You may be one of those beginners in snowboarding fascinated by other riders hitting jumps and rails. If you make the effort to learn some basic freestyle moves, it adds to the excitement of your rides. You’ll also be thrilled by the challenges of it, which would help you improve your snowboarding skills. There are terrain parks that can be fun to practice your tricks.
However, there are also certain risks involved. So, in order to avoid such situations, you can try some tricks outside the terrain park. These are the flat ground tricks that you can bring into the park after getting better at performing them. So, here are some of the effective tricks beginners can try:
1. Ollie
These is among the first basic tricks that you’ll get to learn when you begin to learn snowboarding. In this move, you use the tail’s pop to spring off the ground. This trick is fundamental to skateboarding. It is used to get air without going off a jump. It would be beneficial to practice ollies outside the terrain park as it comes in handy later.
This trick involves scooting the board out towards your nose while flexing your rear leg. Then you pull your front leg up and at the same time spring off the back foot and tail of the board. When you’re in the air, flex both legs so that the board is parallel with the ground. Absorb the landing by bringing both feet down at the same time.
2. Tail/nose press
Also called a ‘manual’, a tail or nose press is another basic trick to be learned on flat ground. Upon learning this move, you’ll get used to shifting your weight over the front and back of your board. It makes you more aware of the edges and brings some play into your ride. Once you’re comfortable standing still on flat ground, you can try a tail press when going downhill.
The tail press involves shifting your weight towards the tail of the board. It lifts up the nose of the board. In nose press, you shift your weight forward towards the nose of the board. This time it is the tail of the board that would lift up.
3. Flat spin 360
It is another move you can practice outside the terrain park. Flat spin 360 would help you progress to other tricks. This move involves switching between the edge of your toe and the edge of your heel while in rotation. It must be tried on a gentle slope first. You rotate in a full circle while trying this trick. It can be done on the same terrain where you’ve learned to make turns for the first time.
4. 50-50
A 50-50 is done by riding straight over a box or rail with the nose first. You can imagine or draw a box in the snow on a flat area. Then you relax your body and loosen your ankles as you ride across that box. You must keep your board flat from the beginning to the finish. This is for practice on flat ground. If you’re inside the terrain park, begin with a small box that’s shorter and wider.
It must have a ‘ride-on’, where you don’t have to jump in order to get into the box. Once you’ve mastered the small boxes, ride the narrower or longer ones. You can add a nose or tail press as you progress. You can also do an ollie or a two-foot jump off the box.