Introduction

Hello and welcome to my blog! My name is Andrew Matthews and I'm a snowboarder athlete from Yellowknife, NWT. I decided to start this blog to keep my friends, family, fans and sponsors up to date about my life as a full time snowboarder. I will be posting about my travels, competitions, training and random awesome things that I come across. Enjoy the journey!

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Andrew's August Sports Highlights

Ola amigos. To mix up the blog, I decided to do a post about some inspirational sports stories. Let me know what you think :)

This month there have been several huge events in the world of sport. 23 year old Usain Bolt broke the world record in the 100 meter when he ran a 9.58. It looked like he was hardly trying! Remember when Donovan Bailey ran a 9.89, times are a changing. I wonder if Bolt will eventually crack the 9.5 seconds...the guy is not human.

On the other hand, it turns out that Tiger Woods is human after all. He lost his first major championship when leading after 3 rounds. I was watching the last few holes and it always seemed like he would pull it out somehow like he always does. Tiger has an amazing mental game that I admire. I guess even the best have to lose once in a while. To his credit, Y.E. Yang made an amazing approach shot on the 18th to clinch the victory.
OK those 2 first stories were pretty awesome, but chances are if you ever watch Sports Centre they're old news to you. This last story is about a sport that does not get as much mainstream coverage, about a little known snowboarder named Shaun White. While competing at the Burton New Zealand Open (which I competed in a couple years ago), Shaun landed the first back to back double cork spins. A double cork is essentially 2 flips, off access. I hadn't even seen one in the halfpipe before this. I thought that the progression of snowboarding in the pipe had slowed down; in the last few years there have only been a few tricks that have really pushed the bar. Then out of nowhere Shaun pulls out back to back double corks! I was blown away when I saw this. Check out the video!

Quote of the month: The difference between ordinary and extraordinary...
is that little extra.

Cheers,
Andrew