Family's water skiing passion lives on through hard work

For the Macias siblings, following their passion required sacrifice. 

In 2013, Paulette, 17, Erick, 10, and Julianna, 6, moved from their home in Mexico City to West Orange to focus on competitive trick water skiing. 

Their recent successes in competitions testify to how their sacrifice has paid off. 

This summer, Erick experienced tremendous success in USA Water Ski’s Boys 1 Trick category, a bracket for boys 9 and under. He took the “triple crown,” winning both the state, regional and national competition, an achievement his coach Camilo Espinel says is “very, very rare.”

Trick waterskiing is scored based on points, and skiers accumulate points for successfully completing tricks. At the Florida State Championships, Erick also broke the record, which has been unmatched since 2001, with a score of 3,210. 

He is currently ranked at No. 1, according to his coaches. 

Paulette competed at the Florida State Championships, placing third in the Girls 3 category, a bracket for girls 17 and under. 

All three siblings experienced success at the 2015 Mexican Nationals. Erick placed first in his category, and Paulette and Julianna placed second in their categories.

Their success is “reflective of how much effort they put into it,” Espinel said. “They work really hard.”

Days are full for Paulette and Erick. They wake up each morning and attend The First Academy in Orlando. After school, they eat and then go to ski practice. They practice until evening, when they come home and do their homework. 

Their commitment to skiing sometimes gets in the way of other things they want to try. Erick wanted to try out for football, and Paulette was interested in lacrosse. But they weren’t willing to sacrifice ski practice to do those things. 

It’s not all hard work for the Macias. They stayed involved in the sport because they love it, and they are pulled by the excitement of it.

“You can do backwards things,” Julianna said. 

Like Julianna, the thrill of learning new tricks keeps Paulette going.

When Erick skis, he pictures himself inside an Xbox video game. Every time he completes a trick, he sees himself advancing to the next level of the game.

“If you keep going, you can reach level 50,” he said. 

The support of the Macias parents, for whom the move has also been a sacrifice, has aided their children’s success, Espinel said. Their father, Julian, still works in Mexico and travels to West Orange each weekend to spend time with the family. 

“It’s very, very hard,” said their mother Adia, who views Mexico as home. But she thinks staying in Florida is what is best for her family.

“We have a good life here, and they are reaching their dreams,” she said.

Skiing is a Macias family sport. Julian grew up with nine siblings, all of whom enjoyed water skiing. He and his brother Fausto competed during their childhood. He does not compete anymore in favor of focusing on his children.

At first, leaving Mexico was difficult for the Macias. They were sad to leave their friends and the place they called home. But in Mexico, they were not able to train as much as they wanted to. In order to ski, they had to drive out of the city to their lake house at Lake Tequesquitengo, where they stayed on the weekends. 

In order to get better, they knew they needed to train more. They chose West Orange because of its many lakes, including nearby Lake Rose, as well as the proximity to coaches Camilo Espinel and Franck Desboyaux. Desboyaux owns Florida Ski School in Windermere and is ranked third in the world.

Desboyaux trained under Espinel, whose engineering background allowed him to approach skiing from the perspective of physics. Espinel trains professional skiers, many of whom have broken records. 

“We don’t fight the boat,” Espinel said, adding his students use the energy of the boat to their advantage. 

Both coaches rave about the Macias, saying they are great students. 

Espinel speaks highly of Erick, who he said asks to be trained like the professional do.

“If he keeps working this hard, he will be one of the greatest ever,” Espinel said.

Contact Jennifer Nesslar at [email protected].