LESSON PLANS FOR TYPICAL SNOWBOARD MANEUVERS
(Progressions)
BY
Chuck Roberts
BASIC SKIDDED TURN
Static
1. Look in direction of turn
2. Lean and look
3. Push on toe, lift on heel, and vice versa (twist board)
Dynamic
1. From traverse, twist body and lean up hill (heel and toe side)
2. From a traverse press front toe and lift rear toe (heel and toe side)
3. Down fall line, do look turns
4. Down fall line, lift toe or heel to start the turn
5. Garlands
SWITCH RIDING
Static:
1. Demonstrate body position for riding switch
2. Practice bending knees & ankles (1=no flex, 10= high flex)
3. Practice scissor motion
4. Look in direction of travel
Dynamic:
1. Practice falling leaf
2. J turns switch from fall line
3. Garlands switch
4. Falling leaf to wave
5. J turns across fall line
6. From a switch toe side traverse, release edge, finish on heel side normal stance
Refine:
Static:
1. Review stance
2. Review adjusting pressure fore & aft
3. Review twist (torque) on board
Dynamic:
1. Review basic switch: falling leaf, J turns, wave
2. Link switch
3. Jump to switch (180’s)
GROUND MANEUVERS: 180-360 flat spin
Static:
1. Demonstrate body position
2. Low edge angle
3. Equal weight on each foot
Dynamic:
1. Practice the falling leaf
2. Falling leaf uphill until stall, then back down without changing edge
3. Review riding switch
4. Practice J turn to a stop facing up hill
5. Ride switch on heel and toe side traverse
6. Perform a J turn, face up hill and immediately ride switch
7. Repeat and smooth out 180's
Refine:
Dynamic:
1. Practice the wave
DYNAMIC SKIDDED TURN
Static:
1. Lean away from board with help of another
2. Flex and extend
3. Draw line of board and body and show difference
4. Review twist of board (torque)
Dynamic:
1. Vary radius and speed
2. Press feet away from body
3. Practice twist: toe, toe, heel, heel
4. Long legs in middle of turn, short legs at transitions
Refine:
Static:
1. Review twist of board (torque)
Dynamic:
1. Vary tempo of twist motion, slower, faster
2. Follow the leader medium radius turns, in tracks, inside tracks, outside tracks
3. Extension is side to side, not up and down
JUMPING
Static
1. Flex, extend
2. Hyper flex and extend to get air
3. Land on eggshells, practice soft landings
4. Experiment with effect of upper body counter on landing straight
Dynamic
1. Traverse toe and heel side with small jumps
2. Straight down fall line on shallow hill doing small hop jumps
3. Find a small jump and jump over it
4. Discuss safety aspects throughout
Refine:
Static
1. Review basic jumps
2. Jump and pull up legs
3. Jump 90 degrees
4. Jump 180 degrees
5. Basic Ollie movements, without & with board attached
Dynamic
1. One turn, jump 90 degrees each way
2. Put them together; jump turn 90 degrees like in a half pipe
3. Heel side traverse jump to toe side traverse
4. Toe side traverse jump to heel side
5. Ride down hill on toe side alone doing traverse
6. Ollie from a straight run
CARVING
Static:
1. Edge the board, heel side and toe side, one foot out
2. Edge board with both feet in
3. Practice heel side and toe side
Dynamic:
1. Traverse heel side and toe side
2. Perform J turn heel and toe side
3. Convert J turn to C turn by crossing fall line
4. On shallow terrain go from edge to edge
5. Practice extending in control phase of turn
Refine:
Static:
1. Practice extending
2. With pairs practice leaning against each other with backs straight, etc
Dynamic:
1. Long radius with straight backs
2. Long radius with bent bac
k
3. Change radius
4. Flex and extend during turn
5. Go stiff during turn to tell the difference
6. J turn high edge angle
7. J turn low edge angle with bending of board (extend legs)
8. Compare tilting the board to turn and bending the board to turn
BUMPS
Static
1. Flex, extend slowly
2. Stand on top of bump, pivot and extend
Dynamic
1. Traverse toe and heel side flexing and extending
2. Ride over one bump and absorb
3. Traverse over several pumps and absorb
4. Make skidded turns with extension
5. Make tight linked skidded turns on flat
6. Make turns on edge of mogul field
7. Make tight linked turns through bumps on shallow terrain
Refine:
Static:
1. Review basic bumps
2. Upper body counter rotation exercises
Dynamic:
1. Make as many short turns as possible over a distance
2. Follow person in front making short turns
3. Make short turns fully flexed
4. Make short turns fully extended
5. Garlands through bumps then turn
6. Quiet upper body drills
ROTARY
Static:
1. Upper body vs hip & knee
2. Scissoring
3. Twist
Dynamic:
1. Look turns
2. Slow rotation of hips & waist in direction of turn
3. Traverse to side slide
4. Toe, Toe, Heel, Heel
5. Allow knee & hip to follow ankle extension
6. Twist board then rotate body
7. J turns
Refine:
Static:
1. Discuss effect of body rotation on skating
2. Twist body then jump on flat, note body unwinds
3. Intro to rotary jumps
Dynamic:
1. Skate with body aligned vs with body rotated
2. Guiding snowboard
3. Experiment with turns with no rotation
4. Jump to switch
5. Linked toe side turns with jump as means of turning
EDGING
Static:
1. One foot in binding, edge heel, edge toe
2. Both feet in binding, see how much edge without falling
3. Twist board
4. Demonstrate side slide position
Dynamic:
1. Traverse increasing and decreasing edge
2. Patience turns on flat terrain minimizing rotation
3. Start low, extend in control phase of turn
4. Side slide with hand holding, toe & heel
5. Side slide edge, release, & re-edge
Refine:
Static:
1. Practice extending with pressure
Dynamic:
1. Extension turns
2. Twist (torque) turns
3. Turns with different amount of edge (1=low, 4=high)
PRESSURE
Static:
1. Flex and extend
2. Flex and extend rapidly jump
3. Nose and tail pressure
4. Edge pressure toe and heel
Dynamic:
1. Falling leaf
2. Unweighting
3. Extension turns
Refine:
Static:
1. Practice Ollie motion without board
2. Practice Ollie with board
Dynamic:
1. Ollie in motion
BALANCE
Static:
1. Feel balance with weight forward or aft
2. Feel balance toe & heel
3. Feel balance high & low
4. Stand on one foot
5. How far can you edge without stepping off with free foot?
Dynamic:
1. Adjust weight fore & aft in straight run
2. Straight run high and low
Refine:
Static:
1. Stand on board, close eyes
2. Edge board with closed eyes
3. Knees bent / stiff with closed eyes
Dynamic:
1. Skidded turns high vs low