Learning to Snowboard

As I previously mentioned on the home page, I teach young kids how to ski and snowboard during the winter. For those of you who want to give it a shot on your own, here are a couple of things to keep in mind. Before I start, I just want to stress that an instructer will very much help in addition to these tips. They will help you implement them, fine tune your specific struggles, and get you on the mountain faster.

Stance

There are two different stances you can ride in snowboarding. They are "Regular" left foot forward and "Goofy" right foot forward. Naturally, more people are regular than goofy. There is no perfect way to test yourself, but one of the best we have found is to 1^st stand with your feet shoulder width apart. 2^nd have a friend push you from behind. 3^rd whichever foot you step with to naturally catch yourself is probably your forward foot you will use when snowboarding.

The essentials...

1. Keep your weight on your front foot, always lean forward, never back!
2. Point and look with your front arm where you want to go, that's how you turn.
   • Make sure to be pointing and looking at the same place.
   • Usually, it helps to focus on pointing at one thing the whole time like a chairlift or snow gun.
   • Practice turning in one direction at a time before trying to make an S shape.
3. Depending on which way you are turning, either bend your knees to dig your toes in, or stick your butt out to dig your heels in (this will take a lot of practice to get right).

These tips are things an instructor will help you work on, they are difficult to self-assess which is why an instructor can be so helpful. Practice makes perfect and never give up!

For more information contact:
James Coddington
CS 403 Weaving The Web CS403 Homepage
November 7^th, 2011
jwi53@wildcats.unh.edu
(603) 455-0209

Or click here to visit our professor, Mike Gildersleeve's site.