Friends Don’t Teach Friends How to Snowboard

At the beginning of the season it’s once again appropriate to bring out a familiar reminder: Friends don’t teach friends how to go snowboarding.

Not that learning how to ride is a bad thing. Far from it. And hanging out with your friends on the mountain is good, too.

But if you know how to ride and your friend doesn’t, it may not be the best thing if you try to teach your friend how to ride. It could be much better for your friendship–and your friend’s riding future–if you instead encourage your friend to take some lessons.

The Rocky Mountain News reminds us why this is the case. One, you’re probably going to teach your friend some bad habits. Two, it may strain your friendship, since the teacher/student dynamic is very different from the friend/friend one. (And worse, don’t teach your spouse or significant other!) Another reason for leaving the teaching to someone else is that there’s a benefit to specialization. A snowboard instructor has a lot more experience than you do in teaching people how to ride–which means that he or she has the tools to help your friend avoid nasty slams and wipeouts. You probably don’t.

Now all this is general information and you’ve got to apply it to your own situation. If you’re already an instructor yourself, you may be just fine teaching a friend. (I taught a close relative of mine two years ago and things worked out fine.)

Of course not all instructors are equally competent. It might help to ask for an instructor with AASI certification, though I know from experience that’s not a guarantee that everything will go swimmingly. But whatever you do, think twice before trying to teach a friend.