Snowboarding takes the mainstream by storm

by Ryan Mulloy assistant a&e editor

ten out, it.is far more complex. To complete the jump, a snowboarder rides up the halfpipe and rotates and J.J. Thomas took the event by Well even if snowboarding is storm, winning the gold, silver something you may want to conand bronze medals for the United sider, there are many factors States respectively. - involved. Like any sport, this Like any of the Olympic sports requires a massive amount of out there, snowboarding is about practice, especially on the levels the turns and the tricks of the of games like the Olympics or the '- trade. But most importantly, the X Games. Proper stretching is snowboarding is judged on how well these tasks are pulled off and how accurate they are.

Since the dawn of the Olympics, 180 or more degrees in an uphill winter sports. have been regal and direction. The athlete has the refined. Ice-skating became an art • option to either rotate backside on that involved the slightest of 'the frontside wall of the halfpipe motions to pull off the perfect or rotating frontside on the backmaneuver in hopes of taking home side wall. Sound easy on paper? the gold medal. This year, a new What about the 540? The snowsport was added to the lineup. boarder must rotate 540 degrees in This year, the newest Olympic the air and land riding a fakie. A event is the extreme sport of fakie is a term used to describe snowboarding. riding backwards. While in a halfThe men's half pipe event took pipe, the snowboarder rides up to place in this year's winter games. the pipe, facing it, and rotates the And for the fir~t time in 46 years, full 540 degrees, then lands facing a country swept a winter Olympic forward. Beginning to sound a litevent. Ros~ Powers, Danny Kaas tie harder?

Oddly enough though, a major issue for snowboarders is the condition of their boards. Different tactics are used to perhaps increase the speed of the board or give it the finish it needs to be able to perform in any condition. For instance, some boarders used on the bottom of their boards to give it a finer base. Smooth edges are also important for the board's use, as is the waxing and the care of the board.

The tricks are what actually make the halfpipe. There are a massive amount of tricks that can all make or break a snowboarder or their snowboard itself. For example, one of the tricks that a snowboarder might use is Alley :- oop. While this so~nds easy writ-