A BROMSGROVE teenager was one of just six in the UK to compete at the IWWF World Under 17 Waterski Championships in Chile over the weekend.
Dani Halford, who is 16 and attends South Bromsgrove High School, represented her country in the competition at Lago Los Morros.
And Dani, who trains at Parklands near Droitwich and The Waterski Academy at Whitworth near Rochdale, put in some fantastic performances.
She took part in all three disciplines – slalom, tricks and jump.
Jumping sees waterskiers take on a ramp of speeds up to 70mph, taking off and landing on the water to ski away with scores determined by distance achieved.
In Slalom the boat travels at a constant speed of 55km-per-hour (for women) in a straight line down the course. The skier on one single ski has to go through
entrance gates and then virage from side to side, successfully negotiating six buoys before finishing.
And in tricks, the skier is given two 20-second passes to complete, demonstrating as many different tricks as possible – ranging from a simple 180 turn to a somersault with a twist. There are also ‘toehold’ tricks where the skier holds the rope with one foot. Points are awarded for each trick, but only if they are successfully executed.
Dani achieved personal bests in both slalom and trick and both the scores contributed to the GB team score (only the top three scores in each team are counted).
Most importantly she came 18th overall in the particularly challenging and highly demanding contest.
Proud mum Alison said: “To know she is 18th in the world is something that we are all really proud of.”
Her dad Andy added: “She has excellent coaches such as Nick McGarry and also support from her school to help her to cope with competition time off.”
