help my buddy <backroll vid>

My buddy has been trying backrolls for a while now. I've told him everything I can and I think its just up to him now to land it but maybe you guys could give him some suggestions..

here is a clip of a backroll he tried just the other day..

http://photos.wakeboarder.com/showphoto.php?photo=4156&password=&sort=7&thecat=3 107

any pointers?

A few things, (1) he's squatting a bit off of the wake which is causing him to fall back on the landing, (2) he has to bend his knees once he sees the water to get the board underneath him, and (3) tell him to keep his elbows in through the whole rotation. Have him try to keep both hands on the handle with his elbows anchored at his side. When he lets one arm out the handle has a tendency to pull away from his body, slowing down his rotation. On a smaller wake, you want to get really tall off the wake and get all the rotation early, so you can slow down at the end. Other than that, it looks alright.

From the video, I could see 2 things that I'd work on... Approach speed, and his handle control.

Tell him to concentrate more on his heel side edge. He doesn't need that much speed, but he is going to have to put more weight on his heels. Doing so will give him more height off the wake, which makes the landing a lot easier. Approaching the wake with too much speed makes the landing a lot harder. Most riders tend to let off their edge, which reduces the pop off the wake.

Also, as soon as he lifts off the wake, he needs to hold the rope steady... It looks like he is trying to use the rope to make him spin. I've found that if I keep my elbows locked at my side, the handle in front of my belly button, that I can land them every time. The spin is initiated by throwing the board up and away, while turning your head to your left shoulder... Using your arms to muscle you around will never work on the back-roll.

Also, try having him do a wake jump 1st, concentrating on the heel side edge. After he makes a god wake to wake jump, with good height, have him try the back-roll... There's a good chance he'll land and ride it out.

Once he lands one, he'll land a 100... It's not too hard of a trick, but you have to stick to the proper technique, and most importantly, in this case, the heel side edge. Let me know how it works out… He’s really close; it shouldn’t be too long till he lands one.

Blake

Sean can you elaborate a little on the first tip you gave. I'm having similar problems with always landing on my butt with the board way out in front of me. Are you saying that you should have your legs straight when you start the trick? Thanks

After watching it again, he isn't so much squatting at the wake as leaning too much away from the wake (not enough weight on his front foot). If you have quicktime, watch it and pause at his approach. Scroll forward from there and you can see his back leg is bent as he rides up the wake, but his front leg is almost completely straight. His body position when the board is at the top of the wake is something along this angle: \ which is bad because it takes away from the height of the jump, and causes you to land back on your heels. Tell him to work on having more weight on his front foot and what Blake said about using his heels to take the trick up higher. I'm not saying to have your legs either straight or bent, but you need to have more of weight balance and you should keep your hips more in line with the board than he did.

I agree with Sean completely, and would say to not anticipate the roll too early. Let the wake give you the pop 1st, then throw your board up and away. I think the reason you are falling on your butt is due to lazy handle control. In the video, he lets his handle move out and up, which makes it hard to land. I found a couple videos of a guy attempting the back-roll, although he doesn't land it, he has really good control of the handle. Look at where the handle is in comparison to where his body is rotating. Also, look at the height he gets. I found this video on the Wake World site, and although I don't know who the rider is, he has good technique from edging to rotating... I actually think he's getting a little too much pop to land the back-roll. If you find yourself in the same shoes, or bindings, try not cutting out so far, and slowing down just a little. Take a look, hopefully it'll help you out. Once you get to the site, click on the cassette icon in the center of the screen.

<http://www.wakepics.com/view_single.php?medid=8726>
<http://www.wakepics.com/view_single.php?medid=8725>

Blake

I didn't mean to post both videos. Look at the top link, you'll see what I'm getting at. Everything is perfect, but I think he edges a little too hard. Hopefully with that you'll be able to land one.

Blake