It seems like some hockey players turn out to be great wakeboarders, (Rusty Malinoski, Chad Sharpe) so how good do you think this guy would be as a wakeboarder with his body awareness and outright athleticism <BR> <BR><a href="http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&amp;safe=off&amp;client=firefox-a&amp;rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&amp;hs=oNi&amp;q=alex%20ovechkin%202%2 F18%20goal&amp;um=1&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;sa=N&amp;tab=wv#" target="_blank">http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&amp;safe=off&amp;client=firefox-a&amp;rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&amp;hs=oNi&amp;q=alex%20ovechkin%202%2 F18%20goal&amp;um=1&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;sa=N&amp;tab=wv#</a> <BR> <BR>Can you think of any other pro athletes that could throw down on a wakeboard if they learned?

LBJ!

nate robinson...discussion over.

Not to discredit your theory or anything, but the two riders you listed are both Canadian. Up north hockey is HUGE, I actually think you're not even allowed to live in Canada if you don't like hockey. <BR> <BR>But anyways to answer your question, Athleticism has alot do with wakeboarding, and then it doesn't. I've seen my most unathletic friends get up and learn to wakeboard. But being athletic helps with the learning curve. Any professional wakeboarder has a decent amount of athleticism. <BR> <BR>(Message edited by lakemiltonwake08 on February 19, 2009)

hahaha nick yeah living in Montreal, you're can't graduate from highschool if you don't play hockey or don't worship the Montreal Canadiens ;)

Shaun White

i played hockey for 4 years. and im not even in the same league as them. hahaha

Yes, it is true that there is a law here in Canada that if you do not like hockey, you must be deported to Alaska and remain there for five years before coming back. You also have to repeat every english sentence in french. <BR>I have a friend who is a great athlete (on a soccer scholarship right now), who cant wakeboard to save his life. So athleticism does count, but it is obviously not everything. I am assuming a general boardsport background would have some benefit, although not as much as some would think.

haha I wish I lived in Canada, I love hockey almost as much as wakeboarding. Sound points though about good athletes not having the ability to wakeboard.

I play hockey, granted its the CA version and I'm on wheels (talk smack if you must). But my opinion is that hockey is incredibly good for body awareness and balance. You have an idea of how you can contort and stay on your feet, thats huge in wake. I believe the Soven family is also big into hockey, so add them to the list that hockey may have helped. <BR> <BR>Lastly, Ove is a beast and that was a sick goal. The keeper should have made a better play on the puck but Ove is committed and damn talented!

I've played hockey for over a decade, and I find that I pick up board sports rather easily, although I don't know how much of this I can attribute to wakeboarding

Haha, a soccer player are we Big Heavy? The Canadian word for keeper is goalie.

gangstar, I really don't think that Lyndon B. Johnson would be a good wakeboarder. I think Grover Cleveland might be better.

Rafael Nadal. <BR> <BR>If athleticism correlates to being a great wakeboarder.

I grew up playing hockey, still play once a week, and have a hard time relating the two sports. All I can say is i'm a much better hockey player than wakeboarder - due to amount of time spent on the ice vs. water. I think it's more to do with your surroundings growing up. For me in Northern MN on a lake. Only makes sense I love both.

I took a couple CFL/NFL players for a day on the lake about 3 years ago, including a cpl. lineman tipping the scales around 300#...I was overwhelmed with how easy it was to get each one of them up and riding. I thought for sure they would "fight" the boat like many beginners do, but each guy just chilled out and let the boat do the work. One guy, David Bennifield, ( CFL veteran, i think he played w/ the 49'ers for a bit too..)lives in Whistler during the offseason and is a regular snowboarder and skater, so he took to the water fairly well. It was a pretty good day with some trophy wives, Coronas, and a cpl. 300# faceplants. BTW, none of these guys had any watersports experience at all, and the biggest challenge was getting the pansies in the water.

I think Elvis would've been a pretty gnarly wakeboarder

Yeah I have played both extensively. I like to call them Keepers, they are weird enough and if you can mess with them in any way I am all about it. <BR> <BR>How is it Canada? Are goalies always kinda weird? Little quiet? I mean who gets into hockey to play goal? BORING!! <BR> <BR>To get on subject, I'd like to see some of the huge basketball players try to ride. Faceplants from 7 foot would hurt.

Elvis Thin or Chucky? He cold of been a regular Parks Bonifay.

I'd like to see Manute Bol give it a whirl...if his ankles didn't just snap in half haha

Bo Jackson...... end of thread.

these are some funny suggestions, even funnier cause they tried to get manute bol to play hockey as a publicity stunt after he left the NBA.

Dude Chance you totally stole mine! Bo Knows Wakeboarding! GAME OVER! MY Techmo Super bowl team is still undefeated!

GO SHARKS!!!!!

this isn't an athlete but just because its him, Chuck Norris

I agree with Randy, Shaun White would kill it on a wakeboard.

i think some people are just meant to be in boardsports. playing hockey helps with the athleticism but if you don't do any board sports thats not going to help you. <BR>Umali is right though, nate robinson if he got any practise would probable be able to go HUGE.

This is also the reason we see gymnests and divers excelling at wakeboarding. They have the air awareness, all the need to do is learn the fundamentals to get them in the air. <BR> <BR>While Ovechkin is an amazing goal scorer I would think that goaltenders would make for better wakeboarders. They truly throw themselves through the air to grab that frozen piece of rubber. <BR> <BR>Trapeize artists would likely be up there, and some martial artists. As mentioned above snowboarding is another obvious. Dare we say it? "trick skier's" <BR> <BR>The one downfall of being an athlete for some people, when they learn how to wakeboard they try to wrestle the boat no matter what you tell them. Others have awkward body positions or habits that take awhile to break.

You will never see anyone wakeboard like a professional bull rider. Bull riders are taught at birth, never to let go of the rope. Ross Coleman and his crew from Oregon are funniest guys to watch on the water. These guys fall, get dragged for 20 - 50 yards and never let go. But they pop right back up. Great stuff!

Minnesota is the state of Hockey!

Nintz has a good point. MN is like Canada junior when it comes to producing hockey talent. Good wake talent too, right Andy?<img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/clipart/happy.gif" border=0>

Minnesota is definitely the state of hockey. <BR>they've sold out every single home game since they became a franchise. not even any of the canadian teams have done that.

^^LOL, you must be kiddin' , right??? ever heard of the Montreal Canadiens aka sold out for the past 15 years?

Yes Minnesota is a hockey state for sure. I'm sorry though, it will never rival any part of Canada.

We took out a few bull riders/rodeo guys last year that were friends of my cousin they were insane. <BR> <BR>zero form, ugliest riding ever, never been on a wakeboard, hitting the wake as hard as they could and landing in the flats. I don't think they landed one jump but it was wildly entertaining. <BR> <BR>Zero concern for their health or well being.