Introduction

The first Snowboard-like-invention was built in 1929 by M.J. "Jack" Burchett. He cut out a piece of plywood and mounted his feet with a strip of clothesline and horse reins. So the first "Snowboard" was invented. Before the next step forward was taken, the Snowboard had to sit for over thirty years. In the last forty years, snowboarding has evolved from a child’s play toy to a mainstream sport as the popularity has raised due to equipment and safety advances. (Snowboarding history.com)

Part 1

In 1963 Tom Sims, a student in eighth grade, constructed what he called a "Ski Board" for a class project. A couple of years later, 1965 a man named Sherman Poppen invented the first snowboard as a child’s toy. It was called the snerfer. The snerfer was basically two skis bolted together with a rope tied to the tips to steer the board. It was not until the 1970’s when some creative minds took a good idea and made the snerfer more high-tech. Several people have been credited with the first modern day snowboard. Jake Burton is probably the most recognized name when it comes to the snowboard industry. He was one of the first people to make a fiberglass board with bindings to help control the board on harder snow. Tom Sims had a similar design in the same time frame (Ejadol)

During the 1980's, snowboarding slowly spread across the United States. Changes in design, including high back bindings and metal edges, made snowboards easier to ride. Although snowboarding was slowly gaining in popularity among riders, it was also developing a "bad boy" image. A majority of snowboarders were adolescent males who rode their boards aggressively and tested their own limits. Because of the negative image, many ski resorts banned snowboarding on their slopes. (Cotton)
The International Snowboard Association (ISA) was founded in 1994. The ISA now regulates almost all snowboarding events around the globe. There were concerns centering on snowboarding gear. A small portion almost seven percent of resorts allowed the sport. Thanks to snowboarding equipment and safety nearly ninety seven percent of all ski resorts around the world permit snowboarding.

Most resorts have trainers and equipment to encourage snowboarders to their establishments. In 1987, the Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA) published the first snowboard instructors’ manual to standardized effective methods for teaching snowboarding to up- coming riders. This is important because if you want to snowboard you can not just jump on a snowboard and automatically know what to do. That is why most ski resorts around the world have instructors to show people how to get down the mountain safely; they should also teach you how to fall if needed. Vermont was the first state in the nation to host a what is now known as a Snowboard Park. In the early 1980's the tiny Sonnenburg Ski Hill, in Barnard Vermont opened their arms to snowboarders, letting them have free reign of a trail to build jumps and supplied them with a steady supply of hay bails and a few picnic tables to jump. This was in an era when few ski areas accepted snowboarders, and was definitely a ground breaking move (snowboardhistory.com). Now Snowboard Parks are common at most resorts all over the world.

It is amazing how much both the snowboarding sport and equipment has evolved in such a short period. From the start of snowboarding in the backyard of a Michigan home, to becoming a highly developed sport with technical gear, snowboarding has become a major profit for ski resorts as well as equipment manufacturers. In the 1980s, metal edges were added to the snowboards along with high-backed boots and bindings for added control and comfort while riding. Now days snowboards are made from high tech materials and come in dozens of sizes, shapes, colors, and flex to give the rider the best fit and performance possible (info@valueseek.com)
Snowboarding is the fastest growing sport in the United States. According to the ski industries of America’s winter feels good website, fifty one percent of all snowboarders are between seven and seventeen years old, twenty seven percent of snowboarders are females ,and one out of every eight snowboarders are twenty five to forty- four years old. Approximately six point six million people participate in snowboarding all over the world. The benefits of snowboarding range from the pure physical fitness aspects. In addition, muscles will strengthen and the cardio-vascular system gets a workout and you might not know it. People have said that snowboarding is easer to learn than skiing. This shorter learning curve tends to bring new snowboarders into the sport with higher retention than new skiers who tend to get frustrated at the early stages and may give up. With so many people now enjoying the sport there are many resources available for the novice and expert alike (Kleh)

The growth of people snowboarding has been phenomenal in the past twenty years. Many people credit snowboarding for saving the ski industry, which has struggled with slow or no growth in the same period of time. Initially snowboarders were not embraced by the ski industry; in fact many resorts never allowed snowboarding. Because people thought that snowboarders were punks and just wanted to shred the whole slope. Rejection at most resorts did not stop snowboarding from growing in popularity. Eventually, the owners of ski resorts changed their views. They realized that they could make more money by allowing snowboarding. One by one, the resorts began to welcome snowboards. The sport gained acceptance in the 1990s and in 1998, it became an Olympic sport in Nagano, Japan but the first world championship in snowboarding was held in1983 in Lake Tahoe California. Today, many resorts even set aside special areas where snowboarders can practice their creative tricks. In addition many resorts now cater to snowboarders by building half pipes and terrain parks with rails and jumps. In 1998, snowboarding was one of the sports in the Winter Olympics (snowboardinghistory.com)

Part 2

The downside to snowboarding is of course falling which happens quite often. Knowing the type of equipment used and the rider's position on the board is important in evaluating injuries. Equipment failures rarely cause injuries. Although early studies showed that approximately one half of snowboarding injuries were located in the lower extremities, this pattern has changed with the evolution of snowboard boots and bindings. The lead leg, which is at greatest risk, accounts for almost three quarters of such injuries. In early days of snowboarding many riders did not ware helmets because they were unstylish but today helmets come in a huge selection of styles and can be fitted to anyone’s head for comfort and safety (info@valueseek.com)

Knowing the basics of snowboarding before heading down the mountain is the most important thing any snowboarder should know. Snowboarders should know how to stop, turn when they want to and always keep control of the board so they do not get hurt or hurt some one else. If one does not know the basics than they should either walk a little up the mountain out of everyone’s way and strap in to their snowboard and just try to see if they can turn both ways and stop with out hitting anyone or anything. Or they can just ask an instructor or ski patrol if they can give you any tips on what they have to do to master the basics of snowboarding (Tomlinson).

Twenty percent of all visitors to U.S. ski resorts are snowboarders, and more than three point five million people have taken up snowboarding worldwide. Since snowboarding's inception as an established winter sport, it has developed various styles, each with its own specialized equipment and technique. The most common styles today are: free ride, freestyle, and free carve/race. The free ride style is the most common and easily accessible style of snowboarding. It involves riding down any terrain available. Free riding may include aerial tricks and jib tricks borrowed from freestyle, or deep carve turns more common in alpine snowboarding, utilizing whatever natural terrain the rider may encounter. Free riding equipment is usually a stiff soft shell boot with a directional twin snowboard. Since the free ride style may encounter many different types of snow conditions, from ice to deep powder, free ride snowboards are usually longer and have a stiffer overall flex. In freestyle, the rider uses manmade terrain features such as rails, boxes, handrails, jumps, half pipes, quarter pipes and a myriad of other features. The intent of freestyle is to use these terrain features to perform a number of aerial or jib tricks. Similar to skiing, this race and slalom focused style is still practiced, though infrequently. Sometimes called alpine, or the 'Euro-carve', free carving takes place on hard packed snow or groomed runs and focuses on the ultimate carving turn, much like traditional skiing. Little or no jumping takes place in this discipline. (Ejadol).

Year Event
1965 Sherman Poppen, an American, Invents the snurfer (snow-surfboard) for his daughter by tying a pair of skis together.
1975 Dimitrije Milovich creates “winter stick” the first snowboard brand.
1979 The first ever World Snurfing Championship was held at Pando Ski lodge near Grand Rapids, Michigan.
1980 Vermont hosts the first international snowboarding competition, which snowboarder’s race down a slope called “The Face”.
1982 The first National Snowboard race was held near Woodstock, Vermont at Suicide Six
1983 The first World Championship half pipe competition was held at Soda Springs, California.
1990 Most major ski areas had separate slopes for snowboarders. Now, approximately 97% of all ski areas in North America and Europe allow snowboarding brands.
1998 Snowboarding becomes a winter Olympic sport. Gian Simmen becomes the first Olympic champion.

For my table / graph I created a time line. The time line goes from 1965 to 1998. In 1965 Sherman Poppen invented the snurfer which is a cross between a surfboard and skateboard. And in 1998 snowboarding became a winter Olympic sport. But their were only two events in the 1998 games and they are giant slalom and the halfpipe. But now there are six events and those are men’s and women's halfpipe, men's and women's parallel giant slalom, and men's and women's snowboard cross. Snowboard cross just got added to the in the 2006 games.

Part 3

I interviewed one of my old teachers because he used to bride for Burton back in his day and to see what he thought about how much snowboarding has changed and how all the equipment has changed since he was snowboarding. And here is what he had to say.

Question one. How do you think snowboarding has evolved from the time it started? In the beginning snowboarders were not allowed on ski slopes, we were limited to hills in the area we lived in. it was very rare to see another snowboarder out riding the hills. They really evolved from a sport called snurfing. Snurfing was riding a single a single water ski looking board that had a rope attached to the nose of the board. Your feet were held in place by gritty tape (skateboarding tape)
Question two. How have the boards changed from the start of the sport? The boards started out as just laminated wood with no metal edges or bindings. Your feet were held in place with simple plastic like straps. Than there was a push to use epoxy based materials but they would crack and split from simple jumps. The shapes were also very limited; there were no asymmetrical boards all were essentially shaped like over weight water skis.
Question three. In what ways have the rules of safety changed over time? Safety, I think the biggest safety feature is the bindings that you strap into and the metal edges that are on most boards these days. In the beginning there were several ankle injuries because of the straps. Your ankle would twist while your foot stayed in one place. With bindings your foot was more secure and the binding itself went higher up your leg to give you more support. I also see a lot of boarders wearing helmets which wasn’t thought of back in the day.
Question four When did snowboarding become a legitimate sport and how long did it take? I would say sometime in the mid eighty’s, I got into it in eighty three
Question five. What is the future of snowboarding going to hold? Don’t know I had to stop because of seven dislocated shoulders and old age (Personal interview)

Snowboarding appealed initially to small group of surfers, skateboarders, and back-country enthusiasts. Three factors helped popularize the sport during the 1980s. First, materials and technology borrowed from ski manufacturing made riding on snow easier. For example, manufacturers added metal edges and made snowboards narrower at the centers to improve turning. Second, a skateboard revival in the 1980s helped popularize snowboarding when skateboarders took it up as a winter alternative (snowboardingtoday.com)

The first competitive snowboarding event was a small contest in Leadville, Colorado, in 1981. The following year the first national snowboarding championships were held in Vermont. In 1985 the world snowboarding championships were launched in Lake Tahoe in California. And in 1986 Europeans began organizing regional events and by 1993 the International Snowboard Federation held its first world championship. The FIS now holds world championships annually, and the ISF holds a separate event, also called the world championships, biannually (Snowboarding)

Conclusion

Many people thought that Snowboarders constantly smoke marijuana and saw their prejudices affirmed. Two years before, in 1996, Mike Hatchett released a new video, called TB5, featuring riders like Noak Salasneck and Johan Olofson. The riders did incredible stunts and tricks. Filmed in Alaska with its awesome footage the film is state of the art. In 1998, snowboarding contributes almost fifty percent to all winter activity (snowboardingtoday.com) Snowboarders have proven themselves to be more than hippies smoking marijuana out on the ski slopes. They are world class athletes.

Works Cited

Cotton, Joe. Snowboarding is Fun. Asheville, NC: Joe Cotton, 2005.

Ejadol. - "Snowboarding Facts." ABC of Snowboarding. 2003. 1

History of snowboarding” November 10, 2008
http://www.Snowboardinghistory.com
Info@valueseek.com
Kleh Cindy. Snowboarding Skills. Canada, Toronto: Firefly Books, 2002.

Snowboarading” Snowboarding with Frostryrider. November 10, 2008.
http://www.frostryrider.com

Snowboarding /snowboards now days. November 11, 2008
http://Snowboardingtoday.com

Tomlinson, Joe and Leigh Ed. Extreme Sports. Buffalo, NY: Firefly Books, 2004

Williams, Ted. Personal Interview. November 13, 2008.