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| snowboarding with my gf at Grouse Mountain, Vancouver |
Snowboarding is among the most popular winter sport and it have been played by millions of people in every winter season around the globe even in Dubai where indoor ski resort using artificial snow is built. When winter is coming, lots of people would get really excited waiting for the local ski resort to be opened so that they can enjoy the excitement and thrill of snowboarding.
Snowboarding is a sport that been played by riding down the snowy slopes with snowboard attached to a rider’s feet using special boots and bindings. By the definition, it seems that snowboarding is quite easy sport, but in reality this sport need lots of determination, courage, energy and time to fully master it and eventually become an expert.
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| snowboard that i used for about 3 years before had to let it go |
In order to play this exciting sport, three basic things need to be prepared are the board, a pair of boots and bindings. Besides that, proper attires also are advised to wear because of the cool weather condition during winter season. A snowboard normally is made of a core wood sandwiched with few layers of fiberglass. It provides contact between the rider’s feet and the surface of the run. There are many variations of design of snowboard available nowadays for the riders to choose based on the style, physical and financial. Basically, in choosing a snowboard, the height, width and flexibility of the board must be considered carefully so that total satisfaction of riding could be achieved. After choosing the right board, it is time to choose a pair of suitable bindings and boots. First of all, both of boots and bindings should be comfortable enough for the rider and size of the binding should be fit with the board so that it can be mounted properly to the board and the size of the boots should match with the binding size. Boots are used to transfer energy from the rider into the board and protect rider’s feet by keeping them warm. Meanwhile, binding would function to hold rider’s boot tightly. According to Jim Smith, a snowboarding book writer, “good gear can make all difference in a snowboard’s ride”.
Once all the necessary gears are ready, it is time to learn about the basics of snowboarding. Fundamentally, there are only two basic things of snowboarding which are stance and carving. Both are quite easy to understand but pretty hard to master especially the carving. Stance is the position of the feet while standing on the board with boots and binding attached. There are two types of stances that are recognized as regular and goofy. Regular stance is when the left foot of the rider is at the front of the board while goofy would be when the right foot of the rider is at the front. Both stances basically have no difference in terms of skill or method involved, it is all purely matter of what make the rider feels much more comfortable and natural while snowboarding. In order to decide what kind of stance for the rider, few method could be used like which foot is used for kicking soccer ball or which foot lead when start walking. However, the best way to determine the stance is by testing both ways and fell which one is more natural and comfortable. Carving is the most important basic for a rider in snowboarding. Every rider must fully master this basic before another difficult technique could be mastered. Basically, the way to do this basic while riding is by shifting body weight forward a little bit to initiate the turn and then edging the board to the direction of riding by pushing using the feet, and do another turn till forming like S-shaped path. While doing this, control the centre of gravity for the body so that stability could be maintained and fall could be avoided. At the beginning, almost everybody who is trying to learn snowboarding would be hesitate to do carving because of the feel that such action would cause to fall. In order to master this technique, this kind of feeling should be overcome and do practice as many as could. It is not a bad idea to start with skidding, a slightly different technique which would form like z-shaped path. After awhile, when there is enough courage and gut, rider could give a try to do carving.
There is no doubt that snowboarding is an amazing sport that full with excitement and sweet sensation. It also could be the way to fill the time during winter to get physically active instead of just staying in door. However, safety concerns should not be forgotten, ride safely and stay active.
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| had a lot of fun with my friends when snowboarding |
