Competitive Wakeboarding

NaRC P rider · Newbie Joined: 22 Aug 2003 Posts: 33 City: Narcoossee

Is it just me, or is it crazy just to wakeboard for competition? I think it's wrong to learn a trick just for the sole reason that you need to have it in a contest! What do you guys think about this idea and the people that hold it.

liquidforce519 · Soul Rider Joined: 02 Oct 2003 Posts: 447

your exactly right man you should wakeboard beause you love it not for money

Scott0 · Outlaw Joined: 29 Sep 2003 Posts: 160

dude u got to do it only for the competitions

deepstructure · Newbie Joined: 06 Aug 2003 Posts: 17 City: los angeles, ca

i dont know anyone that wakeboards just for competitions.

ive done a few comps, and its definitely a different type of riding. you really need to practice and have down a run you can rely on if you want to do well. its a completely different style - unless you're so damn good you can just go out there and throw down anything.

i'm sure most people - even the pros, mostly ride for the fun of it and also work on their comp style. like i said, never even heard of someone riding only for comps.

Tigerblp · Posted: Nov 06, 2003 8:16 pm Post subject:

riding for comps is definatetly a whole different ball game. I competed in a few this season and have a bunch of friends who went to a lot more, and i remember int he beginning, they were all telling me how they couldn't wait for season to be over, and I never understood. Then, come october, nearing the last comp of the season, I found myself WANTING it to be over too! I was tired of only doing th same tricks and not really trying to learn anything new because it might set my run off. Free riding is definatetly the way wakeboarding was meant to be done.

Chad Forrest · Newbie Joined: 28 Oct 2003 Posts: 11 City: Boynton Beach

Competition riding takes a special kind of persom. Some people are just born to be competeive, they have to prove to not just themselves but also everyone to else that they can hold there own in anything that they put their mind too. But dont be too quick to call these people insecure for it is just an inner drive that is born upon them. Its a natural instinct, a drive , a desire to be the best at what ever they choose. These people general put a lot of pressure on themselves which can lead to failure/frustration just as it leads some to success. When the success does finally come dont hate on them for the way they act, they had already envisioned themselves winning, they expect nothing less of themselves. Try not to see this as cockiness but as confidence in their ability and effort that they put in their riding. These riders are never satisfied with second place for that means they lost, someone else had a better session. Competion becomes a constant motivation for it gives us a chance to prove ourselves with eveyone in front of us at the same time with the spotlight on us. This is the moment we love the chance were our true love in our life is revealed and portrayed on the water. We love to free ride too dont get me wrong nothing gets me more amped to ride than a bunch of hot chicks in the bleaechers or on the beach to go out and bust stuffin front of. The pressure of knowing that everyting is riding on the line during a comp, the adrenaline rush as you start your run and the undescribable stoke of knowing you stood up your runs in the end this is what i live for. I look at wakeboarding as a competive season, free ride season, and a training season. It is wakeboarding from another angle think about. Just my thoughts.
Later
Chad Forrest

03Belmont · Wakeboarder.com Freak Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Posts: 4656

Berley doesn't ride the comps

Tyler*Moore · Guest

03Belmont, yes he does. I some wakeskate, and in some wakeboarding, what about that?

I believe that loving the sport has nothing to do with competeing or not. Cuz if you REALLY love it you want to wakeboard all the time, and if you get money for it and its you job, you get to do it all the time. I think you have to love it more for it to be your job than you do for it to be a hobby. If its your hobby you can quit whenever, if its your job, if you quit you get no money, and if you dont love it then you wont get better and you wont get money. So I think all the pros love the sport. and Im NOT saying you have to be pro or compete to love the sport...so dont jump on me...

JRock*Girl · Wakeboarder.Commie Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 1340

Competeing really pushes peoples riding. I was in the int comp's this year and thought they were a total joke. I ended up going to nationals and placing 3rd which was pretty cool. I didn't have a run planned or anything, I just went out there and had a little fun. It also finally got me to try an invert, i tried a backroll at the end of my run and somehow ended up with a w2w blind 180. I still think of competing as a joke, until you get into pro's divisions, than its a little more serious. But competitions are really just set up to push each other and have a little bit of fun. I didn't plan my whole season around it. People that do arn't riding for the right reasons. I only competed in enough to go to nationals and thats it. So you basically can't judge someone by whether or not they compete. Very true, there are people out there that need to be the best at everything they do and have to place first, and whatnot, and that do it for the money, but not everyone is like that. Im stoked on 3rd, I could really care less if i got 1st. I was just stoked I landed on my board on the blind 180, and finaly tried something new. Somehow I ride twice as good in competitions, I don't know why, mabye the idea that I only get a 5min ride so I gotta get the most out of it.

Josh R · Posted: Nov 09, 2003 4:48 pm Post subject:

Competition strangles the creativity in wakeboarding.

vance · Guest

Everyone wrote like paragraphs trying to explain what josh R said in 6 words.

projectely4 · Posted: Nov 09, 2003 6:43 pm Post subject:

Scott Byerly hasn't been in a wakeboarding comp for a while. the last one i remember was in 02 at the only slider comp. he did some wakeskating comps last year but did it to push the sport and help get wakeskating more popular.

Partyb · Posted: Nov 10, 2003 8:46 pm Post subject:

Josh, IMO your post is way off base. Competition fosters creativity and forces the sport to progress. The pro's create new harder moves which they can use in competition to win, the spectators see these new moves and want to try them for themselves. Obviously you can be more creative in a free ride session b/c you are not afraid to fall, but eventually those free ride tricks make it into a comp. A competition is the showcase for each riders creativity. Gotta have rules or the judges couldn't fairly judge. And you can't just go knocking competitions b/c they are in every sport, that is the nature of sports. Every time your buddy throws a trick you can't do, don't we wanna go out and nail it too? that's a mini-comp. But to each his own.

Partyb · Posted: Nov 10, 2003 8:47 pm Post subject:

Oh yes, forgot one other very important aspect. Competitions are excellent for goal setting. "I wanna do a whatever by the next comp." this is very important.

Josh R · Posted: Nov 10, 2003 9:04 pm Post subject:

Competition promotes the mentality of trying to squeeze as many tricks that will please others into a 30 second pass. Frankly, that idea makes me wanna hurl.

It fosters a LACK of creativity for my mind. "Rider X (I like that) landed such and such in his comp. Now I'd better go do it the same way." (Maybe this is your idea of progression, it isn't mine.) Creativity is going out there and creating something that is totally your own, something that pleases you, something that make you smile. I don't like the idea of wakeboarding to please others and score points.

The very idea of going out there to compete against others kinda loses me too. I don't dig that hard bitten mentality. I'm down for getting out there and riding with my mates and having a good time, rather than dealing with the politics and BS competition between people that stems from comps.

But yeah, thats just me...

koltman · Addict Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 902 City: Sydney/Orlando

I went into my first big contest this year (competed in JR Men in UK Nationals, and came third). Before I didn't really like the idea too much of these big contests for the reason of lack of creativity, but I found it great fun, and such a huge party. And alot of the people there felt the same but they told me its not one or the other its both. They all live to freeride and express themselves, but contest are part of the sport and a fun thing to do. and they promote the sport in a good way, and thats whats so great about contests to me, getting more people into wakeboarding.

Tyler*Moore · Guest

I also believe they need to get away from the mobe fest is is. Make style and crativity worth ALOT more. Make it based on how the trick flow, and how good they look. Not how many mobes you can huck...

Stephan · Guest

I think Competitions have their place, and for some this is not how they choose to represent their riding. That's cool but so is getting together with a bunch of people of all different skills and just having a day at the lake. I've done a few and had a great time, tried some new things to see if it would work and have currently never won, a second, a third and few unranked finishes. Granted I'd much rather go out and kick it on the lake for a day, but competitions are just another way to mix it up. To top it off people usually drink a fair amount and they sometimes have a bikini/binding lube wet t-shirt contest at the end, which is fun Wink

Anyhoo, peace

freerider4 · Posted: Nov 11, 2003 5:50 pm Post subject:

I think competitions are fun because I like to not only have fun but compete against other people. Any sport I haveever done there is just something about competing that gets me going just the crowd and everything going on gets you pumped up.