I figured I would post this because I wish someone had told me these things when I was first starting out. It would have made things a lot easier. Also, please understand this is just my personal view but I have seen it reinforced by real life examples time and time again. Here are just a few basic lessons that I have learned over the years.
1) The real instructor in snowboarding is pain.
Snowboarding has an advantage over most sports because there is no way to half-ass at it. What I mean is in some sports you are able to perform them without actually putting effort into it. Example: hitting a baseball... you can hit a baseball with an incorrect stance/force/direction and fool yourself into thinking that you can hit a baseball. With snowboarding you are DIRECTLY penalized for doing something incorrectly. The snowboard instructors at resorts are only snowboard ADVISORS. The REAL snowboard instructor is something found at every mountain. PAIN. Pain is your instructor. Think about it. What teaches you to not ride flat on a mountain for an extended period of time? The time you learn this is when you catch an edge and faceplant on the ground. Pain then shows you that you are doing it wrong. You soon come to understand that you are going to fall, a lot while learning this sport. Tips, tricks, and advice can only lessen the frequency and severity. Your going to fall while your muscles build the muscle memory and balance to move your feet correctly.
2) Do what feels right.
When I started out snowboarding I took a lesson that came with the rental from the snowboard. The guy took me out on the mountain, taught the little turns, what they were called and how to do them. I soon then started learning how to snowboard by falling over and over again trying to learn how to toe edge and heel edge. I hated it. I gave up, walked back into the lodge, threw my gear at the ground and told my dad that this wasn't for me. He sat there and said, "Just go out there and do what feels right, if you don't like it then, just come back in and we can go home." So I did that, I walked out to the mountain, strapped my snowboard on and pointed it down the mountain. I flew down the beginner slope racing past everyone in a direct line. I made it down in one go and then bailed at the end. I got up out of the snow and was laughing. That was the moment that I was hooked. For the rest of the day, it didn't matter how much I fell because I knew how awesome this sport was going to be. So how can my experience help you? I can honestly say that everytime I take ive-always-wanted-to-learn-how-to-snowboard friend with me to the mountain, the ones that stick with it are the ones that just let me leave them to learn on their own. The ones that insist on their hands being held never stick with it. They usually quit the first day. So when learning to snowboard, take some advice from friends, maybe an instructor, watch other people and then do it. Just do what you think feels right. Lesson 1 will remind you if your doing it wrong.
3) Give it 3 days before you quit.
I tell everyone that if you want to learn, the best way is to do 3 solid days preferrably close to each other. (Fri/Sat/Sunday, 1 day a week for 3 weeks, etc). I cannot stress this one enough. Snowboarding is a muscle memory sport and it takes your body time to move and react in ways it has never done before. This takes time. But once you get it, you will never lose it, like riding a bike. The first day you will learn what NOT to do(ie: pain day), the second day you will learn to respect the mountain and slowly start to get a hold of it. The third day you will be able to make it down the mountain and bail only in minor ways. By the end of the first year, you should be able to make it down the mountain without falling. This seems to be the pattern I have noticed with myself and with all the friends I have gotten into the sport and watched progress. If you honestly give it 3 days and you still are not getting it, you may just need more time, or in reality, you may just not be in the proper physical shape to snowboard. Its called a sport for a reason.
4) Your friend teaching you to snowboard isn't there to teach you, they are there to encourage you. Constantly.
When your learning to snowboard the number one thing you are going to need is someone there telling you to get up and do it again. DO NOT SIT IN THE SNOW LONGER THAN A MINUTE. Once you start relaxing in the snow after you fall, your heartrate drops, your adrenaline drops, and you start to lose passion for learning how to do it right. Your friends are there to make sure you get up and keep at it. I would do this by leaving my friend on the mountain to learn after giving them a few tips and then going down the mountain, taking the lift up, riding down to them again, and encouraging them for a couple minutes, give a few more tips and repeat, ALL DAY LONG. DO NOT STOP ENCOURAGING THEM. Do not be selfish unless they are being selfish. If they are there really trying to learn and just getting discouraged, keep em going with positive reinforcement. (insert sexual joke here). If they are all, "Forget this" or just sitting in the snow constantly just let them be, enjoy your day. If they don't want to learn, there is nothing you can tell them to change their mind. Vice-versa, if they want to learn, it doesnt matter how hard they bail or how uncoordinated they are, they will learn.
More to come, but I'm at work and need to get back at it.
1) The real instructor in snowboarding is pain.
Snowboarding has an advantage over most sports because there is no way to half-ass at it. What I mean is in some sports you are able to perform them without actually putting effort into it. Example: hitting a baseball... you can hit a baseball with an incorrect stance/force/direction and fool yourself into thinking that you can hit a baseball. With snowboarding you are DIRECTLY penalized for doing something incorrectly. The snowboard instructors at resorts are only snowboard ADVISORS. The REAL snowboard instructor is something found at every mountain. PAIN. Pain is your instructor. Think about it. What teaches you to not ride flat on a mountain for an extended period of time? The time you learn this is when you catch an edge and faceplant on the ground. Pain then shows you that you are doing it wrong. You soon come to understand that you are going to fall, a lot while learning this sport. Tips, tricks, and advice can only lessen the frequency and severity. Your going to fall while your muscles build the muscle memory and balance to move your feet correctly.
2) Do what feels right.
When I started out snowboarding I took a lesson that came with the rental from the snowboard. The guy took me out on the mountain, taught the little turns, what they were called and how to do them. I soon then started learning how to snowboard by falling over and over again trying to learn how to toe edge and heel edge. I hated it. I gave up, walked back into the lodge, threw my gear at the ground and told my dad that this wasn't for me. He sat there and said, "Just go out there and do what feels right, if you don't like it then, just come back in and we can go home." So I did that, I walked out to the mountain, strapped my snowboard on and pointed it down the mountain. I flew down the beginner slope racing past everyone in a direct line. I made it down in one go and then bailed at the end. I got up out of the snow and was laughing. That was the moment that I was hooked. For the rest of the day, it didn't matter how much I fell because I knew how awesome this sport was going to be. So how can my experience help you? I can honestly say that everytime I take ive-always-wanted-to-learn-how-to-snowboard friend with me to the mountain, the ones that stick with it are the ones that just let me leave them to learn on their own. The ones that insist on their hands being held never stick with it. They usually quit the first day. So when learning to snowboard, take some advice from friends, maybe an instructor, watch other people and then do it. Just do what you think feels right. Lesson 1 will remind you if your doing it wrong.
3) Give it 3 days before you quit.
I tell everyone that if you want to learn, the best way is to do 3 solid days preferrably close to each other. (Fri/Sat/Sunday, 1 day a week for 3 weeks, etc). I cannot stress this one enough. Snowboarding is a muscle memory sport and it takes your body time to move and react in ways it has never done before. This takes time. But once you get it, you will never lose it, like riding a bike. The first day you will learn what NOT to do(ie: pain day), the second day you will learn to respect the mountain and slowly start to get a hold of it. The third day you will be able to make it down the mountain and bail only in minor ways. By the end of the first year, you should be able to make it down the mountain without falling. This seems to be the pattern I have noticed with myself and with all the friends I have gotten into the sport and watched progress. If you honestly give it 3 days and you still are not getting it, you may just need more time, or in reality, you may just not be in the proper physical shape to snowboard. Its called a sport for a reason.
4) Your friend teaching you to snowboard isn't there to teach you, they are there to encourage you. Constantly.
When your learning to snowboard the number one thing you are going to need is someone there telling you to get up and do it again. DO NOT SIT IN THE SNOW LONGER THAN A MINUTE. Once you start relaxing in the snow after you fall, your heartrate drops, your adrenaline drops, and you start to lose passion for learning how to do it right. Your friends are there to make sure you get up and keep at it. I would do this by leaving my friend on the mountain to learn after giving them a few tips and then going down the mountain, taking the lift up, riding down to them again, and encouraging them for a couple minutes, give a few more tips and repeat, ALL DAY LONG. DO NOT STOP ENCOURAGING THEM. Do not be selfish unless they are being selfish. If they are there really trying to learn and just getting discouraged, keep em going with positive reinforcement. (insert sexual joke here). If they are all, "Forget this" or just sitting in the snow constantly just let them be, enjoy your day. If they don't want to learn, there is nothing you can tell them to change their mind. Vice-versa, if they want to learn, it doesnt matter how hard they bail or how uncoordinated they are, they will learn.
More to come, but I'm at work and need to get back at it.
