Snowboarding History

Snowboarding is looked upon as quite a new sport. Its origins can really only be raced back to the 1960’s. The sport was also discovered by accident so to speak in a small town in Michigan. Sherman Poppen is actually credited with the invention of snowboarding. However, creating a new sport that would make its way into the various international arenas was the farthest thing from his mind. He was actually trying to teach his young daughter how to ski.

Sherman Poppen is said to have fixed two skis together and then attached them to his daughter’s feet. This was to help her with balance as she slid down hills. Little did he know that this idea was going to be the beginnings of snowboarding history?

Over the next decades the designs of the board underwent many changed and improvements. People like Jake Burton and Tom Sims put their mark on snowboarding history by creating their own designs of boards.

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Snowboarding continued to grow throughout the eighties. However at about the midway point it hit a plateau. The sport became known as a daredevil activity and adopted a sort of bad boy image. It was seen to be practiced mostly by adolescent males or worse older males who acted like adolescents. This is a but of a dark phase of snowboarding history as many ski resorts and sloped started to ban the activity.

Things have however come nearly full circle. In the year 2000 snowboarding was the fastest growing sport in the world. This was due in part to its widespread appeal to attract participants of all ages. With its growing popularity, gradually ski slopes started to drop their anti snowboarding rules.

In 1998 one of the greatest moments in snowboarding history took place. It debuted at the winter Olympics in Nagano Japan. It has since moved into other international arenas and gained worldwide respect.

Snowboarding history is quite short. However, in its short time it has had a series of ups and downs but managed to come out on top.