Snowboarding Vs Gymnastics

Is It Snow Boarding or Gymnastics?

Introduction

Since the 1960s, snowboarding has been growing by leaps and bounds (Turnbull, Keogah and Kilding). At the moment, it is one of the fastest growing sports. Itsinclusion as a Winter Olympics sport is credited with the growth. As one of the most popular sporting events in the world, Winter Olympics provides snowboarding with enough exposure. Triple and double corks have transformed snowboarding into an acrobatic show. Most moves from riders resemble those of gymnastic acrobats.Accordingly, a good rider must be able to perform a few gymnastics tricks. Substantial physical capabilities are, hence, vital for the safety of a rider and maximizing a jump’s amplitude (Turnbull, Keogah and Kilding).
Nonetheless, difficulty and endangerment remain the most weighted aspects of snowboarding. What is considered is not actual difficulty, but what the public and judges perceive to bechallenging. “A clean switch backside 1260 is just as hard as a double cork 10” (Tanpar. 8). As compared to switch backsides, double corks are more recent tricks. For that reason, they are viewed as challenging and dangerous. For instance, Shaun White claimed gold in the X-Games as his runs were perceived to be more dangerous thanthose of his competitors (Tan). In these games, he was the only rider that managed to throw himself over a large death gap transfer sandwiched between two jumps. If the judges considered technicalities in trick execution, the results could have been different.This explains why a switch backside 1260 rarely beats a double cork. Most judgments seem to be centered on how difficult or dangerous a trick is. As a result, some riders are given undue advantage over others. In this respect, riders like Halldor Helagson and Nicolaus Muller are seen to be inferior to Shaun White and Mark McMorris. However, the two riders are a joy to watch than White and
Overuse of double and triple corkshas made them boring. People crave for tricks they have not watched frequently. It is not surprising to hear many lovers of this sport asking for switch 12s and other under-utilized tricks. The first indication that snowboarding is slowly embracing originality came from the Air and Style competition. When everyone else performed double corks, Ulrik Badertscher did a double backside rodeo 1260 and won. People were left wondering where his current moves came from. The trickery caught the audience by surprise as it was new to everyone. Judges and spectators must, hence, strive to give a new move the support it deserves. Halldor and Muller are some of the riders with lots of new tricks. In an earlier interview, Müller echoed that snowboarding is not just about acrobatics, but evolution (Intern). Consequently, ambitious riders always look for something to lighten their skills. Halldor and Muller wide popularity can, thus, be associated with these