In 1968 at the age of 10, Mike Avila stepped into his ski and into the greatest water ski racing career ever. During a career in which he had both arms paralyzed and diagnosed irreparable, Mike attacked those odds with self-therapy, continued to race and remained a top contender. He is widely considered the most dominating Men’s ski racer that has ever competed in the National Water Ski Racing Association.
Mike started skiing at the age of 9 and entered his first race a year later 1968. In a sign of things to come, he finished in first place.
Mike’s father, Richard, trained Mike and his siblings, Rick and Denise. He used to make them run steep sand hills to get in shape, and pulled them for hours at a time for practice. An average practice day was Richard putting Mike and Rick behind the boat at the same time and make lap after lap around the lake.
Click here to read the full article about Mike at the Water Ski Hall of Fame site
