Someone get this guy on a wakeboard!!
 

Future Olympian

hopefully his knees and ankles last that long, entertaining though

i love how the title is trick jumping when its really basically gymnatiscs. That was super sick tho- Anybody ever been on one of those floor routine mats? The look like they have some serious spring in them.

Wow! That is unreal.

The push up position to front flip he does around 1:25 is crazy. Basic gymnastics or not, that was pretty entertaining. I don't know anything about gymnastics, but that kids seems pretty talented.

I dunno how bouncing those mats are but grass is pretty solid...

http://youtu.be/IgGv7VwsLRU

http://youtu.be/XuC5ugRq39U

Those spring floors aren't near as springy as they look, they do help with impact though

There is no spoon.

A friend of mine in highschool, her monther was the director of the YMCA so she would let us go into the gynmastics part after they closed all the time to just play around... I disagree with above, those floors are pretty springy... not like a trampoline but I was able to flip pretty easily and I am not that nimble/agile of a guy..... what that said that video was pretty amazing.

.... the best part of going to the Y was they had a smaller floor that was the EXACT dimensions of a badminton court... so we would setup a net and play badminton for hours... it was great since you could dive land on your back and pop up instantly for your next shot. So much fun.

so what your saying is you want wakeboarding to look MORE like gymnastics?! why would you want that?

wow...

Damien Walters' tumbling and his body control is pretty amazing. It would interesting to see what he could do on a wakeboard after a season or two.

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next time I get in bed im gonna try that move^

I'm going to do the first move into my bed.

you're a chiver arent you jaybee?

Instead of looking a twirling gymnastics why can't we be reaching for something like this in wakeboarding??
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-W9EXx7Z1E if we like it or not, other sports influence wakeboarding, and as much as its "its own thing" there are other sports that are very similar, so then the question is, do you want it to look more like gymnastics and rollerblading, or snowboarding and skateboarding?

gymnastics and rollerblading? snowboarding and skateboarding? Where did you come up with these groupings? If anything wake skating is more like skateboarding, and snowboarding and wakeboarding which include flipping have a base in gymnastics... yeahhh, your arguments don't really make sense to me though you make it clear you dislike gymnastics and rollerblading.

The simple truth is snow, skate and wake all have a fundamental link to gymnastics. While flipping spinning may not be what some people want to see, the fact remains that the top of each sport involves inverts and spinning as many rotations as possible. Gymnastics is about explosive power and air/body awareness, essential elements to skate, snow and wake.

Personally I don't want wakeboarding to look like snowboarding, skateboarding or gymnastics. I could give a $#!T what is considered "cool", wakeboarding is its own sport and has its own pros/cons. Now clearly elements that make one good at gymnastics will directly translate into skills that could be used at other sports, denying that doesn't make you rebellious or core, it just makes you oblivious to truth and sound like a whiner.

Dave - What is a chiver? Tried to google it and this is the best I came up with. Describes me almost to a tee: :)

Chivers:

A modest bloke who is a gr8 fan of pies. Loves his dog, and everthin else in life.


Also this was not meant to start some silly debate about whether gymnastics has a place in wakeboarding. I just thought what if someone trained this guy? He would probably kill it on the water.

Darin "The Scud" Shapiro was a Gymnast before he started to wakeboard. Definitely can't hurt to have a gymnast background

all i'm saying is that as wakeboarders we have influence from other sports, you look at the pros that kill it on rails, many of them have heavy snowboard influences - and in my opinion, wakeboarding would benifit more from looking up to sports like skateboarding and snowboarding, instead of gymnastics. Thats all.

Each sport has their own individual style, no arguing that. Sure some may resemble or be influenced off others, but having a gymnastics background before entering another sport is almost always beneficial. Balance, spotting landings, invert and spin control, muscle memory... all of these are big factors. For example, Louie Vito was a gymnast before he was a snowboarder, Darin Shapiro, former gymnast as well. Amber Wing says "gymnastics gave me strength, agility and aerial sense, and also a knowledge of how to get the best performance out of my body while being aware of weaknesses and fixing them before they turn into an injury."

Its not that wakeboarding is looking up to gymnastics as a sport to simulate, but instead, wakeboarders and many other action sports athletes are benefiting from having a background in something that is usually started at a young age, teaching kids key factors that aid in shaping our sports into what they are today.

I know him personally. He has insane abilities that video doesn't even do justice.

I was a competitive cheerleader and have spent many hours on those floors... They are not as springy as one would think. It's all about how you set for your tricks that gives you the height and power

Would agree with Nauti 210. I think a gymnastics background is huge for the fundamentals of body control and core strength which almost any sport could benefit from.

i give up. i give up on wakeboarding and its future. im going wakeskating..

this is nuts. I could only imagine doing all that. I'm speechless. I agree with everyone tho. It would be interesting to see them on a wakeboard.

As a collegiate pole vaulter, I know that really good vaulters are made from gymnasts... Damien would be a beast of a vaulter. Wakeboarder too, but I'm on a hiatus from wakeboarding right now so pole vault my constant focus right now. :)

Flipping and spinning that much would look horrible on a wakeboard, which would defeat the purpose anyways.

Irrelevant. It's not like he'd suddenly invent all kinds of new tricks to mimic his gymnastics floor routine, c'mon! He'd learn the same tricks as everyone else, but probably learn them more quickly. That's also irrelevant, because he will probably never wakeboard and if he does there's little chance you'll ever hear about him.

He's awesome to watch, though!