Complete List of Board Sports
A board sport is defined by the use of a board as the primary piece of equipment, on which the athlete stands, sits, or balances while moving across a surface such as snow, water, pavement, or sand.
surfing is a popular board sport
Board sports encompass a wide variety of disciplines that emphasize balance, control, and maneuverability; the most common include snowboarding, skateboarding, and surfing.
A comprehensive list of board sports:
Riding on Water
- Bodyboarding – Water sport riding waves on a bodyboard.
- Riverboarding – A water sport where participants ride a buoyant board down river rapids while wearing fins for propulsion.
- Flyboarding – An extreme water-sport where athletes ride a water-jet-powered board, performing tricks above the water’s surface.
- Hydrofoiling – A water sport where riders use boards or boats equipped with foils that lift them above the surface for speed and smoothness.
- Ironman Surf-Lifesaving – Combines four major aspects of surf-lifesaving into a single race: swimming, board-paddling, ski-paddling and beach running.
- Kite Foil Racing – A high-speed water racing discipline where kiteboarders ride hydrofoil boards and race across courses powered by traction kites.
- Kitesurfing – A water sport where a kite pulls a rider on a small board to perform jumps, tricks and speed runs across open water.
- Kneeboarding – A towed watersport where the participant rides a board while kneeling, combining balance with wave-riding or trick performance.
- Paddleboarding – A water sport in which participants kneel, lie, or stand on a board and use their arms or a paddle to move through the water.
- Skimboarding – Riding a small board on the thin film of water at the shoreline or performing tricks on shallow waves.
- Surf Lifesaving – Beach-based competitions derived from lifeguard skills including rescue, surf swims and board races.
- Lifeguard Triathlon - a surf lifesaving event that includes surf swimming, board paddling and beach running.
- Surfing – Riding breaking waves on a surfboard for style, duration and maneuvers, contested in many formats.
- Longboard Surfing – A surfing discipline using long boards that emphasises paddling, nose-riding and smooth manoeuvres in small to medium waves.
- Wakesurfing – A water sport in which a rider surfs the wake created by a boat without being directly pulled once the ride starts.
- Wakeboarding – A water sport where riders stand on a board and perform tricks while being towed behind a motorboat.
- Windsurfing (Sailboarding) – A water sport combining surfing and sailing, where a rider stands on a board and maneuvers a sail attached to a mast.
Riding on Snow or Ice
- Freestyle Snowboarding – Snowboarding discipline in which riders descend slopes performing tricks, jumps and terrain‐features rather than purely downhill speed runs.
- Luge – A winter sliding sport in which a solo athlete lies supine on a small sled and races feet-first down an ice track for fastest time.
- Snow kiting / Snowkiting – A winter sport where riders use kite power to glide across snow on skis or snowboards.
- Snowboarding – Descending snowy slopes on a single board, contested in freestyle, alpine and freeride disciplines.
- Snowboard Cross (Boardercross) – Head-to-head snowboarding races down a course featuring jumps, berms and rollers.
- Slopestyle – A judged skiing or snowboarding event where athletes perform tricks on a course of jumps and rails.
A Board with Wheels
- Kite Landboarding – A board sport in which riders stand on all-terrain landboards and use a kite for propulsion to race or perform tricks.
- Skateboarding – Riders perform tricks, lines and optional races on a board with wheels in street or park environments.
- Park Skateboarding – A skateboarding discipline performed in bowl-like parks featuring ramps, curves, and vertical walls for tricks and aerials.
- Freeboard (Skateboarding) – A skateboard designed to mimic the feeling of snowboarding on pavement, featuring additional caster wheels for sliding and carving.
- Freestyle Skateboarding – Performing flat-ground tricks on a skateboard, emphasizing style, creativity and technical difficulty rather than racing.
- Land Kiteboarding – A land variant of kiteboard sports where riders are pulled by a power kite while standing or riding on wheeled boards across firm surfaces.
- Land Windsurfing – A windsurfing adaptation on wheels using a sail rig mounted to a wheeled deck to travel across land using wind power.
- Vert Skateboarding – A form of skateboarding performed on a half-pipe, where riders launch into the air to perform spins and tricks before landing back on the ramp.
- Streetboarding – Riding a board designed for urban terrain, performing tricks on stairs, rails and other street features.
- Artistic Skateboarding – Skateboarding discipline emphasizing creativity and style.
- Mountainboarding (Offroad Boarding) – A board sport using an all-terrain board with large wheels, often ridden on dirt slopes or grassy hills.
- Longboarding – A skateboard sport using longer boards for downhill racing, freeriding and cruising, often emphasising speed control and carving technique.
- Streetluge – Downhill racing lying supine on a wheeled board, reaching very high speeds on closed road courses.
Other Board Sports
- Kiteboarding – A family of kite-powered board sports (on water, land or snow) combining kite control, board skills and aerial manoeuvres.
- Sandboarding – A gravity sport in which riders descend sand dunes on a board, similar to snowboarding.
- Skysurfing – A skydiving discipline where the jumper attaches a board to their feet to perform surfing-style aerobatics during freefall.
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