Newly focused WSR

Within action sports and our own activity, groups or “crews” have established themselves throughout history in order to promote and push the limits of the lifestyles they lead. Dog Town, Da Hui, MBHC, Metal Mulisha and Bones Brigade. All of these “crews” set claim in leading the charge for their categories and historical timelines.

In the sport of wakeboarding, crews such as Pointless and WSR have been making their mark for years. Each has their own coast, each have their own vibe. One could debate that the WSR crew have been more of a mystery then a consistent entity. Most of us know the WSR mantra has been carried on the shoulders of Randall Harris. As Randall has grown so has the focus of WSR. Recently Alliance had the rare opportunity to take part in a WSR meeting, below is the recap from Randall.

Randall:

The West Side Riders (WSR) established in 1998. You know who we are and you know what we represent.

From 1998 through the early 2000s our presence was consistently felt. Being a chaotic crew of teenagers and young adults with no stable leader, we were always standing on shaky grounds. So in the mid 2000s due to growth in different directions and situational variances, we became scattered. The crew was further disengaged largely in part to my own personal pitfalls and conquests.

For a period of time we all did what we could in our own separate ways to keep the WSR dream alive. Without any unity, WSR had not made the impact of our original vision a decade prior.

The recession started to hit the action sports industry hard. Some of us began losing our sponsors and our necessary job tools. Added logistic and financial pressure came from law enforcement cracking down on our California waterways to keep their revenue streams up. Many athletes and action sports enthusiasts were struggling to stay afloat.

It became apparent that we had to unite and reorganize. We realized we have to lean on each other to grow singularly as well as collectively. We sought out a blueprint for an organizational system we could adopt as our own of which the inner workings of WSR my never become public. I can tell you our crew consists of Prospects, Members, and Officers governed by a code of conduct and list of by-laws. WSR is a crew is not limited to athletes. We have incorporated photographers, filmers, technical advisors, media consultants, security, etc. Our colors are white and black so when you see a white flag wave’n, it represents the W. The objective is to become once again a goal oriented, productive, and creative crew. And as always have a little fun on the way.

In order to implement our new system we had to have a meeting. A sit down had to take place to unite the homies from all over Cali and beyond. What better way to everyone together then for OG West Side Rider’s Ricky G’s B Day party!? What better place to hold this meeting than the newly acquired WSR HQ conveniently located in Central Cali!?  Vans agreed!  They laced the whole crew with fresh kicks and sponsored the party!

Ricky warned me to get the meeting started early before the moon was full and the wolves came out. With over 40 possible members in attendance, I lead the meeting as President with back up from our V.P. “Slick” Ricky G, Sgt of Arms “T-Rex” Troy Flick, and officers Melissa Marquardt, Big B, True G. The meeting went down and we officially organized West Side Riders as an Action Sports Club. Then we raged and celebrated Slick Rick’s 34th year!