SNOWBOARDING

'Snowboarding'
is a sport that involves descending a snow-covered slope on a snowboard that is attached to one's feet using a boot/binding interface. It is similar to skiing, but inspired by surfing and skateboarding. The sport was developed in the United States in the 1960s and the 1970s and became a Winter Olympic Sport in 1998. Some of its pioneers include: Craig Kelly, Tom Sims, Jake Burton Carpenter, and Terry Kidwell. It is constantly increasing in popularity.

Contents

History

Styles

Freestyle

Safety and precautions

Films

Magazines

Contests

References

External links

History

The history of snowboarding started with pioneers like Sherman Poppen (the inventor of the first commercially made snowboard called the Snurfer from Muskegon, Michigan), Jake Burton (founder of Burton Snowboards from Londonderry, Vermont), Tom Sims (founder of Sims Snowboards and creator of the first snowboard in 1963), Mike Olson (GNU Snowboards).
Dimitrije Milovich, an east coast surfer, had the idea of sliding on cafeteria trays. From this he started developing his snowboard designs. In 1972, he started a company called the Winterstick; by 1975, The Winterstick was mentioned in Newsweek magazine. The Winterstick was based on the design and feel of a surfboard, but worked the same way as skis.
The growing popularity of snowboarding is reflected by recognition of snowboarding as an official sport: in 1985, the first World Cup was held in Zürs, Austria. Due to the need for universal contest regulations, the ISA (International Snowboard Association) was founded in 1994. Today, high-profile snowboarding events like the Olympics, Winter X-Games, the US Open, and other events are broadcast to a worldwide audience. Many alpine resorts are now setting up terrain parks. It is also notable that the sport has had a significant impact on such countries that are largely without snow, such as Australia and Afghanistan.

Styles

Both terrain parks and backcountry have grown in popularity with advances in equipment and mountaineering technology.

Freestyle

Craig Kelly and Terje Håkonsen have been credited as two of the founding fathers of freestyle snowboarding. Craig began the art of freestyle, then later switched from the contest circuit to full time backcountry riding, filming, and photography before being killed in an avalanche. Terje started young, has been the subject of two movies, and recently achieved the world record quarterpipe air at the 2007 Arctic Open.
Many believe that freestyle snowboarding owes much of its form and content to skateboarding. Since a snowboard is attached securely to your feet, you are unable to perform many of the skateboard tricks, like a kickflip. With the recent introduction of rails into freestyle snowboarding, a closer resemblance to skateboarding is seen.

Safety and precautions

Although many snowboarders do not wear any protective gear, helmets and some other devices are gaining in popularity. Wearing protective gear is highly recommended due to the dangerous nature of alpine sports (especially freestyle snowboarding). The body parts most affected by injuries are the wrist, tailbone,the head, and the ankles (also knee ligaments amongst professional riders). Useful safety gear includes wrist guards (snowboarders often land on their hands and knees, to break a wrist is a common injury), padded or protected snowboard pants and a helmet. Snowboarding boots must be worn. It is best that you wear boots that fit you, which means your toes must be snug in the end of the boot, as to minimize movement inside the boot (too tight is better than too loose). Goggles are used by most people, and are very crucial at high altitudes on bright days to prevent snow blindness. Goggles also protect riders from temporary vision loss due to snow getting in eyes that can result in impact into terrain or obstacles. Padding can be useful on other body parts like the hips, knees, spine, and shoulders.

Films

Snowboarding films have become a main part of progression in the sport. Each season, many films are released, usually in autumn. These are made by many snowboard specific video production companies as well as manufacturing companies that use these films as a form of advertisement. Snowboarding videos usually contain video footage of professional riders sponsored by companies. An example of commercial use of snowboarding films would be ''The White Album'', a film by snowboarding legend and filmmaker Dave Seone about Shaun White, that includes cameos by Tony Hawk and was sponsored by PlayStation, Mountain Dew and Burton Snowboards. Snowboarding films are also used as documentation of snowboarding and showcasing of current trends and styles of the sport.
Snowboarding has also been the focus of numerous Hollywood feature films, quite notably the 2001 movie ''Out Cold'', which included appearances by several renowned professional snowboarders as stunt performers, actual characters, or both. ''Out Cold'' is one of few major motion pictures to show snowboarding rather realistically and to exhibit a real understanding of the sport, as well as the culture that surrounds it. One such country is the UK, and this artificial snow phenomenon is well documented in the movie "Standing Sideways" by Damien Doyle. An early Hollywood nod to snowboarding was in James Bond film A View to a Kill — the opening sequence features Roger Moore as Bond eluding attackers with an improvised snowboard.

Magazines

Snowboard magazines are integral to the sport. Photo incentives are written into many professional riders' sponsorship contracts; therefore when they have a photo published in a magazine, the rider receives not only necessary exposure needed for their career, but financial support as well. Snowboard magazine staff will travel with professional riders throughout the winter season to generate content. Coverage will typically include travel, contests, lifestyle, rider and company profiles, and product reviews. Snowboard magazines have recently made a push to expand their brands to the online market. See also Transworld Snowboarding Magazine.

Contests

There are four major types of contests: rail jam, slopestyle, boarder cross, and halfpipe. Some of the biggest contests include: the US Open, Shakedown, the West Coast Invitational, Vans Cup, X Games, and the Chevrolet U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix, Chevrolet Revolution Tour and Race to the Cup series. There are also many other smaller division competitions, some are listed in the USASA.

References

★ Hart, Lowell (1997). ''The Snowboard Book: A Guide for All Boarders''. W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-31692-0

External links

★ U.S. Snowboarding - Bio information and stories on U.S. Snowboarding riders

★ Three Revolutions Have Equaled a Transformation in Snowboarding

★ Guide for beginners