News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Alex Scagliotti gets big air. photo provided
Most 15-year-olds are just starting to think about what they might like to do when they get out of school and have to make a living.
Alex Scagliotti is already launched on his career.
The Sisters middle schooler is a professional wakeboarder competing in the Junior Men’s Division in a sport that is growing in both prestige and popularity.
He took first place among 15 riders last weekend at the World Wakeboarding Association (WWA) final event of the season at Lake Villa Lagos near Red Bluff, California. That put him in third place overall for the year in a four-event competition (and he missed one due to sponsorship commitments).
Wakeboarding is a cousin of waterskiing in which riders perform acrobatics and tricks on apparatus while being towed at speed by a boat. It’s a high-intensity sport judged on composition of tricks, performance on the “sliders” (apparatus) and amplitude (height of maneuvers).
“I like the freedom,” Scagliotti said. “You can just go out there and do whatever tricks you want.”
He was introduced to water skiing at age six by his father Randy, who was an ace skier. He started wakeboarding at eight. With obvious talent and drive, Scagliotti started competing in events around the country.
He turned pro this year.
The sport is demanding of his time and work — and of his dad. Randy drives or flies with his son to events all over the U.S. Just over a week ago he was in Orlando, Florida, for the Pan American Games, where he won his quarterfinals heat and semi-finals heat before finishing seventh in an eight-person final.
Scagliotti said he has always tended to jump up a class and compete over his head; he’s consistently at the young end of his competitive class.
Age is not his only handicap. Unlike many of his competitors in places like Orlando, Scagliotti cannot train year-round. During the winter he straps on a snowboard to stay in shape and keep the feeling of being on a board.
Scagliotti is always eager to share his enthusiasm for his sport. He has been coaching for the past four years at SOAR-sponsored wakeboarding camps. He may be as natural a teacher as he is a rider. He thrives on his students’ successes.
“When they land something I feel like I do when I land something new,” he said. “It’s cool.”
Scagliotti is quick to praise his own coach, Glen Fletcher of Orlando, Florida.
“I’ve been to a lot of camps and he’s definitely my favorite,” he said.
The young rider has garnered national attention from Alliance Wakeboard magazine and from multiple national sponsors. He was recently filmed in Stockton, California, for a West Coast wakeboarding movie, “Delta Sessions 2.”
The 15-year-old has his sights set on a career as a wakeboarder, knowing full well that that career will be over by 30. He’s already come face-to-face with the physical wear-and-tear of the sport, with nagging ankle and back injuries.
“It’s natural for me,” he said. “I don’t really think of it as working; I think of it as fun.”
He figures he’ll eventually move from competition to coaching and teaching.
What advice does he offer other young riders?
“Don’t worry about what other people say. Just flow with it and have fun with it.”
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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