Snowboarding is a sport that operates on the fringes of other major sports in North America. While it is true that it gained some notoriety through the emergence of Shaun White, it still hasn’t achieved the same level of breakthrough that other extreme sports have, such as skateboarding and BMX riding.
The sport has been helped by huge marquee console games, such as Tony Hawks Pro Skater, which brought a new generation of casual fans¾many of whom had no previous interest in the sport¾to skateboarding.
That isn’t to say the sport is unknown¾plenty of people all over the world enjoy taking to the slopes and snowboarding. It is a very popular hobby in places like Canada.
Wherever you find snowy slopes, you will find swathes of eager snowboarders taking to the mountainside to perfect their style.
Whether it be the Alps in France or Switzerland or other resorts in snowier climates, there are a lot of snowboarders who take to the slopes all year round. This is weather permitting, of course, but there are also a lot of destinations that rely heavily on winter sports tourism all year round.
The sport also enjoys popularity when big tournaments take place, as they are usually picked up by TV stations. You can place bets on the outcome of Olympic snowboarding.
At thegameday.com, you will find a huge selection of different markets. This isn’t just focused on extreme sports like snowboarding, either. There is a host of sportsbooks and games available to place bets on, ranging from NBA and NFL to soccer and tennis.
Today, we’ll explore a few things you need to know before taking up snowboarding. Whilst there are more than three tips out there, we have boiled it down to the three most crucial ones, in our opinion.
1. Patience
The first thing to know before taking up snowboarding is that you must have patience. This is for many reasons, but the most important is that if you are learning a new skill that is difficult to master, you must be patient and give it time.
If you have skateboarded before, you will know just how difficult it can be to land the different tricks or get your timing or balance right for a specific move.
Due to the obvious similarities between the two, this is a skill you need for either of these sports. There isn’t a pro snowboarder out there who took to the slopes on their first day and hit a 360 the first time they tried.
Patience is a virtue in any sport, particularly so in snowboarding. Once you have conquered this emotion, you’ll be in good shape to become a good snowboarder¾just be prepared for the highs and lows along the way.
2. Pain threshold
This one can send people right back off the slopes, and it’s no surprise, really. Nobody likes to be on the receiving end of pain. Unfortunately, snowboarding will expose you to that at some point, and it is a definite that you can expect when learning.
Be prepared to pick up your fair share of bumps, scrapes, and bruises. Snowboarding is hard, and the surface can be even harder! Three-time Olympic medal-winning snowboarding legend Shaun White will be the first to tell you this.
You can pick up some bad injuries on the slopes, but if you can take the big blows, continue to move forward, and use them as a learning curve, you’ll soon master the moves. It may not seem like smashing your knee or back on a snowy slope is a sign of improvement.
However, use it to your advantage and learn where and how you went wrong. You can implement this skill moving forward, and it can become a formidable learning tool.
This doesn’t just apply to the snowboarding world either, these are transferable skills in life. If you continue working hard and don’t give up, you will find yourself in a position where you start to see rewards emerging from your hard work.
3. Resilience
This final point actually combines both of the first two points. Being resilient doesn’t just mean getting knocked down on the slopes and getting back up and trying again.
Of course, this is a big part, but even when Tony Hawk was at his peak, he struggled to make ends meet because his sport was seen as niche.
This can be the case with snowboarding too. Except for Shaun White, some of the greatest snowboarders in the world aren’t as financially well off as you would expect.
So, having resilience on the slopes, and as a snowboarder struggling to make ends meet, are two separate skills. However, if you have one, you’ll likely have the other.
Snowboarders are made of a lot sterner stuff than your average person. As well as physical toughness, a lot of mental toughness is required to make it at the top of the sport.
Whilst this is true for professional sports as a whole, the trials and tribulations involved in snowboarding, and the physical impact on your body, make it a tougher career choice than many other sports.
Conclusion
We consider these three skills essential information that you must know about before snowboarding. If you develop and improve these skills, your snowboard game will improve as a result.
Be prepared for a rollercoaster if you’re just getting into the sport. Snowboarding is unique and offers a lot of twists and turns that a lot of other sports do not. Although we have named three aspects today, there are also many other things to consider. The most important one is to stay
