What are we doing to ourselves and our sport?

Posted: 19 January 2011 02:38 PM

Hello!

Time for some deep thinking again.

I bought the highly recommended Snowboard Addiction downloads. I really like them. A lot. Truly analytical and pedagocial. Probably these films give better instructions than an personal instructor. So. Yes. Great stuff from SA.

But it also left me a bit sad. Do we really need a download film to understand that is an advantage to help the rotation with our upper bodies? Does not this comes natural as we go out and play and have fun? And most importantly: if it does not comes naturally and we still charge and have fun. Does the lack of rotation matters?

I mean: sticking a 360, 540 or whatever is not really the meaning of our sport. The true meaning of snowboarding is, at least to me, to charge hard as hell and have fun doing it. When I start to build mental pictures of my rotations, grabs, turns or drops I am losing a bit of the reasons why I started to ride in the first place. My best rides is when I almost lose it. Going down pillows or rocks fast as a shark. Not using my frontal lobe for a second. Just body and board interacting on instinct. And looking back up to see the line I am struck with surprise. Did I do that?

So where does this fascination from over analytical stuff comes from? Well movies is one thing fore sure. We al want to be rockstars throwing down 360´s on 45++ AK lines. Don´t we? Another thing that drives us to analyse everything we do is probably the snowboard technology. Now I am not a guy that is unwilling to new tech. It´s just that the industry try to pin down al their specs to the smallest detail. Off course that is good consumer info. But it´s also telling people that they should not settle whit one board. There are for sure enough aspects of riding to motivate at least 3 boards.

So. When we catalogue through Blue Tomato, La Glisse or anything else we automatically try to categorize ourselves. Beginner? Intermediate? Advanced? Expert? Freestyle, allmountain or freeride? And we ask our self the big question: who am I? This goes down to our view of ourself and when we introduce ourself to other riders it´s like reporting a CV.

“I been riding for five years I do 720´s in the park. I never ride powder..etc..etc.”

Well. I am sure this is of no interest at all. Not compared to being a happy guy that gives the pedal to the metal every time he puts he´s feet into the bindings.

One of my first days of riding in Gallivare (Johan Olofsson hometown) there were actually only me and Johan on the slope (nice namedropping again). I could hardly make it down the black and red run. And I crashed like 5 - 6 times on every try. I saw this other guy riding like hell. So I charged harder. And Johan charged on. I didn’t know who this guy was back then but when the lifts closed Johan came up to me and said something like great attitude, fun to watch and give it some time. Sure I will I said.

Or like the other day: I rode with a less famous ex pro (that I didn’t know about either). It turned up that this guy was able to throw 720s off cliffs. Well. That´s a lot more than I can do. Hands down. But I did not care and did my thing. Again my theory was right.  The sport itself is bigger than the riders involved. Great time and a lot of fun.

What´s my point?

I do’t even know if I got one. If one is stuck in the same riding year after year a DVD is probably a good thing. My point is not that I am against DVD´s. My point is just that pure and simple fact that fun is fun and not fun is boring. So. Go out and do what you like to do and have fun while doing it. Once you get a pro you will have snowboard as work. But until that happens. Just go for the flow.

Posted: 19 January 2011 08:01 PM

Since I moved to Austria in November I’m getting a lot of time on snow. If I could ride powder all day I’d be a very happy man. To be honest just charging around is fun for a few runs but when the snow is rock hard and the weather is poor it just isn’t that fun. So for me I want to learn tricks in the park, there’s nothing better than sticking a 540 after trying 20 times and riding away with a big grin on my face. I guess the point of the DVDs is more for reference, it’s not like you can plug into the matrix, watch the trick and then do it immediately. I was having problems with frontside board slides and so I watched a trick tip and the guy looked under his leading arm instead of over his shoulder.. that was enough to help me get them. I guess it’s just a bit of help to get you through a frustrating part of learning. I love all elements of snowboarding but with all elements the best part is progressing, riding a face that I previously wouldn’t have looked twice at, or sticking a 5, it’s all the same and providing your not taking too many risks to progress what’s the issue? Not every man the runs will end up being the next Michael Johnson, not everybody that snowboards will end up turning pro, but surely if you have the opportunity and ability to progress you’d be cheating yourself if you don’t give it a go.

I think the days of riding with Johan on your local hill are long gone. We’ve got accept that snowboarding means totally different things to different people. As far as I’m concerned the more people want to ride park on a powder day the better… they can fill their boots.

Posted: 20 January 2011 11:58 PM

Like I said. I don´t know if I got a point. I am just reflecting upon what happens to myself when I focus on progression rather than fun. Then again: its just like you said. Progression is fun to. I go more and more to the park myself because of the same reasons as you: going fast is fun. But on an icy piste it for sure has it´s limits in terms of fun. One can challenge yourself a lot more in the park. And that´s fun.

I am just talking about a balance between different factors in snowboarding. You need a certain amount of self analyse of your technique to progress and feel that you are moving your ride in some direction. Progression it self is build into every sport. As is play and fun.

One thing that I like about SA is that they are saying that it´s better to spend 50 euros on their DVD and progress towards your dream jumps than to buy a board for 500 euros and still don´t have a clue about how to get to the dream. To me that´s really true. I am using the DVD´s myself and I like them. So I don´t really have any issue about it. The post was not meant that way.

Posted: 21 January 2011 08:37 AM

Being able to do things right and better (stomping landings, not flailing arms around, etc2) = more fun in the long run. Instead of failing and hurting yourself. Being able to know why certain things work and have a guide to help you will help you progress quicker rather than by pure trial and error. Yes, in the end you need more riding time but getting better quicker will equate more fun in the end.

It’s like playing basketball, yea you can have fun just shooting the basketball or learning all the skills by yourself. But if you played with other good players with good coaching you can see how they are having fun while still being good.

I guess the point I like to make is, master the fundamentals and the rest will come easy.

Posted: 23 February 2011 02:32 PM

Yes skip11. That´s the way to see it. Basketball teams as a lot of structure and practise in their sport. Drills. Drills. Workout and so on. But they also play a lot and practise the whole context of basketball. Balance. That´s the keyword.

/ MP (who´s not having fun on work today)