Semi-Charmed Life

Snowboarding Camp: Day 1

I am on an insane high right now . . .

I just got back from my first day of snowboarding camp. I signed up for the MLK weekend Switch Camp at Mountain Creek and just finished my first day of the camp. Today's session ranks up there as one of my all time favorite riding days.

So what was so special about it? To be honest, since I have nothing similar to compare it to I really don't know if it was the program itself that was great or if it was because I was in a more structured learning environment. What I've long realized though is that I learn better in anything when I'm in a structured learning environment as opposed to trying to learn on my own.

I had a great day today because I finally pushed past my plateau. I feel like I progressed to a point where I was no longer getting any better. I have friends who are into trying things at the terrain park, but every time I go I chicken out and don't hit any of the features. I didn't know if I was ever going to get any better at that rate. I knew most of it was mental.

The great thing about signing up for something like this is that once you sign up and commit your hard earned cash, you feel obligated to learn. I went with two friends and I'm guessing the three of us were probably the oldest in the camp. They broke everyone up into different groups, depending on your skill level and also your age. I guess we were clustered with the "adult" group, which was 6 of us and our instructor.

Our instructor started us off with the basics . . . taking jumps off a kicker, 50/50's on boxes on rails, and just working on our ollies. By the end of the day I was able to hit most of the features, and while not exactly aesthetically pleasing, I was extremely happy because I never would have thought that I'd be able to hit any of this stuff. For the longest time I was scared stiff of rails because I've hurt myself pretty badly in the past. As far as jumping off of kickers go, I used to have a huge mental block that forced me to speed check way too much whenever I attempted them, which resulted in me never being able to clear the knuckle and hit the landing zone. And that was when I was able to muster up the courage to even attempt them. For the most part, I rarely tried because I just didn't think I could do it.

Being in a small group, we each took turns trying stuff the instructors told us to do, and gradually with each run we all got better. With an instructor, I really had no choice but to make an attempt because a) I'm paying for it and b) I'd look like the biggest wuss ever. It also helped that the instructors were very patient and encouraging. The second half of the day our group had a different instructor who pushed us very hard.

So am I happy because I think I'm super good at snowboarding now because of 1 day of snowboarding camp?

No.

I'm happy because the feeling of pushing past this plateau and breaking this barrier which I thought I could never break is a huge rush. I love the feeling of improving and getting better at something I love, especially when there are concrete results.

I only wish that I knew more people who were more focused on progressing instead of staying in their comfort zone. A lot of snowboarders I know tend to reach a certain point where they can ride pretty well, and may even learn to ride switch, but then they're content to just keep taking run after run of bombing down the mountain and never choose to progress any further.

That was me before.

Right now I'm just hoping that after this three day camp is over, I'll be much better than I was before and be able to accomplish some of my goals that I set for myself at the beginning of the season. Actually, I think I might have already accomplished some of those goals today!