Who defines the sport of mountainboarding? Without hesitation, most would agree that definition rests with the riders. But as with every sport in existence, growth and progression often have a way of diluting the heart and soul of the sport. Are we allowing that to happen with mountainboarding?
New gear comes out each year, new parks and centers continue to pop up world wide, and new manufacturers and media companies spring up to add there two cents to the sport of mountainboarding. All these things help to push our sport forward and solidify our place among the sports of the world. Unfortunately, these are the same sources that can slow the individual creativity among new mountainboarders by controlling the “image” of the sport.
As an example, let’s look at a made up scenario. Let’s say we have two brand new mountainboarders, John and Steve, we’ll call them. John lives in the thick of the mountainboarding community, he has three centers close by his house, and a whole crew of riders that are ready to take him under their wing. Steve on the other hand, has never seen a mountainboard other then the one he now owns and he doesn’t have a single center within 1000 miles of where he lives, but he is surrounded by mountains.
Obviously there are the ups and downs to both situations. John will might never know what mountainboarding is like outside of a park or a center but he’ll have plenty of interaction with other riders and will be able to learn from them. Steve, wont know the life of the park riders but he’ll experience the raw version of mountainboarding that comes from slashing the local mountain sides.
Is there any one way to ride? Is mountainboarding about freestyle? Freeride? Is it about boardercross, or how about the urban riding as shown in Freestyler.com video that we have posted this week? We all know that mountainboarding has many flavors and there really is no right or wrong. The key is that each rider finds his/her own way to enjoy the ride.
In conclusion, mountainboarding is very much a sport born of creativity, and has many different avenues. Each rider has his/her own riding style. Many new riders come in this sport and look around wide-eyed for an example of what they’re suppose to be doing. Mountainboarding isn’t about what you’re “suppose to” do, it’s more about taking the opportunities that present themselves and turning them into the most epic rides ever. So are we, as riders, defining mountainboarding and allowing the “money-makers” of the sport to back us up; or are we letting them define our sport for us?
September 30th, 2008 at 6:28 am
This my Friend is my sport…
and clearly yours as well.
January 5th, 2011 at 5:56 am
I recently read an issue of The Surfers Journal where a shaper was trying to articulate what a true surfer is. The shaper (of course also a surfer) kept more or less not really finding any single way to explain it until he hit upon this (note I am paraphrasing quite a bit): “I am tired of hearing the term watermen, it seems overly used anymore. I think the better of them out there or more defining are more of a general outdoors extreme types.” As a mountain boarder, surfer, bodyboarder, trampa … well you get the idea. I don’t think there is a particular style, method or even board that defines any board sport. It just defines itself. By the same token, the idea that commercial interests can define any extreme sport is laughable. I honestly don’t know of any truly successful definition of these kinds of sports done through a commercial interest. Not yet anyways.