Dorien Llewellyn was basically born on the water.
His father Jaret is a nine-time world water ski champion and is considered the Wayne Gretzky of the sport.
READ MORE: Canada’s Jarret Llewellyn wins Pan Am water-skiing silver; McClintock takes gold
Now, at the age of 47, Jaret is coaching the next generation of Canadian talent, including his 22-year-old son.
Dorien says the coach-water skier relationship works well.
“We try to have it more as a friend relationship or a competitor relationship,” Dorien said.
“We’re both so competitive and that’s how we got to where we are… We really thrive off competing together and training together.”
Jaret and Dorien were training at Predator Bay just south of Calgary on Tuesday. It’s a world-class water ski lake that’s hosting the Canadian Western Water Ski Championships starting this Friday.
During the competition, Dorien hopes to break his father’s Canadian trick skiing record, which has stood for the past 15 years.
“If he breaks it I’ll just put the skis back on and break it and make him break it again,” Jaret said with a laugh.
Dorien will compete in all three disciplines this weekend, including the high-flying jumps and speedy slalom.
Dorien explains what the highly technical trick competition is all about.
“Tricking is two 20-second passes. Usually you go down and have what we call a hands pass and when you come back you have the rope in your toes where the rope is on your foot.”
WATCH: World Water Ski Champion Jaret Llewellyn
For two decades, Jaret dominated the world in all three disciplines and he’s looking forward to being in the boat this weekend as Dorien tries to carve out a new record.
“The new generation of kids are doing a lot of flips and spins,” Jaret said.
“The next generation have a lot of variations which are really cool and Dorien is right there.”
Jaret is also coaching 15-year-old Sean Kraus who goes to the national sport school at Winsport and is about to compete in Spain at the world junior championships.
Kraus says training at Jaret and Dorien’s house in West Palm Beach, Fliorida has been invaluable to his success at a young age.
“It’s amazing to be able to go down and train with him in Florida because he knows so much about the sport,” Kraus said.
“He made a lot of the tricks that we now do these days and he knows how to do it and how to fix exactly what you’re doing wrong.”
The Canadian Western Water Ski Championships run Friday through Sunday at Predator Bay.
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