Let me be honest. I cringe whenever I see snowboarding portrayed in the “mainstream” media. Why? Because you end up with people who know absolutely nothing about the sport trying to sound cool or “extreme”. It’s a recipe for disaster.

That’s why I’m glad to see more and more athletes taking over the job of telling snowboarding’s story in the mainstream media. This not only brings more attention to the industry, but also gives people a true insight into what snowboarding is all about. This year there are two major projects that I have been keeping an eye on, TJ Schneider’s video blog “snowboard realms” and Jesse Fulton’s tv show “Shreducation”.

Canadian pro rider TJ Schneider simply picked up a camera at the start of the year and started filming. His goal was to document a full season in the life of a pro snowboarder including all the ups, downs and behind-the-scenes action that happens during the year. TJ films, edits and uploads a new video to his blog and to his YouTube account almost every week letting his fans know what’s going on in his life.

I think this is brilliant from a marketing standpoint. TJ can take the number of times his videos have been viewed and show that to his sponsors to prove the investment they’re making in him is worthy. Plus he’s having a great season as he just took home a 3rd place finish at the Red Bull GAP Session in Germany.

When his professional career was cut short by injuries, Jesse Fulton began looking for another way to make an impact on the snowboarding world. Working with Icarus Skate and Snow’s shreducation program, Fulton, a coach, recruited a team of the top up-and-coming young Canadian amateur riders. This program naturally progressed into a reality tv show where Fulton and the team travel the world to train and compete. Premiering in the fall of 2007 on the Score television network, “Shreducation” was an instant hit with snowboarders and non-snowboarders alike.

Check out the snowboard realms at http://snowboardrealms.blogspot.com/ and at http://www.youtube.com/user/snowboardrealms. Shreducation airs weekly at 10:30 a.m. EST on the Score and you can else check out the show’s website at http://www.shreducation.tv.jp.