Billabong Reality Check

Billabong Reality Check

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Snowboarding: All the Latest

If you are a snowboarder or are at all familiar with the sport, then you know the name Louie Vito. He's a professional U.S. snowboarder who, according to all accounts, will make the 2010 U.S. Olympic team. However, it's not his notoriety to possible Olympic glory where he may inadvertently help to bring snowboarding into the mainstream - it's his appearance on the popular ABC reality television show Dancing with the Stars.

Dancing with the Stars is based on the British Television series called Strictly Come Dancing and according to Television Business International, in both 2006 and 2007, it was the most popular television show around the world reaching the top ten in 17 countries. Today, the U.S. version enjoys an average weekly audience of close to 14 million viewers. That is nothing but good news for the snowboarding industry, as viewers truly interested in Vito, will likely follow his career long after his feet have danced their last Tango.

If you're not lucky enough to live in a place that affords you the luxury of either participating in winter sports and/or watching them, if you're a half pipe slayer at heart you can either rent or buy some of the very popular snowboarding movies instead. Some titles include: Snowboardings Holy Grail, The Struggle, Apples and Oranges, Knockout “the tenth round”, Breaking Ground, and In Transit, to name just a few. All of these films can be found on ameibo.com. Films in this genre are both entertaining and instructional – just take your pick. The 2009 snowboard movie Elektro is now out and going on tour. Check out the premier dates at http://www.ameibo.com/movie-blog/ for all the latest.

Still can't get enough with all the available snowboarding movies out there? Look no further than 2010 where the winter Olympics will be held in Vancouver, Canada. Snowboarding is already being touted as the one to watch at these games. While snowboarding only became an official Olympic event in 1998, over the last ten years, it has become one of the most popular sports to watch. With insane tricks and incredible fly through the air twists, turns, and jumps, even a hard-core adrenalin junkie will get a thrill watching these super-duper athletes.

Snowboarding has many different events some of which are not all official. A typical competition will offer the following (those in brackets are the only official events at the 2010 games):

-Slope Style

-Big Air

-Half-pipe (Vancouver 2010 official event, Men’s & Women’s)

-Snowboard Cross (Vancouver 2010 official event, Men’s & Women’s)

-Indycross

-Rail Jam

-Racing

-Parallel Giant Slalom (Vancouver 2010 official event, Men’s & Women’s)

In Vancouver, all snowboarding events will take place at the venue located on Cypress Mountain. 8000 people will be lucky enough to get an up close and personal view of this spectacular venue built especially for snowboarding. For those that won't fit into the 8000 capacity location, they can watch it on television like the rest of the world-wide audience. If you're not one of the lucky ones going to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, what about checking out a snowboarding event near you, if such a place exists? There are any number of events going on around the world including:

British Snow Tour International Championships - October 21 – 25, 2009.

This is not only the centerpiece of the UK winter sports season, but it is also the “largest consumer sports show in Europe”.

UK Snow Film Festival – November 26 – 27, 2009
Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour: Billabong Air&Style Innsbruck-Tirol 2010 – December 3 – 5, 2009
Dew Tour Winter: Breckenridge – December 18 – December 20, 2009

First two stops of the tour will take place in the Colorado Rockies and the next two stops will take place in the new year.

Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour: Champs Open – December 28, 2009 – January 1, 2010
Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour: The Oakley Arctic Challenge – December 27, 2009 – January 3, 2010

So go on and get out there and get your 'Louis Vito on'! Rent or buy a movie, head to the Olympics, watch the Olympics on television, or hang out at one of the many exciting snowboarding events being offered in the 2009-2010 season. This is far from the end – snowboarding events will continue well into April 2010, so you have plenty of time to decide what and where you want to do. And remember, snowboarding can be seen all year 'round on both your computer and your television – there is always a way to stay close to the action!

About the Author

I am a freelance writer with an Honors degree in English Literature. I write on a wide variety of subjects, from dogs, to movies, to health, even fiction and non-fiction (to name a few).