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ORLANDO, FL (February 15, 2005)—Three Nautique athletes; Phillip Soven, Jaret Llewellyn and Emma Sheers, were selected as the best male or female competitor in their respective disciplines. Llewellyn and Sheers; extraordinary professional water skiers, have been chosen Male and Female Athlete of the Year, respectively by the International Water Ski Federation.
Llewellyn has been waterskiing for nearly thirty years, and has held eleven World Records, eight Moomba Masters Overall titles, and five Masters Overall titles, to name a few. Llewellyn also has won four Gold and two Silver medals at the Pan Am Games and conveniently holds the World Ski Fly record at 299 feet. Along with Llewellyn’s training he has found time to start a new company call H2O Sports Productions. He has set out to produce a number of instructional DVD’s over the next few years to help people enjoy the sport that he loves so much. For more information check out his new web site at www.h2osportsproductions.com. A native of Canada, Llewellyn has been honored by being elected to the Athletes Council of the Canadian Olympic Committee. Only eleven athletes sit on the COA Council and Jaret is the only non-Olympic representative that has ever been elected to this committee. The COC is responsible for all aspects of Canada's involvement in the Olympic Movement such as Canada’s participation in the Olympics and Pan American Games, managing and promoting Olympic values in Canada.
A full time elite water skier for 13 years, Australia’s Emma Sheers trophies include 14 Moomba Masters titles, 2 World Jump titles, 2 World Slalom titles, 5 World Records, 5 Masters titles, and 7 U.S. Open titles. In 2004, Sheers took first place at ten out of the twelve major competitions. This is her second year as Female Athlete of the Year. Sheers’ is currently ranked number one on the IWSF Elite Skier Ranking List in both Jump and Slalom and is also the current World Champion in both disciplines. Sheers, an incredible athlete, has the honor of having been selected by the Australian Institute of Sport to train for a new Olympic sport, Skeleton; the head first version of the Luge.
Soven, born with a supernatural talent for wakeboarding was chosen as Male Rider of the Year by IWSF. At the age of fifteen, Soven has placed first in X-Games, WWC Worlds, WBWC Singapore, WBWC Qatar, Malibu Open, and the PWT Reno stop. Soven also placed second at the PWT Portland stop, Australian Nationals and Moomba Masters. Soven’s final standings for 2004 included; 2nd in the Vans Triple Crown, 3rd in the Wakeboard World Cup and finished up 4th in the Pro Wakeboard Tour. Soven has done his share of wakeboarding but also has been involved with Disney, Nickelodeon and writes a bi-weekly column for the Orlando Sentinel Rush page. The next big thing for Soven is the World Games. He has been chosen as the professional wakeboarder to represent the United States in Duisberg, Germany, July 14-24, 2005 because the World Games has 3500 athletes from over one hundred Nations and twenty-seven venues featuring forty sports it’s an extreme honor to be invited.Team Nautique athletes are consistently winning and helping to improve their sport in different ways. Congratulations to Jaret Llewellyn, Emma Sheers and Phillip Soven; incredible athletes who make a difference.
