Waterskiing: Teen leaves Aussies in wake

When a Kiwi upsets an Aussie in most sports it's a big deal.

If you're a Kiwi and you beat an Aussie on their turf or in the case of Hawke's Bay barefoot waterskier Hugo Schaw, on their water, it's a bigger deal.

That was the outcome after Schaw triumphed at the five-day Asia-Oceania Champs which ended in Perth on Sunday.

"The Aussies were gutted. There were four of them in my age group and they thought one of them was going to win," said Schaw, who returned home with seven medals.

A 16-year-old Lindisfarne College Year 12 student, Schaw, won the seven-strong under-17 age group in his first appearance at the championships. In addition to the overall gold in his age group, he captured gold in the slalom and jump with a jump of 22.1m which was 7cm short of the New Zealand record and for the first placed junior team, silver in tricks in his age group and for the second placed open team bronze in the open jump.

"I was lucky my closest Aussie rival Brennan Derry fell in both of his tricks runs and this made it easier for me in the battle for overall honours," Schaw explained.

The other Kiwi in Schaw's age group, Waikato's William Lee, finished third.

Schaw ranked the championships as a greater highlight than the March world championships in Melbourne where he helped the Kiwi junior team win bronze.

"Having been to the worlds I was more confident about my chance of medals and this was a bigger event with all five lakes at the Bonney Ski Park being used, one for wake boarders, another for waterskiers and the rest for us," said Schaw, who took up the sport less than four years ago.

The only Kiwi in the open men's jump, Schaw, finished 10cm behind the silver medallist and finished fourth overall in the open section. Next year he will become a permanent competitor in the open ranks which means he will have a year of open competitions in the build-up to his next world and Asia-Oceania Champs appearances in 2016.

Schaw, who is coached by Robbert Groen of Otaki, said a key to his success in Perth was the three days the four-strong Kiwi contingent spent training at Bonney Ski Park before the championships.

"This allowed us to get used to the different time zone, the different heat from what we left behind in New Zealand and different boats. Over there we were competing behind boats with outboard motors after training behind boats with inboards here but after a day I had adjusted to the different wakes," Schaw said.

A former trampolinist, Schaw began training in August for the Perth event. Every weekend from now he will be training at Takapau's Backpaddock Lakes in the build-up to regional competitions which begin in December, the April nationals and the Aussie nationals in May.