I was an instructor for a while at KB and I’m not trying to knock anyone, but half the instructors suck and could use a few lessons themselves. There were a few of em who could ride pretty decent. Like 2-3 of us had any talent in the park, and about 2-3 of us had any real “carving” skill. Kinda pathetic if you ask me. However you don’t really need to be all that good when ur teaching someone yourself, but it helps because you can easily pick out little things to “fix” whatever problems you are having, and the majority of the instructors couldn’t do that. A couple of things I will suggest when learning, get comfortable being on your edges, litterally go down the hill horizontally the entire way. Better yet, go down half the hill on ur heel edge, then half on ur toe, just to get the feel for it. WHEN LEARNING DO NOT FUCKING FAVOR ONE WAY OVER THE OTHER! OF COURSE YOU’RE BETTER ON YOUR HEEL EDGE, BUT DON’T BE A PUSSY AND GET COMFORTABLE ON YOUR TOE EDGE TOO OR YOU WILL END UP FUCKING UP YOUR LEARNING PROCESS. Anyway, after going down horizontally once or twice, use that same technique and try to go back and forth across the hill as you do it (note, you still aren’t turning yet, still getting the feel for your edges and where to put pressure) Think of a falling leaf and how it goes back and forth, that’s what you wanna do. Do it on ur heel and ur toe edge (yeah the toe may seem harder). Once you get real comfortable on ur edges, that’s when you try to work in turning, you’ll notice where you apply different pressure and weight distributions it’ll make ya turn one way or the other, then you gotta learn to link heel to toe. This I think is where an experienced rider will come in handy, because they should be able to really help you grasp what you are doing wrong and actually pretty easily fix it.
so basically, getting a feel for being on ur edges = you don’t need an instructor, you just need practice
learning to turn properly = EXPERIENCED instructor will actually teach you something, and really help you get the hang of it
oh yeah, one last thing I almost forgot: WHEN LEARNING DO NOT FUCKING FAVOR ONE WAY OVER THE OTHER! OF COURSE YOU’RE BETTER ON YOUR HEEL EDGE, BUT DON’T BE A PUSSY AND GET COMFORTABLE ON YOUR TOE EDGE TOO OR YOU WILL END UP FUCKING UP YOUR LEARNING PROCESS.
Also, when you get the feel for everything, your can read up or get some info from experienced riders on how to really turn properly with good technique…As bad as a lotta the instructors were there, they gave us riding lessons on proper technique and I myself learned ALOT. When I say learning the wrong way can be kinda harmful, I can use myself as an example. True “carving” is technically turning completely on ur edge, you would see very nice patterns (edge to edge, I know you’ve all seen them from skiers, but not many boarders do this) if you made a line underneath the chair lift and checked it out on ur way up the lift from above. I personally can “carve” better riding switch stance than I can riding my natural way, because I taught myself how to ride switch using the mechanics and not what felt natural. So basically, if you see me in the park, you’ll most often see me “tail-dragging” when riding regular. That should really only be used to speed check and not for turns. When you watch a race on TV, watch how the riders are completely on their edges and they literally explode outta the turns. It’s damn impressive actually, and I’m a park rat, but it’s still something you gotta respect.
/rant
