Snowboarding, a winter staple of the midwest. Amidst one of the many snowy Wisconsin winters, Fletcher Allenstein (11), a student at East brushes the dust off of his snowboard, ready for the seventh year of his snowboarding career. 

Most know snowboarding as a fun but challenging winter sport. Allenstein chooses to highlight unique components of snowboarding that aren’t part of the sport itself

“It’s really outdoors. You get to go places and It’s fun to travel.” Not only is the thrill of snowboarding fun, but going to new places to snowboard can also be an incredible experience.

Every sport brings challenges, and snowboarding is no exception. Allenstein admits that even as snowboarding is fun, it bears many obstacles.

“Making the practices [can be challenging]” he admits, “Maintenance I don’t really know how to do.” There are so many different sports, but one thing they all have in common is practicing. With snowboarding, practices can be tough because of the unique environment and the time consuming nature of snowboarding. 

But arguably, the greatest challenge is the lack of participation in the activity. 

“In order to have a team you need to have four people, but right now it’s just Gabi and I. Even though we could have a club, it’s just not that fun with two people. We would also need a coach. If anyone knows a coach and we get enough people we could probably get our own team.” For Allenstein, Snowboarding is an incredibly fun activity. Only, because of the low supply of snowboarders, he practices with the Waukesha team. 

It is hardly believable that a school in Wisconsin doesn’t have enough snowboarders. Snowboarding is a difficult sport and can be slightly difficult to pick up, but hard work pays off in the end. The opportunity to join Allenstein and create a snowboarding team at East will certainly lead to new experiences, friendships, and memories made.

If anybody wishes to join the team or knows a snowboarding coach, direct further questions at Fletcher Allenstein at [email protected].