Ryan Dodd continues to be the man to beat on water skis, winning both the Canadian National Water Ski Championships at Predator Bay south of Calgary August 13 to 16 and the Calgary Pro Water Ski Shootout August 17.
“It was a really good week, I actually won the Canadian nationals and then on Friday it was an exciting sort of event. I won the Calgary Pro Shootout as well, so it was an awesome week,” said the former Olds resident.
Dodd has had an excellent season, winning four of the five events he's entered. He started off the year at the Rocketman Event in Florida, winning that event and setting a personal best jump of 237 feet.
He also skied in the U.S. Masters in May, winning that event for the first time. Next, he skied in Moscow, Russia, winning that event, before taking second at the Malibu Open in Milwaukee.
Dodd is about halfway through the season thus far, with three more events in Florida, one in Chile and a World Cup event in Indonesia yet to come.
Dodd said he will be trying to keep fresh for the remainder of the season by taking time off when he can in order to maintain his good standing so far.
“If we went hard every day all year, we'd fall apart midway through the year. In-between these events, when we have a break, I try to relax, take a little time off … then spend a few weeks in the gym, getting strong. You sort of have a year-long plan that we follow just to keep me in check,” he said.
Dodd has a training program provided by the Canadian Sport Centre (which also provides programs to Olympians) that focuses on mountain biking, surfing, jogging and some time in the gym.
Kevin Spicer, 16, also from Olds, tied for third in his category at the Canadian championships. Dodd, who has assisted Spicer as much as possible, said the young skier has a lot of potential since the two got together at the world championships in Calgary.
“He saw the waterskiing going on at the world championships (in 2009) and thought it was awesome. He came out for a ski ride and got shown what waterskiing is all about,” Dodd said.
After Spicer attended a few training camps and got plugged into the sport, “I've kind of taken him under my wing and helped him with dryland training and coaching him on and off the water, and just encouraging him that he can be a water skiier,” Dodd said.
Dodd said Spicer has progressed well in just under two years of skiing.
“He's done amazingly well,” Dodd said.
