Freestyle Snowboarding: Keepin' it Simple
Freestyle snowboarding basics for everyone
Freestyle snowboarding has been compared to skateboarding, only on snowy terrain. It's true that freestyle snowboarding LOOKS a lot like the kids you see on concrete everywhere ... riding on rails, going down stairs, and curving around obstacles.
After you've learned the very basics of how to stay on a board, balance, turn and stop (so that you can gently curve your way down a slightly inclined hill and stay on your feet), freestyle snowboarding is kind of the next level of skill development.
What is Freestyle Snowboarding?
In other words, freestyle snowboarding -- while it 'looks' undisciplined -- is the result of discovering and improving your skills and abilities, playing and experimenting with them a bit, and then refining them through practice and training.
And it's because every individual rider is so different -- with different interests, and different levels of agility and ability -- that freestyle snowboarding covers such a variety of techniques and is always unique.
Safety Factors
There are some basics about freestyle snowboarding for every rider, though. One of them is satisfaction and comfort with your skill level, yet a willingness to learn more and work harder at the skill.
Another basic is the safety factor -- no matter how much fun you're having, no matter how difficult or exciting a new technique is, safety must always come first. Finally, freestyle boarding really requires a time commitment - it may take several tries to master a new move or technique, and each of those tries may be days or weeks apart, so a long-term learning timeframe will be essential.
Once you have these basics in place, the coolest thing about freestyle snowboarding is that there is SO much room for your personality!
Developing your own distinct style, interpretation and expression of the basic techniques is what makes freestyle snowboarding one of the fastest-growing sports in the world! Don't you want to be a part of that?