My experience with LearnWake.com (http://www.learnwake.com/amember/go.php?r=636&i=l1)

This past year Mike Mclin and Kyle Schmidt introduced the world to LearnWake.com (http://www.learnwake.com/amember/go.php?r=636&i=l1), an interactive wakeboard instructional website. Online instruction and advice is nothing new, for years, at least as long as I have been wakeboarding, the web has been a great resource when seeking advice on how to progress on whatever aspect of my riding I needed. Generally this advice would come as replies to posts in forum based websites. Most times I would receive pretty good advice, occasionally the advice would be questionable at best. When I received an email about LearnWake.com (http://www.learnwake.com/amember/go.php?r=636&i=l1), I visited the site and thought that it was pretty cool site with a lot to offer, but I was hesitant to pay for advice, when I had been getting it for free.

All summer I had been attempting Heel side BS 180’s, and although I felt like I was close to landing them, I could not quite finish them I always seemed to be popping the handle on the landing. By September I had gotten quite frustrated with the trick, and although I was getting advice in person from some high level riders, I could not quite get over the hump. So I decided it was time to give LearnWake a shot. For $9.95 for the month, it would be a fraction of all the gas I had used up trying the trick over the summer, plus I really wanted to to get this before the end of the season.

Signing up and setting up the account were extremely easy. Once my username and password were setup, I was on the site. I have to say it was almost overwhelming with the amount of information, videos, and tips that were available before even posting up in the forums asking for advice from Kyle.


(http://www.midwestwakeboarder.com/uploads/img49d75ae1b9550.jpg)All the information you need to learn a trick from start to finish is pretty much available. You can start in the library and find out the history, prerequisites, progression ladder, sequence photos, video and the trick broken down step by step from start to finish. When you are done looking at the trick in the library, you can easily search the Bulletin Board for that trick and see previous posts from users and advice from Kyle Schmidt. Another neat feature is that the entire instructional dvd series ‘The Book’ is available to view on the site.

The Bulletin Board is well laid out. The forums are ‘Beginner’, ‘Foundation’, ‘Spins’, and ‘Inverts’ under the Instruction category. There are also forums for using the website and just general Wakeboard discussion. This is pretty much where the board meets the water if you will.

As I previously stated I had been working on the HS BS 180 for sometime and had some recent attempts on Video. Uploading the video was extremely easy, even compared to some of the popular video sharing websites, pretty much all types of video are supported including ‘.avi’ and ‘.mov’. After uploading the video, code is supplied so you can embed the video into a post on the bulletin board. The video I supplied was pretty shaky and really not that great of video.

(http://www.midwestwakeboarder.com/uploads/img49d75ace01cb6.jpg)I posted on the forums “I have been trying to get these all summer and have gotten a little frustrated. I have uploaded video, please help!”. To my surprise I had a response from Kyle in just a few hours. Despite the poor quality of my video, the response was very detailed and broke down what I was doing right and what I was doing wrong very specifically. Kyle also included exercises and tips to help make my attempts more successful.

Before I headed out the next time, I reviewed Kyle’s comments and made a mental note of what he had to say about the things I was doing wrong and how to do them right. After a few failed attempts, and breaking down the trick with Kyle’s advice it clicked and I was landing it. I was quite excited and quickly uploaded the video. After a quick congrats, ever the coach, Kyle broke down a few things that I could do to further improve on my riding and this trick.

After using LearnWake.com (http://www.learnwake.com/amember/go.php?r=636&i=l1), my initial apprehension of paying for this new source of advice was depleted. The amount and quality of information was worth every penny. When trying new tricks, LearnWake.com (http://www.learnwake.com/amember/go.php?r=636&i=l1) is now at the top of my list for resources, even if I do have to pay for it!

(http://www.learnwake.com/amember/go.php?r=636&i=b1)