Teen takes tour by storm

South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
By Sharon Robb
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
September 3, 2008
LANTANA
With her fresh-scrubbed looks, outgoing personality and killer heelside backroll trick,
Raimi Merritt is about to become wakeboarding's new "It Girl."
The Lantana teenager, who turned pro last September, has all but clinched rookie of the
year honors her first year on the pro tour at age 15.
"You can get good really fast in this sport if you put the work in," said Merritt, the tour's
youngest pro.
"It's a lot of fun, and you get to travel everywhere. I never thought I would be this good
this early."
Merritt is scheduled to compete at this week's WWA Wakeboard Championships that
begin Thursday on the Oklahoma River in Oklahoma City. The event is the last in the
King of Wake/Queen of Wake Series. Merritt competes Saturday and Sunday.
Win or lose, Merritt will be awarded MonaVie's inaugural Queen of Wake Rookie of the
Year Award, a $2,500 cash bonus given to the most outstanding rookie female competing
in the Queen of Wake series.
"She had the rookie title at the halfway point of the tour," said Mike Ferraro, her
Orlando-based coach.
Since her first wakeboard victory at age 11 at the 2004 Tommy's South Florida
Wakeboard Tour, Merritt has been a natural on and off the water.
"The advantage of being so young as a pro is the experience down the road," said her
father, Steve, a former world champion water skier.
Merritt has won every major competition she has entered, including a world pro title.
If she were on the pro tennis or golf tour, she would be raking in endorsements and fat
prize money checks.
Merritt is home-schooled, which allows flexibility to train and compete.
She trains Monday through Wednesday at the Orlando Water Sports Complex, leaves
Thursday for competitions and returns home Sunday night.
Expenses for a pro wakeboarder average $50,000, including travel, coaching and personal
training. Because of her age, Raimi travels with a chaperone — her sister and manager
Mia, who handles most of her scheduling and appearances.
Merritt comes from an athletic family. Her father was a world barefoot skiing champion.
Her two sisters, Mia, 20, and Chloe, 17, and brother Blake, 11, are all athletic. The family
lives on a lake where it can wakeboard or ski.
"We were waiting for her to blossom and then boom," Ferraro said. "She's on the radar
now."
Sharon Robb can be reached at srobb@SunSentinel.com.
Copyright © 2008, South Florida Sun-Sentinel