A Report On Snowboarding Sport Essay
Snowboarding
Snowboarding is a kind of sport that evolved from surfing and skateboarding. Often, it’s a sport described as skateboarding or surfing on snow. Before one goes to the slopes, it is advisable to have some stretching and warm up exercises. After snowboarding, the same exercises and stretching must be repeated. We normally do this to minimize pain. It can be frustrating the first time one goes down a hill. But it can be interesting if the right procedures are followed. We are required to dress properly for snowboarding. A helmet must be worn properly because it prevents one from getting injured if it is not moving around the neck and it’s below the eyes. However, it should not be too tight. Boots must be comfortable and tight. Always wear high socks. For safety reasons, wear only one pair of snowboarding socks as wearing two pairs will make the boots too tight thus giving no room for blood circulation on the feet.
Every person has got his/her lead foot. Snowboarding requires us to determine our lead foot before we put our foot on the snowboard. Lead foot may be determined by sliding on ice, running on hardboard floor and slide or standing with the feet squared and then having a friend push us from behind. In all these instances, the foot that we put forward naturally is the lead foot. The lead foot should then be put in the front binding. Make sure the bindings are fastened tightly and get the real bindings. This should be repeated for the other foot. It is advisable to move around and bounce to get a feel of the snowboard. In order to prevent a runaway board which is normally serious, we loop a lead chain around the lead binding. This is then clipped into the lead boot lace. An angle of 15+ degrees for the lead foot binding is allowed so that the ankle is not sprayed after falling. Every beginner’s big toe is supposed to be angled towards the board’s nose.
From here, we get on the ski lift with our board. After getting off the ski lift, we don’t go speeding down a hill once we are off the chairlift. We start from a little hill where we can then turn to the larger one. Going to a bunny/practice hill which can give a speed of 5 miles in an hour helps you to have enough practice. When on the edge of the bunny hill, it is a requirement to sit with your board perpendicularly and then check whether the binding and the boot are tight enough. If this is okay, one can then stand and apply pressure on his lead foot. The best position is to keep the back straight while the knees are bent so that balance is maintained. Slowing down is done by switching to the toe or the heel. This is very important to learn as it vital when turning.
Always, the board follows our body. Thus when switching to the heel edge from the normal stance, the torso must be turned to face downhill. Sometimes balance is lost and falling back means that we have leaned back too far. But this is better rather than having the toe edge catch snow while falling forwards. Leaning backwards also accelerates stopping. It’s very similar to switching the toe edge where we turn the torso uphill. In this case, applying the pressure on the rear leg and placing weight over the toes through leaning little forward is advised. Controlling turning is the same way as switching the toe edges. This is important when one gets to the edge of the hill where we are supposed to get back to the foot forward stance as we aim for chair lift line.
Snowboarding is an interesting activity. It’s through snowboarding that our bodies are toned and at the same time getting a good cardiovascular workout. This is a sport that keeps on strengthening our heart muscles. Oxygen is excellently delivered to our muscles through snowboarding. Since snowboarding is a physically demanding activity, in one way or the other it assists us to loose weight thus lowering risks of several diseases. The warm up exercises and stretching help in burning of calories and thus such people look better than those who don’t. We escape some dangerous diseases like high blood pressure and type 2diabetes. It’s a sport that keeps benefiting all body parts. The exercises involved help in secretion of endorphins. This is a chemical that helps us to feel happy and more peaceful. It’s even possible to sleep better after snowboarding. Once we are able to go down a given hill, there is that feeling of accomplishment and pride that there is a goal achieved. This helps a person to age so well.
Snowboarding is a risky sport. Several people have their careers in snowboarding as skiing instructors while other design snowboards. Others have been employed as terrain park designers, event organizers, filmers, product testers, resort managers and sales material designers. Due to the risks associated through accident and personal injury, there is provision of insurance policy that deals with medical costs. Where one experiences an injury or a minor accident, compensation is always at hand. These are considered to be special benefits offering standard coverage. The skiing equipment is expensive too. Loss of this equipment may leave a person out of pocket. Thus, those in this career are provided with cover for any replacement costs. This also assists in payment of hire fees. A ski pass is not cheap too. There are several policies that have been in use in order to award compensation coverage just in case one loses the ski pass. Most importantly, the major benefit in snowboarding is that one can compete in organized sports and a win earns him/her the prize money.
