By Justin Reed
Staff Writer
While most students at Mira Costa enjoy spending time in the water surfing or swimming, one Mira Costa student has chosen to take on a different and unusual watersport, wakeboarding.
Sophomore Max Blanchard has spent the last 10 years wakeboarding every summer in Three Lakes Wisconsin. He competes in tournaments and other wakeboarding events with his team, Aqua Devils.
“This upcoming summer I plan on competing with my team and hope to be able to compete in many tournaments in Wisconsin over the summer,” Blanchard said.
At six years old, Blanchard started wakeboarding with his family in Wisconsin during summer vacation. He has loved the sport ever since and has continued to improve and master different stunts.
“What made me want to start Wakeboarding was watching the local water skiing show at my grandparents cabin in Wisconsin,” Blanchard said. “As a kid, I would go see the show and was always amazed by the stunts I would see.”
As he got older, Blanchard became skilled enough to join a wakeboarding team. He joined the water show team “Aqua Devils” which is the same team he watched as a kid that inspired him to become a wake boarder.
“My favorite part about Wakeboarding is learning new tricks,” Blanchard said. “It is such a satisfying feeling when you land a trick that you have been practicing for the first time.”
Blanchard has continued to learn new tricks, such as many different flips and spins. Every summer, he returns to the lakes in Wisconsin and continues to improve with his team. They spend every day practicing on the water to get ready for their shows and competitions.
“During practices we work on certain acts that we need to work on for our shows,” Blanchard said. “After we finished going over the acts we need to go over then we are allowed to practice anything we want and are given professional instruction to help train us.”
Blanchard’s parents have supported him his whole life and continue to help him train by offering advice and by providing him the help he needs to improve. His parents have competed in as teens in waterskiing.
“Well I was able to help him because his mom and I were both ski instructors when we were younger,” Blanchard’s father Mark said “We offered Max the opportunity to be on the water a lot with people who could show him how things were done properly, and he was a natural.”
With every new trick comes many wipeouts. According to Blanchard, learning new tricks is the hardest thing for Blanchard about wakeboarding, but also the most fun.
“Learning new tricks takes a lot of practice and training,” Blanchard said. “Every time I get in the water I have to work hard if I want to improve and learn new tricks, but my coaches help extremely.”
According to Blanchard becoming a good wake boarder requires many things that translate very well into every day life and it has taught him how to be patient and work hard for everything he needs. Blanchard believes that wakeboarding has made him into a better, hard working person.
“I have learned from Wakeboarding that not everything comes easy in life and it has taught me that it takes a lot of hard work and practice to be successful at something,” Blanchard said. “If I put my mind to something and work hard at it, it is possible to be successful.”
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