Christopher Falvo, Correspondent
Published: 10:23 p.m., Thursday, September 9, 2010
There was already little room for awards on Paulie Koch’s mantle. The 13-year-old Old Greenwich native has been collecting honors and accolades from the wakeboarding community since he began competing at the age of 5.
However, Koch will have no trouble finding space for his latest trophy — the World Wakeboarding Association World Championship.
“It hit me right away,” Koch said of the realization he’d been crowned the world’s best. “It was an unbelievable feeling right out of the gates. It’s an unbelievable feeling being champion of the world.”
Koch had already caught the eye of the wakeboarding world, being touted as a future pro in a video on the Wakeboarding Magazine website last month. Winning worlds has only furthered that notion according to Wakeboarding Magazine editor Kevin Michael.
“Paulie’s skills on the water are obvious, but his personality and good instincts are going to be what helps him become a top pro,” Michael said.
Koch took first place in the boys division, beating his closest competitor by 10 points with a score of 66.67, in the 17th annual Rockstar WWA Wakeboarding World Championships, last month at Orlando Watersports Complex in Florida.
Most of Koch’s competition came from athletes hailing from warm weather climates such as Florida and Australia, making his ascent to the top all the more impressive.
“It’s very difficult for anybody from the north to compete against riders who are on the water year round. Much less become a world champion,” Michael said.
While Koch was able to put some distance between him and his competition according to the judges’ scores, it took a premium effort for him to rise above the other riders at the height of their game.
“I went out and did the best I could and I came out on top,” said Koch, later adding, “Everybody excelled. We’re all excelling in the last couple years.”
Koch overcame a pair of falls in his opening run to make the six-man final.
“I was a little discouraged, but that didn’t really knock me down,” Koch said.
In the final, Koch excelled, landing pro-style tricks such as a handle pass KGB and a tootsie roll. He also landed 540 spins from both the heal and toe sides and ended his run with a massive 360-spin for his mandatory double-up trick.
Making his finals’ run all the more impressive, Koch had a few mental hurdles to overcome. Nearly two months before the competition, Koch broke his nose attempting a Crow Mobe, a flip that involves an inverted spin and requires the rider to pass the handle behind his back while upside down. Six days before the world championships, Koch was diagnosed with a concussion after a few big crashes during practice.
The injuries forced Koch to reel in his practices and allowed him to focus on simpler tricks. The reduced workload helped him clean up his runs, and his ability to block the memory of his falls propelled Koch to a world title.
“We definitely made the right choice in how hard to push me and how hard to push myself,” Koch said.
“Even the tricks that gave me the concussion, I landed them. It was a huge mental thing for me to overcome.”
Koch, who is entering his freshman year at Greenwich High School, is practicing for one more national competition before the season winds down and his focus turns to snowboarding.
A win at this tournament could mean a berth onto Team USA for the World Cup in Italy next year.
Tori Koch, Paulie’s sister, fresh off claiming the National title last month in Reno, Nev., finished fifth in Junior Women’s division at worlds.
