Gymnastic Training in Snowboarding?
For the record my kids will being doing gymnastis from the first age they are allowed. I would prefer them to learn to do flip and land in squishy foam (have always wanted to have ago) before they are ever good enough even try a jump on the snow! It is also good off season training for all the reasons listed above.
... what the hell Alisa Camplin??
At least she let me wear her Olympic gold medal around my neck - it’s the closest I’ll ever come. They’re heavier than they look.
... I think anyone who just tramps and hits one jump over and over again has no idea what they are missing out on.
This.
Part of the qualifying process for any major snowboard competition should be proving you can actually ride. That’d weed out the soulless robot drones manufactured in gymnastics factories, and send them back to ski aerials.
I must admit I have been one of those jerks watching the aerials with his friends screaming “Do a grab!” 
I was so stoked when I saw the freestyle mogul skiers start throwing freeskiing tricks. It was a huge SCREW YOU to IOC. Legends.
I also think that a more appropriate/specific term to describe this pervasive influence in freestyle snowboarding is ‘acrobatic’, rather than ‘gymnastic’.
ac·ro·bat
noun
1. a skilled performer of gymnastic feats, as walking on a tightrope or swinging on a trapeze.
For the most part, I think that many riders are against the fact that the judging of competitive freestyle snowboarding is gradually becoming far too focussed on the gymnastic element above all the other more core aspects of snowboarding - at least that’s the general gist of the talk I hear on the subject.
I don’t understand, can you explain what you mean more by “too focused on the gymnastic element”?
If by “gymnastic element” you mean the tricks performed, then I don’t know know any other direction it can take. The idea of freestyle is about performing tricks.
I also don’t know any riders (other than on here it seems) that are concerned about freestyle snowboarding focusing on any aspect in particular, if they don’t like something in particular, they ignore it.
As impressive as a massive back 1 is*, it doesnt have the same wow factor to the masses/judges as a triple cork 1440, double back flip etc. and as such should be scored lower in a comp.
A lot of people seem to have an idea that a Back 1 is just as good, or sometimes better than a FS rodeo. (This as an example. The idea being a trick with more spins/flips isn’t always as good as one with less)
I think this really doesn’t work. Which one demonstrates better understanding, control and awareness? This is why such tricks are judged higher, despite sometimes not always looking as “cool” or “stylish” or even being stomped cleanly. They still required more skill to perform. Where this changes is the size of the jump. I.e a Back 3 over a 60ft requires a high skill level than a FS 540 over a 30ft.
She said she never just went skiing for fun the entire time she was competing in aerials!!! Although this kind of robotic specialisation is common in FIS style ski competition, I really don’t want snowboarding to go down that road.
Without talking specifically about said athlete, but the comment as a generalization: This implys one cannot have fun or enjoy only the aerial side of the sport, and that in order to be successful at it one should also be an accomplished freeridier.
Kids are a great example. A child in a lesson more often just wants to learn how to jump. They are happy to skip the turning and stopping and would rather you teach them to straight line to the jump. Of course this to us if very inefficient and counter productive. But it doesn’t change that the Kid has more fun hitting the jump than performing the freeride skills needed to get off the lip. Nor are those skills essential at more than an intermediate-beginner level to get said Child into the air.
Part of the qualifying process for any major snowboard competition should be proving you can actually ride. That’d weed out the soulless robot drones manufactured in gymnastics factories, and send them back to ski aerials.
This is just food for thought here really:
1.
Hypothetically, without thinking of the feasibility, if a tennis player couldn’t run, but could hop fast enough to hit the ball in a high profile competition such as Wimbledon. Should they not be allowed to compete?
Same concept for this one, does a freestyle motocross rider also need to be able to perform well round a circuit track to perform his tricks?
Why can one excel at one side of a sport but not the other? It’s okay to be a great freerider but poor at freestyle/aerials, why can’t one be good at freestyle but not freeride?
2.
Should someone who lacks passion for the sport but performs at a high level not be allowed to compete? Andre Agassi is a good case example for that last one.
If Shaun White came out and announced he hasn’t enjoyed snowboarding for the last 10 years, would that change how everything he has done in the past is viewed? Would people look at the double mctwist differently?
Is snowboarding about philosophy or is it a physical action?
@ozgirl: Hence, I said in MY opinion it is a RELATIVE 100 
... what the hell Alisa Camplin??
At least she let me wear her Olympic gold medal around my neck - it’s the closest I’ll ever come. They’re heavier than they look.
Yep the institute of sport and AOC purposely went after gymnasts to improve our medal ranking in winter sports. And hey it worked!
Wasn’t aerials the first ever medal we won? I know Alisa wasn’t the first gold - Stephen Bradbury was our first gold… hahaha
But yes when I first heard that they could barely ski i was shocked!
If Shaun White came out and announced he hasn’t enjoyed snowboarding for the last 10 years, would that change how everything he has done in the past is viewed?
Yes!
He would just be another impressive athlete rather than a spokesperson for our sport. Watching Michael Phelps swim is impressive but it doesn’t make me want to go swimming. If Shaun was just doing it for fame and money he would probably get the same amount of sponsor money but less people would be inspired to go and actually ride.
I don’t see Shaun White as a spokesperson for our sport anyway.
Yes!
He would just be another impressive athlete rather than a spokesperson for our sport. Watching Michael Phelps swim is impressive but it doesn’t make me want to go swimming. If Shaun was just doing it for fame and money he would probably get the same amount of sponsor money but less people would be inspired to go and actually ride.
As I said, it was just food for thought so I’m not arguing any point here but I’m not quite sure if you understood the direction of the question - That could be my fault for not explaining it better, so I want to expand on the idea.
I’m not saying you knew this information at the time. Everything is how it has been, everything that has happened is in the past. So it doesn’t change what has happened and how we reacted at the time.
Whether or not someone’s head was in a space that you would approve/disapprove - as this we would not have known at the time.
Now, he makes an announcement tomorrow saying he hasn’t really been passionate about the sport for a long time. Forgetting about his role in the sport for the future - Do you all of a sudden change your opinion that he has progressed snowboarding in a positive/negative direction? (Whichever you had originally thought)
The deeper questions that i meant to be concluded from the earlier one were as follows. Why does someones ‘mind set’, determine their right to involvement in a sport? And why are people so quick to judge others in the sport based on their feelings and views about it rather than just riding for themselves and respecting the other persons position?
For some people, this is just a job they are good at. It happens in all sports, and even desk jobs - someone can be good at accounting but hate it, can be a great lawyer but does not enjoy the job.
I hope that clears up any ambiguity in the idea.
I don’t see Shaun White as a spokesperson for our sport anyway.
I knew someone would say something along those lines! I’m not a fan of him in any way either, that’s besides the point! It was the idea’s concept, not the execution.
Choose another athlete, TRice, Horgmo. Another sport even. As I said, Agassi is a great example of it already happening.
Sorry, accidental post. No idea how to delete a post.
I think the word “Gymnastics” conjures up thoughts of striking poses and tight lycra pants.
Yeah, and in terms of competition - all the petty rules they’re forced to adhere to. It’s too broad a term anyway - ‘acrobatics’ is more appropriate, because it’s more specific.
. . . and tight lycra pants. Everything that snowboarders hate.
Well, except for Shaun White.
. . . snowboarding style is about freedom.
Well, at least it should be. Let’s hope the FIS don’t get their way and that freedom is lost for good.
I have no problem with riders using coaches, trampolines and even steroids if they are doing it for the overall enjoyment of the sport and not just a paycheck.
This.
My problem with gymnastics in snowboarding is that gymnastics has exact rules about how to do a flip, rotate your body and place your arms, and these forced rules should never be put into snowboarding in any way.
This.
(Also this is why non snowboarders shouldn’t judge snowboarding because they will need rules and structure to determine difficulty and style)
THIS!
I too can’t say I’m much of a fan of Shaun White, but I don’t think anyone can honestly deny that the majority of the worlds population (mostly non-snowboarders) think he is our spokesperson and pay him like he is our spokesperson.
Personally I believe snowboarding should be enjoyed by everyone, if you want to just snowboard down a field of moguls, great. If you want to just hit urban rails and never even take a turn down a mountain, the more power to you. But if your training (like a gymnast) to become a contest rider who just wants to take home massive paychecks without any appreciation for all the other aspects of the sport then yes, I will change my mind and be less impressed by back to back double corks in the pipe learned at a secret 2 million dollar backcountry location. And I definitely will be a lot less impressed when triple corks show up in the pipe.
While some people may argue that all types of snowboarding should be accepted no matter the mindset of the rider, I personally choose to believe that there is a huge difference between snowboarders who ride with the mindset of “fun” and snowboarders who ride with the mindset of “money.”
Some good points there Sam.
I do agree that a person can be very good at snowboarding but see it as just a job like a lawyer or accountant. And I think this would be the case for some people that have been forced into it. I see it in race kids all the time. I gotta say it makes me pretty sad though.
If Torstein stomped the triple cork in the x games and then just unstrapped, grabbed his giant cheque and walked off, it would still be awesome. Nothing will change that. But I think it connects the fans to the rider a lot more when they get to see him/her really stoked about their run.
I’m always stoked when I land something new, so it would be weird to see someone that wasn’t. But it doesn’t change the fact that they did it.
I guess it comes down to the difference between a “Winner” and a “Champion of the People”.
Like Shaun White Vs. Torstein Horgmo
I enjoy watching both, but I definitely prefer watching someone that I really connect with. Watching Torstein’s edits, just having fun, ripping park laps is honestly more exciting to me then seeing Shaun’s Perfect 100 run.