I have been riding for about a month and i go riding every other weekend at my friends house, but the few times of the month i am out on the water i ride for about 8 hours in a weekend, but on the weeks im not at my friends house my board sits and rots and my parents dont seem to care, every time i ask to go they say "no wakeboardings a waste" and i dont know what to do any help would be great....Thanks

keep ridin at ur bros house, focus on school on the weekdays,get straight A's, get ur lisence,do u have a boat?,take a boat out wen u want cuz ur parents cant say ur wasting time cuz u have everything coverd. thats wut i wish i could do..alas im too caught up in boardin....so ya do u what im tryin to do, get ur own shiot goin for ya. <BR>later

Andrew, <BR>The thing is, don't let their pecimistic attitude get to you. Do your own thing. Just cause you won't conform to their skiing only attitude doesn't mean your a rotten rebelious child, it just means you like a little sideways action. Just keep riding and keep progressing. When they finally do get the hint that you love riding and are becoming very skilled at it, they will be absolutely blown away. <BR> <BR>Good luck and happy riding. <BR>Lloyd

"no wakeboardings a waste" <BR> <BR>Somehow, I have a feeling this is not what they actually say. <BR> <BR>Lloyd, where did it say his parents were skiers and had an attitude?

well, he didn't actually, but usually when i hear someone encountering a conflict like that, it's usually their parents want them to do one thing, but they want to do another. Plus, he said that when he asks his parents to go, so it gives the impression that they have a boat, but they just don't want him wakeboarding for some reason.

Been there.... Once you get ur license things start to open up, hang in there...

Damn Parents! <BR> <BR>Oh wait, that's what my son says.....

actually my dad used to do a lot of slalom skiing and wanted me to do that instead so could inherit his 1980 ski.

Well my dad is awesome...with a little pushing over the past 3 yrs, he has: <BR>Bought a malibu response lx <BR>Allowed us to add 2000lbs of water to the boat <BR>add tower speakers <BR>and is going to let us use the boat freely this summer as much as we like (I am still coughing up gas money) <BR> <BR>The biggest thing is getting the parents hooked. By a wakeboard DVD and let them watch it (hopefully it wont include getting drunk and smashing faces into sliders...big turnoff for the rentals). Show them some of the magazines, and #1 live the sport. Show them that you love it. My dad saw that I had a true passion for the sport. I used to be a fat a$&amp; obese american kid. I lost 65lbs for wakeboarding. Do you think my dad got the message? <BR> <BR>(Message edited by malibuboarder75 on February 21, 2005)

Ask your dad to go with you! <BR>Get him hooked like my kids did to me!

Andrew- I had(and sometimes still do have) the exact same problem. I decided about 2 years ago that I wanted to take wakeboarding seriously and get a job in the industry, even ride professionally. At first my parents just blew it off as some passing fad. They thought I would get over it in a year. I didn't. I could really tell that the idea of me getting into an industry that doesn't necessarily pay great money to pro riders and photographers/movie makers(my other great hobbies) scared them. They activly discouraged me and limited my access to our boat. But I just kept at it and stayed out of trouble and they have since gotten used to the idea(for the most part). The best advice that you can get has already been given to you by these guys. Just live the sport %100 of the time and be willing to show some good faith to them(i.e. get good grades, stay in school, whatever your parents expect of you in other areas) and eventually they will see that your love of the sport isn't going to just go away. Good luck!

Heres a twist to this- a few years back, my kids got me to try wakeboarding. I traded in the big boat for a wakeable boat w/tower etc. Now the kids got bored with it and gave up-I just keep going and enjoy it with my friends.

Andrew, I'm 49 and used to get up every morning and hit the slalom course before work for about 5 years. I was skiing 32 off at 34MPH when I switched to wakeboarding. You can tell your dad that you got it from the voice of experience that slalom skiing doesn't even begin to compare to wakeboarding. Also if your dad thinks his 1980 stick is worth inheriting then he needs to get back in touch with the sport. Better yet he should learn to wakeboard. <BR> <BR>The only thing slalom skiiing has going for it is it's an excellent exercise. Just not very fulfilling as a hobby/sport.