Parsons rides a wave of success

By STEVE WOZNIAK
Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- With his tinted flowing locks, his mellow demeanor, and West Coast style, you'd think Scott Parsons was talking about the North Shore of Hawaii when he glowingly talks about "riding the waves."

But don't be mistaken. The kayaker who grew up in suburban Toledo, Ohio, is reminiscing about his days as a teenager, having fun on the whitewater of South Bend's East Race.

Parsons enters this weekend's U.S. Olympic Team Trials in whitewater slalom as a favorite in men's kayak (K-1) due to his eighth-place finish at last year's World Championships in Augsburg, Germany.

That performance was good enough to clinch a boat for the United States in this summer's Olympiad in Athens, Greece.

His patriotic duty of getting an American toe in the water accomplished, Parsons now aims to make sure he's the one paddling that boat.

"Last year, I was just working for the Worlds, wanted to make sure I was peaking then so I could qualify a boat for the U.S.," said Parsons. "So now I'm just hoping to get some good times."

He had some good times last week in the Whitewater U.S. Open at the Nantahala Racing Center in North Carolina, but they weren't good enough to beat Open winner Scott Shipley, the man many consider to be the hot paddler right now.

Parsons isn't worried about the competition, though, or at least he isn't showing it through any cracks in the ultra-cool facade he exhibits. Parsons is taking the same approach to this weekend's Trials as the one he often took while being trained by his father Bill on the East Race almost a decade ago -- have fun.

For most of the 1990's, Bill Parsons ran a training center on the East Race for junior slalom paddlers.

Scott Parsons would learn to paddle then with his older brother Brian and a revolving door of youths not as dedicated as he was.

But then Parsons befriended Josh Russell -- the son of Wayne Russell, another coach at the training center -- Rebecca Giddens, and Rich Dressen.

And the game was on.

"We knew the kids were really good. They raced every weekend, and would push each other and push each other," remembered Bill Parsons. "They were out there to beat each other, and it made them better."

The competition between Parsons and Giddens, in particular, intensified.

The two, according to Bill Parsons, have always tried to outdo the other, constantly raising the bar, and consequently making each other the premier paddlers in their respective classes.

Giddens finished third in last year's World Championships, and like Parsons, was able to qualify a boat for the United States in the Olympic Games.

But the competition wasn't enough. There was always the need to remind themselves why they started paddling in the first place.

"Some days, (the coaches) would be pushing us hard, trying to get us to do this or that, but we just wanted to surf waves. We just said, 'We're having fun today'," said Scott Parsons.

And having fun meant only one thing.

"We'd turn the key on the (East Race floodgates), and there would just be this huuuuge wave right at the beginning," said Parsons. "Then we'd spend the whole day doing nothing but just riding the waves."

But Parsons was more than fun. In between those wave-riding workshops, he managed to train seriously for his trek toward world domination in slalom.

"I remember Scotty as a kid who had a lot of talent," recollected Dressen. "He was going to be the big star; that's what we all thought."

Parsons, who turned 25 last Saturday, finished second in the 1994 Junior World Championships while still a student in the South Bend training center.

The next seven years were a series of top-five finishes for Parsons, with no big win to shine on the resume.

Then in 2002, Parsons won the U.S. National Championships in men's kayak on the Dickerson, Md., course just outside of Washington, D.C., where he currently lives and trains.

And training is all that Parsons does these days. As a member of the U.S. national team, Parsons receives a small stipend -- about $500 a month -- from the U.S. Olympic Committee to pay the rent while he paddles.

"If you'd have told me 10 years ago I'd be getting paid to kayak, I'd think that's awesome,," he said.