If you haven’t heard of Hollie Waldrop, you’ve got some catching up to do. Hollie is a 12-year-old wakeboarder from Pensacola, Florida and she rips. With many wins under her belt, Hollie basically dominates her division. She may be tiny, but she goes huge! Her future in the wakeboarding world is bright and she has a great personality and sweet demeanor to match her insane riding ability. Expect to see this girl around for the long run.
 
WW: How long have you been riding? And what got you started?
HW: I have been wakeboarding since I was six or seven, so around six years. My dad wakeboarded a little bit and I wanted to learn, so I got lessons in Orlando. My dad brought me to OWC to get a lesson with Jon Bemis.
 
WW: And you were just hooked from there?
HW: Yeah, I loved it. But I only got to do it a couple of times back then, only when we were down here in Orlando. And then when I was eight years old I saw the Gravel Tour and I really wanted to do that.
 
WW: You’re actually rocking your Gravel Tour shirt right now. How many times have you ridden in Gravel Tour?
HW: Well, since I was eight. They had five stops for two years, and then they had four stops for two years. This is my fifth year.
 
WW: What other competitions do you do?
HW: I do Nationals, Worlds, Wake Games and Wake Open. Well, I guess Wake Games isn’t happening anymore, so Wake Open now.
 
WW: How do you prepare for a competition? Do you get nervous?
HW: I like going out the day of and getting warmed up. I don’t actually do my run; I just ride for a couple of minutes. I do a down and back just to make sure everything feels good. At the site at my last comp I kind of went off on my own away from the other girls and put my headphones on to get focused. I get a little nervous but not really. I’m used to it.
 
WW: Who is your biggest competition?
HW: Probably Zahra Kell from Australia. She’s really the main one. There were a couple of other girls that I was going back and forth with, but now they’ve moved up to other divisions.
 
WW: When did you move to Orlando to start pursuing the sport?
HW: Probably when I was 9 or 10. We’ve been living here a while off and on. We just rent a house here and there. We were on Lake Jessamine for two years and then on Clear Lake for six months. And now we are on Lake Holden.
 
WW: Where do you mostly ride?
HW: Well, since I’ve been living on Lake Holden, here mostly. And I ride at The Boarding School and sometimes Freedom Wake Park with Tarah and Cobe Mikacich. But mostly The Boarding School with Travis Moye.
 
WW: Do you ride cable as well?
HW: Yeah, when I’m here in Orlando at OWC and sometimes at different parks when I travel.
 
WW: What other parks? Where have you been?
HW: BSR, Cajun X, Terminus, OWC, McCormick’s, TSR, Al Forsan in Abu Dhabi, Cables in Australia, Jibtopia, Revolution, Valdosta, both Hydrous parks, Ski Rixen, MWC in Miami, Mile High in Colorado, Kansas City Watersports, Wake Nation in Ohio and Wake Nation in Houston… so almost every cable in the United States plus a few others. And we are going to the one in California this summer.
 
WW: That’s insane. You’ve been to more cables than most people! What’s the best ride you’ve ever had?
HW: I’m not sure. Today was pretty great, though. I landed all of my tricks. I was pretty excited. Grabs, frontside 180s, heelside back roll, toeside front roll, switch toe 3 and backside 180. Also, I transferred Henshaw at OWC today!
 
WW: What’s your favorite trick?
HW: Backside 180. I love doing backside tricks, which female riders don’t typically do as much. I also really like landing tricks wrapped. I can do switch toe 3 funny wrapped and toe back 1 funny wrapped. I love doing backside off anything I can. At OWC I like doing a big backside 180 out of the pool gap!
 
WW: What competitions have you won?
HW: Monster Triple Crown Open Women 2013 and 2014, Gravel Tour 2012, 2013 and 2014, Nationals 2013 and 2014, Worlds 2013, Wake Games 2013 and Cable Worlds in Abu Dhabi 2014.
 
WW: What are some prizes you have taken home with you?
HW: Last Gravel Tour I won a trophy and then got to choose a prize. There were things like wakeboards, life jackets, ropes, handles, cameras… stuff like that. I always pick out something for my sister, Lilly. Last year she got bindings. She wakeboards too.
 
WW: What’s your setup?
HW: For cable I ride the 2015 Liquid Force Rant and for boat the Liquid Force Dream with pink Harley bindings.
 
WW: Who are your favorite wakeboarders?
HW: I like them all. Courtney Angus is awesome. Also Dallas, Meagan and Ange.
 
WW: You actually live behind Dallas Friday. What’s that like?
HW: It’s pretty cool. She’s a lot of fun. Sometimes I ride with her. Yesterday we went out wakesurfing. She works with me a lot on the trampoline. She taught me how to do wrapped tricks.
 
WW: How do you usually learn a new trick?
HW: My dad takes me on the boat and builds up my confidence. I usually try new tricks with him for the first time. He motivates me to try them. And then we go to Travis Moye to get them dialed in and learn the right technique behind the tricks.
 
WW: What’s your biggest accomplishment?
HW: I was pretty excited when my video got fifth place for Video of the Year in the cable and winch trick of the year division. I beat out Harley Clifford and a lot of professional riders. I think there were 50 video submissions. I think it’s on my Instagram profile! Check it out: @HollieBeth9.
 
WW: So you winch? You don’t see many girls winching, especially not at your age. When did you start doing that?
HW: When I was 10. It’s just so fun. We have our winch in the garage ready to go. It takes the monotony out of competition training. Have you seen Drop the Gun? I like to do that type of stuff. I winched the entrance to MetroWest at 6 in the morning… and then the cops came.
 
WW: You’re crazy! Do you want to continue living in Orlando and doing this whole wakeboarding thing for a while?
HW: Yes, definitely. I love it. I struggle when we go home to Pensacola. I get pretty unhappy and bored. I never really want to leave Orlando.
 
WW: You seem to love traveling though. What events are you traveling to this year?
HW: Well, so far this year I’ve already done one Gravel Tour stop, and then I went down to Miami for the first Monster Triple Crown at MWC. There are three Triple Crown stops this year and four Gravel Tour stops and I’m doing all of them. The next two Triple Crown stops are in California and the last one is at Terminus in Georgia. And then the Gravel Tour stops are always out at OWC, of course.
 
WW: So now that OWC won’t be hosting Wake Games, will you be attending their new event, Cable Games?
HW: I haven’t decided yet. Probably not though because I might still be at BSR for Wake Open. I’m probably staying out there for a few weeks.
 
WW: Have you had any challenges with wakeboarding?
HW: There’s one trick that’s kind of a pain in the butt even though I’ve landed it a hundred times: heelside back roll. I’ll just let go of the handle right as I land it for no reason. I don’t know why I do it. I don’t do it as much in competition, but when I’m freeriding I sometimes do it. It’s frustrating and drives my dad and me crazy.
 
WW: What are your goals for this season?
HW: I do have a switch heel 3 wake to wake, but I’ve only done it a couple of times, so I want to do that trick more often and more consistently. I also want to learn switch heel 5 behind the boat. I can already land switch heel 5 and switch toe 5’s off the kicker. Also, maybe a scarecrow.
 
WW: Who do you want to thank?
HW: My sponsors, Liquid Force and Performance Ski & Surf. Thanks to Nick Feinsod for filming me. And that guy [points to dad].