College and Wakeboarding?

So it’s about that time that I that I start looking into schools and finding out what college I want to transfer to. Now I know that when you go to college the main concern is education…… yeah but I want to have fun to…. I want wakeboard and do the other fun stuff. So i am looking for a college close to lakes, somewhat close to mountains for snowboarding in the winter, and also a good social scene… I live in Nor Cal but don’t really want to go to college around here… Any ideas that are not extremely far away??

You should check out Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and CCAW (Central Coast Association of Wakeboarders)

You might consider schools in Washington or Oregon. We've got lakes and rivers (Lake Washington and Sammamish, Columbia River, Willamette River, private lakes) and of course the Cascades for snowboarding. For year round recreation, it's awesome. Lots of schools to choose from depending on your grades and scores. In the winter we can do both wakeboarding and snowboarding on the same day.

CHEEEEEEEEE-COOOOOOOOO............

I'm going to play the "responsible adult" card here... Choose the school based on your major. Unless you're lucky enough to be well connected or have a wealthy family already, your performance in school could determine your ability to afford a boat and a house in your choice of area when you're out and on your own. In my opinion, a few years sacrifice for school is well worth the benefit that you'll get once you're out of school. That said, I hope you get lucky and find a great school in a good area for riding.

i'm with matt on this one...i made that mistake when i went to play baseball at a school that offered no degrees that i was interested in...i was only focused on staying there 3 years then movin on...MISTAKE...just do some thorough searching and you'll find the school that has everything or at least most everything you're looking for...

check out chico. lake oroville is really close and shasta's not that far eiether. They have a team there. Also you wont find a better school to party at and learn than chico. You get a well rounded education there.

I agree with the above, but you can find both if you look hard enough. Just make sure the first priority is your education. I don't know much about the west coast schools, but you have several options in VA and NC. Virginia Tech, UVA, NC State, UNC, Wake Forrest, etc.. VT and UVA are in the mountains and VT has a wakeboard boat (I saw it in an earlier post). NC State had an old Prostar 190, but they may of upgraded by now. All of these schools have some sort of snowboarding within several hour drive and some are even in the mountains.

At the time, I made the 4 year sacrifice to get my degree at the school that was the best in this major. They only had an old ski boat and didn't like wakeboarders, but now I can buy what I want. Things have changed in the last 5 years with the sport getting bigger and more schools will have wakeboard clubs now so look around.

san diego state has wakeboarding down at mission bay offered as classes and its pretty nice. Also the snow is not too far away from here maybe a couple hrs.

CCAW - ccawakeboarders.com

Cal Poly SLO has one of the largest/most fun clubs in the country. Tons of riding, tons of fun and tons of learning(?). When I was at Poly, we started the club & with help from guys like Morris above, it has taken off. See the last Alliance for proof.

There are probably some decent schools in Arizona, and I think some of the big name schools have wakeboard associations. Listen to the people above choose a school you want to stay at.

Virginia Tech

Pros
Good School(engineering or business)
we have 2 boats,Were sponsored by A MB dealership
Within driving distance of 2 major ski mts

cons
none

asu(wakedevils) would be an option. u of a wouldnt. there are no close lakes.

fyi getting into UVA is extremely difficult. its often referred to as the harvard of the south.

ASU I would say.. They have the ASU wakedevils team. These guys are killer! http://www.wakedevils.com/
Snowboarding is only 2 hours away. We have mountains for hiking, etc...

ahhh you beat me Alan! hahaha

LONG BEACH STATE! we have a really good program, plus we ride in the marine stadium where they held the X Games, perfect water all the time. plus long beach is a sick sick school

You could come up to Central Washington University. We have a club and were going wakeboarding today at Vantage on the Columbia.

go to sac state. we ride at least 3 days a week on butter. we got amazing riders attending and its a chill as crew

What Jason said.. We have a nice SANTE210, always butter on the river, and cheap. Dont froget we placed 3rd at the nationals in Florida!

I'd go to Chico! I may a bit biased since i went there. Close to everything, cheap housing, lots of lakes. You got Oroville, Afterbay, Villa Lagos.

Rod, I still have a hangover from Chico......! And that was a LONG time ago!

You can also hit the snow in no time!

Good luck.

Sac State, baby! Chico is in the middle of nowhere, whereas Sac is at least in civilization. Plus its closer to the mountains than Chico. And our team is better than chicos lol!

ya sac's a good commuter school. If you want the real "College" experiance go to chico! Nah but sac does a lots of good riders.

Hmmmmmmm.........stuck in the middle of nowhere with tons of hotties and plenty of water for boardin'........

(How's the ratio these days?)

Ah the memories! (thank god I met my wife my last semester there...)

Oh, Nick, I'm not hatin' on Sac State....got all my post grad there, but it was night and day for me!

Cal Poly. I was the President of the Cal Poly Wakeboard Club before they turned it into the Central Coast Association of Wakeboarders. The school wouldn't let the wakeboard club put Cal Poly in the name any more for insurance reasons so they started a club "outside" campus, even though its mainly all Cal Poly students. I know a lot of the guys in the club still and its pretty legit. Trips to Nacimiento every weekend. Plus, you can't beat a Cal Poly education.

do the research for yourself and make sure you are positive the schools club/team is what you want and you wont go wrong..... visit the school, meet the club/team and go ride with them. collegiate teams are pretty competitive and you want to be sure you look into all the details before comitting to a school-

also, if you want to know about the asu team send me an email, or get in contact with ben losch from the wakedevils site

Back when I went to UGA, I'd go wakeboarding on occasion with some guys at Clemson. They have a pretty sweet deal as far as lakes go. There's one right nest to campus. They're also reasonably close to the mountains for snow (granted, they're the Appalachians). The social scene is OK if you can get the bar lingo right but I much preferred Athens in that regard. Clemson is supposed to offer a decent education and the Clemson grads I knew all went on to get decent jobs. You'd have the same con as VA Tech... your school would be in the ACC ;)

he's from Auburn, doubt he'll want to stay local for college and go to Sac. Chico is just far enough yet close enough to home as well. plus its a real college town not a comuter school.

Fresno State. theres about 6 lakes within an hours drive. 2 of them within 20 mins. snowboard resort 1 hour up the mountain. ocean 2.5 hours away. couldn't ask for anything more.

This is good thanks guys. Yeah sac state and chico might be alittle close but you never know.

Western Washington University, Bellingham WA has all you can ask for in close proximity...

http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~wskiing/

http://www.mtbaker.us/

***Hjack*** Hey J Wilson I'll be in bellingham Nov 21-23 Are you guys still riding up there? How cold is the water?

SAC STATE WHAT!!! we just won the regionals how could anyone not wanna come here..tahoe is 2hrs away..the river is 15 min. shasta is 4hrs..the delta is 45 min away the best riding spot in the effin nation..cmon bro!

I honestly haven't been on the water since late September. The weather took a turn for the worst pretty early this year and I've been busy working on the boat (new gel coat) every weekend. I'm guessing Whatcom is probably in the low 50's?

Jruss:

Where exactly in Northern California do you live, and how far away would you need to go to get someplace "else"???

I understand the desire to get away from home but there are a number of practical limits on what would be available to you.

How are your grades? Do you have the grades, SAT scores and $$$$ to go to a UC?

For a California resident the California State Universities are one of the best deals in the nation. To go out of state you will pay a lot more for tuition.

You should also consider your major when you choose a school. For many majors it really doesn't matter but if you want a paticular specialty, or even a special emphasis within a major, the choice of school could make a major difference in your future.

That lecture over......
As others have said, Sacramento State has one of the best aquatic programs in the nation. In additon to their "water ski" club/program they have a wakeboard club. My son happens to be the president of the club so I am rather familiar with it.

Many schools have a wakeboard club, but Sacramento has a wakeboard program. The school owns a wakeboard boat, a Super Air Nautique. The club gets to use it several days a week. They normally ride on Lake Folsom but right now they are riding on the river due to the water level being too low on the lake.

The wakeboard club has participated in competitions in Florida. Last spring they competed, and placed third, in the nationals held in San Diego. Just recently Sacramento hosted the western regionals. If you would like to see some pictures of the regionals go look here:

http://jennalangerphoto.pcriot.com/

Chico State is another good spot. They certainly gave Sacramento a run for their money at regionals and they have some awesome riders. I know they have a club but I don't think they have a club boat.

^^^I hope we don't go back to folsom....the river is soooo much nicer.

What tony said ^^. Long Beach State is where its at. especially if your interested in southern cal. We ride in the stadium which is 1.5 miles from campus and usually good water. and one of the better educations you can get at a state school.

Chico for sure, i currently am on the wakeboard team up here and we know how to have fun and ride, and just great people on the team. great school, tons of fun, private membership to villa logos, but it all comes down to preferance, i chose chico over sac bc i am more a fan of a close nit town and not so much a comuter school. and almost all these post are right just go for your major and what you like and it all comes after.

oh i forgot to add the snow isnt to far away about 2 hours, i still ride every weekend and im not on the snow team but i know that they go out in the local mountains and build kickers.

wow, you guys go all out to recruit new members! ;)

you should just come to australia - study at UQ (world class school), and we have the only uni wake/ski club that rides on campus in the country. it's also warm enough to ride year round, so you don't even need snow!

at long beach, it only takes 3 minutes form cmapus to get to the marine stadium where we ride! we ride so much and its so easy cuz we are so close. we are able to get sets in in between classes also, its sick. plus warm weather all year long!