# Why keep learning from the same snowboard instructor? 西西's monthly lessons
Every month of the season, 西西 takes lessons from the same experienced instructor. How that teacher teaches and observes, and why 西西 values sticking with one.
- URL: https://www.ykhokkaido.com/en/blog/coach-choice-03-why-a-regular-instructor
- Published: 2026-11-10
- Section: Training
- Series: Choosing an Instructor (part 3)
- Tags: Choosing lessons & instructors
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西西 says that all of 西西's work on snowboarding has probably come down to one goal: being able to follow a teacher down the hill and copy every move.
This is Part 3 of the Choosing an Instructor series. Part 2 covered what instructor certifications mean. This part comes at it from the other side and looks at 西西 as a student: what learning with the same instructor, again and again, has given 西西.
This post is useful if you:
- have taken a few lessons, and every time the instructor changes you have to explain yourself from scratch
- want to know what a good instructor actually does during a lesson
- are not sure whether it is worth learning from the same teacher over the long term
What follows is 西西's personal experience and approach, compiled from 西西's Threads posts and teaching notes. It is not an official JSBA standard, and it is not a claim that anyone is better than anyone else.
## 西西's monthly lessons
During the season, 西西 goes to a sixty-year-old instructor for a lesson every month. As 西西 describes him, the teacher has been riding for thirty years, since the days when ski resorts still shut snowboarders out. In any snow conditions his stance is extremely stable, and his movements are so clean they give you chills.
西西 once asked the teacher's wife how his riding at thirty differed from his riding at sixty. Her answer: "He just keeps evolving."
The conclusion 西西 drew from that: someone can snowboard for thirty years and still keep evolving. Knowing that, 西西 says, the hurry suddenly went away, and 西西 decided to admit that 西西's own fundamentals were not solid.
**Key point**: 西西 sticks with one instructor in order to follow someone who is still evolving, and to make the fundamentals solid.
## How that teacher teaches
西西 gives a few examples.
- **Breaking moves down.** The teacher breaks a complex movement into five or six very simple small movements for you to practise. Once you have practised them, you somehow find you can do the whole thing.
- **Adjusting equipment settings.** 西西's short turns took a lot of effort, so the teacher had 西西 change the binding angles from 12°/30° to 6°/24°. In 西西's words, this cuts down a little on how far the body has to travel during the weight shift, with the same effect. This was the teacher's adjustment for 西西 personally, not a recommendation for you to copy.
- **Always present.** When 西西 wrote this note, the teacher had only started using a smartphone the year before. He doesn't look at it at home, and looks at it even less during lessons. He started using one so that he and his wife could share their locations when heading into the backcountry.
西西 also passes on something the teacher said. Thirty years ago, after his first taste of snowboarding, he drove two hours to ride the night session almost every other day, rode until the night session ended, slept in the car, and went to the office first thing the next morning. In his words: "Soredemo tarinai" (それでも足りない), meaning that even that wasn't enough. So he came to Hokkaido to be an instructor, and has been one for twenty-eight years. This is 西西's account; we have not checked it independently.
**Key point**: the three things 西西 values are breaking moves down, adjusting to you, and being present for the whole lesson.
Based on 西西's description of the teacher. Diagram by our editors.
## What an instructor should look for: the difference in feel
西西's own approach to teaching is set out in another post.
"Put your weight in the middle of the board": 西西 does not think that is a very clear piece of instruction. An instructor should be asking things like:
- How does today's snow feel to you?
- After you adjusted your movement, did you feel the pressure from the board change?
- When you skid out of the turn, is that skid actually bringing your speed down?
- Is your gaze a little tense and jumpy? Can you relax it a bit and look where you want to go?
When 西西 teaches, the first step is to copy the student's movements and feel what the student's body is feeling, then ride the same thing once with correct form. Between that "ideal run" and the student's run there are some subtle differences in feel. 西西 says the most interesting part of teaching is finding, through fully focused observation, the one missing piece of the student's "feel puzzle".
This is also one benefit of sticking with the same instructor, as 西西 infers it: the more often an instructor watches you, the more that observation has to work with. The flip side is that every time you change instructors, you have to explain "how I usually ride" all over again. This is an inference, not a research finding; changing instructors can also bring a fresh perspective.
**Key point**: an instructor's job is to find the feel you are missing, not just to call out instructions.
## Using this to choose an instructor
This post is not telling you to learn from only one instructor. 西西's experience can be turned into a few questions to ask yourself:
- Does this instructor ask how things feel, or only say "relax" and "weight in the middle of the board"?
- Can they break a movement down small enough that I can actually practise it?
- Are they actually present during the lesson?
- Next time, do I still want to show them my riding?
If the answers are mostly "yes", it is worth considering a few more lessons. For how to read certifications and profiles, see [What do JSBA certifications prove?](/en/blog/coach-choice-02-what-instructor-certs-prove/)
## Who this post is not for
- Anyone coming for a single lesson who wants to learn a specific move in one day: the benefit of a regular instructor builds up over time, and a single lesson is about how you are taught on that day.
- Anyone who wants a number for "how many lessons before it works": the sources don't give one, and this post won't make one up.
SnowWind's lessons and instructor arrangements are on the [courses page](/en/courses/); for 西西's background, see [西西's profile](/en/instructors/xixi/).
This post is compiled from 西西's Threads posts and teaching notes. What is said about the teacher is 西西's account; the teacher is not named, and we have not checked it independently. "The benefit of a regular instructor" is an inference our editors drew from 西西's experience. All of this is personal experience, not an official JSBA position.
## FAQ
### Why keep taking lessons from the same instructor?
In 西西's experience, the longer an instructor watches you ride, the better they can find the missing piece of your 'feel puzzle'. 西西 takes a lesson every month of each season with the same instructor, who has thirty years on snow. This is 西西's personal practice, not a rule that fits everyone.
### How does a good instructor teach?
The teacher 西西 describes breaks a complex move into five or six very simple ones to practise, and never looks at a phone in a lesson: always present. When teaching, 西西 first copies the student's movement to feel it, then rides it with correct form and finds the difference in feel between the two.
### Is "put your weight in the middle of the board" clear enough instruction?
西西 doesn't see it as very clear guidance. An instructor should ask instead: how does the snow feel to you, did the pressure from the board change after you adjusted, and is the skid out of the turn actually bringing your speed down?
## Sources
- https://www.threads.com/@ryokan_ijuin/post/DbvJFUdExmg
- https://www.threads.com/@ryokan_ijuin/post/DRXP1dOk9qq