Is wakeboarding a sport or a lifestyle?
 

This question came across my mind. What is it to you? Is wakeboarding a sport or a lifestyle?

A lifestyle.
The whole bundle of being on the water, with friends and family, pushing yourself to be a better rider, teaching others the sport, helping and receiving help from other riders, sunrise and sunset on the water, personalizing your boat....it all goes together.
And it is a GREAT lifestyle to be able to choose!

Both.

^^^ +1

100% sport. when we go out. we rarely bring friends, we dont party or drink and rarely even turn on music. where there for one reason, to ride and progress. 2-3 days a week 4-6 hours a day. the boat never turns off, either myself or the g/f is riding.

Lifestyle.

Sport is a part of that lifestyle.

Its 1/2 sport, 1/2 life, and 1/2 style :)

Wakeboarding is my life.

I agree it is a sport. 35 years old, not into the whole "flat bill" or saying "dude" and "sick" all day. It is a very soulful sport that you can do for lots of years and have a great time with it. You can teach kids life lessons just like any other sport, so I say sport. Part of that is I just don't want into the whole "lifestyle" of being the "dude sick man" thing.....

I was just thinking about this the other night (Great minds think alike, right?).

I think that there are people who wakeboard, and then there are wakeboarders.

The difference being that to the former, it's just a board that, like a ski, kneeboard, or even tube, one can ride behind a boat. The latter on the other hand, sees it as a sort of art form, an output of personal expression. Neither view is better or more proper. The main difference between the two seems to be involvement in the community. In this sense, it can be said to be either one or the other, or both, depending upon one's commitment.

Now let's go ride, m'kay?

"I think that there are people who wakeboard, and then there are wakeboarders."

Very true, also why I find in wakeboarding there isnt so much of an age line, for instance in my crew we range from 16 to 36

P.S.
Wait a minute...
http://plrr.net/images/seewhatyoudid.jpg

If you're being serious... that sounds boring man. Part of my love for the sport is road tripping with my crew, acting like little kids, eatin dollar menu, meeting TONS of new people in new towns, shredding a million different spots with a million different people, hitting on random chicks that want nothing to do with us because we haven't showered in a week, sleeping on floors and couches, forcing that morning session when you're super hungover, hearing "ya'll aint from around here" at every gas station stop.... Travel and networking is where its at... believe me, we "do work" while we are on the water.... we ride as much and push as hard, if not more than any crew out there... but the reason we keep coming back is the friendships and the fact that when you ride, you forget about all the bullsh*t that the world has to offer.

Just my $0.02 - put me on the lifestyle list ;)

Lifestyle all the way. I'm with Luker. Its about the riding and the friendships. I love riding but when I'm not on the board I like to be drinking a beer getting stoked on other peoples riding. Theres nothing I like more then spending the whole day on the boat with a bunch of friends riding and hanging out. It really is a way of life.

Maybe I should re phrase my "Wakeboarding is my life"

For me I live wakeboarding everyday. Besides my family it's the most important thing that I do. If someone asked me who I am I would say, Husband, Father, wakeboarder. I am constently planning my next Pull, my next trick, my next contest, my next wake trip. Since I was 14 years old wakeboarding has been my sole focus. I would say truly it's how I identify myself. I dont only love riding, I love talking about riding, heck I follow wakeboarding more intensely than most people follow football. Every morning the first thing I do is log on to this site, then Alliance, WBM, SBC, noaa.com (to check the wind) and finally Chad Sharpes Blog. Its the first thing I want to look into every morning see what's new.

When I was like 14 or 15 I hit a cross roads. That cross roads was 'time,' if I wanted to spend as much time as I wanted to on the water I need to start making sacrafices with other things i Liked, no more football, no golf, no baseball, little to no skateboarding, no Hockey. By 16 I needed to get a job to buy wakeboards and gas, so I searched for wakeboard friendly job and got one working at a Marina where I could teach lessons and wakeboard everyday, granted for minimum wage, but at least I was surrounded by water and wakeboards, sure I could have made more money at McDonalds but I didnt care I was on the lake everyday all day, and they paid me for it. By college, I had a choice stay in MN and save cash to go to wake camps all winter, or move to FL to go to college. Know what kind of student I was I knew I need my folks around to keep me focused on school so I stayed in MN. I pouned out school got better at wakeboarding, got sponsored, etc. Then I graduated and Busted out to Cali the next winter. After winter I would move back to MN to ride with my friends and push the MN scene, then winter hits and repeat, going back out to Cali. You get the point.

So in my opinion if your making sacrafices for your sport, then it becomes your lifestyle. Now I am 30 have a family and still identify myself as a wakeboarder, I alway will. There is nothing I love more than the pull of the boat, I could just go do wake slayshes the rest of my life and be happy. I dont really do any other sports, sure I snowboard and skateboard but they just fillt he void when I cannot wakeboard. Its my focus, my.life, hell its my first love!

Sorry for the rant!

LOL yes i was serious. time on the lake, riding and landing/learning new tricks is never boring especially when sharing it with the one you love. ;)
plus were old (both 29) :D

Scott, you and I are the same age. Like you, I'm not into the "flat bill" or saying "dude" and "sick" all day either. But that doesn't mean it's not a lifestyle to guys like us. It just means that we don't identify the lifestyle as "dude sick man." You and I both spend a lot of time on this site, and other wakeboarding sites as well. What does that say???

I am not a very good wakeboarded (just started last year), but I think about it every day and look for excuses to spend money on it (new gear, boat upgrades, etc.). I look at the 7-day forecast many times a day, wondering when we'll see sunlight in Porltand so I can sneek out of work early for an afternoon on the water. I even track water levels, temps, flow, etc. at my favorite riding spot. I bet you are the same way or you wouldn't be here so much.

So the way I define the "lifestyle" is exactly what Meghan said...

DBC..... ouch you got me there. I do spend alot of time thinking about it and when I am not, I am here reading about others riding or watching videos. So I get you there. I guess I am just a bit older than most who start. Like you it's been one year for me. I can't even clear the wake yet, but damn I love it. So, I get that. Just dropped a crap load of money on a new Epic boat, so I may have to change my thinking. I may fall into that lifestyle, just not the "dude" flat billed 21 year old.

it's my passion it's the new thing for me to master. i'm all about the next pull the next video and helping others enjoy it as a lifestyle or a sport.

There are many times when it is just my brother and I going out for an afternoon set. More times than not, the driver (he or I) end up missing the other one land a trick or trying something new. I mean it is fun and all, but we always seem to have a better time when there are more people in the boat. I grew up stay on the lake all day (kneeboarding or skiing in the days before wakeboarding) so I always feel at home on the water. My wife did not spend any time on the lake before we met, so she doesn't quite understand my love for the water. She also doesn't understand how I can take a hard fall and shake it off and give it another go. I guess it is in some of us and not in others.

An important part of my life style and sport of wakeboarding is Lake Powell. Personally i have just about as much love for Lake Powell as i do wakeboarding. it could be just that i grew up here, but the lake just seems to heighten the outerworld experience with a lake that looks like it belongs on mars. sure it can be hard to find perfect reflection glassy days, and gather a crew from the small local scene, but nothing beats shredding the turquoise blue colored water that stands to contrast, but complements the bright orange, red, and brown (and many other shades thereof) canyon walls.

simply just LIFE

It becomes a lifestyle when you change or adapt aspects of your life to do that activity. Not just saying "dude" or what clothes you wear. It's making a choice to live near the water, own a boat, make time to go ride, etc.

to invoke my least favorite phrase, "it is what it is"

Relaxation! I love everything that goes along with it. Spending time on the water with family & friends, Riding a few sets on the cable & just sitting out on the dock listing to the sounds . Watching everyone enjoying the same feeling I was having while out there or even the quite time behind the boat when it's just me & the closest person is a least 65' away. So I guess you could say the lifestyle ....

Take Nitzels post and ad my name to it cause that's how I feel.

I've never really been about the team sports like football, baseball, hockey etc. I have always loved snowboarding and wakeboarding, as well as the other individual sports. I love wakeboarding for everything that comes with it. The nice weather, hangin with your buds, bikini's, and have always just loved being on the water. I have always said if I broke my leg tomorrow I would still be phoning my friends all the time to get out even if I couldn't get behind the boat. No place I'd rather be.

Andy amen to that bro! You pretty much summed up how I would have said it but better

Always been a sports nut but as the years have gone by everything else dropped to the curb, it always comes down to time as you said. So if I have the time I will always pick wakeboarding!

Even my friends have changed gradually because my old crew still love to get hammered every weekend, which I used to do once upon a time. These days though if I drink the night before, stay up till crack of dawn, I cant ride or if I do its a lousy set. So I make the choice to not go out or else leave very early. Funny thing is you get the label as the "boring" guy but it blows my mind. I mean whats more boring, getting trashed or throwing down on the water? What takes more discipline and focus? Whats more rewarding than stomping a new trick? Nothing else I do can compare with that sweet rush of adrenaline.