It would be hard to argue that anyone single person has done more for the sport of wakeboarding, both on the water and off, than Parks Bonifay. You can tell he lives, eats, and breathes this lifestyle, and it shows. Parks was the youngest person to ever waterski, invented several tricks, filmed tons of video parts, won even more contests, and has pushed the boundaries of what is possible on a wakeboard. While a lot of riders might step away from the scene as they end their riding career, Parks has embraced the sport, continuing to keep up with the evolution of wakeboarding. You can feel the passion in his voice when he speaks about riding, Parks is truly a gem in the watersports industry. Ski baby, ugly board graphics, Byerly, knee injuries, getting banned from the masters, MTV cribs, Jackass, video parts, barefooting behind an F1 car, Ronix, Wakelab, and the future of the sport. Hear all that and much more in Episode 68 of the Grab Matters Podcast!

Back to back weeks with wakeskaters on the pod? You're damn right. T.J. has been around the wakeskate scene for what feels like forever. Getting started wakeboarding behind a small Boston Whaler, T.J. quickly shifted to wakeskating once he realized he and his friends would need a much bigger boat if they wanted continue to progress on their wakeboards. From there T.J. made the move from Miami up to Orlando to continue to entrench himself in wakeskating. Riding with the likes of Andrew Pastura and Nick Taylor T.J. has had some impressive wakeskating in his own right, including a killer section in Human Rocket. Wakeskating.com, Sfumato, blunts on a wakeboard, winch etiquette, owning spots, The Wakeskate Tour, Suwannee, and kickflipping wakeboards. Hear all that and much more in Episode 67 of the Grab Matters Podcast!

Before Brandon Thomas was ever a sponsored rider he broke his femur while riding at OWC, where he was taken to the hospital where both his parents happened to be that same day. Shortly after arriving he was told that he would likely never be able to wakeskate again, that obviously did not turn out to be the case. BT has racked up some impressive wins, like at The Masters and Byerly’s Toe Jam, to name a couple. We’re talking with BT about hanging out with Dale Earnhardt, boat riding vs winching, riding for some of the industries biggest brands, ghost riding a jetski, winching in Las Vegas, Rockwilder, some Scott Byerly stories, and how he helped mentor Daniel Grant. Hear all that and much more in Episode 66 of the Grab Matters Podcast!

Brooks Wilson was the brand manager of one of the biggest waterski brands in the industry, Radar. We sit down and talk with Brooks about his recent decision to leave that position and venture out on his own to start a business here in Florida. Before Brooks worked for Radar, he was a professional waterskier and has had a tremendous impact on waterskiing, and watersports as a whole. From basically learning to ski with legend Wade Cox to coaching at The Boarding School alongside industry icon Travis Moye, among others. Winching on a waterski, Wilson Bros, contests vs freeskiing, the best selling waterski, being a brand manager, Radar Lake, and skiing in a frozen lake. Hear all that and much more in Episode 65 of the Grab Matters Podcast!

Keith grew up in Minnesota, getting on the water during the short Midwest American summers when he could. But after a move down to Florida in his late teens for college, Keith found the cable and quickly became even more hooked on wakeboarding than he already was. Spending time at the projects, Keith honed both his rail riding and his boat riding, and almost beating Parks Bonifay in one of the biggest rail events of the time, The Carnival. A $3,000 phone bill, skinny stances, partying, the projects, riding for 4 board brands, CTRL, video parts, and the future of boat and cable riding. Hear all that and much more in Episode 64 of the Grab Matters Podcast.

Who has won the most wakeboard contests? Who has invented the most tricks? Who has signed one of the largest contracts in wakeboardings history? The answer to all of those questions is Darin Shapiro. Darin got started in watersports before wakeboarding as we know it was even a thing. Starting at the cable, Darin took countless laps on a trick ski, and barefooting, but it wasn’t until “ski boarding” came around that he really started to find some success. Darin was flown out by Herb O’Brien to a contest in Hawaii in 1991, and from there Darins journey in the sport began and had no signs of slowing down. Winning over 70 pro contests, inventing countless tricks, starring in 2 video games, signing one of wakeboardings largest contracts, the speedball, and retiring twice. Hear all that and much more in Episode 63 of the Grab Matters Podcast!

We start off the 6th installment of Shop Talk with the Mount Rushmore of Best Wakeboard Contests. After that the boys are talking all things wake, including going over events like Munich Mash, Copenwaken, and the most recent PWT stop. We also go over the new edit "Foama" from Felix Georgii and Dom Hernler, which is an absolute must watch. In addition to edits and events, were chatting about how harshly reverts should be punished in a contest run, the differences between boat and cable cultures, if pro's should pay for a pass to the cable, Herbs Cup, contest pay, Olympic wakeboarding, and Streetjam. Hear all this and much more in the 6th Episode of Shop Talk!

He was given a 1 stop ban on the pro tour for hitting a pine cone with a wiffle ball bat? Chase Heavener is a former professional wakeboarder from Orlando, Florida, and has been around since the early days of the sport. Seeing it progress from "trick ski" style riding to where the sport is today has been a wild ride, and a ride that Chase had some influence in. When he got into the sport, he didn't feel as though the current contest landscape represented his crews style of riding, or their vision for the sport, and some feathers were ruffled in the pursuit of change. After his riding career, Chase went behind the scenes and helped create some of wakeboarding's most iconic videos. Getting banned from Wakeboarding Mag, the New Crew, running a 5 minute mile, Neptune, sinking a boat 4 times, and the current media landscape. Hear all that and much more in Episode 62 of the Grab Matters Podcast!

What does the future of cable riding look like in America? In this episode we sit down with the Director of Operations at Aktion Parks, Kellan Rudnicki. Kellan got into wakeboarding at Ski Rixen, after initially trying to learn how to kiteboard and getting told he needs to hit the cable to learn board control first. Once falling in love with the sport, Kellan restarted the wakeboard club at his college UCF, then took a job out of the industry after graduating. Eventually an opportunity arose to get back into cable park ops, and Kellan worked his way back into the world of wakeboarding. Indian lines, ideal cable speed, industry infighting, decline of extreme sports, wake moms, profitability of cable parks, europe vs america, ski resorts vs cable parks, and grassroots events. Hear all that and much more in Episode 61 of the Grab Matters Podcast!

How do you navigate running a brick and mortar pro shop in today's time where Amazon seems to run everything eCommerce? Bill Porter is the founder and owner of Performance Ski and Surf, located in Orlando, Florida. Being in the heart of the towed watersports scene, Bill's shop is the "go to" pro-shop for everything wake and watersports. Although his mom initially tried to get people to convince Bill to not open Performance, he did it anyways, and has had a profound influence on both pro riders and beginners alike. Herb O'Brien's influence, wakeboard tech, online operation vs. brick and mortar, customer service, the most important innovation wakeboarding has seen, selling snow gear, Nautique vs. Mastercraft, and the future of wakeboarding and Performance Ski and Surf. Hear all that and much more in Episode 60 of the Grab Matters Podcast!