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Did you take lessons when you first started?


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That other thread about lessons got me thinking about them. I had 'lessons' from a friend and have never been to a school for them. I was wondering how many people here either at the beginning or later have taken proper ski or snowboard lessons?

 

Poll time!

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Luckily my sisters b/f was an instructor and so I got a few freebies there. Glad I did. Went back and had a few more lessons in my second season to improve on what I had.

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Every March break as a kid we used to spend the week at a resort, taking half day lessons for 5 days straight. When we were starting out we'd feel huge gains after that week and even in later years lessons were always great. Great teachers, nice people and that's why I kick ass with a pair of boards under-feet. biggrin

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Had lessons first time - awesome understanding young Canadian fellow in Niseko! His fun approach got me hooked.

 

Since then I have had professional lessons almost every trip - at least every season (both northern and southern), and some trips multiple lessons over the length of the trip.

 

VERY VERY good idea to get professional lessons, as just a few tips and refining technique makes a f***tonne of difference! Sometimes you are just feeling sloppy and a little out of control - get a lesson and all of sudden you take that step up to the next level. Awesome!!

 

I don't want to learn park stuff so I suppose there will come a time when lessons don't give as much. But at a new skijo getting a lesson first up irons out any bad habits you picked up and you get shown some of the sick terrain you might otherwise not have found! Gotta love that!

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Originally Posted By: keba
I did, and always recommend them to anyone starting out. The only thing you'll ever teach yourself is bad habits.


Disagree, in part. If you go ahead with out any instruction from anyone, you are doomed. OTOH, if your primary reason for starting the sport in the first place, is a very competent skier (and a damn good instructor, although not paid by anyone) then you are likely to keep being reminded every time you make an error of style (or of anything else if it's +1 wink )

I hav e had these "advantages" from the start. I am now a reasonably competent intermediate skier.
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I was self taught, thouht i was alright until i started taking CASI instructor training. Man was that an eye opener. learning from pro's that teach people to become pro's was amazing.

 

Lessons are a must if you want to optimise your ability. You can not be the most gifted balance or ability wise, but have great technique and become a great rider through taking lessons. You can become better than those blessed with more natural ability but that ride say, open shouldered and counter-rotate their turns.

 

Also its easier to learn good habits first, rather than learn to forget bads ones as i have had to do. Here are a list of my riding faults that i used to have:-

 

Hips forward (towards nose) shoulders back (towards tail),

 

Open shouldered/ not looking directly over the nose of the board,

 

Counter-rotation of heel to toe side turn (movement of lower body before upper body,

 

Handbag (back hand forward perpendicular to the board),

 

no angulation during carves/ inclination only (meaning no flex of the lower joint to create pressure over edge, leading to impared board perfrmance)

 

and finally bent/hunched at waist. All those problems were the result of copying my mates.

 

I don't want to sound like an advertisement, but i seriously think lessons are worth it.

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A very patient mate taught me. He wouldn't let me progress until I could do turns fakey as well as I could natural. Later in the season when I was packing my cheds in steep chutes that he dragged me into, I thanked him for it.

 

I always keep my ears open when instructors are imparting knowledge to their students on lifts too. wink

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I learned from friends, but in retrospect it would have been good to get some professional instruction at the outset.

 

I later had an advanced level lesson, but it was one of those, "book your lift tickets in advance and get a free lesson," things. I did get some useful info out of it.

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My dad got me into skiing, he was an instructor. Does that count as lessons? :]

 

and then ski-school but when your that little it's a different kind of ski-school. all I remember is funny looking helmets and no fear.. turning was not my thing..

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2pints,

 

When I got to Niseko it was late in the season - WAY late....and it was hard to get an instructor - most had bailed. The Gondola was closed except for weekends, the shuttle bus had stopped running. So it was 2 days before we could get a lesson.

 

I was pretty coy about trying in front of other adults who could all ski - especially after they tried to help me the first time and I couldn't stay on my feet/board - ohhh you know what I mean - even stationary.

 

So I took my little rented board and marched off to the vacant Gondola base on weekdays, hiked it up the slope a little and just tried and tried and tried. Was so funny - and I was really glad there was no-one to watch me face plant it going so slow!!

I reckon those hours of getting the 'feel' under feet helped me to be more confident and determined in the lessons when they came. But I was coming from the disavantage of being an unfit, old gal with NO confidence in my own ability, I needed that time to work on my balance and feel my way. I am not a quick learner!

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