SMITH MOUNTAIN LAKE, Va. (WDBJ) – The Olympics may be over, but two wakeboarders from Smith Mountain Lake are getting ready to challenge for a world title in Australia.
Ashley Kazmar and Joy Manning have made a name for themselves in the wakeboarding world and continue to show what women can achieve in the sport.
Ashley Kazmar was gliding and flipping on the water from an early age. As she says, being born into a water sports family, she picked up the skills quickly. This sparked Kazmar's competitive spirit, and she started participating in competitions at the age of 15.
“I was nervous at first. A lot of the people I started competing against had been competing their whole lives so they were a lot better than me at first, but then I started to find my way and it's a lot of fun,” Kazmar said.
Now 19 years old, Kazmar has competed in Seattle, Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, New Jersey and Portugal, winning several regional championships and becoming the 2023 Junior Pro World Champion.
“I practice two weeks before the competition. I do four tricks on the first pass, four on the second pass. I practice eight tricks in a row the week before the competition so I'm very consistent. I try not to get super stressed and just do what I can every day so I'm ready to execute when the competition starts,” Kazmar said.
Kazmar will be aiming for another title this year at the 2024 WWA Wakeboard World Championships in Australia, where he will also be competing with Smith Mountain Lake resident Joy Manning, who is proving that age is just a number when it comes to professional wakeboarding.
“I actually started wakeboarding when I was about 32 or 33. I've been deathly afraid of the water my whole life. My husband loves waterskiing and wakeboarding, and I told him we should go out and try it. So I got in the water with his wakeboard, and on the third try, I stood up and said, 'I love this. Let me try it,' and he immediately got in the car and went and bought a wakeboard,” Manning said.
With a background in gymnastics, Manning was second nature when it came to mastering the skills required for wakeboarding. The 51-year-old is a 10-time Masters/Veteran Over 40 Wakeboard National and World Champion. Manning has won in several cities around the world, including Texas, Ohio, Minnesota, Indiana, Wisconsin, Montreal, Cancun and Japan.
“One of the big reasons I continue wakeboarding and want to continue wakeboarding is because, like Ashley, I come from a very competitive background, but I always have to be conscious of what's going on health-wise and physically. I think wakeboarding keeps me motivated to eat right, exercise and keep my body healthy,” Manning said.
Despite competing in different divisions, Kazmer and Manning agree the secret to wakeboarding is to have fun, practice as much as you can, go back to basics and slow down when learning new tricks.
“When you wakeboard, you have to stay on your edge so you can get as much speed as possible on your wakeboard. It's frustrating when you don't do a trick that you've done thousands of times and you don't know why, but you just need to have a different perspective or move on to a different trick,” Kazmar said.
The pair are excited to compete in the World Championships, encouraging each other to improve in a sport they hope will attract more women to compete.
“We get together as much as we can during the summer. Ashley honestly encourages me a lot. She's a lot younger than me but I want to keep up with her,” Manning said. “I think it's always great to have girls to ride with. It's a totally different atmosphere on the boat when you have girls riding together versus when you have boys riding together, but it's fun to encourage each other,” Manning said.
“It's always great to represent Smith Mountain Lake, so it's always special to go to the tournament and meet the locals,” Kazmer said.
The 2024 WWA Wakeboarding World Championships will take place September 26-29. You can download the WWA app and live stream the event at https://www.thewwa.com/rideline/ .
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