Firstly, you need to know whether you’re regular or goofy stance. Don’t worry, I discussed this here. A whole separate term that you might have also heard is “switch” riding. But what is switch snowboarding?
Switch snowboarding is essentially riding backwards. This means riding with the opposite foot forward to when riding in your normal stance. For example, regular stance snowboarders will ride with their left foot forward. When riding in switch they will instead ride with their right foot forward.
The simple way of looking at this is that if you’re regular, you’re “riding switch” whenever you ride in goofy. If you’re goofy, you’re riding in switch when you ride in regular stance.
*A very low percentage of riders will be ambidextrous – just as confident when riding in both directions. Those lucky sons of guns!
What Are Switch Snowboarding Tricks?
Switch snowboarding tricks are essentially any snowboard trick in which the snowboarder starts in switch – the opposite stance to their preferred riding stance.
For example a switch frontside 180 would be when a regular rider approaches a jump in goofy, rotates 180 degrees and lands back in their normal stance.
If the snowboarder in the image above is a regular rider, he should be approaching the jump with his left foot forward. Because he is instead approaching the jump with his right foot forward (goofy stance), he could be said to be riding switch.
If however his normal preferred stance is goofy, he’s just approaching the jump in his normal stance.
Final Thoughts
I hope that helps. If not, drop me your questions in the comment section below.
If you’re ready to master some snowboarding tricks, including switch riding, head over to our learning to snowboard section.
Happy riding!
