April 23, 2008

Don’t Pay for Lessons; Teach Yourself How to Snowboard!

Posted in Editorial, How to Snowboard by Rami | Tags: How to snowboard, Lessons

You’ll be happy to know that it’s possible to teach yourself to snowboard. Snowboarding is very challenging. It will take you a considerable amount of time to teach yourself, so you’ll have to be patient. In many ways, you will become a much better snowboarder if you teach yourself. There are a variety of things things you can do and use to help teach yourself:

Snowboard Go’s Free Snowboarding Lessons: I’ve put together 12 mini ‘lessons’ on how to snowboard, and it covers everything you need to know. Honestly, you don’t need to pay for lessons, but if you insist, go through these lessons first and then opt for an instructor. This way you spend much less time (and money) with a snowboarding instructor. Click here to see the snowboarding lessons.

Video’s: There are also a variety of how to videos available to teach you how to snowboard. You can check out videos from your local library, rent them from your local video store, or check out the plethora of snowboarding videos on the internet.

Watch other riders: Head to the slope and watch people snowboarding (especially the younger kids). I remember the first time I tried to snowboard. It was really tough to turn from side to side and it felt like my back leg just locks up and doesn’t move. After many failed attempts, my frustration took the best of me. I blamed my board and took it back to the rental shop and complained that it wasn’t the right size. I explained what was happening and that’s when the snowboard technician recommended I simply go to the top of the slope and watch other riders for a while. I have to admit that his recommendation was priceless! Watching others is a key part of learning. You have read your books and watched your videos. Go to the slope and watch other people. Then try and do what they do.

Skateboard: Another thing you can do to help learn to snowboard is to practice on a skateboard. There are similarities between the two sports. Find an oversized board and start practicing. I have even seen skateboards that had bindings fitted on them. This was a unique idea. It allowed the person to strap in and get the same feel of the snowboard. I would only suggest this if you are wearing protective padding in case you fall. Concrete is not as forgiving as soft snow.

Skateboarding can help teach you the balance you will need when trying to snowboard for the first time. I would advise anyone who wants to teach themselves to learn snowboarding should first try skateboarding.

Practice: The last and most important thing you should know about teaching yourself to snowboard is practice. Be prepared to practice until you are proficient. You will fall, you will tumble, but you will get it. It will not be long until you have taught yourself to snowboard.

No Magic ‘Rule’: Over 5 years of riding (and over 3 years of helping friends), the most important thing I learned is that there is no magic rule. Just like walking and riding a bicycle, you need to give your body some time to get comfortable with a board. After that, it’s all about confidence, style and practice.

February 12, 2010 at 1:45 pm
DC says:

This is a lousy article. Most people will not be able to read instructions on how to learn something and actually go out and apply it. Even watching videos and then driving out to the mountain to apply what you’ve watched is silly. The best way to go is to get an instructor. Watching kids won’t help the average person because much of what you do when you snowboard is subtle changes in your balance.

The author states that you will even be a better snowboarder without taking a lesson but fails to say why. If you are going to make a statement like that you need to provide justification. The author also fails to explain what he was able to see the other riders doing that corrected the problem he was having.

Many times a person cannot see what they are doing wrong, such as putting all their weight on their back leg. An instructor can see this and help you correct it. A good instructor will help you advance rapidly to the point where you are enjoying the sport instead of suffering through the experience.

Ask the average snowboarder who’s been doing it for several years on his own about front or lead leg steering and you will get a blank look. There are many things you learn from instructors, and even the instructors are required to take lessons regularly.

If you don’t need a lesson, why is the author helping his friends? They should just read his articles.
February 16, 2010 at 11:24 am
Rami says:

You make some good points but I feel that you’ve misunderstood my point. Some people don’t like taking lessons or more notably, they simply can’t afford them. The article serves to point out that you don’t HAVE to take lessons to learn the sport. We’re not saying you shouldn’t take lessons, but rather that there are alternatives. The underlying point is that you don’t need to PAY for lessons when there are alternatives to learning the sport. While you can consider myself helping friends out learn the sport as ‘lessons’, keep in mind, I don’t charge them for it. In any case, I think it would be a good idea to restructure the article to drive the point better.

You also might be interested to know that we’ve also published an article highlighting good reasons to take lessons: http://www.snowboardgo.com/2009/12/5-great-reasons-to-take-snowboard-lessons/
July 6, 2010 at 9:52 am
Michael says:

Rami says: “Some people don’t like taking lessons or more notably, they simply can’t afford them.”

———————
in this case it’s better for them to stay at home, the fastest way to learn snowboarding is to take an instructor for one or two days, for me 2 hours was enough, one hour in first day and the second in next day.
July 6, 2010 at 2:06 pm
Rami says:

Every person has their preference and personally, learning with a friend was great. Just want people to know that lessons and instructors is not the only way to learn.
July 30, 2010 at 2:54 am
Peter says:

If you really want to learn how to snowboard all you need is the following:
1. Buy a snowboard
2. Talk to your friends who snowboard and pick a patient one to take you out and show you how it’s done.
3. Find people to ride with who are of close skill level.
July 30, 2010 at 6:27 pm
Rami says:

Well put Peter.
September 19, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Snowboard Austria says:

I am sorry, but I can’t agree with this article. And this has not got to do with that I work as a snowboard instructor. I would agree in, that there is a lot of things you can and NEED to practice by yourself and without an instructor.

But when you step onto a board the first time you will save so much time using an instructor and you are more likely to stick to the sport, because you will have rewarding, successful experiences. It is one thing reading about something, seeing something or getting something explained. But all of these things are totally different to doing it yourself. If you watch a video on how to do a backflip on youtube, would you go out and do it on the street right after?? No you wouldn’t. It hurts me to see people with horrible style going down the slopes because they decided to teach themselves. There styles are often not only ugly, but also uneffective and hindering future progression for freestyling, freeriding or carving.

I would recommend everyone to get an instructor for the first little bit and once you’ve learned how to do turns, ride safely and get down the slopes you should drop the course and ride yourself. Do this for a time and once you feel that you are stuck with progression or running out of idea you can invest into a intermediate or advanced course for some guiding. Then again you need to practice and train the things you were taught by yourself and in your pace after.

Teaching might not be necessary, but it definitely is more effective and progressive.
October 4, 2010 at 10:53 am
cat says:

Hi

As a snowboard instructor i do not agree that teaching yourselves will save some money of course but will not save your tehnic and of course your own safety.
I did teach my sealf and after many years i just discover that my position was not good, and on extremly speed i did not know how to control it.

Speed is dangerous, and snowboard can be very dangeorus, and this depends on each individ.

See you on the slope.
catalinbvro.blogspot.com
November 30, 2010 at 2:56 am
Goofy says:

I liked reading this article, and it gave me hope that I could learn without taking lessons, but reading the comments I son’t know what to think anymore. I can’t fucking afford lessons, I’m poor and I was barely able to buy the season pass, luckily my friend is moving away and thought he’d give me his old snowboard.

Now I’m thinking I should sell the snowboard and maybe buy skis instead. Fuck I really wanted to try snowboarding too.
December 7, 2010 at 7:46 pm
Rami says:

Dude, trust me, you can learn by yourself. I did it and many others have and will continue to learn by themselves. The point of the article was simply to tell readers like yourselves that learning how to ride by yourself is very doable and quite the adventure. Nothing like the satisfaction of finishing off a day having learnt a new trick or two.

If you have ANY questions, just let me know. I usually respond within a day or two, but I’ve been in Whistler the past little bit so I didn’t have a chance to respond earlier.