Mastering The Beginners Snowboarding Stance

Welcome to video 2 of our Learning To Snowboard series. Feel free to watch the video above or to read the transcript below.

If you want to watch any of the other videos from the series they’re linked to at the bottom of the page.

Intro

[00:00:05] I want to take you through you snowboard stance. Your stance is literally what is the foundation of your snowboarding. If you can maintain a good position everything else should come quite easy.

[00:00:17] So we’ve got two stances in snowboarding. We’ve got a regular rider and a goofy rider. A regular rider rides with their left foot forward on the board and a goofy rider rides with their right foot forward on the board. I’m not going to take you through how to figure this little bit out because your instructor in resort or in one of these centres will do that for you. It’s a little bit personal to every person and you kind of don’t really know until you give it a go.

[00:00:43] I’m gonna stand now on my left foot. And just have a little go and feel that if I put the weight on the foot the board’s not actually moving on the flat, it is quite secure.

I’m gonna bang the snow off the bottom of this boot. I’m gonna secure it by pushing it up against the other binding. Once you feel comfortable, a snowboard stance you should stand up normally and then I just want you to relax. That is literally it. We’re going to bend the ankle, we’re gonna bend the knee and we’re going to keep our body completely in line with the board. The only thing that you’re gonna be turning is your head in the direction of travel. It’s really important to keep your chin at shoulder height. It’s very tempting to look on the floor when you’re learning but when we look down it makes us break our posture. And this actually makes it harder to snowboard.

Manouevring The Board

Now you’ve got comfortable with your snowboard stance I want you to step back onto the snow. We need to get used to picking this big board up off the floor so we can manoeuvre it around on a flat section of land. To do this remember your board stance all the time. I’ve still got my knees and my ankles nice and flexed and I’m keeping my core nice and engaged. To pick the board up you’ll notice if you just lift your foot up the really heavy end will stay on the floor. So it’s good to twist your knee out to the side and it will pick that heavy end up. Now, if I’m facing this way but I actually want to go over there I need to turn my snowboard around so maintaining your snowboard stance all the time. Bent knees, bent ankles, strong core, head up – We’re going to pick the board up and turn around in a circle.

Introducing Tilt

When we spoke about the features of your snowboard we spoke about a toe edge and a heel edge. Now that your foot is attached it’s quite simple to figure out really. The toe edge runs next to the toes and the heel edge is the one at the back that runs next to the heels. When we use edges we’re introducing tilt to the board. To tilt the board, we actually use our ankle joints quite a lot in snowboarding. So when you’re stood on the flat like this I just want you to lift your toes up to the ceiling and see how that lifts the front edge of the snowboard off the floor. Once you’ve had a little go doing that, take a tiny step backwards so you’re in a bit more of a lunge. And I want you to tilt the board up and dig that heel edge into the floor. I want you to feel how secure the edges are when you’ve got it locked in. I can push against that and it’s not going to go anywhere. So that is essentially your break.

Tilting Your Toe Edge

We’re going to step over the front and we’re going to have a little go of the same thing but feeling what your toe edge feels like. So big step over, into a lunge, bending that knee down to the floor and again you can feel you can really push against that board and it’s not going to go anywhere.

Straight Running

[00:03:44] We’re going to use all these little skills we’ve just learned and we’re gonna walk up the slope a couple of meters and we’re gonna do an exercise called straight running. That’s you pointing your board down the slope and just sliding, practicing your snowboard stance. Now it’s really important that when we’re riding we always want to try and stay centred on your board. When I’m stood on a flat section of land that means I’ve got equal pressure on both feet as soon as I put myself on a slope it means I’m gonna have to feel like I’m leaning over the front of my snowboard slightly. That’s just going to give the board grip to the floor and keep it locked in, in a nice straight path.

[00:04:19] So I’ve turned myself around. I’ve got my board flat at the moment. Now I’m going to step over the front of the snowboard and I’m going to feel like I’m dropping into a bit of a lunge that’s instantly pushing my knee down to the floor. It is picking the heel edge up off the snow. I can feel before I set off that my board is super secure. I’m not gonna go anywhere. At this point you’re now gonna use that little skill of turning around to point the nose of your board down the slope. A really good tip for this section is if you’ve seen the Karate Kid it’s the killer move the crane.

If you put all the weight on that floor and lift the board off the floor you feel quite secure. As soon as you put weight on it’s gonna want to go down the hill. Now for you again you’re gonna have an instructor at this moment in time they’re probably going to have their foot in front of the snowboard so you don’t go straight away. And that gives you loads of time for you to pop your foot on and go through your posture in your stance.

Recap

So let’s have a little recap. Bending the ankles. Bending the knees. Core nice and engaged. Body in line with the board. Looking where you’re going with a little bit more weight on the front foot because we’re going down the hill.