Contests are important for wakeboarders of all levels, because they push you to be a better rider. When you’re matched up against other riders and everything is on the table, you can gauge yourself and find out what your strong points are and where you could use a little work...

If you really understand the physics of wakeboarding, you’ll realize how much more pop you can get off the wake simply by doing less. It’s the first thing I tell my students when they come to The Boarding School, because working too hard to get air is such a common mistake...

Double-ups have really allowed wakeboarding to progress to the next level. They definitely helped me land the first backside 900 and gave Danny Harf the boot to land a 1260. Wakeboarding wouldn’t be where it is today without double-ups, but they aren’t easy to tame...

Riding natural terrain has become a big part of why I strap into my wakeboard. Things like jibbing trees and rocks and riding a waterfall or ollieing over a dam require just as much focus and determination as moves off the wake, and it’s a different kind of challenge that drives me to progress on a whole other level...

Spins are a big stumbling block for a lot of new riders. In fact, Julz Heaney and I see students all the time at Wake Experience who can do a back roll or a tantrum but can’t do any spins. Those wakeboarders' progressions tend to stagnate because they don’t develop the board skills they need for more intricate wakeboarding tricks...

Every wakeboarder develops his own style — it’s just a natural part of the progression in your riding. Personally, I’d much rather watch a wakeboader who grabs and pokes all of his tricks than watch someone go out and do a bunch of not-grabbed mobe 5s or spins...

Ben Horan and Matt Manzari show you how to do pop shove it, inside-out 180, kickflip and backside big spin on a wakeskate: Kickflip Ben Horan shows you the secrets to landing a kickflip on a wakeskate...

Ben Horan walks you through how to do a pop shove it on a wakeskate, which is a great early trick for beginner wakeskaters to learn.

Matt Manzari walks you through one of his favorite wakeskate tricks, the backside big spin, which is a variation of a backside 360 shove in which the wakeskater's body rotates backside 180 degrees while the board spins 360 degrees...

Ben Horan shows you how to do a inside-out 180 and a 180 in the flats on a wakeskate.

Ben Horan shows you the secrets to landing a kickflip on a wakeskate. It's all about the pop, flick and catch.

Riding with power, intense edging, going big off the wake — they all require strength and a higher level of fitness than regular riding. Taking your riding to the next level, beyond the second wake, puts far more stress on your body than wake-to-wake riding...

When I started seeing a handful of riders land moves re-entry, it immediately became one of my favorite varieties of wakeskating. Re-entry means riding up the face of the wake, popping an ollie or another move off the lip and then landing back in the transition of the same wake you started from, like you would if you were riding a wave or a quarter-pipe...

Raleys are one of the most popular tricks among our students at Wake Experience because they’re so impressive and they lead to moves like glides, wings and S-bends. They’re also one of the most intimidating because the falls can be brutal...

Riders sometimes overlook front hand grabs because they’re a little harder than grabbing with your back hand and fairly awkward to learn at first. That’s too bad because front hand grabs not only add more style to your riding, they can also make some moves easier and can even help add more tricks to your arsenal...