By Craig Saunders When it comes to cool sports, there’s no question that both skateboarding and How they snowboarding are tops. Clearly, there are differences between them: snowboarders evolved glide over snow, while skateboarders ride Skateboarding and the pavement. But the sports have a lot snowboarding share a similar past. They both became popular in common, too. How are they the same? thanks to surfing! Here’s a peek How are they different? To find out, let’s at how they began. look at their histories, how the boards are ridden, and the reasons kids ride them. © 2008 Scholastic Canada Ltd. V003
Thrills Across the Board 1/10 Skateboarding
© www.skullskates.com © www.skullskates.com
1980s: Wider bases, © Chad MacGillivray © www.skullskates.com 1960s: Manufacturers begin smooth urethane wheels, selling “sidewalk surfers” and better “trucks,” or 1950s: Kids nail roller 2000s: Boards are to attract surf-crazy kids to wheel assemblies, make skate wheels to more narrow and the sport. skateboards the sweet contoured. wooden planks. rides we know today. 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
2000s: Graphics 1990s: Cool still play a big part graphics and a © Dennis Nazari, courtesy of the in the design of a Salty Peaks Museum, Utah curvy fibreglass snowboard. 1960s: Inventor and shape become 1970s: Avid skier Jake surfing fan Sherman the snowboarding Burton Carpenter crafts Poppen creates the standard. Snurfer (short for a board of bent wood, © Dennis Nazari, courtesy of the with bindings that Salty Peaks Museum, Utah “snow surfer”). © www.skullskates.com secure the rider’s feet. © Dennis Nazari, courtesy of the © Dennis Nazari, Utah Museum, Salty Peaks
Snowboarding Thrills Across the Board 2/10 How they look Both snowboards and skateboards can be made from a Modern snowboards and skateboards have a variety of materials, including wood, plastic, fibreglass, similar shape and look like small surfboards and foam. with rounded ends. On the snowboard, the curved-up “nose” (the front) and “tail” (the back) keep it floating on top of the snow. The skateboard’s curved-up ends let a © Dennis Nazari, courtesy of the Salty Peaks Museum, Utah rider press down on one end to raise the other. That’s how a jump begins. What about size? While the skateboard needs to be narrow enough for quick jumps © Dennis Nazari, courtesy of the Salty Peaks Museum, Utah and turns, the snowboard is designed to balance a rider’s weight over snow, so it needs a wide base.
Thrills Across the Board 3/10 Snowboarders glide along on a base of smooth How they work plastic, with their feet securely fastened to the board in bindings. Skateboarders rely on gravity and Balance is essential to both sports. Snowboarders and a gritty non-skid surface to stay on their boards. skateboarders generally stand sideways on the board, © maxoidos/Thinkstock and turn by leaning to one side, bending at the knees and ankles. This rolls the board towards its edge. © Michael Newman/PhotoEdit On a skateboard, that rolling motion makes the trucks twist. One wheel shifts slightly ahead of the other, and this causes the board to turn. The harder the rider bends, the harder the board turns. When a snowboard rolls towards its edge, it curves slightly and makes the board carve through the snow into a turn. Of course, the skateboard’s wheels and trucks The positioning used in are nowhere to be found on a snowboard, because skateboarding and snowboarding a snowboard actually floats! When a board slides helps to keep the rider balanced. over snow, the friction generates heat and creates a thin layer of water between the board and snow.
Thrills Across the Board 4/10 riders to skate vertically, performing tricks at the The tricks top before skating back down. Most of the skate park’s features have been Most of the tricks in skateboarding and adapted for use by snowboarders, too. snowboarding originated in surfing, got borrowed Snowboarders practise their tricks in terrain parks, by skateboarders, and were eventually picked which can be found at many ski hills today. up by snowboarders. In 1963, skateboarders discovered that they could ride in empty swimming pools. The bowl In terrain parks, half-pipes are dug out of snow. shape of the pools allowed them to ride up and down a wall for the first time, and inspired many new tricks. As the sport became more popular,
skate parks began to appear across North America. © lzf/Thinkstock The U-shape of a half-pipe These parks, with features such as ramps, handrails, allows skateboarders to skate down one side and and stairs, give kids a place to ride and practise then up the opposite side. tricks safely and legally. The most popular feature The faster skateboarders go, the higher they can of a skate park is the half-pipe. Like an empty rise out of the half-pipe. swimming pool, it has a curved feature that allows
© Mike Eddington
Thrills Across the Board 5/10 © lzf/Shutterstock The moves The ollie, a simple jump, is the most important move in either sport. The rider first leans hard The ollie is the basis for on the tail of the board, which many other tricks. makes the nose pop up. While the nose is raised, the rider jumps into the air, lifting the tail of the board off the ground. This is easier to do on a snowboard, because the rider’s feet are strapped to the board. In skateboarding, the rider must drag his or her feet up the surface of the board while jumping to get it airborne.
© Tommyjz/Dreamstime Thrills Across the Board 6/10 © Steve Skjold/Alamy Stock Photo Frontside and backside air are the basic turns that are made at the top of a half-pipe. Skateboarders and snowboarders alike ride up the wall of the half-pipe, facing either forward (frontside) or backward (backside), and soar right off the top edge. While in the air, riders bring their © actionphotonz/iStockphoto knees to their chests, and lean their bodies in the direction of their turn. Once the board is pointing back down, the rider lands and continues riding down the wall. Advanced riders can take this trick Catching some air one step further, and try a 360 air—that is, turn a full 360 degrees while in the air. Skateboarding and snowboarding tricks get more complicated every year. Riders always try to increase their time suspended in air; some of the world’s top snowboarders can now spin 1080 degrees in the air—that’s three complete turns!
Thrills Across the Board 7/10 © David Young-Wolff/PhotoEdit Skateboard or snowboard?
What factors help kids choose one or the other sport? For starters, there’s terrain. Snowboarders need a snow-covered hill—the bigger, the better—in order to ride, while skateboarding can be done on flat land. (Hills and skate parks just make it more fun.) Cost is the other big issue. Both sports require basic gear, such as a board and helmet. Skateboarders need elbow and knee pads, too, © Tommyjz/Dreamstime but face few other expenses since most skate Snowboarders also need special boots and parks offer free admission. Snowboarding, on the goggles, as well as lightweight clothing to keep other hand, is expensive. Riders need a lift pass, them warm and dry. which can cost between $25 and $70 per day.
Thrills Across the Board 8/10 Conclusion It’s no surprise that skateboarding and snowboarding have loads in common when you consider they grew out of the surfing craze. The boards have similar mechanics and riders perform similar tricks, but there are a few differences. The boards were developed for different terrain, skateboarding requires less equipment, and skateboarding costs less than snowboarding. One thing is for sure— with Canada’s snowy winters and warm summers, kids can choose to skateboard or snowboard!
Thrills Across the Board 9/10 Snowboarding and skateboarding have a lot in common, but there are also key differences between them.
Skateboarding Snowboarding
How they • Originally made from • Inspired • Originally made evolved roller skate wheels in by surfing from skis in the 1960s the 1950s
How they look • Narrow base for quick turns • Boards look like small • Wide base to balance and jumps surfboards with rounded ends rider’s weight over snow
How they work • Skateboard’s trucks twist • Balance is required to ride • Snowboard curves to turn to turn • Rolling motion initiates turns through snow • Feet not secured to board • Can be ridden frontward • Feet secured to board • Ridden on pavement or backward • Ridden on snow The tricks • Borrowed tricks from • Terrain parks: Half pipe, rails, • Borrowed tricks surfing ramps from skateboarding • Terrain parks are made of • Basic tricks: ollie, frontside, • Terrain parks are made cement and concrete and backside of snow
Skateboard or • Inexpensive • Expensive snowboard? • Can be done on flat land • Requires a snow- • Minimum equipment covered hill required • Special boots, goggles, and warm clothing
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