Planning a snowboarding trip and thinking of teaching your friend instead of paying for lessons? As a former snowboard instructor, I’ve outlined the crucial steps to guide your buddy from a complete beginner to an intermediate rider and beyond. It’s vital to grasp the fundamentals correctly; this makes learning advanced snowboarding much easier. It’s generally easier to teach someone a new skill than to correct years of bad habits. While professional instruction is always recommended for proper technique, if you’re set on guiding your friends or family, read on.
A group of snowboarders receiving instructions from their instructors
The most important advice is this: do not take your friend to the top of the mountain, yell “do this,” and then speed off showing off. You need to clearly explain each step. Many experienced snowboarders perform naturally, which makes it hard for them to explain the mechanics. It’s important to articulate why you’re doing something, how to do it, and how this will help them improve their snowboarding skills.
Essential Steps for Teaching Basic Snowboarding
To effectively teach snowboarding, you need to break down complex movements into smaller, more manageable skills. A basic turn has many components, so don’t jump straight into it. Start with easy terrain to build confidence. Avoid taking your friend on a chairlift on their first day and absolutely avoid black slopes. A bad experience early on can create fear and hinder their confidence.
So, before exploring the mountain, teach your friend the basics. Here’s a basic breakdown of the skills needed to turn a snowboard:
- One-foot mobility on flat terrain
- Side slipping
- J-Turns
- Linking turns
- Using the drag lift
These steps can be further broken down, but for this guide, we’ll focus on essential aspects for beginners aiming to improve their snowboarding.
1. One-Foot Mobility on Flat Terrain
Often, people start by dragging their friend up the mountain and try to explain what to do at the top. As snowboarders, we lack mobility with both feet strapped in on flat ground. We need to “skate” to move around, whether passing flat areas, getting on the chairlift, or getting off at the top. Therefore, before getting on a lift, your friend needs to learn how to move with one foot strapped in, using the back foot to push.
This is also a great time to introduce the different parts of the snowboard and how edges are used. Your friend will be within their comfort zone on flat terrain, making it the perfect moment for basic explanations. Remember that everyone learns differently. Some may need a lot of practice here, while an athletic person with skateboarding experience might want to quickly move on. Gauge how much practice your friend needs at each stage before moving on.
2. Side Slipping
This is the most crucial skill for beginners because it serves as your braking system. Mastering side slipping makes learning to link turns much easier. First, take your snowboard off and demonstrate the body position for balancing on the heel edge.
Then do the same for the toe edge. The two body positions are very different. Explain how pressure changes will slow down or speed up the board (by flexing down or standing up). Also explain how they will move from left to right, or how to point the board down the hill to pick up speed. Practicing with the board off, allows your friend to be comfortable. They can take in what you’re explaining and ask questions. If you try to explain this while they are strapped in and sliding, they will be too focused on what they are doing to listen. Spend a lot of time on this and provide support to help them balance when they try it for the first time. It is critical that your friend can side slip comfortably on both edges. Focus on side slipping for the first day or two of learning.
3. J-Turns
Once side slipping is mastered, the next step is J-turns. This is when you start in a side-slip position, point the board straight down the hill, and then return to the original side-slip position.
This is easier than traditional turns, which require transitioning from toe-side to heel-side or vice versa. The J-turn helps them feel how the board slides straight down the hill while avoiding the difficulty of transitioning between edges.
4. Linking Turns
When your friend can confidently do J-turns on both edges, can control their speed in a side slip, they have the skills to link their turns. This can be a significant step and may take many hours or days to master. Introduce linking turns, practice them briefly, but then spend most of the lesson on side slipping and J-turns. It’s essential to stay within their comfort zone.
If linking turns are too difficult, go back a step or two, and allow them to enjoy an aspect of snowboarding they are comfortable with. Focusing on the basics will improve their snowboarding skills long term.
5. Taking the Drag Lift
This is listed as the fifth step, but it can be practiced after your friend learns to skate with one foot strapped in. The reason for listing it as fifth is that it can be very challenging for many beginners.
A beginner snowboarder struggling with the drag lift
Many beginners spend significant time just trying to figure out how to use the drag lift. If that is your friend, they will benefit more from walking up the hill and mastering the previous steps first. Some athletic people who have experience in skateboarding or skiing will have no issue. If that is your friend, show them how to use the lift early on. If your friend is more cautious, gaining experience with steps 1-4 will help them more.
Effectively Communicating Your Instruction
We have discussed the basic steps to progress from a complete beginner to linking basic turns. But how do we effectively teach these steps? How do you explain something if they are not understanding your explanation? Here are some key points:
The most important thing is to make sure whatever you are doing on the snowboard is fun! If they are not enjoying what they are doing, they probably won’t want to do it again.
The Importance of Patience
Patience is critical when teaching anything. People need time to try things repeatedly or require an explanation several times. Just because someone is nodding doesn’t mean they understand. Moreover, people tend to get more frustrated with a partner, friend, or parent as their teacher.
If your student is not understanding something, they will get frustrated. If you also become frustrated this will make it worse. People learn best with positive reinforcement, so be patient and positive, and use positive feedback for what is done well. Focus on the positive, not the negative.
Teaching Advanced Snowboarding Techniques
We’ve already covered the basics and the progression from a first-time snowboarder to linking turns. If you want to teach advanced techniques, or focus on certain aspects, you need to be able to identify the individual skills required. Break it down.
You don’t start teaching someone a 720. Start with a 180. Then move to 360s once they are comfortable. After a lot of 360s, they can try 540s, and then think about 720s. This applies to all aspects of snowboarding – break down complex skills into easier tasks.
Demonstrate, Don’t Just Explain!
Everyone learns differently. Some want detailed explanations. Some need minimal explanations. However, everyone benefits from seeing the skill demonstrated.
Demonstrate the skill clearly, preferably exaggerating the movement they’re trying to learn. If you’re not the best at demonstrating the skill, point out other riders doing it or show tutorials online. SnowboardAddiction.com has many great tutorials on snowboarding techniques and tricks.
Using Video Feedback
To support demonstrations, allow your student to see what they are doing. Use the camera on your phone to record them, so they can see what they are doing right or wrong. This is especially useful if you can show them what they’re doing versus what they should be doing. This is a valuable tool to use while out on the hill. Reviewing at the end of the day or before heading out in the morning will also be beneficial.
Tailoring Your Snowboard Lesson
You wouldn’t explain something to a 7-year-old the same way you would to an adult. Similarly, you wouldn’t explain it the same way to a sporty 20-year-old skateboarder as you would to a middle-aged lawyer attending a lesson with their kids. You need to change your explanation based on who you are teaching.
Keep It Simple
Even though you might want to show off your knowledge, people actually take in very little of what they hear. Keep your explanations brief and simple.
Focus on key points and don’t overload your student with information. If you explain ten things, they might only remember a couple. So focus on one skill at a time and keep your explanations simple.
The Importance of Mileage
Regardless of how good a teacher you are, your student needs mileage to learn. After teaching a new skill, allow your student to try it repeatedly.
Repetition is critical! Once a new skill is learned, they need to repeat it many times until muscle memory takes over. The goal is for the body to perform naturally without consciously thinking about each movement. Allow them ample practice on each skill before moving on to the next. If they are struggling, go back a step or two and practice something they are already comfortable with. Improving basic skills will help with the more advanced techniques.
Most Importantly – Have Fun!
As mentioned, snowboarding is all about having fun. If your student is struggling, frustrated, and not enjoying themselves, do not push them.
Go back to something they have some confidence with and allow them to have fun. Maybe come up with a game within that skill. People can only push themselves so much during the day, so spend the time having fun with what they have already learned. While you might want them to experience the whole mountain, they will likely enjoy themselves more on the nursery slopes. Allow them to go at their own pace. Always be patient and supportive!
If all else fails, book them into a lesson with ski school 🙃.
Mike Mckernan, author of SkateboardersHQ
Michael McKernan
At 21, I left Scotland to travel but ended up becoming a snowboard instructor instead. For 4-5 years, I worked internationally in many countries. As my passion for park riding grew, I transitioned into building snowboard parks. I’ve gained sponsors for my snowboarding, won rail jams and small competitions, and contributed to building X Games courses. I’ve also been involved in significant park events like The Stomping Grounds project.
