It was early Tuesday morning as I walked out the front door of my house in Mount Dora, Florida, and got into my car. The 45-minute drive to Lake Minnehaha in Clermont, Florida, gave me time to wake-up and get mentally prepared for my first wakeboard photoshoot. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I knew it would be fun! Although, I’ll admit I was a little nervous.

At the lake, I suited up into my full suit, (it was pretty chilly), grabbed my gear, and headed down to the boat. Emily Copeland-Durham, Joey Meddock, the WakeGirls staff, and myself piled into two boats: the girls on one boat and the guys on the chase boat.

Cruising across the lake to find good lighting and smooth water, the fact that it was my turn to ride and represent for WakeGirls was making me feel a little bit queasy and doubtful that I could pull this off. What if I suck and I can’t land any tricks? I thought to myself. Thankfully my wakeboard coach, Lauren Harf-Loveless, (a.k.a. WakeCoach), was there to remind me to have fun and not to stress. And that’s exactly what I did.

I took it slow and easy at first, warming up by edging around and carving the wake until I felt comfortable and confident enough to step it up and do wake jumps, indy grabs, and 180s. The more I rode, the more I got pumped and excited to keep riding. It was like this energy surge that kept fueling me to go bigger and ride better. The nervousness I had before I hit the water disappeared once I got up on my board and threw my first heelside wake jump. I didn’t want the photoshoot to end and funny enough, I had one of my best sets out there that day. That just goes to show that it’s good to face your fears, because you might just surprise yourself at what you’ll accomplish!