The content of our presentation is a part of the material that we have created for the Swedish snowboard instructor courses. It is the result of an ongoing project that began 8 years ago.

Our ambition has been to create awareness about snowboard technique and to provide instructors with the tools to enable them to create a learning environment adapted to both the individual and the situation.

Based on this ambition, we have developed a model that we call “Customized snowboard technique”. The model provides a framework that incorporates the tools and concepts that we use to describe and analyze snowboard technique.

We have strived to differentiate between internal and external forces, as we believe this differentiation is a key for us to create awareness about snowboard technique, and it lies at the core of our model. Prior to introducing the model during our courses, we describe internal and external forces at play. We do this by introducing basic anatomy and mechanics.

The model has three parts. The first is called positioning. It is about how we regulate the relationship between the center of mass, the snowboard and the counter forces from the snow. This relationship is regulated through the interaction between internal and external forces.

The second part is called outcome, which can be described as the “result” in snowboarding. It centers on motion – our decent down the mountain, which is regulated by external forces. Motion has two components: it has a certain speed and a certain direction. In addition to regulating our speed and direction, we have to control the total magnitude of the resulting forces, and how we balance the resulting forces affecting us. From this reasoning, we can divide the outcome into four components: speed, direction, pressure and balance. In addition to these components, the model can also be applied to specific teaching-based outcomes such as turns, tricks or other simple manoeuvers.

The third part of the model is called conditions and describes how we adapt the technique to both the individual and the situation. This includes the individual’s physical and psychological abilities as well as the physical characteristics of the situation, such as snow conditions, equipment and terrain. The arrow leading from outcome to positioning describes how the outcome affects the positioning of the next step in the ongoing process.

The lecture will be mostly informational with time for feedback and questions afterwards. Our demonstrators are Stefan Hillström and Daniel Roos, both snowboard instructors with over 20 years’ experience in Sweden, United States and New Zealand. They are the driving forces behind the overhaul and development of the Swedish snowboard instructor program over the last 10 years. The presentation will be held in English and we have no limits in group sizes. The lecture will be presented using Prezi (online presentation tool).