PWT Women

I checked things out Sun. at the finals and all but was kinda bumed to see that there were only to women in the finals where the men had like six I think. I figured that there would at least be 4. Why do you think that the women aren't doing massive trix like 9's and why was the final run so clean cut? Is it always a clear cut winner or was that just a bad day for Melissa? Is it from lack of experience, guts, determination, or none or the above? Sry with all the questions I'm just real curious and would like to see more pro women!

spell check suppose to be only TWO women...

saw a quote from Parks in the Orlando Sentinel today that said "Dallas is womens wakeboarding, it makes everybody else look like they ride like ...girls." Somebody needs to get mad enough to give Dallas a run for her money. There are girls who could do it and I'm ready to see it. If I had more time to ride I'd want to get serious about doing it myself!!!!! (although I'm no where close right now) Props to Dallas for being awesome but don't let her run away with everything! We have to show the guys we can hold our own.}}

I'm not saying the pro women aren't good, but I think they need to step it up. I feel like Dallas Friday is the only girl that is riding on the level of a paid pro. There are honorable mentions like Melissa Marquart and Emily Copeland, but for the most part I think a lot of the girls are selling themselves short.

Honestly.... Most of the girls are so far off Dallas right now I don't know if they can ever catch up. She rides with power and, most importantly, style.

I'd love to see the girls do something other than backrolls, tantrums and scarecrows. I'd like to see some backside 180's, 3's and toe/heelside 5's.

Check out Melissa M's part in Outkast. She does some pretty cool looking grabbed toe 3's, 5's and heel 3's, 5's. Couple heel b/s 3's, too. Some solid looking grabs, including a decent method off the double up. She also hits some all right sliders.

IMO, she has a better "style" than Dallas, even though she doesn't go as big and doesn't have as big of a trick list. What I've seen from Dallas is very "flippy/gymnastic". One example would be last year's PWT in Reno...other girl riders, including Dallas, were throwing heel 3's straight-legged and MM threw hers with a grab. Not that Dallas is not a super good rider, just not my cup of tea.

As someone who rode in pro women this past weekend, I agree totally about the level of riding. I mean Dallas does just totally kill it, but you're right in that everyone else is not far beind. It's a shame Amber Wing is out for a bit, because she probably could have given dallas a run for her money this year. But in watching her run, I was actually a little suprised that she competed against the guys at a stop last year. Melissa threw a wrapped tootsie while dallas did a handle pass one. That right there is something that should be easy enough to fix and make melissa that much harder to beat. But her grabbed 3 was pretty sick, even though the judges would rather see dallas's off 3, which she didn't stick in the finals this stop.

But the judges are right there with you guys. They would love to see more spins from the girls. I mean that's where leslie kent was really strong and hand such an edge over the girls. I think one of the other strongest competitors will continue to be tara this year, she's been working on some wrapped mobes (kind of a contradiction if you ask me) so who knows how that will pan out.

mellisa definately takes the win in the style department. dallas goes huge, but mellisa is clearly west coast style. no other girl is doing grabbed hs flat 5s off the wake.

A free riding stylish Melissa Marquart run is much more exciting than a contest run by any female to me.

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A free riding stylish Melissa Marquart run is much more exciting than a contest run by any female to me.

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i concur.

One of my fav female riders has always been Buster. Although not usually a huge contest rider she could throw down tricks that none of the other girls were doing for years.

I've been thinking the same thing recently. I mean one of the big tricks the girls throw is a wraped KGB, im not sure if a girl has done a passed KGB yet, but that shouldnt be too far off. I mean most of the girls are getting as high as some of the guys when they are doing their tricks, so its not a air problem. I would like to see more girls doing mobes, more raley based tricks. I know girls r not as strong as guys yada yada yada, but saying one of their big tricks is a decent method grab, I have a decent method grab, I wish they would try and make it into a glide, or a 180 of sorts.

On another note, It would be cool if dallas could compete with the guys and win a contest/ tour stop.

that's one thing that i like about this sport because other than being a little less strong than the guys, i figure if women keep stepping it up within a few yrs. they may all compete together instead of men and women rounds. that will be sick if it really does come to that even though i'm not sure a lot of the guys would be liking it too much.

CIE evan, I guess Dallas does ride with power for a girl, but not style. wrapping a mobe (frontside spin) is not style. other girls definitely have better style. then again, style is a matter of opinion.

My opinion is style is everything..
I would much rather see a big late floaty indy three off a double up than a double half cab.. anyday. Same with a 900. The huck and buck method of riding looks to muscled.
Watch Andrew do a simple roll to switch, then watch Parks do the same. Andrew tweaks the grab till the board almost hits his butt, Parks is already thinking about his next huck.
Style is opinion...but this is mine and that's all that matters!

I got so bored during the womens runs this weekend. The riding was so basic. Props to Dallas because she was the only one that went for it. And Melissa the only girl to transfer the rail.

yea free riding is alot different than a contest run, in a contest run style is not the most important thing. i free ride with dallas everyday and she can do any grab any wich way and does a method better than most of the guys can do. on day she was throwing a huge slob off axis 540 off the double up that was just screaming with style....

Style is always a factor, but Dallas is still making it look way easy than the other girls. She's a lot smoother and that's style in itself.

All Dallas has to do is get better on the sliders and she could compete with the men. She could make it to the semi's, depending on the heat.

Hey, Perry...wattup?

Perry - why doesn't she do that stuff in the comps?

Hyperlitenerd - do you have a picture of your decent method?

Methods, done well, are very underrated tricks in my book. Haven't seen too many guys with methods that make me say "wow." Off the double up is even harder. The last good method I saw was Josh Storrer on wakepics. One off the double up. One off the wake. "WOW"

http://www.wakepics.com/view_single.php?medid=13286

http://www.wakepics.com/view_single.php?medid=870

Igor was rocking "WOW" methods back in the day:

http://www.wakeworld.com/Tricklist/TrickTip003.asp


Haven't seen a girl do a really stylie method. Then again, don't get to see too many girls ride as they've lost their parts in videos and even tourneys. So, I'd have to defer to those who ride with the girls on a daily basis.

Hey Perry - nice pic on the Valhalla 133 in this month's Wakeboard Mag! That'll keep your sponsors happy! ;)

Dallas, in my opinion, is miles ahead of the other women competitors. As Jrod said, she makes everything look easier than all the other girls. I watch Maqrquadt's part in Relentless and her tricks just don't look smooth. I have to give her respect for pushing it on rails, but her 'style' doesn't do it for me. Dallas just takes tricks huge and makes them look clean.

The comment earlier about women eventually catching up to men and competing in the same class - I really doubt this will ever happen. Unless some new girls come in and start pushing each other, women riders will never progress to the same skill level as men. Their bodies simply aren't built for it. It's the same in virtually any sport. I'm not sexist, but women plain and simple can't compete on the same level as men. Whether it be bastketball, track, hockey - whatever - the top male athletes are always 'better' than their female counterparts. This isn't because they haven't had time to catch up in skill, but simply because they lack the natural physical ability to compete with men.

If Dallas was going head to head with the pro men in just wake tricks, she would be in the top 20-30. She does stuff that many of the pro men can't do. Her tech skills are way up there with the best regardless of sex.

yea my roomate has pics of it i will try to upload one when he gets home. like i said in comps style is not the most important thing but grabing a flip going as big as she does is hard for her but she is working on it but as far as spins with grabs and other wake stuff she has that pretty much in the bag. i will get some pics..... thanks for the props Chris.....

Not to jack the thread, but..... Perry, man, props on the section in Relentless last year. Sick riding. Tech and stylish. Get some more video parts.

Ok.... Back to the women...

I ride like a girl!

ANyone who thinks Dallas has no style needs to watch her section in Overdue. It's the first girls section I have ever seen where there isn't a big drop off in what you are seeing and she takes everything so HUGE.