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By Keating Smith

he recent death of 29-year-
ik Canadian freestyle

skier Sarah Burke came as
a massive loss to the sport and is
now raising questions and debate
around just how far the bar is being
raised in these respectively different
but similar snow sports.

Prior to Burke’s death,
in December 2009, American
freestyle snowboarder, Kevin
Pearce sustained a traumatic head
injury, leaving him in a coma
for several months after he had
fallen on the “deck” of that very
same half-pipe in Park City, Utah.
Pearce miraculously survived
his brain injury and after two
years of rehabilitation, ESPN and
Transworld Snowboarding report
that Pearce has made solid attempts
to get back on the mountain by re-
learning the basics of the sport.

So, wait a minute? Same half-
pipe, same resort, same time of yeat,
and both athletes performed similar
aerials. Is this just a coincidence,
or are Burke’s devastating loss
and these life-threatening injuries
plaguing the sports for a reason?
Are there any preventable measures
that need to be put in place?

 

One could argue that in both
sports the limits of tricks and
maneuvers seen on today’s scale are
being tested in the terrain parks and
half-pipes of local ski and mountain
resorts before being put to the
ultimate test. There are summer
camps in both Oregon and Whistler,
where world-renowned athletes
train year-round with the goal of
landing gravity-defying feats to

Sports

Investigating extreme

snow sport head injuries

With the 16 Winter X Games wrapped up and
the recent head injury-related death of Sarah
Burke, the question is more present than ever:
has the professional world of extreme skiing and

snowboarding topped out?

medal winner, sustained major
facial injuries after smashing

his face against his knee in the
Wyoming backcountry while
filming for the most anticipated
and expensive snowboarding
film in history, The Art of Flight.
Following the dangerous kicker,
which launched him 50 feet in the
ait before his injury, Lago’s jaw
was wired shut for 8 months. On

“If athletes decide it’s their time to “huck” themselves off a 50-foot cliff
while spinning and flipping multiple times, no one is really going to tell
them they aren't allowed. The limits of extreme sports extremes are being
pushed harder than ever in history.”

win big claims in sports history
and receive huge earnings from
their energy drink and/or clothing
sponsors.

Despite nerve-racking
consequences, when these athletes
feel comfortable enough, they take
their arsenal of “tricks” outside the
safe boundaries of the resort life
and into the backcountry areas of
the high alpine, and to the streets
and urban areas that have little to
no safety factor.

For example, Scotty Lago, a
multi-medaled X Games competitor
and 2010 Olympic half-pipe bronze

a positive note, shortly after his
accident Lago continued on to
compete in last year’s X Games and
won the silver medal in half-pipe—
with his mouth still wired shut.

So what can we say about these
recent accidents in the professional
world of extreme skiing and
snowboarding? There is no simple
answer, as many factors are
influencing why they happen.

For starters, these sports are
relatively new and their evolution
is happening at a rapid pace. If you
were to examine the X Games 10
years ago, a simple 720-degree flat

 

The stars align in India

Premier League Soccer to make its debut

By Eric Wilkins, Staff Writer

hat do Hernan Crespo,
Robbie Fowler, Fabio
Cannavaro, Robert Pires,

Jay Jay Okocha, and ex-Whitecaps
manager Teitur Thordarson have
in common? All of them are signed
on to the new professional soccer
league in India.

In a world dominated by soccer,
it should come as some surprise
that the second-largest country (by
population) is ranked by FIFA as
158 in the world. India is mainly a
cricket-crazy country, but Premier
League Soccer (PLS) is seeking to
change that. Based in West Bengal—
arguably the most soccer-mad area
in India—the league is set to begin
its inaugural season sometime in
March.

With six clubs in the league, the
idea is to have an “icon” player for
each team, a foreign coach, up to
two other foreign players, and an
Asian player. The rest of the roster
is to be filled out by local players in
an effort to increase the talent pool
for national team selection.

While India, in fact, already has

foreigners. PLS has burst onto the
scene with guns blazing and has
effectively captured everyone’s
imagination.

Following the example set by
Major League Soccer (MLS), PLS
has set a salary cap for its franchises
at $2.5 million to prevent any team
from gaining an unfair financial

“PLS has burst onto the scene with guns blazing and has effectively
captured everyone's imagination.’

a soccer league, the I-League, the
level of play is not that high and the
star attractions are simply not there.
It has failed to produce any real
talent for the international stage,
and its top scorers are consistently

advantage. The small league also
has a solid monetary start due

to the international broadcast
rights already being sold to media
company MP & Silva.

spin or backside rodeo would be a
winning trick in big air competition.
Today, the triple corkscrew
1440-degree spins dominating these
sports are simply the norm when it
comes to winning competitions.

Second, a very different
counterculture aspect seen in both
sports is that wearing a helmet is
considered not cool. In fact, the
majority of the time athletes only
wear a helmet during competition
or training runs leading up to a
competition. The probabilities of
smashing one’s head have now
increased exponentially.

Lastly, unlike some organized
sports, skiing and snowboarding
are a way Of life and the
opportunities for an individual to
express themselves are limitless.

If athletes decide it’s their time to
“huck” themselves off a 50-foot
cliff while spinning and flipping
multiple times, no one is really
going to tell them they aren’t
allowed. The limits of extreme
sports extremes are being pushed
harder than ever in history. If you
can see or acknowledge this, it is
easy to understand just why head
injuries are occurring more often in
these sports.

Despite still being very much
so in its infancy, PLS has managed
to receive copious amounts of
worldwide attention, and other
high-profile names are beginning
to be connected with the budding
league. Michael Owen, Nicolas
Anelka, and even former England
manager Sven-Goran Eriksson
are rumoured to be interested
in joining. “I think that, with no
disrespect to the likes of Robbie
Fowler, one year of success and
you will see bigger names coming
here. This is only the beginning,”
said Utpal Ganguly, secretary of the
Indian Football Association. Before
it has even started, the league has
helped raise the profile of India in
the soccer world, and, with a little
luck, will carry through on the
promise it has shown.

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