Snowboarding Trick Tips

The last copy of Whitelines came with a trick tips DVD: Whitelines School, Volume 1. I've always been interested in trick tips video, as there's a full range of stuff produced, from totally awful to good. To me, trick-tips and instructional video, if done well, are probably going to be appealing to many people. Unfortunately a lot of productions are pretty poor...

...And this one was, well, pretty average. The DVD has a mix of different pros covering 2 or 3 tricks each. As you might expect, some of the pros are better than others at explaining the tricks.

And it reminded me of how difficult it can be to communicate learning a trick to someone else. In my experience, sometimes people are at a stage where they're simply not going to get what you're saying. At other times, all you need to do is give someone a single pointer and they get it straight away.

Perhaps though, the best way to receive help for learning a trick/technique is to have someone watch you. If they understand the trick/technique well, they'll soon spot what you're doing wrong. In which case, they can give you the particular pointer that you need.

For example, common pointers in trick tip DVDs are: stay centered over your board on take off, lead the spin with your head and shoulders, and, spot your landing. That's all well and good, but if you're struggling with a trick, even if you have the full set of tips to get it right, you don't always know what you're doing wrong...

And so how do you make a good trick tip video? Well, I remember liking elements of Jumping with Jussi and Riders Ed; it's been a while since I've looked at either of those. However, I have received a tip for some good videos on YouTube, or at least, part of the full material that's available to buy. That's what I'm going to look at next...