What a Lesson

In addition to writing about snowboarding and simply riding around, I also teach snowboarding. Being an adult snowboarder it in itself somewhat of a novelty, at least in the Midwest. Being an adult snowboard instructor is also fairly unusual.

The instructor corps of the snowsports school where I teach leans towards the older side on skiing, and on the younger side on snowboarding.

Most of the lessons I give are to late elementary or middle-school students. I take special delight in teaching adults, but when you're in a service business, you respond to the market.

And of the lessons I give, most are basic lessons, to people just starting out. (For one thing, I'm in no way ready to perform most freestyle tricks, let alone teach someone how to do them.) The lessons are typically 90 minutes long, though I often take a big longer.

On this weekend last, I was given a private lesson to teach. It was scheduled for 2 hours, but went on for a third when the customer and his mother decided on a third hour.

It took a good chunk out of the day--and the best time for riding--but there's nothing to challenge your understanding of something like trying to teach it to someone else.