Wakeboarding and Equipment for Junior Wakeboarders

 

Young people who are keen to try their hand at wakeboarding may be disappointed if they are under twelve years old, as many companies have this age as the minimum for trying out this challenging sport.  However, there are some companies who set their minimum age at six or eight, providing the child is a confident swimmer.

 

Wakeboarding experience and taster days for youngsters can be found at many venues across the UK and you can check out the Wakeboard experience section of the site for more information on these. The wakeboarding experiences for younger children may be restricted to taster-sessions, lasting only a short duration.

 

However, if a young person is already tried the sport and has become hooked and keen to try out more, then there are several opportunities for juniors within wakeboarding.  The official governing body for wakeboarding in the UK, Wakeboard UK, work to promote the sport of wakeboarding and so provide national competitions within the country in order to try to ensure that the UK can produce some wakeboarding champions to go on to international competitions.  This means that Wakeboard UK will undertake grassroots wakeboarding instruction or coaching.   Juniors are well-placed to benefit from this as they could become the next generation of wakeboard champions.

 

Many wakeboarding centres are now very child-friendly, due to the increase in the popularity of the sport, so individual centres will offer a variety of different training opportunities for juniors- from coaching complete beginners to providing specialised instruction to juniors at competition standard.  Contact individual wakeboarding centres across the UK in order to ascertain what opportunities they can offer young people and to see what their minimum age requirements are.

 

There is also a wide range of wakeboard equipment available on the market specifically for young people.  Many boards are designed specifically for learners with mellow, continuous rockers and soft moulded-in fins to make for a smooth ride.  The junior boards are obviously smaller than adult boards and come in a range of sizes to suit the height of the child.  More experienced juniors can benefit from modified versions of adult boards in order to take their learning further.  Many kids’ boards come with great designs and graphics to attract the junior market.  There are also bindings available to juniors that are easier to put on than many adult boots, as well as vests and wetsuits that are made to fit smaller bodies.  Most wakeboarding on-line shops also have a Youth range of equipment.