Hey everyone! The first day of spring is here, finally. It has been long overdue and even though the weather isn’t too promising it is time to get things going. I have spent a long winter planning what I want to learn and visualizing those tricks in my head. For me, I would like to increase the spins I can do and add some new inverts to my bag of tricks.

Tip 1: Spin better and faster.
A majority of the time when learning a new spin the problem doesn’t lie with being able to get your body to spin but comes when you try to pass the handle. So many times I see someone learning, for example, a 360 and they easily complete the rotation and ride away gracefully on the other wake, unfortunately, with no handle in sight. To practice the handle pass you should find a 5 ft handle lying around somewhere, or come in and pick one up from Action, and attach a milk jug full of water or sand to the end. Try to keep it low and as close to your body as you can. As you feel comfortable start spinning it a little faster. Once you get this dialed you will be that much closer to adding that extra 180 or spinning your first 360.

Tip 2: Increase your air awareness.
The best way to do this is to get out and try stuff. Now, I don’t recommend going out and trying to do a Pete Rose for your first hit of the summer, but there are ways to accelerate the process. The best way to practice without taking the falls would be to get on a trampoline. I move my trampoline close enough to a tree so I can attach a wakeboard rope to the tree and practice new moves I want to do. This will get you more familiar with being inverted and save you the time and pain of trying it right on the water.