In this blog: We look at a real world example of one of the most common mistakes people make when trying to learn freestyle tricks.
So I was browsing my favourite snowboard forum and I saw a post by a young poster. He made a very common error with his snowboard freestyle and I think we can learn a lot from it by breaking down his mistake.
Here’s what he posted on the forum (I paraphrased and fixed his spelling/grammar mistakes):
Last year was my first year snowboarding, but I went for 9 days and by the 9th day I could confidently go on rails/boxes, hit jumps, carve perfectly, do all the grabs and kinda 180.
This season I’m getting a season pass and I’m going to try get at least 30 days on snow. I’m going to try boardercross and I want to master backside 360s. I also want to learn how to boardslide, tailpress and nosepress.
How’s my progression?
Okay so this guy did come off a little braggy, and he did get flamed by the other forum posters for it, but besides that he also makes a very common mistake that I see A LOT of people make when they want to progress their snowboarding.
His mistake was not mastering his basic skills. He’s basically so focused on learning that next new trick that he’s never really bothered mastering basics that NEED to be mastered if you want to become a good snowboarder.
So here’s how I broke it down for him:
I’d say you need to slow down and work more on your basics instead of pushing for 180s and 360s.
From what I gathered, you can do these things:
– Carve
– Hit basic jumps
– Hit basic boxes/rails
I think you can do those things and I believe you did that all in 9 days.
However, I think there’s a big skill gap between where you are and actually mastering carving/jumping/basic jibbing with full control and style.
Go back and continue work on basics. Go work on really cementing in that carving and get started on your switch riding. Go work on getting stylish, smooth straight airs with grabs.
Stop rushing to that 360 just to say you can do a 360.
The last thing you want to become is that kid who spins ugly 360s off the jump with zero style. Ugly style and sloppy, dangerous technique is exactly what will happen if you rush to advance your freestyle without getting the basics down first.
Basic techniques make you a good rider and even if you can do certain techniques like carving and jumping, you want to REALLY cement in those mechanics before you rush to progress them further.
The bottom line:
The bottom line is you should never rush through mastering the basic snowboard skills just to master more advanced skills.
Basic skills form EVERYTHING in snowboard freestyle, so being weak in one area or not stopping to get those techniques perfected will go on to affect ALL of your riding until you go back and master them.
If this kid goes back and works on his basics with the same enthusiasm that he’s showing right now, he’ll not only become a better rider, but he’ll see massive progress later in his snowboard progression.
– Jed
ps – If you send me an email or question that might be embarrassing for you, I will never publish a name next to it, so don’t worry.