The Roots of Snowboarding
In early times, the first snowboarders used cafeteria trays to slide down slopes. The sport has definitely come a long way since the day when a wheel less skateboard with a hand held rope for steering was invented by Sherman Poppen in the 60’s. It was basically made for the amusement of his children to “surf the snow” and later he marketed this contraption as a toy for children popularly called the “snurfer”. For almost ten years the early snowboard remained a toy for children till a few enterprising pioneers got involved in evolving the snowboard. With their involvement snowboarding started to be seen as a serious sport which even adults and teenagers could master.
As the earlier snowboards were difficult to navigate and control they were prohibited at most skiing areas. Only 7 percent of the ski resorts in the United States allowed snowboarders to use their facilities until the year 1985. Gradually with the advent of better and improved snowboards, ski resorts started setting aside areas for snowboarders leading to 90 percent of them now having dedicated areas for snow boarding and even half pipes.
The number of snowboarders started showing a steep increase from 1990 in which they were 2 million to 2000 in which the number had reached 7 million. There is talk that the number of snowboarders are set to outnumber the number of skiers in the USA by the year 2012.
With the increase of interest amongst the population and more athletes participating, the first national championship was held in the USA in the month of February of 1990. It was inevitable that the sport would one day become part of the Winter Olympics. In 1998 snowboarding was a major event at the Olympic Games after the initiation of USASA as a governing body along with the ISF.
Not only is snowboarding an awesome sport to be a part of but it is equally exhilarating to watch.
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