A snowboarding "crutch" at last!

Bob F wrote:
"lonerider" wrote in message
oups.com...

A much better thing to learn than the falling leaf is simple turns
towards and away from the fall line while traversing. Turn down the
hill, then back up to slow down. Little turns at first, then increasingly
towards the fall line as you get the feel of it. Finally, when you can
turn into the fall line, just hold the turn longer and you are soon
traversing the other way. Before that time, any way to turn around
at the end of a traverse is OK.

That's a much more advanced training drill that I only give to people
who are on the verge of linking their turns and are trying to be more
dynamic and pro-active in their turning and speed control. How many
days experience do your student have before you suggest this to them?
On their first day on the snow?

My experience is that many students will use the falling leaf as
a crutch which prevents them from turning both ways when it gets
to the liimt of their comfort zone. As soon as they side slip or use the
falling leaf, they quit learning what they should be learning - how to
carry what they know into steeper slopes. It is sometimes really
hard to get them to try if they have the easy-out.

As I said, I appreciate the new theory towards teaching that many
instructors have begun to adopt and I see definitely see the
theoretical benefits of such a plan. I've just seen several people
nearly quit snowboarding because their instructors demanded that they
do something that they just weren't able to do and spent 99% of the
time on their face or butt (as opposed to the usual 95% of the time for
regular novices).

"lonerider" wrote in message
oups.com...

Bob F wrote:
"lonerider" wrote in message
oups.com...

A much better thing to learn than the falling leaf is simple turns
towards and away from the fall line while traversing. Turn down the
hill, then back up to slow down. Little turns at first, then
increasingly
towards the fall line as you get the feel of it. Finally, when you can
turn into the fall line, just hold the turn longer and you are soon
traversing the other way. Before that time, any way to turn around
at the end of a traverse is OK.

That's a much more advanced training drill that I only give to people
who are on the verge of linking their turns and are trying to be more
dynamic and pro-active in their turning and speed control. How many
days experience do your student have before you suggest this to them?
On their first day on the snow?

As soon as they can hold an edge well enough to traverse, this would be
the next step. It enables them to keep their speed well in control while
practicing basic turning skills. First day? Maybe not. Certainly in the
first 2 or 3.

My experience is that many students will use the falling leaf as
a crutch which prevents them from turning both ways when it gets
to the liimt of their comfort zone. As soon as they side slip or use the
falling leaf, they quit learning what they should be learning - how to
carry what they know into steeper slopes. It is sometimes really
hard to get them to try if they have the easy-out.

As I said, I appreciate the new theory towards teaching that many
instructors have begun to adopt and I see definitely see the
theoretical benefits of such a plan. I've just seen several people
nearly quit snowboarding because their instructors demanded that they
do something that they just weren't able to do and spent 99% of the
time on their face or butt (as opposed to the usual 95% of the time for
regular novices).


I'm happy to say that my students usually do much better than that.

Bob