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The History Of Snowboarding Past Present And FutureAlthough snowboarding became a Winter Olympic Sport in the year 1998,
people have been enjoying the sport for many years now. Snowboarding
was developed in the US in the 1960s and became immensely popular by
the 1970s. The first snowboard is believed to have been developed by
Sherman Poppen in 1965 and was nicknamed the Snurfer. Although the
Snurfer was essentially a scaled down skateboard, it was only later
that entrepreneurs like Dimitrije Milovich, Jake Burton (founder,
Burton), Tom Sims (founder, Sims ) and Mike Olson (founder, GNU )
pioneered snowboarding equipment.The easy availability of
snowboards and the 'hip' image associated with the sport attracted
people from all age groups and in 1985 the first world cup which was
held in Zurs, Austria. The ISA (International Snowboard Association)
was founded in the year 1994 and now regulates most events the world
over. There were initial safety concerns and only 7% of all ski resorts
allowed snowboarding. Today, nearly 97% of all ski resorts over the
world allow snowboarding and have trainers and equipment (like rails)
to facilitate the sport.With nearly 3.5 million snowboarders in
the world, major sporting events like the Winter X-Games and the Winter
Olympics are now multi-million dollar events. The exponential rise in
the number of snowboarders has fueled board sales all over the world
and 1.58 million boards were sold in 1998 alone. Interestingly,
snowboarding is becoming popular in countries like Australia where
there is no snow at all and nearly 20% of all visitors to ski resorts
in the US are snowboarding enthusiasts. Improved facilities have made
it possible for enthusiasts to enjoy the sport all over the US and
Europe.Snowboarding is already an easily marketable commodity,
and has been a part of numerous Hollywood movies and the 2005 film
'First Descent' was one of the first films dedicated to the sport of
snowboarding. There are also games available for popular gaming
platforms like the PS2 and Xbox. Magazines are also an integral part of
snowboarding, and popular magazines offer travel advice, sport tips and
are comparable to most lifestyle magazines available today. In fact,
snowboarding magazines are now moving to make their online presence
stronger as many enthusiasts use the internet to make travel
reservations and other plans.New disciplines and styles of
boarding are evolving on a regular basis, and the dynamic and 'extreme'
nature of the sport is expected to increase its appeal with the 'young
generation' of the world. As is the case with most new sports,
snowboarding is still considered in its embryonic stage and is expected
to become a universally accepted phenomenon in the near future.The
U.S. Open, Shakedown, the West Coast Invitational, Vans Cup, X Games,
the Chevrolet U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix, Chevrolet Revolution Tour
and Race to the Cup series are just some of the sporting events
associated with snowboarding and the number of events is expected to
increase with time. |
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