2017 ROTY | Steel Lafferty
One of the highest honors in wake, the Rider of the Year award goes to somebody that not only is insane on the board, but that embodies the true spirit of the sport. They stay hungry to better themselves and wakeboarding no matter the obstacles that get in their way. The names who have taken this title home are known far and wide and for good reason. This year, one rider really stood out not only as an amazing rider but as an all around good dude. So without further ado, your 2017 ROTY is Mr. Steel Lafferty!
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January 15, 2018
Such a sick vid. Congrats Steel!!
January 15, 2018
Wow. this is a huge step back for alliance. Steel for ROTY?!? really??? So many other great riders this year over stell. Felix, D grant, brenton. the list goes on. this was clearly a viral video selection for ROTY. i'm calling it right now David O'caoimh will be the 2018 alliance ROTY. this pick makes wakeworld and Unleashed look good. #Blowingit
January 15, 2018
Yea I was a bit taken back by the selection as well. He rode really well in the <5 contest, and did some sweat double ups and double flippy things in the new Xstar video, but normally Alliance awards more photo and video work (see Benny G). Steel had a good year, but I was thinking Felix, or Alex Graydon were gunna take home Alliance's ROTY.
January 16, 2018
He did more for the sport since wakeboarding was televised in the X Games. ESPN top 10 on Sports Center? Come on, pay attention.
January 16, 2018
Yea, 30 seconds on ESPN gets you ROTY… That means some high school kid who makes a full court 3 to win a game is the MVP of the NBA, it was on the ESPN top 10 so…
January 19, 2018
Really? BP is more deserving? what did he do this year besides get his picture taken a bunch? Steel accomplished a lot this year, won trick of the year, had a lot of social media presence and made a lot of videos. Felix also made a lot of videos and won Real Wake so I'll give him respect for that. Daniel also had a great year. You know who had the best year? Harley. Dude came back from a knee injury into the most talented field of wakeboarders in the history of wakeboarding, won the National Championships, the World Championship, the Wakeboard World Series, The Pro Wakeboard Tour (with an epic 99 score at the final stop). He also won Best Boat Rider at Wake Awards and was the first rider in history to land a Double Tantrum-to-Blind behind board. If you really want to follow a site that keeps up with wakeboarding, check out http://www.thewakeboardsite.com
January 22, 2018
Alliance does not really give a shit about Pro Tour results, as they aren't into gymnastics. Doing one more 180 or hucking as many doubles as you can into a pass isn't rewarded in their ROTY decision, it's how you do the trick. This has been their stance since the inception of them doing a ROTY. IE Phillip Soven has never been close to winning the award yet Randall has won it twice. They also gave Benny G the award over Danny Harf, when Harf was slaying contests (Harf would go on to win it the next year…). Use the search bar and type in ROTY and there is a good summation of their winners from the past.
January 23, 2018
Nah your site sucks
January 15, 2018
Maybe social media guru of the year.
January 16, 2018
what a joke! this is laughable, yea and chads got the right idea alex graydon… is everybody high?
January 16, 2018
Raph seemed to think it was worthy.
January 16, 2018
Stoked to see Steel get ROTY this year. With the amount of jibbers and wakesurfers out there these days it's rad to see someone dedicated to the double'up and bringing new shit to that game. The cool kids my not get his vibe but that's the best part about Steel, he just keeps doing his thing regardless of the shit'talkers.
January 16, 2018
Congrats Steel thats sick!
Trick of the year, X Games part, Viral videos that bring new people to the sport… Well deserved.
Y'all are nuts if you don't think Steel is a contender.
January 16, 2018
#fakenews
January 21, 2018
Yo, I picked steel for ROTY…deal with it losers.
January 23, 2018
ROTY is picked by a panel of past winners, they kind of know what they're talking about!
It's a good thing there are so many riders out there who are eligible, if it was an obvious choice with one stand-out guy then the sport would clearly be stagnant. Whether he's your favourite or not, enjoy the debate and respect the outcome.
Congratulations Steel! (PS. Felix would get my vote, but I don't matter)
January 25, 2018
Cable riders have their jimmies rustled because they cant relate to boat. Same thing happens when a cable only rider wins this sort of thing. If you ride boat, go ride cable when you can. If you ride cable, don't pass up the opportunity when one of your bros ask you to take a boat set. diversify your life
January 25, 2018
ButtChugCraig is the Parks Bonifay imposter…
January 30, 2018
honestly if for no other reason, that clean pick off the bottle with the driver is worthy by itself….