AASI Snowboard Video

by Ed Kane

This 25-minute video was intended to be a supplement to the manual reviewed in the Winter Snowsports Instructor. It too is available from the office ( $19.95 plus tax & postage) and provides a visual as well as a bit of a different perspective on snowboard teaching form the manual. The focus of this tape is to give some insight into the cause and effect of the actions of the rider and the reactions of the snowboard. This is done using a graphic figure called "ergoman" and a graphic of a snowboard. It is narrated and

contains a great deal of information in a very compact package. As a result, I found myself stopping it and rerunning various portions several times to get a better understanding of what I was seeing and hearing.

The basic theme of the material on the tape is that actions of the body produce reactions on the snowboard and controls its interactions with the snow to provide control. These body movements vary the edge contact between the deck (the board) and the snow, rotary movements are transmitted to provide control of the arc of turns and vertical/lateral movements vary the distribution and amount of pressure applied to the deck. These principals are demonstrated by the graphic ergoman and the graphic deck.

The content of the tape is structured around the "Y" model and starts with teaching beginners. Riding demonstrations include glide to a stop, traverse, garlands, falling leaf and J turns. Here the actions involve balance, some rotary movements and use of twisting of the board to encourage direction changes. Basic skidded turns are covered next which involves as a primary action rotary movements of the hips and some ankle flexion and extension to vary the edge angle. The dynamic skidded turn refines these actions and encourages more use of flexing/extending of the knees, hips and ankles to refine the degree of edging. As a result, in these turns the center of mass is offset from the board creating more edge angle. This is the essential difference between the basic

and dynamic skidded turn. In the basic carved turn the knees flex is more extreme and the ankle flex is used to refine the edge angle. The result is still more offset between the center of mass and the board. The dynamic carved turn is the result of still more refinement of the above and the degree of offset is greater.

The remainder of the tape covers the freestyle and free riding branches of the "Y" model. It contains some excellent footage of 180 spins, switch riding, grabs, and half pipe riding. The narration emphasizes the relationship between the movements learned in the earlier phases of development and those used for this more freeform of riding. This linkage is quite clear and helps to put the whole teaching model in perspective. The trailer is a series of out-take falls and spills to make sure that the viewer knows that the demonstrators are also human.

Overall the content is excellent and this tape helps put the content of the manual in perspective with moving images and clear narration. The set, although a bit pricey should be in every school's bookshelf for reference material. If the instructor has to make a choice between one or the other, this should be the second choice. This author would strongly recommend both even if they have to be bought on the installment plan (the manual this year and the tape next year).