Nineteen-year-old Cranbrook native Colden Thompson started attending wakeboard competitions three years ago and hasn't looked back. Last year at the Canadian National Wakeboard Championships, he placed second in the Junior Men‘s division.

Thompson is gearing up for the 2016 competition season where he plans to compete in more USA events. He'll be in Las Vegas, May 13th for the Malibu WWA (World Wakeboard Association) Riders Experience. This is an amateur event that allows riders like Thompson to learn from the best in the sport.

For Thompson, riding the wakeboard is like deep-snow snowboarding and surfing all rolled into one. His off­-water practice includes a lot of trampoline work. Why the trampoline? “To get the feeling of the flip and to be able to spin in the right direction,” said Thompson.

Thompson regularly practises at Tie Lake because it is small and not very windy. What he likes best about the sport is “getting a lot of air, spins and flips and learning every day.”

The two most difficult tricks in his repertoire are the Chromobe and the Moby Dick. The Chromobe is a front flip combined with a 360-degree spin. The Moby Dick is a back flip with a 360-degree spin.

Thompson has several sponsors including SECA Surf + Marine in Kelowna, Liquid Force Wakeboards, Rusty Clothing and Spy Optics.

With this corporate support, Thompson is stylin' and ridin' into the 2016 wakeboard competition season.