Lessons - are they worth it?

[Trainwreck]

I found a local spot that offers lessons and has an awesome pro shop. The place is called M2sports. Their website is the same w/.com at the end. They are in the Houston TX area. Anyone used them before?

I am thinking of taking some lessons and wondered if you guys thought they'd be worth it. I am a beginner, can't clear W2W every time, but have landed it once or twice. Mainly just looking for some guidance in what I'm doing wrong.

thanks!

[midwesty]

i would say go for it

not sure on the price but if you got the cash do it once or twice, see if it helps you and then go back if you want. its not like you are gonna get worse from going there

good luck

[Enzoborder230]

yah, they're worth it, but yo cant be afraid to push yourself, and get the balls to try new stuff or else it's pointless.

[Dragonlady8]

Trainwreck, Have you tried the site GCWA.com ? I'm sure you can get much better information there.

[CaM2816]

Trainwreck, I dont know who is giving the lessons but here in the Northwest we have a few pro riders that give lessons...2 of them are my good friends I grew up with and they are hella good at what they do. They teach very well and actually took a kid that could only do W2W 180's and after a handfull of lessons won a Northwest sessions tourny. He has a bag full of sick tricks

[cowdoc13]

There is a really good school in Seguin, Texas. Seguin is about 30 miles east of San Antonio on I-10. Below is a link to a thread from back in March about the school and taking lessons. Hope the infromation in the thread helps you.

I my experience, lessons are worth it. They really helped me learn the basics of progressive edge and loading the rope. They provided me with enough knowledge and riding time to practice what I was learning so that when I returned home, I had what I needed to continue to improve my skills on my own. I have not been to any other schools, so I cannot comment about the one in Houston. Sorry.

http://forums.wakeboarder.com/viewtopic.php?t=55532

[vette74]

Trainwreck, I have taken lessons from there before they are pretty good but I have heard some instructors are better than others. They have helped my TS a lot in one lesson. I will probably go back to them later this summer. Also, check out GCWA.com for the local scene.

[Nauty]

[quote="cowdoc13"]There is a really good school in Seguin, Texas. Seguin is about 30 miles east of San Antonio on I-10.

The school in Seguin is Pat McElhinney's school. I just got back from taking a three day with him this past weekend. It was definitely worth the money to take lessons with Pat. I have not taken lessons from anyone else so I really cannot compare Pat to other teachers. However, most other instructors that I have contacted charge $100-$150 per hour. Pat charges $165 for a full day.

A few months ago when I was calling around for info about lessons I was a little aprehensive about Pat's school. Why was he charging so much less than anyone else? Finally, it was the thread on Wakeworld that pushed me to book a three day with Pat. I am VERY glad that I did. Pat charges what others SHOULD be charging. Pat wants people to come back to him. He doesn't want students who come and take an hour lesson and then not really get anywhere. He wants people to leave his school having learned something and having improved their riding. That's hard to do in just an hour.

Before, I had never heard of Pat, so how good could he be? Turns out that in the early days of wakeboarding Pat was one of the pioneers. Pat was one of the original "dirty dozen", the first 12 pro wakeboarders to compete at the first ever pro wakeboarding tounament. Pat was also one of the first wakeboard designer/shapers for O'Brien wakeboards. At Pat's place in Seguin the walls are covered with Wakeboarder Magazine articles and covers form 10 years ago with Pat on the cover as well as the featured rider in the articles. Today we see Parks and Soven on the magazines. Ten years ago it was Pat. The bottom line is Pat has skins on the wall. A lot of them. He has also been instructing for over ten years. That is the most important skin on Pat's wall. He knows how to convey his knowledge in a way that you cannot help but understand.

Pat is still very well in tune with todays riders. Just because you don't hear much about him doesn't mean he isn't in the mix. Last Friday when I got to Pat's place for my first lesson, we are getting the boat ready and here comes a boat cruising by with a second chase boat filming the rider. The rider was Andrew Adkison. Andrew and Gabe Lucas were down at Pat's place along with Wakeboarder Magazine filming a video. It was pretty cool to see a couple of top pros up close and personal.

Many instructional videos and great riders offer some great advice. They tell you to take a progressive edge and edge through the wake. That's all well and good, but it's only half of the story. What are you going to do when you're in the air? How about when you land? The act of a simple HS jump does not end when you leave the wake. That is only half of the jump. Pat covers all of this before you ever step foot in the boat. Pat spent an hour on land explaining his theories about the fundamentals of wakeboarding. After one set I was getting more air and landing in control, than I have ever been able to in the past 2 years of riding. What's more is that I was doing this behind a boat with ZERO ballast! I run my Supra with 2200 lbs of ballast and I was getting bigger air behind Pat's boat with the tanks empty. That goes to show you how important proper technique is to this sport.

Pat trys to book 4 riders to a lesson. Like most everyone else, I was concerned that I wouldn't get enough riding time with 3 other students. WRONG! As it turned out it was just me and one other student. The first day I rode 28 miles (the entire length of Pat's lake 4 times). By day two I was so unbelievably sore that it was truley work to go wakeboarding the next day. Trust me, you WANT 3 other students with you. You will need the break inbetween sets. Not to mention the instruction tips you will pick up from watching Pat critique them.

If you do decide to take a lesson with Pat, book it far in advance and start getting yourself in shape today. Pat filled my head with tons of knowledge. Unfortunately, on day three I was too sore to put it to any use. I was trying to move on to backrolls, but I just didn't have the strength to pull the rope in at the end of my rotation. My tank was out of gas. I really wish I had been in better shape going into these lessons.

One last bit of advice, book your lessons during the week. On the weekends (especially Saturdays) the water can get a bit choppy with all of the boat traffic. During the week Pat's lake is butta. All in all, I highly recommend Pat's McElhinney's wakeboard school. I can't wait for my soreness to go away so I can start putting Pat's advice to good use behind my own boat .

[Ody3]

i did lesson and it really improved the way i boarded......So go for them