Wakeboarding team hits Cape Fear River in first fall event

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GCSU’s wakeboarding team had its first competition of the semester this past Saturday on the Cape Fear River in Wilmington, N.C. The competition consisted of approximately 70 riders, most of which at the collegiate level, grouped in five divisions.

Senior Stephen Rhodes, president and captain of the team, has been riding for about seven years. Rhodes will graduate with a business management degree and hopes to pursue a career in the wakeboard industry.

“I wakeboard because I need the release,” Rhodes said. “I can just clear my head from school while riding.”

Just last year, the team changed the name of the club from “ski team” to “wakeboard team.” Although the majority of the riders are male, females are part of the team and compete as well.

Currently 28 people are members of the wakeboarding team’s Facebook group, but only seven paid dues, which are $30 per semester and help pay for equipment, entry fees, gas and hotel rooms.

The club has a team board purchased two years ago for those who do not own a board. As an Registered Student Organization club team, the school provides $1,250 per year to use for various expenses.

Practices are on Wednesdays at 5 p.m. and Fridays at 1 p.m. at Lake Sinclair. The team generally stops sometime in October because of the cold water, but starts again usually in March or April, weather permitting.

Taylor Goodman, a junior advertising major, hopes to use her passion for wakeboarding to design wakeboards one day.

“It is so awesome to know that I am done with class by 2 p.m. and I can be out on the lake the rest of the afternoon,” Goodman said. “I can just forget about school for a few hours and have fun and relax on the lake. Not many other students can say that.”

The team usually competes three times a year, and riders of all ability levels from beginner to advanced can compete. The team’s second competition will be Oct. 17 on Lake Lanier. This particular competition will be exclusively collegiate riders.

At the Lake Lanier meet, teams are scored based on difficulty and execution of tricks on the board, and win by receiving the most points. The team that has the most points wins the competition and the top three teams advance to nationals in Texas.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 9 2009. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry