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Board brothers: Shulers featured on television show

Photo

Gunnar Shuler (left) and his brother, Gus, will be featured in a segment about wakeboarding on the “New Pollution” show airing this year on Fuel TV.

JANESVILLE — Janesville brothers Gunnar and Gus Shuler are featured in a segment about wakeboarding on the “New Pollution” show airing this year on Fuel TV.

Gunnar, 15, and Gus, 12, live with their parents, Andy and Geri, 69 S. Atwood Ave., Janesville, and rank among the best wakeboarders and snowboarders in the country.

The family travels America to compete. One weekend, for example, Gunnar was with his coach wakeboarding in Orlando, Fla., while Geri was with Gus snowboarding in Colorado.

This weekend, the family was in Colorado attending a national snowboarding competition, where Gunnar finished fifth out of 80 contestants.

Both boys also have been featured in national print, billboard and television ads, including regional television commercials for indoor surfing at the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells.

Last summer, Gunnar made the pro tour for wakeboarding, which consists of 40 pro riders and 20 juniors. The juniors are ages 14 through 19. Gunnar was chosen after two-day tryouts during which he competed against residents from the United States, Canada and Australia.

Gunnar was the youngest wakeboarder chosen.

“Ever since (Gunnar) was a little boy, he said he wanted to be a pro wakeboarder,” his mom, Geri said. “You try to encourage your kids (and say) ‘Sure, honey, whatever you want to be.’ And then one day he makes the pro tour, and you go, ‘Whoa, one day might actually happen.’”

Fuel TV is an action sports television station that features skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, BMX, freestyle motocross and wakeboarding.

According to promotional literature from Fuel TV, “New Pollution” introduces viewers to “the next generation of action sports athletes 16 and younger who are proving their skills in the hills, waves, water and streets across America.”

Each episode usually features three athletes, and the Shuler brothers are grouped into one seven-minute segment.

The boys were filmed over four days in August in Janesville, at the family’s cottage in Palmyra and at Lake Geneva.

They are seen joking with the host, professional surfer Matt Beachan, about their hard-core names and the pronunciation of Wisconsin.

The segment is a fun feature that includes the Shuler home on Atwood Street, the Rock River and a high water sign, which forced the filming to move to Lake Geneva and Palmyra. The boys talk about the Wisconsin weather: while not always ideal for wakeboarding, it allows the siblings to snowboard, which is great cross-training.

The segment also shows the family indoor surfing at the Kalahari in Wisconsin Dells.

TV SCHEDULE

The “New Pollution” show on Fuel TV, which is available in Janesville on Charter digital cable channel 410, will air a segment featuring the Shuler brothers on:

-- Wednesday, April 9, at 6:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m.

-- Thursday, May 15, at 6:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m.

-- Tuesday, May 20, at 2:30 p.m.

-- Saturday, May 24, 6 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.

-- Tuesday, June 24, at 6:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m.

The segment will air all year, but the remaining schedule has not yet been released.