LIQUID FORCE MAVEN SESSIONS :: Yeah Girls!

Being a girl amidst a dude heavy sport can sometimes be discouraging.Liquid Force has recognized our frustration and started up the Maven Sessions, a women’s only wakeboard clinic. The Maven Sessions get together local women riders of all ages and abilities for a day of product education, coached riding, and fun with the pros. After the session, the Maven girls come away with greater self confidence, fine-tuned skills, and a new posse of ladies to ride with.

After not wakeboarding for six years, I had been making every excuse to get out of riding with all the guys at Wakeside. The thought of causing everyone to be bored and annoyed with my lack of wake shredding skills made me want to fast forward the summer and get right back into snowboarding. But last weekend someone mentioned the Maven Sessions and I immediately googled it to get more info. A day of riding with just the ladies seemed to be exactly what I needed. Some of the top women’s pros would be there to help me pick out the gear that would work best for me and then give me pointers on how to improve, all the while making new friends with other girls who ride. Perfect.

After a nervous introduction (”Hi, I’m Courtney. I basically haven’t wakeboarded for like 6 years, and I’m pretty sure these 7 year olds standing next to me could totally show me up.”), the LF pros went over their women’s line up of boards and bindings. They pointed out all the different construction features of the products and how it’d affect the ride; thus giving us the knowledge we’d need when it came time to buy our next set-up. Then they helped pick out the perfect board/binding combo based on each girl’s ability and size specs.

Then it was time to get out on the water. AWS had provided us with their shop boat and expert driver, Zach. Seven of us girls, along with pros Amber Wing and Andrea Fountain, piled in to the Active Tomcat and blasted some sweet Australian jams. We each had a 20 minute session in the water, where Andrea and Amber coached us on tricks we were trying to improve.

You’d be surprised at how intimidating those sweet Aussie and Kiwi accents can be when demanding to change your body position or to stop looking at the boat. Those tough coaches combined with all the encouragement from the other girls definitely worked. I watched as Cody conquered her fear of jumping toe-side wake to wake (and showed off a sweet heelside 180). Lindsay finally got the hang of surface 180’s. And Natalie totally shocked herself after the pros convinced her to try a switch frontside 180 and she succeeded. Her look of surprise at landing that trick will always be inspiring.

It wasn’t all wakeboard boot camp though. Throughout the session we had a couple impromptu dance parties, experienced Amber’s other professional talent - cheerleading, and had some classified girl talk that freaked out our poor male driver: “Didn’t you bring your bra?” Amber asked Zach, “this is a women’s clinic after all.”

We were all feeling pretty good about our improvements, so Amber and Andrea had to get out there to remind us that we won’t be joining them on the Pro Tour anytime soon (except maybe those 7 year olds”¦).

The session closed with some autographs and group photos. We all walked away from the river feeling much more confident with our techniques and our product knowledge. Plus we got a chance to hang out with some really cool girls (pros included!). I can’t wait for next years Maven Sessions, and until then hopefully us Portland girls can get together and ride!

For more info on how to choose your next set up, check out our Buyer’s Guide in Wakeside Connections. Make sure you also take a look at all the new Maven Approved, Liquid Force Women’s Gear too. 2007 Women’s Wakeboard Gear is all on sale too!

Tags: Liquid Force, Maven

Posted in Wakeside Blog | 

Tags: Liquid Force, Maven