wakeboardSTL - 12 Steps to Trick Progression from John Pretti on Vimeo.

* Disclaimer - Chance forced me to make this edit of myself, even though I told him I shouldn't edit my own video. Please note that I am not conceited, looking for sponsors, just out to have a good time riding and besides, I suck at riding and video editing anyway.

wakeboardSTL - John Pretti @ Wake Nation from John Pretti on Vimeo.

Anyway, the purpose of this post is that for those of you who do shred hard without insurance, there are some very kind people out there who are willing to help cover your back. These kind people are the volunteers at the Injured Riders Foundation and they have started a new campaign to help with donations to the cause called The GnarJar. Here is some important inforamtion from them:

Friday, August 27,2010 – Jamestown New York: The Injured Riders Foundation is proud to introduce GNARJAR | A fund raising product for action sports retail stores that will help ALL PEOPLE who are uninsured and under insured that get hurt while participating in action sports. GnarJar is presented by The Injured Riders Foundation; A 501C3 Non Profit Organization that has made helping these people its mission. The GNARJAR will be available to all Snowboard, Ski, Skate, Moto, BMX, Wakeboard and more action sports shops across the world.

This is the first opportunity for shops to show their support for The Injured Riders Foundation and help achieve the foundations mission. Shops will receive the Jar and display it on their counter top in the shop and sell the Injured Riders wrist bands that are inside. The Glass is a 1/2 gallon sleek glass jar that will be customized with decals that say GNARJAR and will explain the project. Each Jar can be customized to the shops liking.

“We are truly excited to launch GnarJar. Its a great new model for raising the needed funds for the IRF to achieve its mission. We believe that with the support of the shops we can raise funds to help a ton of athletes in need and we are declaring that we will match dollar for dollar; every dollar raised through GnarJar we will cover in medical bills for injured athletes.” - John Centi, President of the IRF.

In the past year The IRF Foundation has already handled over $120,000 in medical bills for injured athletes. The Foundation is in the current process of assisting more athletes right now and have new riders filling out our eligibility form everyday. “There is definitely a need for our foundations efforts and with the combined efforts of the shops and community we can help every rider that comes to us in their time of need”

For every shop that commits to getting a GNARJAR, the shop will get a profile on GNARJAR.com that will include information about the shop, where to find them, why to shop there and the retail brands they carry. The shop will also be listed on The INJUREDRIDERS.ORG website as a supporter of the Foundation. There is a lot of benefits that go along with being a GNARJAR shop other than knowing your money is going to help injured athletes in need. “We have prepared this program so that it will benefit the entire action sports community.”

For more information please check out GNARJAR.COM, and INJUREDRIDERS.ORG

ABOUT THE IRF:
The Injured Riders Foundation is a 501(c)(3) Non Profit Organization that is dedicated to helping ALL PEOPLE hurt while participating in action sports who have no insurance or who are underinsured. We need YOUR help to grow the funds needed to assist those who are injured and start making a difference in such a troubling time.

wakeboardSTL is challenging all St. Louis and Kansas City area local shops who may be reading our blog to participate. For each shop that signs up to participate, wakeboardSTL will donate our time and services to provide a full-day wakeboard clinic in conjunction with the participating shop. We're up to it if you're up to it, care to take us up? We will be sure to randomly drop in and check the local shops to see who is participating! So come on let's help our fellow brother and sisters involved in action sports.

What Matt said!!!

Odub shred from trevor bashir on Vimeo.

Scott Stewart: Globlal Rider Search from Jen GilanFarr on Vimeo.

Scott Stewart is a "nobody"... a nobody in the sense that he is just like you and me; he works for a living, rides with his homies when he can, deals with women drama on a regular basis, and probably needs a hair cut 2 weeks deep --> There is however a very "small" (insert sarcasm here) difference between you and him... Just watch.

umm... wow!

No F-----G Wake

For the AM session, we started pretty close to on time and set off with four riders. This session brought us folks who were just starting out, to people working on edging and board control and a gentleman who was trying to learn how to smooth out and grab some of his inverts. The gents who came out for the morning session were able to make the full 30 minute pull and achieve most of their goals with Chad's instruction, as well as, walk away with Chad's "Crawl, Walk, Run" methods to help their progression forward when they get out for their next rides. Everyone progressed really well and I was overly impressed with people's stoke and the willingness to listen and learn versus just coming out for a joy ride.

After some quick lunch at Sundowners, we started the afternoon session at around 1:30, which put us around 30 minutes behind schedule. As soon as we got to the boat, it looked like we would get rained on for sure; however, with Chad's iPhone, yeah there's an app for that, weather app, we were able to dodge the afternoon thunderstorms and keep all seven of our afternoon riders on the water and receiving coaching. The afternoon session again brought us people at all different riding levels and several ladies looking to improve their shred. From my vantage point, being the drivers seat, everyone was able to make the full 30 minute pull and make the corrections that will allow them to progress to the next level.

Chad Brown - Redneck?

All in all, the stoke was super high for the morning and afternoon sessions. All of the riders did great and got listen to Chad whistle at them, the whistle is patented by the way. We are already starting to plan to bring Chad back for you all next year, but here's the kicker... we're going to bring him up here at least twice next riding season and we may have him here for two day sessions if there is enough interest. In the meantime, if you are looking to get your fall and winter shred on, here is where you can find all of Chad's contact information for those of you, like myself, who don't mind a winter getaway to Orlando. WEB: Time on the Water Phone: 877-869-8277

wakeboardSTL would like to give HIGH FIVES to the following for making this event possible: Joel Rauch and Audra Johnson of Stateamind Watersports, the only source for wake products and boats in St. Louis, obviously Chad Brown from Time on the Water for coaching, the Yacht Club of St. Louis and Sundowners for the use of their facilities and of course, you the riders for coming out and spending the day with us. We certainly enjoyed hanging with you all for the day and we hope the feeling is mutual. We will see you all soon. Stay tuned to this website for details of all upcoming events. If you would like the original copy of any of the photos below, please email me with the picture number at jpretti AT gmail DOT com.

Jeff and Jessica Twyman Fire Relief Fund

Excel Bank

302 North Clay

Kirkwood, MO 63122

314-966-3522

If you have any specific questions on how you may help, please contact wakeboardSTL's Aaron Burlingame at bgame5044 at hotmail dot com.