Snowboarding and skateboarding seem to be very similar kinds of sports. One of the most obvious similarities is how the sports are being done and the equipment that is used. Both sports involve “riding” in a long board made of plywood or hardwood to perform tricks or travel to a certain place. A snowboard uses gliders while a skateboard uses rollers or wheels. However, despite these similarities, snowboarding and skateboarding are actually a completely different type of sports.
The first difference between snowboarding and skateboarding is the place and season that the sports can be done. Unlike skateboarding which can be done almost anywhere at any time of the year, snowboarding is difficult to participate in where the snow is not predominant. Snowboarding can only be performed during the winter in a mountain where there is abundance of snow. On the other hand, skateboarding can be performed “wherever there is concrete” (Abell).
There is also a lot of difference when it comes to performing techniques or tricks. Skateboarders are “free to move around and off the board”. This enables them to do tricks such as the ‘kickflip’ or the ‘shuvit’, a trick that “requires the individual to jump above the board as the board spins underneath him”. This trick, however, cannot be done with snowboarding since the feet are attached to the snowboard.
In snowboarding, most of the tricks involve 180-, 360-, or 540-degree spins. The tricks also “require more height” (Abell) compared to skateboarding. Snowboarding styles include three basic styles or tricks. The first is the freeride, which is the easiest and most common of all. In this style the snowboarder “just rides straight down the slope of a mountain” (Bradford). Another snowboarding style is the freestyle, which is more complicated. This style involves “going through man made obstacles such as boxes, half pipes, quarter pipes, rails, and others” The third style is the freecarve, which is usually used for carving or racing. This style involves very little jumping and focuses mainly on carving. (Bradford).
. Most people find skateboarder harder that compared to the later. There have been many cases of skateboarders who had accidents that saw snowboarding as a continuation of the sports they loved.
Works Cited
Bradford, L. (2012). “What is Snowboarding?”. Ezine Articles. Accessed 5 January 2012.
Abell, J. (2012). “Snowboarding vs. Skateboarding”. TimmyAbell.com. Accessed 5 January 2012.
