Any help for 13 year old getting up???

My 13 year old son is having a hard time getting up. We are using a CWB Vortex and SOL. He gets up to a sitting position and then falls forward or lets go of the rope. I have been trying to explain to him that he needs to use some strength to help himself up...He is getting frustrated anybody have any suggestions? He is starting with his knees close to his body. This is frustating, everyone else is having fun boarding but he is getting upset because he can't get up.

just sit him on the ground at the house. Reach down and grab his hands and pull him up. In order to do that, you will have to pull on him and he will have to bring his butt to his ankles with his feet staying in one place. Then when he feels his balance, he will stand up. Then do it again and as he stands, practice turning his body like he is trying to wakeboard. It is the same thing. Basically, you are not generating the power to pick him up, he is using you for a little body position change to get his body on top of his feet. Should happen very easy. Then try it again for comparison, but, this time have him stiffen his legs and see what it takes to stand up. It will not happen and if you could pull that hard, he would probabely fall right over to his face.

Once you get to the water, let him get ready and then start idling the boat. He will get the feel of the water flowing around the board and will keep it stable. Then add just a little more idle speed to the point you see him working to keep the board under him. Eventually you will be at the point where he can not hold on to the rope and keep the board under him so he may feel like he can stand at that point. Usually I can see when they are at that point and I will go ahead and hit the gas because the board is where it is suppose to be and the rider has it stable and is ready to stand up. You can play around with this and other techniques but I found most people do not know that balance point until they get to play with it a time or two. Then once they get up, it is like they have been doing it forever.

Have fun.

OH...He may start with his knees close to the body, but, a lot of new people will stiffen their legs as soon as the boat pulls them. Also, make sure you have a non stretch rope or that can be giving bigger people fits.

try this... some time haveing a good teacher helps....
1) Go to: www.cwbwakeboards.com
2) After the page loads look at the toolbar at the bottom of the page. It has: Board, Bindings, Accesories, Dealers, Team, News, Videos, and Rider Support.
3) Click on the "Video" button and let it load.
4) Use the scroll bar on the right side of the page and scroll down to the very bottom where it says "How to get up"
5) click on whichever program you want to open it with and have your son watch it as many times as it takes for him to understand exactly how to do it.
6) Get out on the water and use your new knowledge but remember to relax and let the baot do all the work.

Hope this helps!

Chris

im the same age as him and what i do is i bring my knees so there as if u were sitting in a chair thats the angle it is in the water and i bring my hands close to my chest and that helps my upper body rise then at about that timei just stand up and i find that the board just seems to turn by itslef and just tell ur son to keep at it and he will get it

try sitting him down at the end of a dock and try pulling him up like that thats how i learned

ya it sounds like he is letting the force of the boat pull his body forward, he wants to be still and not lett any part of his body move around, backward, foward, or side to side. have him hold onto the handle and put is thumps touching the toeside edge of the board, and tell him to keep his thumbs there, it may help so he isnt going forward or backward. deep water starts are definetly the hardest, but to learn to get up in deep water your better off. if he is realy pissed, have him start in shallow water of sitting on a dock.

hes pulling his arms in, im 13 too and i bring my friends and they do the same thing and it makes them fall over the board

We been using a barefoot bar/boom to teach. It also keeps the rider close to the instructor. The rider can then use their arms to lift themselves while traveling at slower speeds. Once the rider is up, progressivly give more speeed until up to normal boarding speed. That seems to give the adults enough feedback/knowledge to use the rope. The youger children(6 years) we have been using a short rope off the barefoot boom before progressing to a standard rope.

If you don't have a barefoot boom, try shortening the rope, this should give extra lift out of the water.

Also post a thread early this year about teaching, and got many great replies. Search for teaching

Check this thread

http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/65919/107609.html

RELAX!

I tought 3 20-22 year old girls to board yesterday. Tell your son to quit forcing it. Just relax and hold onto the rope. Don't stand up too early and let the boat and board do the work. Everyone who I have ever taught to board, over 20 people, have said once they stopped fighting it, getting up was easy. Good luck!

ya just tell him to let the boat pull him up and dont worry about getting the board around. for me anyways the board turns by itslef or it seems that way anyways. what mark said hes got to relax and dont think too much about getting up i was like that last year i would think to much and i wouldnt make it up and it would frustrate me now this year im relaxed and i dont think about getting up too much and i can get up with ease

instead of trying sideways to get up try turning your board a little to the side like a wake ski but not straight up!
-alex-

The past week, we've got a couple of 9 year olds and couple of 12 year olds up for the first time. They were doing the same as your son, falling over forward. They also learned on the same board as you, the CWB SOL.

Here is what we did...tell him to sink his back foot and try to angle the board where the back foot is sunk in the water and the front foot is out (similar to what alex said above). The real kicker to getting them all up was I told them to straighten their back leg (not completely straight but with a slight bend) and bend the front leg as much as posssible. They all popped right up after doing this. This forced them to keep the weight on the back foot which kept the front lip from catching the water. TRY IT...I GUARANTEE YOU IT WILL WORK!

The SOL is kind of a big board for a 12 year old (kinda bulky) so if he is still having problems try using a smaller board if you have one in the boat. I've been able to get up everyone having troubles with this method thus far...everyone has been smiling instead of going home mad!

He will probably shoot off to the side but if he does tell him not to panic because he will straighten up outside the wake. I let them ride around like that for a while to get a good feel of the board and ride and then work with them on straightening out the board behind the boat.

Good Luck!

(Message edited by Volfan on July 02, 2004)