SolveYourProblem Article
Series: Extreme Sports
I Love The Adrenaline Rush Of Extreme Sports
Freestyle
Snowboarding, Jumps, Turns and Tricks
The appeal of freestyle snowboarding has grown
over several decades. The ones who enjoy the sport do not simply
enjoy winter sports, but many others as well. The draw
for freestyle may come because the sport incorporates skateboarding,
surfing, and windsurfing. Therefore, the athletes that enjoy
freestyle are the same ones who enjoy sailing through the air
on any type of board or equipment that they can get their hands
on. The thrill of defying gravity and sailing at top speeds
make this sport a huge success.
The term freestyle explains many of the reasons this sport
has become so popular and there are different freestyle categories.
Halfpipe: The snowboard-halfpipe is longer than the skateboarding
halfpipe and needs to be built upon a hill that you can sail
down through. You often see competitions on television with
the athletes running down the half-pipe trying to make the
biggest jumps, turn, and difficult rotations possible.
Jump
Contest: The goal of the athlete is to take off the jump
and create the most difficult awesome combinations in the air
before landing.
Power
Snow-Driving: the absolute joy of snowboarders who enjoy
freestyle. You simply find a steep hill that is covered in
powdered snow and begin craving your way down the hill. This
may be the most beautiful part of freestyle snowboarding because
as you are sailing over this snow you feel as though you are
flying.
Boarder
Cross: This type of course is taken from the motor
cross scene with a course complete with ramps, jumps, obstacles,
and tight turns. This starts like a race with four to five
boarders at the starting line with only one taking home the
prize.
France is a big draw to snowboarders who love the vertical
drops and trails, some of them being on a glacier. The trails
extend over three slopes, the longest being 3,233m and vertical
drops that are up to 3,300m altitude make this a place that
thrill the snowboarders who can perform their freestyle techniques
from sunrise till sunset.
Have you ever enjoyed watching the freestyle professionals
perform their maneuvers on television and then turned the volume
down because you did not have a clue what the announcers were
saying? Here is a list of terms you can listen for the next
time you want to enjoy watching your favorite professional
perform their jumps, turns, and tricks.
Air
– when the snowboarder leaves the ground this can be combined
with a trick or two as well.
Bonk
– is when the snowboarder rides over an object and then
will slap the object they just rode over with their snowboard.
Carve
– this is when they use the edge of their snowboard
to make a turn.
Duck
Stance – this is the position the snowboarders feet are
in on the board.
Edges
– these are the metal strips that are on the sides of
the snowboard. They use this to cut into the snow and to control
their board to do a turn, carve, or come to a stop.
Fakie
– you have heard of someone who can bat both with their
left and right hands, the same holds true in the sport of snowboarding.
There are some who can lead with their right foot or their
left.
Fall
Line – is in reference to a direct route down the mountain
you may hear this when they point their board straight down
the hill at this point they are generating the most speed.
Garland
– this is known as the snowboarder going across the
slope. They do this by pointing their board straight down the
slope and then turning it back across the slope without going
back in the other direction.
Halfpipe
– this is the manmade trench in the snow that the
snowboarder uses to drive down and perform tricks. You will
also see them get a lot of air between them and the sides of
the halfpipe.
Kicker
– this is a small jump that is used so that the snowboarders
can get air and perform a trick.
Lip
– this is where they will normally begin to perform their
trick. It is at the top of the halfpipe or the end of a jump.
Moguls
– are bumps that have been created in the snow by the
other riders who turn.
Now when you watch the freestyle snowboarders perform their
magic listen for a few of these terms and you may start to
understand what they are doing just a little bit better. # # # # #
SolveYourProblem.com
: 2008
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