As you know, by the grace of God, we purchased the wakeschool’s first boat in January. This was THE most important element of our expansion to Fort Myers not only because of obvious reasons, but because what we needed was very specific. It needed to be the right price, a salt-water edition, relatively low hours, and it needed to provide a wake suitable to high-end wakeboarding, beginner wakeboarding, and it needed to produce a viable wakesurf wave. Read More
Beautiful Florida weather has been met with some familiar faces lately! We were so excited to have lessons with two families from Missouri just in one week. Read More
In March 2015 I began dreaming up the possibility of having a winter wakeboarding school in Fort Myers, Florida. I clearly recall the day I first spotted the Caloosahatchee River. I was crossing the I-75 Bridge on my way to Revolution Cable Park and thought to myself, “Wow now THAT would be a great place to ride!” That exact moment catapulted me into drawing up plans to explore the area’s potential. Read More
Kirby and I have never found ourselves tracking a hurricane more closely than the week of October 2nd. We are used to the threat of tornadoes back home, but hurricanes…those are a whole new world. Fresh from Missouri, we sat out on our friend’s lanai in Orlando contemplating our options. The Malibu Punta Cana Pro was the last professional competition of the year. It was scheduled for October 7-9 in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. The easy and “safe” thing seemed to be to cancel our flights, but wait, wait, wait…let’s rewind and start from the beginning to get you caught up. Read More
The third annual Personal Best Contest was held on Saturday, September 24. There is not a better way wrap up the wakeboarding season at Lake of the Ozarks. This is a very special event we host. It is here that we give our customers an opportunity to wakeboard/wakesurf for a cause. All proceeds went towards supporting the continued recoveries of professional wakeboarder, Brad Smeele and professional wake skater, Matt Manzari.
Have you ever considered how hard the job of a pastor is? Pastors are constantly helping people with their struggles, organizing community outreaches and weekly services, managing life groups and church staff…BUT on top of all of that, the pastor has a weekly public speaking engagement to prepare for. I’ve come to notice that most pastors rarely rely on their notes AND many pastors present the same message to multiple services. Can you image trying to construct impactful, Spirit-led messages EVERY week and know them well enough to give them virtually without notes? This has never crossed our minds until Kirby was so graciously invited by Pastor Dennis to give the message at Freedom Church in Osage Beach, Missouri. Read More
Wrapping up the end of the summer season, Kirby had the opportunity to do a day on the water with the staff of Mission St. Louis. Mission St. Louis is an organization that works to empower impoverished people in the St. Louis area to transform their lives. This special organization was founded by Louisiana native, Josh Wilson. He is passionate about people and is the heart behind Mission St. Louis. Read More
The Wakeboarding World Championships is the most prestigious boat competition of the year. This year the event was held in Toronto, Canada. I qualified for the competition by competing at the National Championships in July. The support that I have had to attend theses events has been incredible. The Shannon Family’s sponsorship through their label dispenser company, Dispensa-Matic, is a major reason why I am able to attend competitions. Because of them I am able to see breakthrough in my contest riding. I am also able to minister to the wakeboarding community and to travel to amazing places.
Thanks to Dispensa-Matic Label Dispensers, Kirby was able to travel to Acworth, Georgia in July to compete in the WWA National Championships. Dispensa-Matic Label Dispensers is the premier sponsor of Kirby’s travel for the 2016 season. Wakeboard contests are becoming increasingly international. Without Dispensa-Matic’s support, Kirby could not feasibly attend most of the WWA contests. They are a huge blessing and we are so grateful for them. Read More
Imagine standing at the front end of a balance beam. The beam represents your day. As you walk, run, or flip across the beam each day, you become immensely aware of the importance of balance. Read More
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