Board Sports Stay in Vogue

The Youth of today are quickly influenced by new trends. The desire to move with the times, keep up with their peers and perhaps disassociate themselves from old fashioned activities, means that any popular mainstream leisure activity has a limited lifecycle. That may be true for many fads which have come and gone in recent years. But some activities tend to return again and again, if only in a slightly different form.

It's true that football is unlikely to lose its appeal. The simplicity of an activity that requires the minimum of equipment, yet combines physical activity with competition is obvious and boys are enthused by the game the world over. Cycling is another activity that is able to retain its position in the hearts and minds of young people. Being more than an economic means of transport, the simple bicycle has its own fashion lifecycles that see different forms of bikes becoming popular then being replaced by new derivatives. Straightforward racers were superseded by trendy Chopper bikes in the 70's. Next came the era of the mountain bike, which brought off-road riding to the masses at a relatively low cost. Mountain bikes are still favoured in sporting circles but the physical effort to get the best from them is perhaps too much for many. Now the simpler BMX bicycle is the item of choice for boys looking for a cool and trendy means of transport. They allow skills and tricks to be performed while retaining a degree of customisation potential that allows young people to express their individuality.

Board riding, in all its various forms is another activity with staying power. For the last 50 years or more, riding a board powered by gravity, wave or wind has existed all over the world in different styles and has bounced back into the spotlight over and over again as new varieties of board riding are explored.

Surfing was perhaps the first globally popular board riding sport. Regions with suitable wave conditions and a warm enough climate soon became surfing hotspots. There were a number of these locations around the world but they were limited, so those without access to the required sea conditions invented a new version of the sport. Skateboarding was born and rapidly swept the world as the new activity of choice for young people. People made hand-built ramps and jumps in their gardens while commercial skateparks were developed. In the same way that BMX bikes are popular today, skateboarding provided all the same crucial ingredients. Movement, speed, skill, tricks, fashion, individuality and a certain degree of "cool" for the top performers were all present. Skateboarding still exists today in most parts of the world, but participation levels are lower now. There's no doubt that wheeled board riding will remain a popular youth activity that is sure to have its periods of fame again and again.

Snow provides another environment that suits a different derivative of board riding. Snowboarding was created by combining surfing with skiing to bring the same ingredients to the mountain slopes that attracted board riders to the sea and skateparks in the past. The sport quickly replaced other snow sports for young people, who found snowboarding more exciting, less mainstream and more individual than traditional skiing. Again speed, skill, fashion and peer popularity are all present and the sport still continues to grow as new venues are created. Not everyone has access to snow covered mountains and that flourishing level of popularity has now made it viable for investment in artificial snowboarding environments to be made. All over the world indoor snow centres are being built using modern technology to create real snow indoors. These centres exist in many European countries already, particularly in the UK and The Netherlands where mountains suitable for snowboarding are virtually non-existent. The slopes in these indoors centres are getting larger, longer and able to include additional features that are attractive to snowboarders. The indoor environments are also better able to bring complementary attractions of music and other social add-ons. Many indoors snow centres include caf?nd restaurant areas in addition to retail outlets. They are fast becoming complete social hubs for young people wherever they are built. In the UK the latest one to open is on the outskirts of London and brings indoor snowboarding within the reach of the 8 million population of the UK capital city.

Other forms of board riding now include wind powered derivatives such as windsurfing, kitesurfing, both on land and water. Wave boarding, where a rider is pulled along behind a speed boat is another form, but requires expensive facilities and is likely to remain a minority form of board riding. There are other types of youth activity that come and go in different styles but board riding, in all its forms, now seems firmly established for many years to come.