sit down with Mark to find out exactly how he got there. Mark is an Australian-born ski professional who started at age 10 and never looked back. He's worked through the APSI, CSIA, and Austrian instructor systems, raced in Europe, ran ski resorts, and now plays a senior role in the PSIC (Professional Ski Instructors of Canada) — including integrating CARV data into Level 4 certification exams. This is one of the most practical, data-rich ski improvement conversations I've had on the show. We cover: → The difference between play, purposeful practice, and deliberate practice → Why just trying harder keeps you stuck at the same score → The #1 and #2 metrics that drive short turn Ski IQ → Mark's philosophy: make something exist before you make it better → Turn-by-turn breakdowns of parallel, carving, short turns, and moguls → Why function before form is reshaping how ski instructors are trained → A live coaching session using my real CARV data → How Mark used AI to reverse-engineer the CARV scoring algorithm → The future of CARV: stivets, one-ski skiing, and community features Whether you're a recreational skier trying to level up or a ski professional looking for a new lens on performance, this conversation is packed with actionable insights. —————————————————————————— 🎿 FREE SKIING VIDEO Get a premium level Big Picture Skiing Tutorial here: https://bigpictureskiing.com/get/perpendicular 📱 DOWNLOAD CARV Try CARV for yourself: https://getcarv.com 🌐 BIG PICTURE SKIING Website: https://bigpictureskiing.com —————————————————————————— ⏱ CHAPTERS 0:00 How Mark Hit Ski IQ 180 3:15 Meet Mark Sedgwick 5:14 From Aussie Kid to Ski Pro 7:52 The Austrian Influence 12:56 Why Most Practice Doesn't Work 23:55 The Ugly Skiing Breakthrough 32:39 Function Over Form 37:12 Style Still Matters 45:50 Make It Exist, Then Make It Better 54:48 How to Improve Your Parallel Score 1:04:45 Parallel — The Most Overlooked Turn Type 1:13:42 Carving: The Metrics That Actually Matter 1:27:44 Ski Sharpening & The Pole Secret 1:31:25 Short Turns — How to Break Your Ceiling 1:45:43 Moguls, Tempo & Keeping the Joy