Last year in Slovakia we had a girl in our chalet learning to snowboard for the first time. The chalet host/owner, Dan, is an experienced seasonaire and very good, patient teacher.
He spent all week with her, doing one-on-one lessons. Usual tears etc but lots of encouragement from Dan, us, and her boyfriend. She persevered each day until she finally made it down a slope linking turns without falling over.
She got to the bar, big smiles: “Yaaay I finally did it. I made it. It was great.”
We all cheer and congratulate her.
Then she says “Right I’m done now. I’m never doing that again. I just didn’t want to give up. I can see it would be great to do, and I can see why you love it, but I’m done.”
And she didn’t ride for the rest of the holiday. 😯
Meanwhile her boyfriend, also a complete beginner, got it straight away and by the end of the week was doing tail presses, little ollies and even came off-piste with us.
They are both coming back this year – but she isn’t riding.