Any tips for teaching kids to ride?

[powell1.8]

I want to teach my eight year old daughter to ride. She is really athletic, so I don't think it will be a problem. I was hoping to maybe get some tips on teaching her. I want to teach her right, and I don't really think any of the instructors around here could do a better job, but maybe.

[Guest demonballer]

With my snowboard learning experience some stuff was taught to me but the rest I learned just by going out and trying things. My suggestion would to take her boarding as often as possible and even if you give her little instruction, she should be boarding in no time.

[Jack M]

8 years old is doable. I used to say 7 was the cutoff when I was teaching. If you want it done right, pony up for a professional lesson. The real pros have step-by-step lesson plans down to a science. You can request an instructor that is PSIA certified. Call ahead. If the resort doesn't have any, go somewhere else if you're serious.

There is an important sequence of skills that need to be taught in order. If you don't know what they are, your daughter will probably not learn, or certainly not learn as quickly as she could, and not have as much fun. And besides, she'll listen to a "teacher" more than "dad".

[pebu]

I'll tell you what happened in my lesson in snowboarding. It wasn't a hardboot lesson, but it helped alot.

First, the right way to skate. Front foot in, back foot to the toe side of the board. Should be able to actually ride a little bit on just the one foot. (personally I can ride the transit between the lifts on one foot...:))

Next was going down the hill on nothing but heel side. Yeah, carvers are gonna hate it cause it's pushing all the snow down the hill, but this is prettymuch imperative to learn how to stop if you ask me.

Do both heelside and toeside.

Then do the falling leaf, both healside and toeside. The way I look at it is like having a gas pedal on each foot. Facing downhill, if I want my right leg to go downhill faster, push down on my toe with my right side. Same with the left side. Brake would be pull up on the toes. It's backwards facing uphill, but that's just how I've always thought of it. Maybe it'll help, maybe not.

After you can do all of those then you can start on the carving. Pick a bunny hill cause what helped me is having somebody there to keep me from falling when I lean too far. On a slow hill it's very easy to lean to far. But that'll give her a feel for carving.

You can't let her get discouraged by falling. Being young its easier to bounce back up and it's not as far to fall, but it can still be frustrating.

Given all of that, I'd really recommend lessons. My dad and I took lessons together and we both made it out onto the hills. My brother, his girlfriend and another friend of his all tried to learn on their own and didn't make it. But the lessons helped alot.

Hopefully the bruises are minimal. :) Good luck.

[Phil]

You can request an instructor that is PSIA certified.

"PSIA" has not certified snowboard instructors since '96.

AASI has been the certifying organization since then. (gone are the dark days of snowboard instruction)

Anyway, exactly what Jack said, but request an AASI certified instructor.

Good luck!

[skategoat]

I won't talk about technique but I'll offer some practical advice.

When a kid (or anyone) is first learning, they need very little slope. So I always suggest going to an uncrowded toboggan hill or a gentle slope at the golf course. This way, you're not paying for a lift ticket and nobody feels bad if the kid wants to quit after 2 runs. Also, the worst part about learning to board is getting off a lift. No lift, no worries.

Also, don't try to snowboard yourself. Wear a good pair of boots and run after her. Good exercise and far less frustrating for both of you.

[skatha]

I had a pro teach my son-starting at age 7....

There was less of a "MOM" factor and more of a "I want to hang out with this cool dude" thing

I hung out when they had taken to the bunny slope to provide encouragement and pats when needed...plus I was a second demonstrator for toe/heelsides and falling leaves

My son would have never stuck with it if I was the one teaching him-he frustrates very easily and I probably back off too much when he gets frustrated...

Although I did suggest a hot chocolate break to the instructor at least once

[ar(angel]

but I've also been coaching them in various sports since they were little. I started coaching kids in sports prior to any of mine being old enough to play, so maybe some of my success comes from being able to work with kids in general. My method was to start them in the living room getting familiar with the equipment and "practicing" getting in and out of their gear and standing in the proper positions. This also helped me determine which "foot" they were or prefered. When we hit the slopes I started them on the bunny hill and used the "catamaran" method, me paralleling them on my board our arms holding onto one another, face to face. Once they seemed to get the hang of that I than moved onto the basic glide and "pull" your toes up or "push" your toes down to get them to initiate turns. These were minimal movements, or what I liked to call "wiggles", nothing real drastic so they could see the results of their actions in small amounts when they "pulled" their toes up or "pushed" their toes down. This lead to a variation of falling leaf and I definitely made sure they could stop both heelside or toeside before progressing to the actual mountain. I started my son at 6 and my daughters at 10 and 14 after they decided they didn't want to ski with mom anymore I started my son on alpine gear around age 9 and he's doing really well (he'll be 12 in March) so I believe it is possible to teach your own kids, you just have to have patience and a good knowledge of your childs limits, both physically and mentally.

[powell1.8]

All good tips. Thank you. We went out the other day and after a few tears of the initial frustration of not being good at it from the start, which she is used to, I saw smiles. She wants to go again, so that's good. What kind of binding angles are good to start with? I have her bindings at 15/30. I want her to really learn to carve, then she can do what she likes. I would just like to see the fundamentals well established.

[todd]

The other tool I have used with my 7 year old son is something called a Sno Skate, basically looks like a skateboard deck, made for sliding on snow. He can use it on any little pile of snow.

It is great for them to work on their stance/balance. If they are not balanced directly over the board, over they go.

So we talk a lot about being centered, and flexed ankles and knees.

And now he is building small jumps to go off, landing in a good balance stance is critical.

[ar(angel]

I set my sons up when he started out about the same, now he rides 50F/45R, but it was a slow progression. My oldest daughter runs something along the 15/30 as well, but we're cranking them up this weekend because she's riding much better/faster this year and wants to "carve" more. She hasn't gone so far as to say she wants to try alpine, you know teenagers, it's gotta be "her idea" not mine....I just keep telling her "resistance is futile".... Rob's being to kind, Zach's doing good, but we gotta ways to go yet. I'm hoping to get some footage so I can post it here for people to see....maybe this weekend???

[Zone]

So for strict beginner kids. What binding angles would you suggest?

[ar(angel]

unless you're positive about which foot forward they want to ride. When in doubt duck footed is probably best so that way if they change their mind about what foot forward they want to ride it's easier to transition. I'm assuming were talking about free-ride here and not alpine.....

[Cindy Kleh]

"I have her bindings at 15/30. I want her to really learn to carve, then she can do what she likes. I would just like to see the fundamentals well established."

I'd go duck for beginner kids and talk about carving in a year or so after they've learned to turn confidently. I taught 5 to 7 year olds at Winter Park, and it isn't impossible, but it's usually slow going. I've seen some 5 year olds pick it up and ride well in a few lessons, but I found that I had to keep the lesson interesting even if that meant not concentrating on snowboarding the entire lesson. Attention spans are miniscule at the age of 5, and it's an art to keep them motivated and progress at learning to ride.

[Silver Bullet]

I started teaching my girls at age 3. Here, the 2 younger girls are pictured, ages 6 and 4 respectively. They are all linking turns now.

I started by connecting a retractable dog leash to the middle of their back foot. I would ride behind them, controling their speed. Unfortunately I did yank the board out from under them a few times. That was nothing chocolate and skittles couldn't fix. Needless to say, they got very comfortable straightlining the fall line.

We then worked on heal sliding. Since they were inclined to straighline, the transition from straight to heal and back was easy. Toe slides came next. This was a bit trickier, until i realized that their feet were not centered on their boards. They figured out how to roll on edge and carve long before they figured out how to slide.

All in all, it took an entire season to teach the first child. The younger kids picked it up in aobut 5 sessions.

Good Luck.

[Silver Bullet]

I forgot to mention that I set their bindings at zero degrees because they will point either end down the hill. Caroleine on the left did end up preferring goofy, so I turned here front foot 15 degrees as shown here, but occasionally, she'll still ride fakie. I find that frustrating, because I've been riding since 1984 and still cannot ride backward.

As you can see, the 4 year old, Sophia still likes to straight line it. She only links turns when the slopes are crowded.

Isabella is 9 and she keeps asking me when she'll get her first alpine set-up.

[Cindy Kleh]

Wow! Too cool! They look like little mini-Bettys.

(I used Skittles and chocolate too.)

[carvedog]

Also, don't try to snowboard yourself. Wear a good pair of boots and run after her. Good exercise and far less frustrating for both of you.

There are lots of different ways to learn. One of those is visual learning. If you cannot show them visually what they are to do they won't get it.

All the talking in the world will not accomplish what one demo will.

Other things to think about. In the first couple of days temper your expectations for the lesson. Your goal may be to get them to turn both ways as soon as possible. This is not always best for the student. Trying turns before having the proper turn initiation skills and braking and stopping skills will lead to more crashes, frustration and possible injury.

Turn initiation: Very important to teach (and show ) how to change board angles and speeds while doing all kinds of traversing exercises. Most beginners want to go down with board at on angle and relatively slow speed. Then they freak when the board seeks the fall line and feel the speed gain that comes with fall line.

I practice doing almost turns before actual turns. Student seeks fall line by "releasing" the nose down the hill with ankle and knee movements only. Once the board is flat or almost flat we go back to the edge we were on. Do this several times until they get the hang of speed change and coming back to slow from higher speed.

Finishing turns: After lots of almost turns on heel and toe we move to finishing the turn (some do this on their own). For this I hold the board flat and pointing down the fall line. When student is ready ( and with even weight - no back seat) I release the board then the student only has to finish the turn. I always give them a target on the snow before they can try the turn. Something 8-15 feet down the slope.

I have taught hundreds using these techniques. By concentrating on the before and after instead of the actual turn they have the skills to be safe and have fun with less pain. With adults and kids I have been able to get them to linked turns without any painful slams. Everyone is better off.

Been teaching 15 years, full cert AASI for what it is worth.

[Scuff]

powell1.8: I also vote for "go-pro."

When getting my wife into boarding, the BEST thing I ever did

was get her into a lesson or two.. then stepped-in after she was

confident in linking turns and getting of the lift..

(Heck - I still have troubles with those darn lifts..)

"PSIA" has not certified snowboard instructors since '96.

Yeah.. I was trained to Level II PSIA... back in, like...'94...

*chuckle*.. sometime near the end of the "Dark Ages." :D

~Karl

[Zone]

Thanks to all those tips. Got my 9 yo out tonight for the first time this year. He was just eating edges the couple of time he went out last year. Tonight he was doing the (ontario) blue runs scraping snow and some early turns on the flatter green. Stops were natural looking.

The duck stance worked great as he was going back and forth regular and goofy and looking just as comfortable either side.

Tried to get him to turn after pointing him straight down, however can't seem to get him to put the board on edge without flapping/falling down. Any tips to tell him what to do (bend the knees, tip the boards???).

Thanks.

[ar(angel]

Once they seemed to get the hang of that I than moved onto the basic glide and "pull" your toes up or "push" your toes down to get them to initiate turns. These were minimal movements, or what I liked to call "wiggles", nothing real drastic so they could see the results of their actions in small amounts when they "pulled" their toes up or "pushed" their toes down.

I just used this method on a 12 year old on Saturday and he was making runs down the "easy blues" by lunch time. It's all about the small inputs so they still feel in control. Glad to hear you're making progress, keep up the good work!

[Zone]

Thanks, that's what I used tonight, toe/heel thingy. He got it right away, whereas I was fighting to find ways to explain it to him last year.

Now, I just need the same sort of thing to get him to carve one turn at a time(he wants to carve! he started to carve on skis and love the sensation of the G's-big time roller coaster lover family). I would just need something very simple to get him to tip that board without flapping himself on the snow.

I could not believe how well he did tonite and it just made my day. :D

[Zone]

I just used this method on a 12 year old on Saturday and he was making runs down the "easy blues" by lunch time. It's all about the small inputs so they still feel in control. Glad to hear you're making progress, keep up the good work!

In my excitement I did not read your post properly. Got it. Initiate slowly with toe/heel.

[carvedog]

Thanks to all those tips. Got my 9 yo out tonight for the first time this year. He was just eating edges the couple of time he went out last year. Tonight he was doing the (ontario) blue runs scraping snow and some early turns on the flatter green. Stops were natural looking.

The duck stance worked great as he was going back and forth regular and goofy and looking just as comfortable either side.

Tried to get him to turn after pointing him straight down, however can't seem to get him to put the board on edge without flapping/falling down. Any tips to tell him what to do (bend the knees, tip the boards???).

Thanks.

Sorry I did not elaborate on this point. I start my lessons on flat with knee turning and gentle pushing board on to toes and same on heels. then this is reviewed so they remember they have those moves. Sounds like you are getting there though.

My 5 year old said she wanted to snowboard for the first time. So now I am looking for small gear. Never have even mentioned snowboarding to her as she has been doing great skiing. Seen too many pushy folk doing things for the wrong reasons.

So she must really want to.

[powell1.8]

Well, I got my daughter out again this week, but it was really cold. So cold in fact that the snow was very slow, almost sticky. We only got in two runs before her toes froze, but in that time I actually saw a couple of carved turns. They were short and ended with her on the snow, but carved turns non the less.

I could not figure out how to explain the transition from one turn to the next, at least at slower speeds. It sounds like turning with your knees is a good way to put it. It sounds good to me, but maybe I am misunderstanding the turn with your knees.