Dallas Friday (Pic: Lloyd Murray)
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Today Dallas Friday may be best known as a professional athlete who is extremely young, but in 2001 and the years to follow, the attention this remarkable 14-year-old garners will be increasingly focused on her wealth of accomplishments.
At age 13 she had already "retired" from a successful five-year run as a gymnast and started work on a second career as a wakeboarder. Since then, she's been splitting her time between top finishes at pro events and giving the wakeboarding status quo a swift kick in the pants.
Her status as the youngest athlete competing in the 2000 X Games wasn't half as astonishing as the silver medal dangling around her neck at the end of the day. Nor was it close to being as amazing as the fact that she had only started wakeboarding less than a year and a half earlier. A first place in the four-day America's Cup competition and a fourth place ranking in the 2000 World Cup standings has secured her a spot in the upper echelon of wakeboarding females.
Dallas Friday (Pic: Kelly Kingman)
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However, this overachiever wants to go beyond what's considered great for female wakeboarders. Very few men are doing double rotation tricks. Yet, with her gymnastics background supporting her, Dallas has been working on a double front roll that has never been accomplished in competition…by men or women!
To help you get familiar with this face that you'll be seeing a lot more of in the future, we sat down with Dallas and did our best to find out what's behind this highly motivated, fun-loving eighth-grader, who also happens to wakeboard.
WW: You must get a lot of comments about your name. Sounds like an action hero or WWF wrestler. How did you end up with that?
DF: A lot of people ask me how I got my name. I got it because, well, my aunt's name is Dallas and my dad grew up in a little town in North Carolina called Dallas, so my parents agreed to call me Dallas.
WW: How long have you been wakeboarding?
DF: I have been wakeboarding since June of 1999.
WW: What got you into wakeboarding?
DF: Well, I got into wakeboarding because of my brother Robin. I had just stopped gymnastics and wanted to do something. Because I love sports, I couldn't just do nothing. So he told me to try wakeboarding and I did. Ever since then, I never turned back and can't stop because I love it so much.
Dallas Friday (Pic: Richmond Gibbs)
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WW: How old is Robin?
DF: He's seventeen.
WW: Does he compete?
DF: He just does amateur tournaments. He'd like to become pro, but it's really hard for the guys.
WW: Yeah, some stiff competition. Does he ride the cable?
DF: Yes he rides the cable just about everyday. He's actually the World Cable Champion.
WW: Anybody else in your family ride?
DF: Well my other brother Chad does a little, but he is more into surfing.
WW: So are you better than Robin?
DF: No, he is better than me.
WW: Is there some rivalry going on there?
DF: Yeah. Well, I can do some tricks he can't do and he can do some tricks I can't do.
WW: Do you guys train together?
DF: We used to. Well, once I get my boat, then we're gonna start training a lot more together and help each other out, which is cool because my brother helps me out a lot doing all my tricks.
WW: What kind of boat are you getting?
DF: I just got sponsored by Malibu, so I'm getting a 2001 Wakesetter. I should get mine in four days. I'll be able to pick it up.
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