Westbound Boarder

An interview with me on Women Talk Sports.  All the background you’ll ever need on Westbound Boarder and competitive snowboarding!  Maaan I need to be media trained! (And maybe I should have showered, first? )

Interview with Andrea Nowack from Women Talk Sports on Vimeo.

For those of you who may not know (or simply overlooked our sidebar) Westbound Boarder is a part of a larger blog network called Women Talk Sports, which brings together blogs and Web sites that support and celebrate women in sports.  A few days ago, the network challenged bloggers to write a post highlighting their favorite moments for women in sports in 2009.  As we here at Westbound Boarder never forego a good challenge, we were happy to participate!  For board sports, though, the real challenge is choosing just a few great moments.

Overall, I think that 2009 was a phenomenal year for women involved in board sports, both on a pro and amateur level.  We saw more women competing in competitions, more women snabbing film parts, and more women being featured in mainstream media, both alone and alongside their male competitors,

Here are some of our favorite moments from 2009:

• In January, the Winter X Games joined the US Open in a move to provide equal prize money for both males and females. In a sport where women have always been viewed as second best, this was a pretty huge feat, setting the stage for a great year ahead.
• Jamie Anderson was named Transworld’s Female Rider of The Year. Who will it be in 2010?
• Years ago, women who participated in board sports received a dismal amount of press, at best. National press, though? Forget about it! But in October, pro riders Gretchen Bleiler, Hannah Teter, Lindsey Jacobellis and Kelly Clark flew to New York for a Glamour magazine cover shoot. As we all know (or those of us who are Glamour addicts, anyway) the magazine cover typically features A-list celebrities – the likes of Carrie Underwood, Britney Spears, and Taylor Swift. To think that mainstream America will see these four women as A-list cover girls is absolutely amazing.
• During the US Open of snowboarding halfpipe competition, Torah Bright won first place – and the $20,000 prize purse – with her third and final run, scoring an overwhelming 96. Though she fell during her first two runs, she persevered and knocked the third out of the park, surpassing Kelly Clark’s 93.3 score.
• Little miss shred Lexi Roland celebrated her tenth birthday. Roland, often compared to Shaun White for starting out at such a young age, filmed her first part at age 6, and has been dominating the sport ever since. We’re so stoked to see her ride in ten years!
• Stan Evans and Jeremy Miller created a snowboard film featuring an all female cast called Stance. One of the first of its kind, Stance featured some of the most progressive riding we had ever seen. Of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention Roxy’s Dear and Yonder, a surf film also with a female cast.
• The team for the 2010 Olympics was officially announced. Go US!

While 2009 was an extremely progressive year for women involved in board sports, we would also like to point out some of the challenges women still face.  While a handful of women are stepping up their game in the sport, the rest are largely absent from the competitive circuit, as this New York Times article points out.  So basically, we are seeing four or so women, Bright, Clark, Teter, and and Bleiler, dominating, while the rest really aren’t trying anything new.  What we are also seeing, however, is a number of younger riders who will really take things to the next level in years to come.  Women like Jamie Anderson, and Lexi Roland, who are pushing the sport to its limits and setting the bar high.  Will the decade to come be their moment to shine?  I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, now won’t we?

But enough about us, how about you?  What were your favorite moments for women in action sports of 2009?

Morning everyone; We have some exciting news to announce!  This week, Westbound Boarder was invited to join the Women Talk Sports blog network, an online network that connects the very best blogs, experts and fans to women’s sports with the goal of promoting and empowering female athleticism. (“Very Best” in their words, not ours, though we like to think our site is the very best ) If you look at our sidebar you’ll notice the network button we’ve added; definitely take a moment to check out the WTS network because it has some great content and neat blogs covering everything from running to BMX tied to the initiative.

And along with great news comes big changes, and Danielle and I have decided to take a step back from writing for a while (oh don’t worry, we’ll still keep your minds fresh with fab new content) but we’ll also be focusing more on site redesign and business development so we can be sure Westbound Boarder is in tip top shape as we head into the 09/10 ski/snowboard season.  With that, you’ll begin to notice over the next couple of weeks some significant design changes, hopefully to make the site easier to navigate and more fun to read.  We have many great ideas up our sleeves, so stay tuned and keep checking back for the latest and greatest!  We’d love to hear from you, either in the comments below or at westboundboarder@gmail.com with any suggestions you might have.

Links we love this week, and so will you!

• Skate Week Recap: We just wrapped up Skate Week this morning here at Westbound Boarder, and what a week it has been!  From top skate shops in Portland to how to choose your new ride, Danielle brings you the 411.  Check out a recap of this week’s best skate week articles here.
• Top 25 Young Surfers: This week, Surfer Magazine released their list of the Top 25 Young Surfers in the World.  The list is great, and features the inspirational stories of all 25 surfers and how they got into the business.  Only one problem – not a single female is profiled in this list.  If you were to add just one to this list, who would it be?
• Axe Commercialization, Will Ya?! There’s a debate going on over at the HUCK blog on pro riders giving in to the monetary commercialization of the board sports industry, this time with skater Ryan Sheckler’s recent appearance in an Axe body spray commercial.  Check out the convo and leave your thoughts.
• Women Talk Sports: This week while surfing the net, we came across an awesome network of blogs called “Women Talk Sports.”  It was started by three female athletes (including one of my colleagues over at Edelman!) and aggregates the best of the best from around the net.  Whether you want to read about female athlete’s personal basketball adventures or BMX riding, this network likely has a blog for it.
• Costa Rica anyone? Vancity Allie posted some awesome pics of Costa Rica; almost as good as being there! (Almost…)
• Interview with Leanne Pelosi: At the top of her game is the World of female snowboarding, this flippin’ chick is on fire.  Check out her recent interview with Transworld here.