With winter break drawing near, and the jumbo snowflakes plunging to the earth, many students are hitting the slopes to enjoy snowboarding.
Snowboarding became more popular in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1983, less than 10 percent of United States ski areas allowed snowboarding. Now, snowboarding is the fastest growing winter sport in the U.S. according to abc-of-snowboarding.com
Sophomore Grace Eberle just started snowboarding this year. “I’m looking forward to improving and having even more fun” Eberle said.
However, many believe that more men snowboard than women.
“Snowboarding is more of a guy sport because guys started it and caught on faster with snowboarding. Overtime, I think more girls will try it,” sophomore Joey Delaney said.
“I have been snowboarding since fifth grade. It seems like when I started snowboarding, the only people that did were stereotypical long-haired guys. But now it has more variety in the people that snowboard,” sophomore Lauren McMullen said.
“When I first started snowboarding, I would go with my boyfriend at the time because none of my girlfriends really snowboard,” senior Hannah Nielsen said.
Most girls started snowboarding because their brothers or their group of guy friends had started, as well.
“My brothers told me to start snowboarding when I was doing skijammers in fifth grade. I wanted to be like them,” freshman Crosbie Francis said.
Since mainly boys have been persuading girls to snowboard, men have tended to hold the spotlight. This is mainly because more boys ride than girls, according to Transworld Snowboarding.
According to Transworld Snowboarding, one of the main goals is to get more girls involved in snowboarding. In addition, many female professional snowboarders are using social media to connect with other girls interested in the sport.
A reason why McMullen likes snowboarding is because she“likes the style of the clothing and patterns that you see snowboarders wearing.”
“I’ve seen a lot of girls in the terrain park. It’s really cool [that] it’s a sport [where] girls can be compared to boys, too,” Francis said.
Also to get more female riders, Oakley made an all-girls two-day camp for girls who want to take their skills to the next level.
Called Oakley Progression Sessions, the camp is led by professional female snowboarders, for females. The camp has a private terrain park set up in an environment where women will not feel intimidated by men.
This year’s locations are yet to be announced. The camp occurs during March.
“We don’t need to fit into the mold made by men,” professional snowboarder Kelly Clark told Transworld Snowboarding. She said that “Girls need to progress and be supported for who we are.”
“Snowboarding is a fun sport, and I think everyone should give it a shot,” Delaney said.
