Redheaded step-child of board sports?

So I have heard a few comments on here about how the other board sport communities view wakeboarding as the redheaded stepchild of the industry. Some even say that wakeboarders are rednecks. I’m just wondering everyone’s thoughts on this. Why do you think they feel this way?

I think it would help if everyone focused on the sport itself, not the hype surrounding the sport. It annoys me when I see a “hot chick” section on a wakeboarding website or in a magazine. This is unnecessary and a little juvenile IMO.

Also, there’s a lot more to wakeboarding than partying and drinking at the lake and on the boat. I won’t ride with anyone who has a driver who’s been drinking and I don’t like riding with people who are drunk. I wish they would start cracking down more with boat drinking. Getting drunk on a boat is the epitome of redneck.

These are just a few things that I could see to improve the progression and image of wakeboarding. I would love to hear your thought on this.

Russ

i think it would help if people stopped givin' a shiat about what other boardsports think about wakeboarding. i know there are people out there that ride to gain the respect of other boardsports. that's just dumb.

^^^ 2nd that.

I wouldnt say riding to get respect from other board sports necessarily, but getting respect from the same companies that support other board sports to throw money at wakeboarders like they do snowboarders or skaters would be nice. pretty much every pro snowboarder makes a nice living and there are so many pro snowboarders out there. they can go to a rail jam and walk away with 10 gs while a pro wakeboarder can go to a rail jam and walk with a g. it would be nice to have the same financial backing as some of the other board sports which would open up the door for more pros to be able to just ride and live life like a pro rather than having to worry about having another job to pay their bills. this extra backing would also allow for more pro riders out there. and there are a lot of pros that ride to make their tricks look good similar to how pro snowboarders make their tricks look. I have seen an interview with benny g where he says that he wants his tricks to look as fluent as snowboarders make their tricks look.

I've never heard of wakeboarding referred to as that, or that wakeboarders are rednecks. I think any sport this expensive is the complete opposite of redneck. What other sport can you think of that you need a minumum $40-$50k investment?

And why wouldnt you want to see a hot chick page on any website. that may be the dumbest thing i have ever heard. The best part of being on the water is hot chicks in bikinis. so why not see it on a page if you dont like it then dont look at it

Jeremy the problem with that is that our sport is so dang prohibitive. Yeah you can ride behind any boat, but to progress you need some serious bucks to afford this dang sport. To be a pro snowboarder you need to be fearless and buy 10 years worth of season passes at $600/year. There are simply not enough people that are into it to warrant that kind of capital outlay.

As for drinking, I think that is more the lake lifestyle and wakeboarding happens to be by far the coolest thing you can do at the lake!

My only problem with wakeboarding in relation to other sports is that it's something that I've been doing (albeit, not very well up until recently, and even now not really good at all) since I was a little kid. It used to be everyone was skateboarding/snowboarding and I steered clear because they were the fad sports at the time.

Nowadays it's like I see people roaming around with towers on every boat and wakeboards in every rack, not actually being used. Which it is cool that it's gaining in popularity, but it's become a fad around here at least, and I can't stand how it's like all the "cool" kids in high school are always talking about wakeboarding on facebook statuses and stuff. Most of them are just doing it for the stigma of, "look at me, I'm doing an action sport, I'm cool!" rather than for the love of the sport, which is what my entire crew that I've built up does it for.

It's just irritating that nowadays the vast majority of people that I see talking about wakeboarding don't really do it for anything else other than the cool factor of it... Which completely contradicts the status of this being a redneck sport.

I ride because I want to. I dont do it to fulfill some pre-concieved notion that it will make me cooler or better or nicer. I dont do it to get respect of others or whatever. I do it for me.

you can't wakeboard by yourself.

you can't be dirt poor and wakeboard.

you are pretty limited to where you can go and you don't get to pick where you want to go...you have to follow the driver and it is pretty much the same all the time. The wake is the same. In skating, surfing, snowboarding, you are free to roam wherever you please and the terrain you are riding on can be different all the time.

In my opinion, I think those are the reasons why wakeboarding isn't considered core and why people from the other core sports tend to hate on it. However, I do think that is super fun and I don't really care what those other dudes have to say about it.

i agree i love wakeboarding and would rather wakeboard than surf skate or snowboard. what i love about wakeboarding is the fact that you need more than 1 or 2 people to do it. wakeboarding is getting a lot cheaper with all of the cable parks popping up and with the popularity of the winch. i think that with time the more capital will come into our sport and the industry will get bigger and bigger and be more prosperous. I

at least we are not mountain boarders....

I think some of you are getting the wrong impression on my message. In case you haven't read my post on why I love wakeboarding you can read it here: http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/65919/709929.html?1246066310. I am stating things that I have been observing and asking why everyone thinks it is so. The Randall Harris interview is where I got the redheaded stepchild quote: http://www.wakeworld.com/getarticle.asp?articleid=2173. I love wakeboarding and I want to see it progress. I would love to see a cable park in every major city in the US. There are certainly not any close to me. I want to be able to live on a lake where I can wakeboard without having to pay $2 million for a house. When the popularity and the demand get higher, these kinds of things will get more popular. I want wakeboarding to be put back into the X-Games. I'm upset that the X-Games have turned into a skate/MotoX show. I would love for there to be a TransWorld Wakeboard Mag. I don't think we need to try to impress every snowboarder, skateboarder, or surfer, but these sports have worldwide respect, and wakeboarding is on it's way there too. If anyone thinks they can love wakeboarding and not respect these other sports, where do you think we got the terms backside, frontside, stalefish, method, etc.

I have been wakeboarding almost since the beginning so I feel somewhat protective over it. I don't like when people trash on it. I stand up for it if someone says it's redneck. Everyone on here are wakeboarders so I know you don't think this way. We need to all be ambassadors for the sport and success will come. That 10K check will be there for the winner of a future comp and I hope one of you reading this will have his or her name signed on it.

Hahahaha Coloradowake you said it man, at least were not mountain boarders

yall I just wanna say dat imma redneck and me and my sis take offense to the wakeboarding is a redneck type of activity. I may not have a a fancy Craft Master or a Air Nautica or anythang like at, but I appreciate my bayliner. I even made my own customizzed wake tower with house speakers mounted to the top, yes sir she'e a fine waken board boat. So day gum I get mad when people say its xpenzive to ride and dat only rednecks are out there. Welp just had to put my sick sense in this.

Russell- the only problem with cracking down on the party side of the sport is that the partiers are the majority of the industry income, at least in california. id say that at least 65% of the "wakeboard" boats here in nor-cal are people that like wakeboarding, but love partying. having the "cool wakeboard boat" with all the speakers is what everyone wants. If you cut them out of our equation we loose a lot of money, and thats what we need for our sport to grow.

Hey Jason,
Thanks for the comment. Yeah, I definitely wouldn't want to discriminate or exclude any group or genre - I think wakeboarding can and should be enjoyed by everyone.

All I have to say is where is the hot chick section on the golf, baseball, football, basketball etc websites? They aren't on there. Granted there are hot chicks for those sports but they aren't advertised on websites. When you have a section like HOT CHICKS on your website you're limiting who you are marketing to, and who you interest in the sport. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with chicks in bikinis, but when you put stuff like that on a website it only limits the traffic of that website, and the type of people who visit that website. If you really want a sport to grow and progress you need to make it appealing to all, not just the 16-35 age range.

Seriously, why does everyone want the sport to "grow" so bad? We are not making anymore lakes and I am tired of having to get up at 5:45am on a weekday so that I can avoid the traffic that is on the lakes these days.

Hurray for cable parks! It's just taking people off the lakes.

And who cares what skateboarders think about us. Wakeboarding is so much more fun. Falling on the water is far nicer than faceplanting on the curb.

And vs. snowboarding = snow = cold.
Wakeboarding wins hands down. Don't let the secret out.

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why does everyone want the sport to "grow" so bad?

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sales, profit, progression. without them, the sport won't last.

alright theres nothing wrong with drinking first off. And nothing wrong with hot girls being on there.. I see girls in bikinis every time im out on the boat.. and pretty sure every girl i know doesnt care if we have a "hot girl section." no I never ride drunk or drink before i ride (thAts a stupid way to hurt yourself). but every other board sport is wayyy worse than wakeboarding. Maybe its hard for the sport to grow at some points because people here are still so judgemental on others. Were BY FAR the cleanest most holy board sport out there. ive seen lots of skate, snowboard, and surf videos, articles, and interviews showing them just waisted and talking about smoking weed. also seen a snowboard or 2 with pot leaves and shrumes. If you want this sport to reach the world this is the way its going to be. your going to have the passionate clean people but also the opposite in any sport. Its not gonna be the most amazingly perfect people sport. the more it gets bigger the more different people your going to reach, and if you want it any bigger this is the way its gonna be. I thought where it showed shane smoking in "box of fun" was kind of that step Colin was trying to show maybe.. idk thats just me. I think if people saw a big named rider smoking a cigarrete in a magazine peoples eyes would pop up!!! i know mine probably would still lol... just think about it.

"sales, profit, progression. without them, the sport won't last."

But Joe, wouldn't you say that this is the best argument for why we should care what those other industries think? It seems a bit counter-intuitive to what you said earlier in the thread.
It seems that if other sports and the companies that support those sports have a favorable view of wakeboarding and wakeskating, it's only fair to assume that they would be more likely to lend their support to us, thereby helping the sport grow healthier. It seems that now more than ever is the wrong time to shrug our shoulders and say things like "who cares what other sports think?"

I'm into wakeboarding because I like to wakeboard; I'm not trying to get any cool points with surfers or skaters or Razor scooter enthusiasts or whoever. But the bottom line is that we need other boardsports much more than they need us.

you're absolutely right, but you said exactly what i was thinking re: my first post:

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I'm into wakeboarding because I like to wakeboard; I'm not trying to get any cool points with surfers or skaters or Razor scooter enthusiasts or whoever.

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most of the people on this site can't do a damn thing about other boardsports respecting wake. that's why i said what i said.

Gotcha.

PS - How do you do that little quote thing? Because that could really come in handy.

I was a snowboarder first, and so where my friends. At no point did we ever look down on wakeboarders. Granted im not a huge hardcore boarder by any means in either sport, they are for fun. I just wouldnt generalize that snowboarders dont like wakeboarders..... Get it right... we hate skiers.

It is alot harder to get involved in wakeboarding, because a good boat really helps, and for the majority of people, boats arent a necessity in their lives especially wake boats. Its alot easier to spend a week on a mountain snowboarding than it is to find and rent a boat on a lake for a week.

I have seen many photos of big name riders smoking cigarettes in magazines. You just have to look close. I won't name names. Its a few wakeskaters and a few wakeboarders - but more on the wakeskate side. Oh and !!BY THE WAY!! there's no need to banish them or thrash them for it! Its a harmful habit but who are we to judge? I have some amazingly bad vices myself.

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PS - How do you do that little quote thing? Because that could really come in handy.

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/quote{...place your text here...}

but use the other "/" and don't forget the "{}"

as for the popularity and progression thing...
when i first got into wakeboarding (in the early to mid ninetys) i got sooo much flack about it it was totaly undescribable. most of the comments were something like, "snowboarding is much better,... wakeboarding is for those who cant take the falls of other board sports"... The most mind boggling thing was that here I and these people are, living next to LAKE POWELL in a small remote town with hardly any snow and no legit skate park (there is one now, but small) By the time i graduated some of the nay sayers were wakeboarders themselves, but i never felt like they really supported it beyond the "cool factor" like what has been said above. even after there WAS people wakeboarding i had a tough time finding people who wanted to go... i guess it didn't help much that i was kind of a nerd then anyway... or rather i guess i am still a nerd, but the kind of nerd that gets voted most unique and not neccisarrily the most cool

Things are progressing though. the little winch and rail park at antelope point and big events like bro-stock... but still, these things are benefitting the visitors more than the people who live around here (as avid wakeboarders), since they are the ones who use them most.

Most of the people who live in Page though can't afford wake boats (myself included). most of the population are in pre-fabs and trailer homes. so i think that describes the lack of new-comers to the sport more than anything else.

Winches and cable and such truly are the link i think. sooo many people don't consider getting into it due to expense. but once they get hooked, expense wont matter AS much.

There are hot chicks and partying in just about every sport......

Wakeboarding is fun... caring about what other people (or sports) think is not.

Well if you got a problem going boarding with a boat load of hot chicks or seeing them on websites thats your problem.All i got to say is the more hot chicks and smaller the swim suits the better.
As for the drinking i agree with you sort of.I cant get down with the kegs and beer bongs it just makes it to dangerous.Not everybody that goes this hard is bad some do make sure they have a sober driver but to many dont.But I will tell you this nothing is better than an ice cold beer after a day of boarding.When everybody is wore out i like to just chill talk about the day (mainly re-live my crashes because i suck but im fun to watch crash) have some beers before i have to go back load up and clean the boat.
Its not a cheap sport to get into i will give you that.But there is a wakeboat of some sort for almost any budget.And getting some used gear aint to hard on the wallet either.

(Message edited by kko13 on July 22, 2009)

I snowboard during the winter and wakeboard during the summer. I took about 4 years off from wakeboarding and really got into snowboarding but I have never felt one sport is better than the other. I love to do both sports.