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Absolutely AASI, continued
Buttering–even in the off season? Sure…… by Burleigh Sunflower AASI Development Team ACE Team Snowboard School Manager Bromley Mountain, VT
I
was 8 years old when I tried my first board sport, Bongo Boarding…. That’s right Bongo Boarding. A Bongo Board was simply a three foot long flat board that was laid on top of a six inch diameter cylinder. I would stand on the board while trying to maintain my balance as the cylinder rolled back and forth on the ground. It… was… Awesome. This particular board belonged to my grandmother, and whenever I went to her house I would play on it for hours. Fast forward twenty years or so….I now live in Southern Vermont, and during the winter months I find myself on a snowboard every day. This past season at the PSIA-E/AASI Snowsports Management Seminar (it’s a really fun event, even if you are not a manager), I met Brew Moscarello, creator of the Vew-Do Balance Boards, who was giving a presentation on balance training, conditioning, and injury prevention for snowboarders, using his 21st century version of the old Bongo Board. Brew demonstrated how riding a Vew-Do Balance Board only minutes a day can help keep any athlete balanced and in tune during the off season, while improving overall snowboarding skills. His concept is to encourage instructors and students alike to balance on his multi directional balance board while exploring stance width, toe and heal pressuring, rotations, counter rotations, ankle and knee flexion, and a variety of other snowboard movements, all while in a controlled indoor environment. Brew had several different models for us to try and we did just that. His line of Vew-Do Balance Boards looked like a cross between my grandmother’s Bongo Board, a skateboard, and some steroids. Nearly everyone at the seminar, both young and old, ended up playing on the boards, and everyone seemed to come to the same conclusion: Vew-Do Balance Boards are not only fun, they are a great cross training toy, regardless of your sport. As April showed it’s warm rainy face, I starting thinking more about snowboarding and doing less of it; my season was coming to an end. With that in mind I drove down from Bromley to drop in on Brew at the Vew-Do Balance Board Manchester, VT, office. I remembered being hooked on the boards at the SSMS, and knew it was time to get one under my feet. Since getting my own Vew-Do Zippy model, not only have I been reconnected with the roots of my childhood when riding my grandmother’s old Bongo Board, but the Vew-Do allows me to do so much more. For starters, I can put the
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PSIA-E / AASI SnowPro • Spring 2009
board on edge, very similarly to a snowboard. The deck of the board is turned up at the ends like a skateboard, which makes it easier to spin and stall. One of the boards even has a raised deck so one can do ollies and flip tricks (notice, I wrote, “one can”, not I can). The Vew-Do feels like it will help me get better at both quick and subtle movements, as well as static and active balance used in snowboarding. On the Vew-Do I can move my feet independently or together; I can flex, extend, and rotate. I can tilt it, twist it, pivot it and am constantly managing pressure on the board. The Vew-Do Balance Board is totally going to be my new off-season – heck, even my in- season - cross-training toy. It seems to me that after riding my new Zippy for the past two weeks, it will not only help my balance and lower body quickness, but will totally translate perfectly to my overall riding style. Buttering, blunts, spins, stalls, rails and, heck, even turning - I can feel elements of all of these skills while riding my Zippy. As a PSIA-E sponsor, Vew-Do is offering members sweet Pro-Form deals, so check ’em out on the PSIA-E Website (www.psia-e.org), and click on the Vew-Do link. They have all kinds of boards for different riding styles and levels of difficulty. Get one for yourself; you won’t regret it and you might even gain some mad skills. Go play, and have fun on your own Vew-Do board (I don’t plan on sharing mine). Hope to see ’ya next season. Enjoy your summer. ■
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