..By PAUL MOSER Special to AllAroundPhilly.com

But then there is Dallas Friday, professional wakeboarder, who at her age has become one of the youngest athletes to compete in X Games history.

She already has a gold medal in wakeboarding at last year’s X Games and will be gunning for her second career championship at the 2002 X Games when the wakeboarding competition starts Aug. 12 at the Grant Memorial on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia.

"It’s hectic, but fun," Friday said of the life of a wakeboarder. "I’m very fortunate to do something that I love and make money for it. But I do have to sacrifice some things. I miss hanging out with my friends. Sometimes, I try to plead with my mom to let me go out with school friends. That’s what I miss but I’m fortunate to travel and visit places."

And there have been many places that she has seen in the last 18 months that many people may never get the chance to experience.

When Friday turned professional 18 months ago at age 14, she jumped head first into the water, literally and figuratively. She won her first pro event in April 2001 by nearly 20 points over her closest competitor. At age 13, she captured the silver medal in wakeboarding at the 2000 X Games and became the youngest competitor ever at an X Games event.

After earning the silver at the 2000 X Games, she captured first at the 2001 X Games in Philly. She also took home first place at 2002 Gravity Games, first place at the first stop of the Vans Triple Crown, first place at the First Pro Tour Stop in Orlando, first place at the Second Pro Tour Stop in Fort Lauderdale, first place at the Malibu Open, second place at the National Championships and second place at the World Championships.

Her recent success has landed her numerous endorsement deals with exclusive wakeboarding supporters and manufacturers. She has deals with O’Brien, Malibu Boats, Smith Optics, Performance Ski and Surf, Rainbow Fins, Orlando Watersports Complex and the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute.

She is, after all, a With-It Girl. She has been featured on Withitgirl.com, a Web site devoted to young girls with interests in sports, arts and music.

Much of this success may never have happened to Friday if it were not for a switch in interests several years back. Friday was seriously into the sport of gymnastics before switching over to wakeboarding three years ago.

"My big brother Rob was involved in wakeboarding and he got me started," Friday said. "We did a lot together. I felt that it was time to give wakeboarding a try. I fell in love with it and kept doing it. Gymnastics was sort of over with me and I felt burned out. I wanted to try something new."

Friday said although she grew tired of the sport, her background in gymnastics has helped her transition into wakeboarding. It allowed her to experiment more with certain moves in the water, which she otherwise might not have been able to perform.

"Gymnastics is similar in the awareness of where you are in the air, also using flips and spins," Friday said. "It was also good for the strength and flexibility. It came very easy to me and I was fortunate to learn very fast."

Friday trains on a lake that her family owns in Orlando. She often finds herself on the lake training with fellow wakeboarders Darin Shapiro, Mike Ferraro and Travis Moye.

She entered the X Games two years ago as the event’s youngest ever athlete and is still considered to be the little sister among the group.

"At first I was a little nervous being around all of the other older competitors," Friday said. "I had not been to too many wakeboarding competitions. But after the first half of my first season, I really enjoyed it. They all treated me like a little sister. They helped me out and encouraged me."

She has become more comfortable in competitions, as previously noted with all of her titles that she earned. She also said that she is now getting used to all of the television and newspaper interviews. It has helped the fact that she is often the only woman in a male-dominated event.

Friday said she often gets the support of the crowds at the events and feeds off of their reactions. Fabiola da Silva, the biggest female name in in-line skating, has also been a motivation for her success as the premier female in wakeboarding.

But the crowd is her true motivation.

"Every time you land something, the crowd gets so excited and I get so pumped," Friday said. "I push to try other things, watching other guys for new tricks. I get pumped up and try new things. It gets the judges excited and the crowd stoked."

More importantly, Friday hopes to get the crowd in Philadelphia even more excited with her performance at this year’s X Games. She said she hopes to add a couple of different moves which she has been working on for the past several weeks to allow the Philly fans to see the competitive side of Dallas Friday.

The other side to Dallas Friday is the teenager who would not mind watching the other competitors, or her idols, performing in other events when her day is done. She wouldn’t mind watching the likes of Travis Pastrana, Dave Mirra and others.

"That’s really exciting," Friday said of the other events. "When wakeboarding is over, I enjoy going out and watching other athletes from other sports. It’s just awesome to be out there."

But when it is her turn to reach the water, it is time to get down to business. The mission is short and simple.

The goal is to win.

"Hopefully, just be the defending champion is my main goal," Friday said. "It would be sweet to win X Games two years in a row."
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