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Don’t make these snowboarding mistakes!
If you make these 2 biggest snowboard mistakes you might give up before you start having fun.

The 2 Biggest Mistakes that
First Time Snowboarders Make

“Oh, I tried snowboarding a couple of times. It’s too hard and I got hurt. I’m too old to get bruised like this.”

I hear this over and over again from people I meet, when I tell them I love to snowboard. When I delve into their circumstances, I find that these newbies made 2 BIG MISTAKES that caused them to give up a fabulous sport without giving it a real chance.

The 2 mistakes??

1. Not taking a lesson.
2. Not wearing protection

1. Not taking a lesson.

C’mon now, why reinvent the wheel? If you want to learn to snowboard, then a snowboard lesson with a trained instructor will teach you IMPORTANT basic snowboarding skills that you will use every day for the rest of your riding life.

So learn them right, right from the start. I mean, forget about teaching yourself how to get on and off a lift safely on a board. This is what teachers are for.

And the “falling leaf pattern” of snowboarding is a snowboard learning technique that will get you up, and going down the hill safely and in control. That’s what you want, isn’t it? I can get down any hill I encounter, no matter how steep or icy, with eez and steez because I can always rely on my falling leaf – that I learned my first day on the hill.

2. Not wearing snowboard protection

This is just downright foolish. Anybody will tell you, when you learn to snowboard, you are going to fall. Unless you’re on powder (which I have never seen. Does it really exist?) then your body parts are going to make contact with the hard hard ground. And you know what happens later. Bruises and pain. And fear and loathing.

So accept the inevitable. WEAR PADDING!Got that?  You must wear snowboard padding on your butt and knees. Wrist protection  is an excellent idea too.  If you break your wrist by falling wrong, you won’t be reading my website and newsletter or anything else on your computer for a while. And you won’t be out having fun on your board. A helmet is an excellent idea if you decide you’d like to ride after your first lesson or two. Smack the back of your head on hard snow once or twice and you’ll be convinced.

Displaced Wrist
broken wrist
photo courtesy of Dr Mike Langran’s
http://www.ski-injury.com

If you are properly protected with padding, you can fall comfortably and relaxed, knowing you’re not going to get hurt. Your snowboard learning curve will speed up. You’ll be safer, and you’ll be having more fun.And keep wearing the padding as you progress. You will want to try more challenging tricks, and speed, and you will need padding then just as much as at the beginning, but for different reasons.

Ride On!
Lauren