The World Snowboard Tour: More Accessible Than Ever Before?

There are some sports which are blatantly inaccessible, with finances usually the reason behind this. We’re not going to look at these in detail; there are some out there which are only open to a select bunch of individuals who are fortunate to have the opportunity.

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On one hand, it might appear as if snowboarding was one of these sports. After all, hitting the snow on a regular basis isn’t one of the cheapest activities that can be done, especially when one considers the amount of equipment that’s required.

It’s for this reason that we were shocked after researching the sport in more detail and specifically, the World Snowboard Tour. For the freestyle snowboarder, this houses the top events and as we’ll soon find out, it’s become surprisingly more accessible than ever before.

What is the World Snowboard Tour?

Before we get into the finer details of the tour, let’s take a look at what it encompasses in more detail.

For those who may have taken a past interest in snowboarding, it was previously known as the TTR World Snowboard Tour. It was rebranded in 2012, to the World Snowboard Tour, and is now the largest series of freestyle snowboarding events that are available in the world.

How accessible is the tour?

This is where things get interesting. As Cody Winters has highlighted with his career, this is a tour which is open to absolutely everyone. We’ll reiterate the fact that personal status doesn’t really come into the equation – in other words, you don’t have to pay astronomical amounts of money to qualify for the events.

Instead, it’s all about qualifying through a local event. The tour has attempted to make the events as available as possible, listing them around the world. To put this into perspective, as well as the national events that a rider can participate in, it’s also possible to enter into one of the global events. Suffice to say, few tours, in any type of sport, are able to offer such an opportunity.

Additionally, licenses are not required. It means that a rider just needs to register, turn up before being added to the Tour Ranking List. The potential reward is fantastic; riders have made themselves household names in the sport by starting from nothing.

How does the tour grow?

The previous section links perfectly onto the ways in which the tour manages to grow. As well as riders having the freedom to register for a whole magnitude of events, events can do the same. Anyone who currently runs an event can apply for it to be included in the tour and again, the recognition for this can be huge.

What sort of events are part of the tour?

We’ll conclude with another section on just what this tour has to offer. The events are all based on freestyle, with racing never entertained. Generally, the events are ranked from rookie to professional – allowing riders to climb the ranks and make a name for themselves on the Tour Ranking List.