If pressed, most Americans might say the “McTwist’ is something found on a fast-food menu rather than in Olympic competition.
But that’s changing. Since snowboarding first debuted as an Olympic sport in 1988, increasing mainstream exposure to the winter sport may make the McTwist (an inverted 540-degree aerial flip) as commonly known as ice skating’s triple axel.
“What the Olympics do is legitimize snowboarding for the mainstream,’ said Keith Duck, owner of Raging Buffalo Snowboard Park near Algonquin. In the 10 years Duck has owned and operated the park, he has watched snowboarding grow from an outlaw sport to a full-blown industry and respected Olympic event.
In the beginning, Duck said, his business was almost exclusively from teenage males. Now he sees both sexes, ages 4 to 70, out on the powder, and growth in attendance at the park has been exponential over the past few years. He predicts that by 2007 snowboarding will overtake skiing as the most popular snow sport.
Drew Regecz, 24, lives five minutes from the park in Dundee and can be seen tearing up the half-pipe “four or five days a week.’ He has been boarding for 12 years.
“Its popularity has just gone through the roof,’ Regecz said. “It’s a lot of fun and it’s pretty easy to get into. It’s not that hard to be good enough to have a good time.’
Austin Wright, 17, of Barrington, is a park regular and aspires to go pro on his board.
“Now that it’s in the Olympics, it’s getting a lot more media exposure,’ Wright said. “Everybody is just looking for a way to get new thrills out of life.’
A skateboard enthusiast, Wright picked up snowboarding a few years ago after watching snowboard videos.
“Being in the air is one of the best, most exhilarating experiences you can have,’ Wright said. “It’s a trip for your senses.’
