Shaun White: Personifying The Snowboarding World

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Shaun White. That name personifies the snowboarding world. At the age of five he was described as a snowboarding prodigy. Already winning amateur championships and semi pro championships. Shaun White is in a class of his own sweeping the winter X-Games and Olympics for years on end in first place. There are different varieties of snowboarders from the cautious riders, the intermediate boarders, the all out flyers, and the professionals. It’s not easy to be classified a good snowboarder, few have made their mark and even fewer will be remembered by name. As a diehard snowboarder myself, I will take pleasure in writing this paper and defining each of the four categories listed above. Barreling down a mountain, after perfecting the half-pipe…show more content…
They do not present a threat to anyone. Nor do they present an excitement factor. These guys never really give a lot of effort it comes natural and they are perfectly content with nice solid runs all trip long. Jumps, slaloms, parks, and trees don’t typically present a challenge. The spark of a goal isn’t present in these riders either. You would have no worries to come around a turn and see them for they would be moving fast enough for a peaceful passing or a simple change of route. With plenty of time to make any number of decisions or even do one of Mr. Argo’s math problems, which contrary to popular belief aren’t that hard, you have nothing to worry about. This style of snowboarding is most common in all ages of the sport, people who just would rather have fun rather than risk potential injury. Typically they will make an effort to move away from moving traffic due to fear of becoming the small child still buried in snow due to the explosive plowing you gave him earlier. With nothing to ride for and everything to live for, these riders make up a majority of the mountain, and always make a good audience for the all-out balls to the wall lunatics who make their names in the…show more content…
Their training is on top of a mountain. They get paid to play in the snow. Travelling around the world they seek out the freshest powder and highest mountain. There are few boundaries between Travis Rice, an elite Red Bull rider, and my dear Rex Siphlo. For one, Travis gets paid a boatload more. Second, Rex isn’t one to really think something through; he’s just going to go for it. Travis on the other hand is going to calculate risk to reward. Allowing himself room for error, he will generally know all of the outcomes and if too drastic he won’t attempt the stunt. Professional snowboarders are the outer shell of our sport. X-Games, Olympics, Dew Tour, and many other competitions are where they lay their heads to rest. A year round occupation always searching for gold anywhere snow my lie, snowboarders will always be there Shaun White got real good real fast earning twenty six different gold medals from competitions around the world including the Olympics. The men who hold this sport together not only out perform all of the other categories but hold a standard of “first of last mentality.” They all started small and had their fun on the way to the top paying the price of defeat and misstep. Only the few who persist through the pain and injuries come out on top like Travis Rice and Shaun White. Professional snowboarders rule the extreme sports world without any

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