How to become a snowboarding pro?

What age should I have started snowboarding to become pro?

• I am 13 years old, 14 soon, I began snowboarding when I was 11, I can make S's, but can't do much beyond that. I go snowboarding six times a year, and take four lessons a ...show more

• Answer:

  It's usually easier starting earlier, but on the other hand, you learn more quickly when you're older. I know a girl who had done some recreational gymnastics and showed some promise, so asked to join a gymnastics team. The coach said, "It doesn't matter how good you are. Twelve is too old to start. You won't have enough time to catch up to the rest of the girls." She bargained with him and asked him to let her work out with the team without officially joining, and said that if she didn't catch up quickly or show signs of real promise, that he was free to kick her out. Reluctantly he let her practice with the team. Now here is the key: She practiced three times a week for three hours at a time at the gym, plus extra hours doing whatever she could at home. By mid-season she was not only on the team, but was CAPTAIN, and continued to be elected captain and to be the best on the team for as long as she did gymnastics. Moral: You're not going to get to be pro by going snowboarding six times a year and taking four lessons a year. Even the girl above had no intention of making it to the Olympics, or she would have practiced more than three times a week. You've got to snowboard four or five times a week, with AT LEAST one lesson a week, preferrably more. This is expensive, time-consuming, exhausting. But if you can afford it and you love it, making pro beginning at your age is possible.