Talor Walters is hoping for more time on the water in preparation for major international wakeboarding competitions after placing seventh at the world championships this month.

Talor Walters is back in Tauranga and is ranked 7^th in the world among under-15 wakeboarders.

He has returned to Tauranga from Milan, Italy, where the 2011 International Waterski and Wakeboard Federation Wakeboarding World Championship was held.

He competed in the under-15 age group category against 27 other riders and was a bit off-the-pace of the top riders owing to their superior trick abilities.

'They are doing better tricks like backflip 360s and roll-to-revert,” says Talor.

The gauge of the gap is that the maximum rotation Talor can land is a 540, but the top riders are landing 720s.

He says it is about practice and he feels capable of learning them.

'Those tricks are pretty complicated, but I guess if I had a lot of time on the water I would be able to learn them.”

Time on the water is the main issue for Talor with the top level riders, who are mostly American and Australian, having more opportunity to train.

'There are different levels really,” says Talor.

'There are kids just doing wake jumps, and then there's kids like me that are a good level, but then there's the kids that that's their life.

'And they train for months just before worlds, and the people who beat me ride like three times a week every day for an hour, and then people like me have just a couple of weeks to train for comps because New Zealand's so cold.”

Talor in a training run on Tauranga harbour.

Having a concerted period of training is the key to learning the better tricks.

'It's really just time on the water, when you spend lots of time on the water, your confidence gets a lot bigger and you are more confident so you try new tricks, but when you are not riding that much and only get a couple of weeks in the year, it's hard.”

The hardest tricks Talor completed at the world champs were a 540 and a tantrum-to-fakie.

He says these are difficult owing to the rope 'because you have to pass the handle while you're in the air and spin the whole rotation, or in tantrum-to-fakie you have to do a backflip and pass the handle on the way down”.

This all happens in a matter of seconds and at an across-the-water speed of about 35km/h.

Talor says having the right board is important.

'Liquid Force NZ sponsor me and they are probably the best board company that's in the wakeboarding industry, and they gave me a 131 Harley this year, which is a pro model board and it's top of the line.

'Each pro model board is really similar, but there are different types to the bottom of the board.

'My board is real poppy and light and it's real fast on the water.”

Talor has the tools and the talent to be at the top of the wakeboarding tree, but it is time that hinders him.

His father, Darren, says it's tough competition at the top level.

'There's two kids from Australia who he boarded with in Australia back in 2005 at the worlds in Australia, and one of those has two boats and both those kids actually do five days a week, every week of the year wakeboarding for at least an hour a day – so that's what he's up against.”

Talor does not wakeboard all year round; he is also a keen rugby player and is halfback for the Tauranga Boys' College elite under-15s.

Talor says rugby is good at keeping him fit, but that is about all the sport does to help him with his wakeboarding.

'In the team sport if you are not performing that good, you got other people who are performing good that help you out, but in wakeboarding if you are not performing good you are not going to do well.”

He says this makes wakeboarding a pressure sport and this is something he enjoys.

'In a team sport there is not so much pressure on yourself, but in an individual sport you have got a lot of pressure because you are doing it for yourself and the people who backed you.

'It's good to have pressure to push yourself,” says Talor.

'Having people put the money and time into you and then succeeding so that they didn't waste their time and effort is a good drive to have.”

In Talor's case his father and Pak 'n Save were critical in him getting to Milan to compete at the world championship.

'He did a lot to get us there, and especially Pak 'n Save Tauranga sponsored us $10,000, and if it wasn't for them I wouldn't have got there.”

He is also glad his father was able to accompany him on the trip.

'It was amazing to be in Italy with dad.”