I teach mostly by feel
People enjoy snowboarding (and any movement-based activity) because of how it makes them feel – the physical sensations, the outdoor environment, and the superb people. There are some unique sensations from snowboarding that are hard to get anywhere else! Different people have different primary learning styles, but everyone will remember how it feels to do something right. The overriding skill in snowboarding is maintaining dynamic balance over a moving board, and for your body to be comfortable, you have to feel like you are in balance. I will guide you through the fantastic feelings of all the different snowboard skills and tactics. And when you have questions that can be answered with words or by demonstrations, I have multiple options to provide that information.
I like to seek feedback from students by asking “How did that feel?” My goal is for your answer to be “That felt AWESOME!”
Snowboard or ski?
First timers often ask me “What is easier/better, skiing or snowboarding?” For me, skiing and snowboarding are nearly identical: both are sliding on a finely engineered board on frozen water. This should be really easy, because the boards are designed to slide down the slope. (And it is easy, once you balance and stop fighting gravity and fear – but I digress.)
Balancing on two skis is straightforward: you stand like normal, balanced over the inside center of your feet. But once you start sliding on skis it gets tricky – the two skis don’t always go in the same direction! In the beginning, the instructors want you to balance between your feet and point your toes together (not in the same direction) to slow down. Then after you have mastered that, then they want you to start pointing your toes in the same direction and lean sideways to slow down!
On a snowboard it is much simpler – there is only one board so there is only one direction to point it. However on a snowboard, you need to lean forwards or backwards, all the way over your toes or heels. This can be a bit of a challenge at first, but the second thing I do when teaching beginners is help you feel what it is like to completely balance on the toe side or heel side of the snowboard. This is one of the great feelings of snowboarding!
I always give my students a card with notes from the lesson. For first timers it includes homework to practice balancing on the edge of a stair, all the way over your toes and then all the way over your heels. (I need to make a video about that!)
Every lesson is adaptive
I was initially taught how to teach snow sports by the legendary Gwen Allard (see my paragraph about her on my inspirations page). She told us that the student evaluation and lesson planning starts as soon as the student walks through the door. How do they move? How do they interact with their environment?
The first thing for an instructor to learn from a student is who they are and what is their motivation – why are they here on that particular day and what do they want to get out of the lesson. The content of the lesson is determined by the student’s starting point and their desired goals.
Open Skills Concepts
The snowboarding environment is constantly changing, every lap down the hill is a different adventure. Every snowboarder has a different style and desired sensations when snowboarding. Some people want the thrill of speed, some want to feel that perfect carved heel turn, and others want to conquer that steep double black diamond. On a really good run you can do all these and more!
To get you to a new skill level, I will set up appropriate tasks and describe tactics to snowboard without fighting fear or gravity. To snowboard fast, you need to be able to balance over the board and be able to stop quickly. A good toe turn is necessary in order to do that carved heel turn. And to stay in control on the steeps you need to first be able to make lots of turns on the flatter slopes.
Cut out the repetitive drills, put in both feet as soon as possible, maintain dynamic balance.
Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle
Kolb’s learning cycle starts with a concrete experience (a physical or mental feeling), then an evaluation of what happened, followed by a plan for the next steps and experiencing the results of that plan. Then the cycle continues. See the short description on Wikipedia. I use this method to increase the quantity and quality of the student’s experience and understanding during the lesson.