First experience on the snowboard

To feel the balance on the board is difficult for a lot of students in the beginning. So the following exercises will help you to get it easier:
 

1. On the flat, both feet in the binding:

Standing (Balance exercises): Touch the front of your board. Touch the back of your board.
Getting up (easy): Kneel down. Stand up.
Getting up (difficult): Sit down. Stand up. Many students cannot do this. Try to think of an imaginary rail in front of you which you reach out and grab with your rear hand as you try to get up.
On the flat, One (Front) foot in: walk around. Skate and slide like a skateboard. Weight on front foot.
Front foot in : Straight run. Climb up on almost flat terrain. Push off. Glide straight down to a natural stop. Weight on front foot.
Front foot in: Direction change While doing straight run, with weight on front foot, look and point with front hand in the direction you want to turn.
Walking with front foot in Standing with both feet in the binding

Left turn: Imagine you are opening a door to the left and you will turn left.
Right turn: Imagine your are opening a door to the right and you will turn right.
If this exercise doesn’t work well, imagine that the door is heavy and you need both hands to open it.
Lift (front foot in): Watch people get on the lift. Talk about getting off. Just do a straight run or slight direction changes as before as you get off. Lean forward. You shouldn’t think that it is difficult to get on the lift. The experience showed us that students who have fear of the lift are very nervous and so they make more mistakes and they fall down.
Both feet in. Side slip:. Straight down on heal edge or toe edge. Need a moderate incline. Balance wait over edge. Smooth changes. Slide evenly - like spreading peanut butter on bread. Stay on uphill edge.
Do not make a full turn (edge change). Go across the hill, sit down, flip over, do on other edge. This is the best way to learn.

What not to do:

As a beginner you should:
Never start immediately from the top of a pist without having tried the board on the flat.
Never apply the one foot method on a long incline - it may lead to injury,
Never lean backwards!
 

Second step

The Elementary Turn in brief

The Elementary turn is accomplished by a simple rotation of the upper body with the legs and snowboard which follow through. No flexion or extension is used. The snowboard remains flat. The student should not lean on the back -or the frontside of the snowboard.

Details about the Elementary Turn

Learning the turn into three phases:

Initiation: The turn is initiated by a strong anticipated (or pre-) rotation of the upper body in the desired direction. Weight should be concentrated towards the front of the snowboard. Though the snowboarder has rotated, the board has not yet followed.
Driving: The snowboard will now start to follow the direction of rotation. The student must continue the anticipated rotation by rotating further as the board follows. Weight is maintained towards the front of the board. The snowboarder may lean slightly towards the inside of the turn.
Termination:  Weight is brought back to an equal distribution across the board and the rotation is brought to a halt. If the snowboarder started the turn from the correct backside position then the turn will terminate with the frontside position.

Students usually have one turn stronger than the other. ( backside or frontside).
 

Common pitfalls

These are some of the common pitfalls and how they may be avoided:

Student can initiate, but not complete the turn: This is usually happens to the student leaning back once the board is facing down the fall line. Leaning back transfers the weight to the back leg and once this happens the student no longer has control. Try the following corrective exercises:
Maintain the front arm lower than the back (forcing more weight on the front)
Ensure the front knee remains bent
Ensure the rotation is accomplished over the front of the board
Student falls violently due to "catching an edge": This is usually due to the weight being on the heels when turning toeside or vice-versa. Get the student to maintain the board as flat as possible, and if any leaning is used then it must be towards the inside of the turn
Student "kicks" or "twists" to get the board to turn: Although the symptoms of this problem show at the end of the turn, the cause of the problem is usually due to the starting position (incorrect backside or frontside base position).

Additional Tips:

On the backside turn the student can compliment the rotation by tucking the back knee into the front knee.
On the frontside turn the student can compliment the rotation by moving the back knee away from the front knee.
The right falling!!!

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