Imagine this: you’re on the starting line, feet strapped firmly into boots on your snowboard. The start horn sounds, and you’re off, flying down the slope, jumping obstacles and landing tricks. Slopestyle snowboarding has gained popularity as an Olympic sport, even if it is pretty young. The lack of time the sport has been around doesn’t mean it isn’t well developed. It has a history, and many people competing with a set scoring system and rules. Bored Americans who had way too much time on their hands created snowboarding. In the decade of the ‘60s, snowboarding was born, getting more interesting as skateboarders and surfers joined the early developers of the sport. As the sport gained popularity, it also gained it’s haters- mainly skiers. …show more content…
From their home country of the U.S., Red Gerard (Cazenuve) and Sage Kotsenburg are among the men competing (“Slopestyle men- Olympic Snowboard”). On the women’s side of the world, Jamie Anderson took the first womens gold. Hailey Langland and Julia Marino will also be competing . On the international level, “Canadian and Norwegian riders top the list of favorites” (Smith). The sport has many competitors from equally diverse nationalities, but what separates the gold from silver and bronze is …show more content…
According to the Federation International de Ski (FIS), ‘overall impression’ is the main scoring method. Half a dozen judges score adversaries on the tricks they perform. Diversity, implementation, and complexity of the tricks as well as landing in the ‘sweet spot’ will all impact the point total (McMahon). The more technically perfect a run is and the harder the tricks performed will result in a higher score. Compared to some other Olympic sports, snowboarding could be referred to as still a fledgling. However, the sport is becoming as trendy as some of the older winter sports. I also find it slightly ironic that the FIS, a skiing organization, scores snowboarding when it was skiers who were originally against the sport. People from all nations score big by landing impressive tricks. The variation of nationalities that snowboarders come from means that no matter where you come from, there is someone in this event you can cheer for.
Cazenuve, Brian. “Medal Picks.” Sports Illustrated, 29 Jan. 2018, pp.
Now before I jump into this essay, I will first give you a background on the history of the sport. The original concept that the snowboard is based upon is the “snurfer”. Developed on Christmas Day, 1965 by Sherman Poppen in Muskegon, Michigan. In 1968, Tom Sims furthered the sport by developing the very first snowboard. Then in 1977 Jake Burton Carpenter developed the first bindings and changed the sport forever.
The physics of skiing and snowboarding are very similar. They both rely on a downwards pull from gravity. This pull is what turns the potential energy into kinetic energy. As a smooth surface (or two) pass over the snow a small amount of energy is lost to friction. The bottom of the skis or board zoom across the surface of the snow creating heat. The heat along with the weight bearing down on the snow melt some of the snow creating a film of water on the bottom of the surface. Some energy is also lost by through wind resistance of the riders silhouette.
It was pleasant enough to be able to stand comfortably outside in a light jacket or sweatshirt. A perfect day to glide down a powdery mountain along with my best friend. The anticipation was building as I sat in the back of Mrs. Smith’s eighth grade classroom. In a matter of minutes I would be packing my gear into the car and traveling toward impending doom: Sundown Mountain, twenty one runs of exhilaration and danger. At that point in time I didn’t know whether to be excited or nervous. Snowboarding was completely new to me, not too much different than skiing except for the fact that my balance would be shifted differently. I struggled enough as it was keeping my balance on skis. How could I possibly be able to successfully maintain my balance on a board?
I am now a professional snowboarder that is with my friends at Mammoth Mountain, the local resort, preparing for the X- Games slopestyle competition that is a few days away. The slopestyle competition is a snowboarding course that consists of rails and jumps. To score a run in a slopestyle course each rail or jump
Originating in California as a way surfers could be able to surf when the waves were flat. The original creator isn’t known as it seems that everybody seemingly came together with the idea at approximately the same time. The first manufactured skateboards were ordered in a Los Angeles surf shop in California. The shop owner Bill Richard organized with Chicago Roller Skate Company to produce skate wheels to be used with the boards. Towards the later 60’s, there was a trend of shops dedicated to skateboarding or “Street surfing” referred to at the time. The evolution of the board went from a rectangle piece of wood to resembling a surf board. As skateboarding continued to become more popular, the first skateboarding magazine, “The
Waking up and looking outside, the snow is several inches deep covering the grass, the street, and the snow-banks are knee high. These are the perfect conditions, for one thing, snowboarding. A snowboarder knows the prime conditions to ride and will do anything to make sure they are on the mountain ready to go when those conditions arise. In preparation for snowboarding, you’ll need to consider the temperature, where you will be riding, and what type of gear is needed for the conditions.
Throughout time, the progression and evolution of snowboarding has increased greatly. It has gone from non existence in the late 1970’s, to one of the most watched action sports in a matter of thirty-five years. The upward takeoff and popularity of snowboarding relies on two people, Jake Burton and Shaun White. Jake Burton back in 1977 had the vision for what snowboarding would be, but Shaun White had what it took to manifest that vision. Evidence has shown that time brings change in sports, history has repeated itself with snowboarding, this history reflects the time & changes that has occurred in America.
Tony Hawk was a professional skateboarder that was helping Shaun White with skateboarding. When Shaun was finally 17 years old he turned into a pro. For snowboarding he was trained by a man named Burton. He made Shaun white a famous professional at snowboarding. He then started his career which was snowboarding after he turned pro in Burton's
Burton created and owns the US Open snowboarding championships, in addition to the enormous success in the snowboarding industry; it has the potential to grow beyond the U.S. The possibility to create similar events in Europe, China, Japan and Canada, where the demand for snowboarding is increasing, could benefit Burton. Through development
Snowboarding has an amazing background and explanation of how it came to be. It all started with the people who surfed and skateboarded. They wanted something similar to do in the winter. Sherman Poppen was the creator of the snurfer (an early snowboard) in 1965. Sherman was one of the skateboarders who wanted to surf but lived in Michigan. One day he nailed two skis together and attached a rope with a handle to the front thus creating the snurfer. Sherman then called his friends, who were engineers for the Brunswick Corporation and asked them to make some of the snurfers. The Brunswick Corporation made skis, bowling balls, bowling alleys, and bowling pins. The snurfer took the world by storm, but people wanted a safe way to ride. Eventually Jake Burton Carpenter started making a new model called the ski board and this was the first company for snowboards. Jake Burton was a Stockbroker who fell in love with snowboarding and decided to take the risk and start making them. He became the founder of the
My background behind Nordic skiing is fairly simple. At the age of four, I was put on my first pair of nordic skis. My family does not have any relations to cross country skiing, besides touring around. At age six, I was signed up for my first race. I vaguely remember my first races as a child. I spent my childhood racing for a club team (Polar Bear Ski Club) and enjoyed racing in the Bill Koch (Olympian, 1976) League. I adored the sport and kept with it throughout my childhood
The horn sounds. I race down the hill, wind blowing hard against my face. More speed per the second. With the knowledge that I could reach over 80 mph, I take the first turn, then another. The straightway is just ahead. Picking up speed down the hill, I wouldn’t dare shake my body. I cross the line in victory. Longboarding is aggressive, intense, smooth, and fast and gives you {word}. I believe longboarding should be an Olympic event. It’s similar to many events already in the Olympics, for example snowboarding. In my opinion, longboarding is ready for the Olympic stage.
Snowboarding takes a lot of physical skill to learn. You also need mental skills too. There are many different types of snowboarding I am going to tell you about half pipe snowboarding I am doing men's Halfpipe snowboarding. The goal is to do the best tricks and get the most points. The track is called a half pipe it's pretty self explanatory.
In 2004, White became the youngest snowboarder to win the US Slopestyle Championship and won at the Winter X games. The “Flying Tomato” became
At its peak burtons controlled over 40 % of the US snowboarding market and remains the market leader despite growing competition.