If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Proper way to teach snowboarders?
Hello everybody.
This is my first post here so please go gentle! Since first learning to snowboard 6 years ago, I have gone boarding with friends every winter. Each year, there will be a couple of new members in the group who have never boarded before. We always send these beginners on a 2-hour group or private lesson since I truly believe it is important to learn the basics properly. What has surprised me though is just how different the teaching techniques are, even between teachers of the same school. For example, the first thing that one teacher taught my sister was to strap the front foot into the board, push off with the rear foot and then slide straight downhill in a straight line with the rear foot loose on the board. Even though it was only a slight incline, this petrified me (probably more so than my sister !). Perhaps it is just me but I believe that I would be far more inclined to get a serious leg and knee twisting injury attempting to go downhill with one foot in the board than anything else. Other teachers I've seen have taught people just to get used to pushing the board along on the flat with one foot in the board first. Then they move onto sliding side to side like a pendulum before attempting the turns. Is it normal for there to be such discrepancy in the way that people teach ? For what it's worth, when I was learning my instructor taught me in the following order, 1. Basics - how to use & adjust the bindings, working out if I am goofy or regular stance, dangers of a runaway board and how to avoid it. 2. On a slight incline and with only the front foot strapped in the board, how to pendulum down the slope going left then right but always facing downhill. At first he held my hands to support me as I got used to the feel of the heel edge and balance. 3. Then with both feet strapped in, I did the pendulum all the way down. This was actually much easier. 4. Then we worked on toe edge. It's so long ago that I can't remember if I had only one foot in the board at this stage. 5. Toe turns. I'm pretty darned sure that I never even attempted that with just one foot in the board! 6. Heel turns. I just remember that being awful painful. After my lesson I practiced for the rest of the day and was semi-competent within a couple of days. However I did incur some painful injuries and all of my friends were surprised that I had never been taught "how to fall properly". So, I'm just wondering if somebody could put some structure to this learning experience ? Thank you very much, Heather ps. the reason I'm asking is that very often I end up helping the beginners after their lessons, just with tips like bending knees and weight forward. I love the satisfaction of helping them and one day would like to take a course to teach them (not that I wish to pursue it as a career, though I am sure it is very rewarding) but in the meantime it would help to know the order in which they should have learned things. It will also put my mind at rest about the variety of teaching methods. |
Ads |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
We took my brother to snowbird a couple of weeks for his first day
snowboarding... By the end of the day he did one black in minera basin. He took the 15 minutes of listen to your brother, 6 hours of try to do what he is doing approach. "Heather" wrote in message oups.com... Hello everybody. This is my first post here so please go gentle! Since first learning to snowboard 6 years ago, I have gone boarding with friends every winter. Each year, there will be a couple of new members in the group who have never boarded before. We always send these beginners on a 2-hour group or private lesson since I truly believe it is important to learn the basics properly. What has surprised me though is just how different the teaching techniques are, even between teachers of the same school. For example, the first thing that one teacher taught my sister was to strap the front foot into the board, push off with the rear foot and then slide straight downhill in a straight line with the rear foot loose on the board. Even though it was only a slight incline, this petrified me (probably more so than my sister !). Perhaps it is just me but I believe that I would be far more inclined to get a serious leg and knee twisting injury attempting to go downhill with one foot in the board than anything else. Other teachers I've seen have taught people just to get used to pushing the board along on the flat with one foot in the board first. Then they move onto sliding side to side like a pendulum before attempting the turns. Is it normal for there to be such discrepancy in the way that people teach ? For what it's worth, when I was learning my instructor taught me in the following order, 1. Basics - how to use & adjust the bindings, working out if I am goofy or regular stance, dangers of a runaway board and how to avoid it. 2. On a slight incline and with only the front foot strapped in the board, how to pendulum down the slope going left then right but always facing downhill. At first he held my hands to support me as I got used to the feel of the heel edge and balance. 3. Then with both feet strapped in, I did the pendulum all the way down. This was actually much easier. 4. Then we worked on toe edge. It's so long ago that I can't remember if I had only one foot in the board at this stage. 5. Toe turns. I'm pretty darned sure that I never even attempted that with just one foot in the board! 6. Heel turns. I just remember that being awful painful. After my lesson I practiced for the rest of the day and was semi-competent within a couple of days. However I did incur some painful injuries and all of my friends were surprised that I had never been taught "how to fall properly". So, I'm just wondering if somebody could put some structure to this learning experience ? Thank you very much, Heather ps. the reason I'm asking is that very often I end up helping the beginners after their lessons, just with tips like bending knees and weight forward. I love the satisfaction of helping them and one day would like to take a course to teach them (not that I wish to pursue it as a career, though I am sure it is very rewarding) but in the meantime it would help to know the order in which they should have learned things. It will also put my mind at rest about the variety of teaching methods. |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
On 27 Dec 2004 07:27:31 -0800, "Heather"
wrote: Hello everybody. This is my first post here so please go gentle! Since first learning to snowboard 6 years ago, I have gone boarding with friends every winter. Each year, there will be a couple of new members in the group who have never boarded before. We always send these beginners on a 2-hour group or private lesson since I truly believe it is important to learn the basics properly. What has surprised me though is just how different the teaching techniques are, even between teachers of the same school. FWIW, I believe that teaching falling-leaf is a *bad* way to learn. It encourages you to go down slopes that you haven't a chance of getting a turn in on, and 'leafing' all the way down, catching edges as you go. Best to get on a very gentle slope and learn those turns from the beginning. I honestly think I'm a year behind where I might be because I was taught falling leaf and then told "now you can get down *any* mountain". I wasted a year doing exactly that rather than learning to snowboard. andyt |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Other than step 2 (which I think could end in some really horrible
falling on the coccyx on the flat) I think that this is an approach very similar to how I learned and what I would recommend for others. Step 6 sounds like a good idea and I have a feeling that that must have been how I was introduced to turning, if this is what they call a "J-turn". Actually keeping the person balanced upright whilst they turn the board downhill is probably the tricky bit. Thank you for the helpful reply, Heather |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Sorry, I did not make it clear that my earlier post was with respect to
Baka Dasai's post. Thank you. |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
FWIW, I believe that teaching falling-leaf is a *bad* way to learn. It I don't mean to be rude, but I think this is totally wrong. The problem you had was not that you knew falling leaf, it's that you were unwilling to try anything beyond it. I think it's far better that beginners know a way to get down slopes to steep for them... I mean, what's the alternative, we teach them to point nose down the fall line and link turns from the beginning, and they don't know how to sideslip? So the next time I'm on a stepish run that beginners tend to get onto by mistake I get blased over by some fool whose pointed down the fall line and then freaked out because he's going to fast for his comfort level? Not a good idea in my book. |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
FWIW, I believe that teaching falling-leaf is a *bad* way to learn.
I don't mean to be rude, but I think this is totally wrong. I have to agree here with Jason. There were so many times when I was learning that I just had to use the leaf to get down some icy steep parts of an otherwise okay run. People will always find themselves in a situation a bit beyond their skill levels when they are learning and it's really assuring to know that should you find yourself out of your depth you can still make it down. If anything, it gives you confidence to push yourself and attempt more. Heather. |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
In article .com, Heather
says... 4. Then we worked on toe edge. It's so long ago that I can't remember if I had only one foot in the board at this stage. 5. Toe turns. I'm pretty darned sure that I never even attempted that with just one foot in the board! I've been boarding for several years and I wouldn't try that NOW. I can't imagine trying to turn unstrapped as a beginner. During my lesson, the only thing we did unstrapped was skating and lift practice. Heck, I still hate the short ride after getting off the lift, with my back foot unhooked. Feels all squirrely and hard to steer and stop. -- Jason G "This isn't a matter of being tolerant; it's a matter of being sane." --REP, a.s.c. |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
|
#10
|
|||
|
|||
-snip-
This was all because I believed I was on the right kinds of slopes to learn because I could leaf down them. -snip- Andy, I would agree with you that "just because you can leaf down a slop doesn't mean you can make turns down it". However I strongly agree with those who say one *should* know how to leaf down a slope, *just in case you need to*. The Falling Leaf is one of those things to keep in your back pocket for when you really need it. and when you do need it, yes that is your signal that you are beyond your current abilities. So yeah, maybe it's go back to a gentler slope and work on your skills more. Or, maybe you just need to stop in the middle of the hill and try starting up again. Everyone is different and everyone has their own learning curve not to mention tolerance for banging themselves up in the process. Even after 300 - 400 riding days I *still* find the need to falling leaf now and again. For example: - finding myself on a very steep section in tight trees. I just leafed my way to the bottom of that section and then starting riding again. - someone in front of me on a bump run wipes out and is clearly injured. I leaf around them... ask them if they need ski patrol... and then ride like the wind to the bottom and have the liftie call ski patrol. Mike T |
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Snowboarders threaten to switch flags in cash row | Beloved Leader | Snowboarding | 0 | January 30th 04 02:44 AM |
CANADIAN SNOWBOARDERS | dclarke | Snowboarding | 0 | January 20th 04 10:56 AM |
Search Resumes for 3 Utah Snowboarders | i n k | Snowboarding | 0 | December 27th 03 06:55 PM |
Fight with the snowboarders at Como | Sly D. Skeez | Nordic Skiing | 10 | December 11th 03 01:26 PM |
Fight With Snowboarders at Como | Jay Tegeder | Nordic Skiing | 3 | December 7th 03 02:09 PM |