Pro Snowboarding Tips
Read these 5 Pro Snowboarding Tips tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Snow Board tips and hundreds of other topics.
Be A Pro
Becoming a professional snowboarder is all about exposure. There are different levels of sponsorship, and you can enter at any level and rise at any speed.
- Amateur / regional sponsored snowboarders are expected to ride their local area and compete. They may receive one board, a pair of boots, and clothing for free.
- Pro-am snowboarders perform for photographers or film-makers looking for new talent. These pro-am riders, between amateur and pro may receive a couple boards, a discounted season pass and opportunity to make incentives if they get photos or video coverage.
- The established pro travels several times a year to perform. They are recognized by name, have a distinct style and role, get consistent print and video coverage, and receive a salary plus travel expenses and total product lines.
- The super pros make a living snowboarding. These are the athletes who have one or more signature model pro snowboards, videos, magazines, spend the year traveling, gain endorsements and royalties all the time.
A Winner
In the 2000-2001 season, Danny Kass claimed three of the biggest titles in competitive snowboarding as champion of the overall U.S. men's Grand Prix half pipe title, the X-Games super pipe title and the U.S. Open half pipe title. He won silver in the half pipe event at the Olympics in Salt Lake in 2002.
Danny Kass is one of the most technically progressive pipe riders in the world. He was the first to string back to back inverted 1080s. And Danny has done all of this before age 24. Danny Kass was led to snowboarding by his love of skateboarding while growing up in Mammoth Lakes, CA. Danny and his brother now own a snowboarding apparel company as well – Grenade Gloves.
Wow
Marc Frank Montoya, voted number three on the Snowboard Magazine Rider's list of the top ten riders in 2005 and nicknamed "Rock Star of the Year" in the 2004, is one of the most experienced and top snowboarders in the world today. He has a dynamic personality that shows in his riding.
In his early career Marc impressed the snowboarding world with his big mountain skills while riding in Alaska, with his freestyle skills launching booters into the Utah backcountry, slaying urban handrails, and has played a big part recently in stepping up the competition for snowboarders around the country.
Outside of boarding, Marc run his own hotel, the BLOCK at Tahoe, and snowboard manufacturing company called Biltrite Manufacturing.
Racers
Professional snowboarders may also be professional alpine snowboard racers. There are amateur, pro, and top pro professional snowboard racer sponsorship levels.
To be a professional snowboard racer, you need to be good and fast. To get sponsored at any level as professional snowboarder in the half pipe or on the jumps, many companies look for something special, new, or different about your style, trick, look, or attitude.
Big Dan
Danny Kass is known for his signature move, the Kasserole, and for mixing technical tricks with big air and stomp landings. But, what is Danny Kass like outside of snowboarding?
His nickname is Big Dan. He likes fried foods and skateboarding. He hangs out with his friends, likes to draw and listen to his own mixed CDs, which are an eclectic mix to say the least.
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| Lynda Moultry |
