So You Want To Become A Pro Snowboarder?

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Watching a pro snowboarder in action is quite breathtaking. The way they perform aerial maneuvers effortlessly takes a lot of skill, practice and patience. Their talent inspires many young riders, but they have to prepare themselves properly before they take to the slopes. In this article, we’ll tell you what you need to know to get on the road to snowboarding stardom.

The first thing that you must do is get the right snowboarding gear. Go to a snowboard shop and ask the staff to help you select the right board, snowboard boots, snowboard bindings, jacket, gloves and goggles. Each of these items will impact your performance. The next step is to learn to snowboard properly. Ideally, you should take lessons at a snowboarding school. Most ski and snowboarding resorts offer lessons. Master all the basics such as steering, stopping, falling and basic jumps before moving on to more complicated tricks. Enrolling in professional lessons will help you learn the correct techniques faster and prevent you from developing bad habits.

As any pro snowboarder will tell you, there are no shortcuts to success. You must practice to master this challenging winter sport. Get a season pass at a resort and keep working on all the moves and tricks you know and try developing your own signature moves as well! Once you’ve gained enough confidence, it’s then time to enter snowboarding competitions. Look for regional competitions when starting out and enter as many as possible to help get your name out there. When you are competing, have someone videotape some of your best tricks. These can be shown to companies from which you are seeking sponsorship.

To cover the expense of competing as a hopeful pro snowboarder, most athletes look for the support of corporate sponsors. Usually, these sponsors are suppliers of snowboarding gear. Typically, sponsorship will cover one board, a pair of snowboarding boots and clothing for free. To supplement their income, pro-am snowboarders perform for photographers or film-makers looking for new talent. These pro-am riders, categorized between amateur and pro, may receive a couple of boards, a discounted season pass and an opportunity to make incentives if they get photos or video coverage.

When it comes to snowboarding, practice doesn’t make perfect – PERFECT practice makes perfect. Making it to the level of a pro snowboarder means getting quality, high performance equipment, investing time into mastering stance and unique technique and becoming good enough to secure sponsorship to back your career. While this may sound daunting, it can be the ride of your life! Any professional athlete will agree; don’t give up when times get tough. It will happen if you want it badly enough.