Wakeboarding Training Aids

[Shoemaker Mobius]

My 15 year old son wants to buy a trampoline so he can "get used to air". He is willing to pay for it himself, but I have some safety concerns and I don't know if it is all that helpful for wakeboarding. Could you give me some feedback on trampolines and your experiences with them? Also, is their a recommended size and features? Thanks.

[medevac130]

Yep..they are truly worth it if you are going to get serious about your riding... Though be advised they can be dangerous. Especially when you are trying to mimic big air inverts. We have a 15' with no side safety nets...those nets are helpful for the little ones but since your son is 15 I would say you could do without em. We have had ours for 2 years and suffered no major injuries...

[Yellowmobius]

Don't let your home owners insurance know you have a tramp. It will increase your rates!

[ProXman]

The net is a VERY good thing. It has saved me several times from flipping off.

[NateLSV]

Hey there Shoe,

Take things slowly! Like you said, your son has been riding for a few weeks. I have trained on trampolines, and the only reason that I would use one for is learning handle passes. For inverts, riding (maybe diving boards) are the best teachers. As well, you probably wont break your neck no the water when you over rotate a trick and go down head first. Having to spend a lot of money in this sport will cause you to get burnt out much faster than your son. Also, dont jump too far ahead of your sons ability on the board. Can he jump wake to wake toe-side and heel-side consistently? Does he ride switch well?
These things are very important before you get really deep into spins and inverts. There is no substitute for a solid foundation in wakeboarding.

[Shoemaker Mobius]

NateLSV,
You are exactly correct. I really don't want to spend any more money. My son, though, seems to believe he has to have the trampoline to get ahead faster. Talk about stubborn! For Xmas, we gave him a private lesson with Chad at Executive Watersports. I went along with Chad and my son so I could learn some driving tips and also see what Chad was telling him. It was an amazing hour and a half lesson. prior to the lesson, my son could not clear both wakes. However, within 5 minutes, Chad had him straightened out and jumping both wakes heelside. Then, just as you indicated, Chad had him begin to work on his toeside jump and riding switch. Chad's last instructions to him were to master the heelside and toeside wake jumps, then master the switch heelside and toeside wake jumps. Then, and only them should he look to try spins and inverts. So far, he's pretty solid on the heelside jumps, he can jump one wake toeside, and can ride switch, but no jumps from switch. So, what does he intend to do this coming weekend? He plans to try some tantrums. I can't talk him out of it. He plans on getting a helmet this week and doing it this weekend. He's 15 and he knows best. I am in absolute agreement on the fundamentals, but I'm just his dad. He says there's no harm trying a tantrum while he's working on the other jumps.

[Jrod06]

If you end up buying one, deffinitly dont let your insurance company know you have one, because I got hurt on mine and the insurance found out and made us take it down. and if you do get one, dont swing out of tree's with a skateboard deck, you'll get hurt, believe me, I know from experience haha

[Shoemaker Mobius]

jrod06,
Ouch - that sounds like something my son swears he wouldn't do. I mentioned to him that I saw an article about a wakeboarder breaking his neck on a tramp and paralyzing himself on wakeworld.com. His response was that he knew all about it and the guy was using the tramp to jump into a pit filled with foam rubber and that's what caused it - landing in the pit the wrong way. "Dad, I wouldn't be jumping into a foam rubber filled pit"!!! Now I can say "No, but how about swinging out of trees on a skateboard deck"??

[Aquaticaussie]

Trampolines are a great training aid not just for learning the specific tricks but for giving your son a better aweness of boby positioning while in the air, especially if he has no experience with spinning or being inverted. Definitely get the additional safety netting for the side, it has saved me countless times and also allows for more confidence to attempt the tricks correctly. Many times the biggest danger is a half hearted attempt at an invert, which can leave you upside down and off balance at 20mph.

You can also pick them up pretty cheaply as well from the major sports chains, I picked up my trampoline and net for around $250 when they went on sale at Sportmart. Not sure where you live but I also went to the local trapeze school and took a trampoline lesson as well.

[TheBeeZ]

One word of caution. Do Not Let you son jump on the trampoline with his board on! One of my son's friends broke his ankle when he miss landed. Another friend landed the board on edge and it cut through his trampoline. He hit is face on the bar on the edge several sticthes was the result.