My first World Championships and I got into the finals, finishing 6th, not bad at all. I was a little dissapointed for not being able to show my best run (qualification, semi's and finals). Obviously it wasn't my week and I still managed to get through, that's still good! What I need to work on is getting the tricks consistant for 110%, because a 100% is not enough as I checked with my backrolls. Been landing them for 4 years, but fell on it twice in the competition. Annoying for sure.
I'm really happy that I coud go to this competition to have the experience for further events.
7/10/2011
Wow, time is flying! Been riding a lot and working hard to get the tricks dialled consistant. Though some of them are on a bit of question sign, I'm quite happy with what I have achieved during this month of training. Mostly I have been riding behind a ski boat with no ballast, but as my dad says the jumps are the same height as 2 years ago on the photoshoot behind a fully loaded Tige Z1. That's a bit of improvement I guess, haha. Also had a couple of sets on the big boat to get the tricks dialled with more air.
Fantastic news is that I've became a Ronix Latvia rider and yesterday I tried out my new Faith Hope Love board & bindings. It rides so much different from the previous board, I couldn't believe the difference could be that big! The landings were softer and more stable, toeside edging became way easier and it pops from the wake quicker too. And ofcourse, the graphics are stunning, I love the snake's skin pattern on the bottom.
Other news? Tomorrow I'm flying out to IWWF World Wakeboard Championships in Milano, Italy. Thanks to Cultural Bridges International for helping me with some of the costs. My goal? To teach myself to stay calm and relaxed in my mind during such a large competition. If that'll end up with success I should rank somewhere higher. There's still a lot of riding coming up ahead to become a really good and stable rider, but I think just the experience of this competition will push me a large step forward.
So to start with, June 17th was my graduation in secondary school. Despite of all the travelling and busy days earlier I managed to be one of the rare to finish with excellence, receiving an honour medal. Have to admit I was very surprised and pleased about such fact. My window sills were full of roses and other flowers I don't know names for in English for more than a week after, an enormous thanks to everyone who made it to see me.
With my class teacher.
With principal.
My ex class 12A
All graduates with teachers.
I don't remember if this was before or after the 17th but at some point this month I managed to land a switch toeside 540 with the very first attempt. Imagine my surprise! Now for the rest of the month all I've been working on is spins, spins, spins. Mainly on the handle pass as that's the slowest thing happening up in the air for me, haha.
Soon enough, on the 23rd and 24th it was time for Midsummer celebration. As most years I did it in a 100 year old country house as a kinsfolk reunion, sleeping in hay, picking wild strawberries, eating fish smoked on a bonfire and grandma's delitious bakery aswell as a good bottle of beer and some activities. Ofcourse, my sleeping rhythm always sets me up on Midsummer night and when everyone's supposed to wait for the sunrise I went to have a nap. As the alarm went off at 4 AM so I could get up to see the sunrise, it was too warm and cosy under the blanket to get out and actually watch it. HAHA, next year, again!
From the roof top. Mom's cousin on the right working to get the honey out of the bee house.
There it is, have a look!
At the bonfire with my Mom & siblings.
Just across the field, mhouuuuu.
Where history and the 21st century meets.
Two days later, some relatives came over and had a great day on the water, both parents had a ride on waterskis and we taugh the same to their 6 yo daughter, although scared, but she loved it!
For now as I am back in the city, going to the lake and working on spins again. Since it's really windy the last couple days for tomorrow I decided to go to the gymnastics hall and get some shape back there. Other great news is that thanks to company CBI I am sponsored for a weekly training camp here with Adam Dennis. That surely will help before the start in IWWF World Wakeboard Championships in Milano, July 13-17.
The last 3 days I was at the lake having a great time! And the weather's been fantastic too, the water temperature is already 23 C (73 F).
On Saturday I had a set behind Tige RZ4, a monster wake! Though the water was super rough due to wind, other boats and jetskis it was really cool to land a proper wake to wake Tantrum without any help from the driver, though he wanted to, the boat simply was too heavy, hehe.
Picture taken on the day before when I wasn't there for the flat water, typical, haha.
Sunday was a random set working on tricks I know, but had some trouble there. Only landed like 2/7 Backrolls and 1/4 Frontrolls, for some reason at the middle of the set I figured out to do a Heel 360 and ended up with a solid, mercyless back edge, oops. Outta bindings immediately, decided to stop there before I do anything else stupid.
On Monday (today) didn't feel like wakeboarding, but did something else to stay in shape. Had a run on monoski and tried some jumps on wakeskis. It's unbelievable how much the working muscles differ from wakeboarding to skiing!
Later on today went to gymnastics hall. Tried some tricks on the balance beam and a bit of trampoline work, that Crowmobe really feels stable, so I should definitely be able to get that Scarecrow down on water with 100% success rate, right? :D
Speaking about tomorrow I'm going to a radio show to talk about wakeboarding (what else, haha?). It's a really cool studio located in the centre of the city and it's completely transparent, people walking on the street can see the whole studio through the window. Live stream tomorrow 9 AM (+3GMT)
I just want to say thanks to my supporter Gymnastics Olympic Center for giving me the opportunity to train in the best hall in the country! www.gymnastics.lv
Zero updates for almost a month now, oops. Been quite busy with school works since came back from travelling the world for 6 weeks, not very clever in the final year, but no regrets, hehe. I sorted it all out, graduating with excellence and already done the English exam, now coming up on the schedule is Math, Latvian&Literature and Biology.
Last weekend I finally rode for the first time since I'm back from Florida. Nothing big, just a short run to practise my arms a bit and a Backroll in the end for the audience on the shoreline. The weather is getting warm and the water temperature is +20C which is really good for May.
June is going to be a very fun month, once all the exams are done, the first stop of Nationals will be on and a week later it's my official graduation, finally! Then in less than a week it's Midsummer celebration!
There's a couple more interesting news coming up, I'll post when they're more definite. :)
