Last Saturday's wakeboard clinic featured a guest, professional wakeboarder, who taught a boat of six girls aged 10 to 21 a few tricks and enhanced their already acquired skills."They were taught how to ride and if they knew how to ride, they were taught new tricks. They did really good, they all enjoyed it," said Angela Johnson, president of the No Boundaries Wakeboard Club.Eleven-year-old Ashlyn Cooley of Oxbow said she got started in the sport about two years ago, and said she has no plans of ever backing away. "I got started a couple of years ago because my parents wakeboard and they wanted to show me how. I think it'll be something that I'll have fun with for the rest of my life," she said. Cooley said it was exciting to be surrounded by others who share her passion for wakeboarding, and even though she knew most of what was taught, there were a few tricks she hadn't thought to engage in."It was a lot of fun being in a boat full of girls who enjoy the sport. She helped us with riding the opposite way than you usually would; just getting comfortable with stuff that you normally wouldn't do," said Cooley.Johnson said the event was simply for fun, as is the sport, but girls can choose to go towards the competitive stream."It's for fun. You can go competitive if you want, it's up to you," said Johnson.When asked whether or not she believed sports were just for boys, Cooley answered most articulately and without hesitation: "I think as long as you're dedicated to it, anybody can."
