Water-Ski Champ’s First Lake Was a Living-Room Rug

When she was 2 years old, Brandy Nagle learned about water skiing on the rug in her family’s front room. Her father, who had fitted skis on her tiny feet, would throw his daughter a line and pull her around the room, pretending they were gliding over glassy waters and cutting through a white-capped wake.

He’d take her through all the turns and twists and drag her over the rug’s choppy surface, simulating the sounds of a boat’s motor. About a year later, Brandy was behind the family boat, towline in hand, perched on a surfboard as the craft idled in a peaceful cove.

“That way she got comfortable being in the water and hearing the boat,” said Tom Nagle, Brandy’s father.

Indeed, Brandy is most comfortable on water skis behind a boat now, and those beginnings have spawned a two-time national champion who, among other things, excels academically, has been featured on national television sports shows and has her sights set on the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.

Nagle is 13, a decade and 90 miles removed from Canyon Lake, where she learned to water ski. But the Miraleste High freshman traces her love for water skiing to that front room of a small house on the lake at the mouth of the San Jacinto River.

“When you’re 2 years old and your dad is pulling you around on the rug like you’re skiing, what’s there not to like?” she asks rhetorically.

She still likes to water ski, but Brandy’s competition probably wishes the Palos Verdes teen-ager didn’t have such zeal for the sport.

Nagle has competed in the national championships since she was 9 and has claimed a first-place prize the last two years. In 1987 she was National Junior Girls trick champion, and in 1988 she brought home the slalom championship from West Palm Beach, Fla. Last year she also earned second place in trick skiing and jump skiing, giving her second place in the overall standings. She is ranked No. 61 in the world among trick skiers her age.

Water skiing as a competitive sport is broken down into three categories:

Slalom means moving through a course broken up by buoys set at regular intervals. Points are awarded as the skier increases speed and shortens the towline. The boat can go no faster than 34 m.p.h, but the skiers can reach almost 55 m.p.h.because they are covering more distance zigzagging through the buoys.

Jump skiing entails skiing onto a ramp in the water and hurtling through the air, trying to cover as much distance as possible. Points are awarded for the greatest distance.

Trick skiing involves performing turns and twists in the air while being pulled by the boat. Scoring is most subjective in this category, and judges are hard to find. Therefore, when water skiing is introduced at the 1992 Olympics, chances are only slalom and jump will be run.

Although she has excelled in all three categories, Nagles enjoys the freedom that trick skiing affords and tries to be creative.

“I like them all pretty much, but trick skiing is my favorite,” she said. “Slalom and jump get a little repetitive because you’re performing the same things every time. But each trick ski is different and requires different moves every time.”

One would assume that with all the rain and chill in the air the last few weeks, this would have been a down period for Nagle. Not so. Studying and playing on the Miraleste junior varsity soccer team take up most of her time, but there’s still time for water skiing, regardless of the weather.

Last weekend the family was again out at Canyon Lake. Nagle wears a “dry suit,” which ties at the wrists, ankles and neck, on top of a sweat shirt and sweat pants. This allows her to ski freely for hours without getting wet.

And there’s always work to be done on land. Soccer helps tone and firm the lower body, and Nagle will begin weight training in February to develop upper-body strength.

Then there’s the “trick trainer,” which, according to Nagle, “is a board and bar stool with a swivel that lets you practice your balance.”

Balance is important to Nagle, not only in water skiing but in life. She is an excellent student, maintaining a 3.75 to 4.0 average in the honors program at Miraleste. She is one year ahead of classmates her age.

Her accomplishments have earned her accolades not only from coaches and teachers but from the fourth estate as well. She was selected KCOP’s TV Sports Star of the Week and has been featured on ESPN’s Sunkist Kids and Scholastic Sports America Honor Roll.

“I was a little nervous at first when I was going on TV,” she said. “But I was happy that I got on because it brings some attention to the sport.”

Nagle tries to keep all the attention in perspective.

“I’m a regular person just like everybody else,” she said. “I’m just dedicated to my sport right now. My friends treat me regular and I treat them regular, too, just like it’s no big deal.”

Nagle has traveled extensively to compete in water skiing events, and there’s a trip to Australia on the horizon with the 1990 U.S. junior world team.

But the plum hangs in Barcelona, and Nagle hopes to reach for it all in 1992.

Tom Nagle said he once feared that his daughter would get burned out from doing so much. But he now believes that Brandy is following the right path.

“I’d rather have her busy than idle,” he said. “Plus, she seems to have her head on straight. She paces herself well and gets into the competitive nature of the activity.”

Said Wilma Nagle, Brandy’s mother: “It’s a lot of extra work on her part, but she handles it well.”

Handling it is no problem for Brandy because her motivation to succeed in the sport is simple and succinct:

“It’s just a lot of fun. I enjoy it a lot, and I’d be really sad if I gave it up.”