Overview and Structure
“What if your name is Pete Rose? There was. I don’t know where it came from, but he was a baseball player apparently. Yeah. Sometimes in wakeboarding they even have nicknames for tricks that aren’t even handle passes.”
The Pete Rose is an unhooked trick initiated from a toeside edge. Its basic structure is recognized as a toeside Backroll to blind air pass. While it is sometimes described as toeside to wrapped, it generally refers to a maneuver involving a landing to blind from a toeside approach.
Origin of the Name
The name originates from the legendary Major League Baseball (MLB) player, Pete Rose. In the wakeboarding community, there is a culture of giving tricks unrelated nicknames rather than descriptive ones based on the movements, and this tradition was brought directly into kiteboarding. The trick was originally invented by wakeboarding pioneer Scott Byerly. As the rider leans forward in the air and takes an aggressive posture diving headfirst toward the water, it was named after Pete Rose’s signature “headfirst slide” in the MLB.
Mechanics and Tips
Because the takeoff is completely different from a standard heelside pop, it is easy to become disoriented in the air. Popping off flat water without a wave or kicker is considered highly difficult.
- Keep the kite near 1 o’clock, unhook, and pop.
- Initiate the movement by pulling the bar in and rotating your back shoulder forward toward the nose of the board.
- Simultaneously bend your knees and push your hips forward to get your weight back over the board.
- Rotate smoothly and transfer your weight from your back foot to your front foot.
- To achieve the 180-degree rotation, pull the bar toward your back hip and bend your front knee.
- While airborne with both knees bent, release your back hand and reach for the backside edge of the board.
- Extend your front knee for balance and landing.
Derived Tricks
- Pete Rose 5: A variation with an additional rotation. It is sometimes described by commentators as a toeside KGB with an extra round.
- Pete Rose 7: A highly difficult variation that adds even more rotations to the Pete Rose 5.
Notable Riders and Iconic Scenes
- Finn Flügel: At 14 years old, he performed a Pete Rose 5 as his opening trick in the semifinals.
- Nathalie Lambrecht: Drew attention by attempting the Pete Rose, a rare high-difficulty toeside maneuver in the women’s division.
- Other top riders such as Bruna Kajiya, Aaron Hadlow, and Christophe Tack have consistently landed it as a crucial scoring move in competitions.
Search Aliases: Pete Rose 7, PeteRose7, Pete Rose, PeteRose