Newton discovers Gravity

By Jennifer Ferranto
Special to Summer Forty-Niner

Cal State Long Beach senior Cheryl Newton can be found eight times a week practicing her sport in the rough waters of Canyon Lake and she can be found at least once a day trying to explain what her sport is: wakeboarding.

"Wakeboarding," Newton clarifies, "is an extreme sport where a person is pulled behind a boat, like a water skier, but the board they ride is shorter and fatter, like a snowboard. The rider uses the wake behind the boat to do flips and tricks off of."

Newton, a marketing major, can be regarded as the right person to explain this sport. As the 1999 amateur women's national and world hampion of wakeboarding, Newton has moved up to the professional class for the year 2000 and is eighth in points. With the ability to perform a variety of tricks such as seven different flips, multiple grabs and a 360-degree turn under her belt, Newton placed third in the Oregon pro stop last weekend.

"I couldn't have done it without lots of practice and support from my family and friends," Newton said.

Now, Newton is concentrating on another competition, the Gravity Games. Known as NBC's version of ESPN's X-Games, the Gravity Games brings together the top pros in sports like motocross, skateboarding and wakeboarding to compete for cash. Newton took on 11 other top female wakeboarders in Providence, R.I., this week. The women are judged on intensity, how "big" the tricks are, composition and how the overall run is choreographed.  Judgement will also be based upon how well each trick is executed.

"For something that started as a hobby, I never would have expected it to come this far." -- Cheryl Newton

After finding out that she qualified for the Gravity Games, Newton said "I have basically intensified my training. My goal is to place in the top five."

Newton, who was born and raised in Torrance, has been participating in water sports since she was a child. Growing up, Newton traveled to her family's second home on the Colorado River almost every weekend. There, she found her love for wakeboarding after her brother introduced her to the sport four years ago. "It's my favorite thing to do," Newton said. "I'm just lucky to have the opportunity to compete in a sport I enjoy."

In her spare time Newton can be found teaching wakeboard clinics at Canyon Lake and on the Colorado River. The majority of Newton's protégés are young girls.

"I get just as excited for them if they are crossing the wake for the first time as I do to see people
learn harder tricks," Newton said.

"For something that started as a hobby," she said, "I never would have expected it to come this far."

The Oregon pro stop can be seen on ESPN 2 on July 25 at 10 p.m. The Gravity Games are scheduled to air on NBC Oct. 8, 15, 22 and 29 and Nov. 5, 1-3 p.m. For more information, log on to www.gravitygames.com.