Elk Grove Resident Places in Two Major Waterski Competitions

Last month, Elk Grove Patch covered a at Elk Grove's Shortline Lake, an exclusive gated community that's a magnet for lovers of the sport.

This month, Brian Detrick, a native son who grew up on the lake, placed highly in two major national waterski competitions: the Junior U.S. Open and the Western U.S. Regional Waterski Championships.

Detrick, 22, said growing up on the lake definitely gave him an advantage. Only five houses surround a body of water custom-made for waterskiing, Detrick said. In at least two of those houses are men who drive boats for national competitions—including Detrick's dad, Steven Detrick, who also happens to be mayor of Elk Grove.

While most kids were toddling, Brian Detrick was learning to balance on the water.

"They had me out on a kneeboard when I was two," he said.

He entered his first competition at the age of four and now has several sponsors. He placed second in the men's slalom competition at the Junior Open, held in Kansas July 10, and third in the men's division one slalom at the Western Regionals last Friday in Rio Linda.

Asked if he wants to make a career of it, Detrick explains that in waterskiiing, that's not so easy to do.

"You can't really make a living at it. Even the number one guy in the country is struggling," he said.

Instead, Detrick said, he'll spend the summer coaching water skiing in Mexico before getting his license in something less athletic, but perhaps more practical: real estate.