The things I did to make me the person I am today! PT. 1

When I was younger, most of you may already know this, but I was a very competitive Wakeboarder. I started wakeboarding when I was about 12 years old, after many trials and errors with other sports (I.E. Ice Hockey, Baseball, Basketball, Ringette, figure skating, field hockey, and the list may go on to sports I don’t even recall because they weren’t important enough). I had always been a very strong skier, but it was the day I tried wakeboarding that I truly fell in love with watersports.

It was a sunny day in Betula Lake, and Downtown Neil Brown was in town.... That rhymes, I meant for it to rhyme. I got up on my first try and was crossing the wakes of the boat in no time at all. “You’re a natural” he would say... Although, I cannot recall him saying that, but he was such a nice guy that he probably did say something along those lines. That same summer I got recruited onto the Manitoba team for waterskiing. This was before Wakeboarding was considered a sport, there was no wakeboarding team. Neil Brown was the Manitoba coach; so naturally, ever waterski practice I ended up practicing wakeboarding rather than boring ol’ skiing. (Can I hear a ‘BOO SKIING’?) The following year I was the only girl recruited for the brand new Manitoba Wakeboarding team.

You see, I think I was pretty good. Some people even said I was awesome, I’ve seen my name still mentioned on wakeboarding blogs around Canada. Some people didn’t think I was so good (let’s call them boys).  In the early years of wakeboarding there wasn’t much competition for the girls. Every competition I ended up going against some of the men, and they weren’t too happy about it. BUT TO BAD! I still won.

In the year of 2003, this was a good year. I won Nationals and got asked to be part of the Canadian team. YAY ME! I got a paid for trip to Florida to compete in worlds. YAY ME! I got fifth, in my division, in the world. YAY ME! I got to go surfing and wakeboarding with some of my idols (Shaun Murray, Tara Hamilton, Darin Shapiro, Parks Bonifay, Shane Bonifay, and the list may go on to some awesome names that I do care about, but I don’t need to mention, because all you other wakeboarders will just get jealous).

Me and some of my fellow Canadian team mates at Canadian Nationals 2003 in Saskatoon.

Today, my name in wakeboarding is just a distant memory. The Vets know me; the newbies may not know me, but once upon a time... There were many medals and many weird looking glass trophies... also a lot of free merchandise. I don’t compete anymore, I wakeboard for fun behind any boat that will take me.

This post may look like I’m bragging, but I only see it as a way to highlight some of my accomplishments. These are things that I don’t normally talk about anymore. Some of you knew me at the time that I was doing all this and already know about it. Some of you did not know me, and probably had no clue that I was once a Canadian athlete. This is just a small part of who I am, and although I didn’t mention all my accomplishments in wakeboarding here, I’m sure you get the picture.