Читать реферат по английскому: "Snowboarding Essay Research Paper One snowy Christmas" Страница 1

(Назад) (Cкачать работу)

Snowboarding Essay, Research Paper

One snowy Christmas day in Muskegon, Michigan, a young girl by the name of Wendy Poppen tried to stand up on her sled while sliding down the hill. Seeing this, her father Sherman ran into the garage and bolted a pair of skies together with wood to “”act as foot stops”" (Crane). While watching Wendy use the contraption, some of the local kids ran up to Sherman and asked him to build one for each of them. Little did he know that he had given birth to the fastest growing winter sport (Prosl) known as snowboarding. The history, simplicity, and rate of growth of snowboarding took the sport from being completely banned from ski resorts, to being accepted worldwide with its Olympic debut in 1998. It s hard to believe that back in the early 1980 s people perceived [snowboarders] as daredevil adolescents who posed a threat to skiers (Shipley). Though the sport was banned from almost every resort, it grew to be so popular that the resorts could no longer ignore the moneymaking possibilities. Resorts realized that the average young person was abandoning the sport of skiing, and learning the new trend of snowboarding. Not only that, but the younger generation who was taking up a new winter sport would choose snowboarding over skiing. These days, resorts spend thousands of dollars to attract snowboarders to their resorts with claims of the biggest halfpipe or the best board park. But how did this sport explode onto the scene? To answer this question, a brief history is in order. On that snowy Christmas day in 1965, Sherman Poppen had created the first snowboard. His wife named this contraption a Snurfer because it was a cross between surf and snow. Snurfers were typically made of wood, and had a piece of rope attached to the front tip to steer. The Brunswick Corporation liked Poppen’s invention and was the first company to mass-produce it. Over a million snurfers were sold, which sparked the imaginations of a few snowboard innovators. Around the same time that Poppen was developing the snurfer, Tom Sims, a skateboarder from New Jersey, had an idea. Because the streets of New Jersey were icy in the winter, he decided to design a skateboard for the ice in his junior high wood shop class. Sims was not able to base his snowboard on Poppen s Snurfer design because he did not know about it yet. His first designs were from skateboards without the metal axles or wheels. Although the first designs were not very successful, Sims came across the right combination of materials, shape, and bindings in 1969. Tom then began to produce his own line of snowboards, which remain one of the most popular boards today. Because Poppen and Sims began their snowboard designs at about the same time, nobody really knows who the true inventor of the snowboard is. Most of the credit goes to Poppen s invention of the Snurfer because it was manufactured first. Poppen and Sims were not the only snowboard innovators though. Jake Burton Carpenter, a surfer from Long Island, New York, had the idea not to skate on the ice, but rather to surf the mountain. Burton took a common Snurfer, and added rubber straps to achieve better control of the board. These bindings allowed riders to control the snurfer much better with their feet than with the steering rope. Burton entered his design in the annual National Snurfer Open Competition. Because Burton s board was so modified, he was in a class all by himself, and easily won first place. The other snurfers saw Burton s design, which led to the birth of Burton snowboards. Jake Burton is considered “Mr. Snowboard” because Burton’s probably got 40 to 45% marketshare overall . Not only that, but Jake s nearest competitor probably has 10 or 12 percent [of the snowboarding industry] Jake s stuck with a philosophy and set the stage. Everyone s copying him (Neuert). This is why Burton snowboards have become the most popular boards on the slopes today. Snowboarding was plagued in the early years by the Snurfer s reputation for unpredictability [and] was outlawed at most ski resorts (Brimner 7). The insurance companies for these resorts would not write liability policies because a snowboard wasn t seen as a directional device like a pair of skis (Brimner 7). The insurance companies would not cover the snowboarders, and the ski resorts did not want to be liable if an accident was to occur. As a result snowboarders were not allowed on most of the slopes. In addition, snowboarding was becoming popular among the surfers and skateboarders. Though most of the young surfers and skateboarders did not fit the category, they were perceived as a rebellious group sure to flout the rules (Brimner 8). Therefore the young snowboarders were discriminated against and created friction between them and the skiers. The combination of these items left the future of snowboarding in jeopardy. Once again Mr. Snowboard (Neuert) Jake Burton came to the aid of the sport. Burton sponsored both instructional programs and put together teams that toured the country and demonstrated the sport of snowboarding. Burton also encouraged a program that would certify snowboarders with proper technique, safety, and slope etiquette. The sport slowly gained respectability. Today, only about seven percent of resorts worldwide still do not allow snowboards. Boarders are allowed to practice their sport at almost any ski resort in the United States and Canada. Another reason snowboarding has become so well accepted comes from the fact that snowboarding is a lot easier to learn than skiing. The sport is so closely related to skateboarding and surfing that younger people who already surf and skateboard pick up snowboarding like it is second nature. Older people can learn the sport easier if they have gone skiing before and are fairly good at it. All three of the sports require people to balance themselves on a slippery surface. Skiing will help you understand concepts like edging, carving,

Похожие работы