Legacy

Wakeboarding

Adrenaline junkie Adam Silcio’s vice once involved taking punches, but these days he’s hitting waves. Silcio, a sports marketing junior, fought his way through the dreary world of mixed martial arts, or ultimate fighting, for six years until he discovered wakeboarding. Silcio, president of the Wakeboard Club at LSU, described riding with a team as a refreshing, outdoor alternative to MMA and other lonely, indoor, high-impact sports.

Silcio began the fall semester of 2006 equipped with a new hobby and the desire to ride with other students. This desire spawned a new community within LSU’s campus and by spring 2007 a new club was born. The Wakeboard Club at LSU, or Ride LSU Wake, has since evolved into a recognized team, gaining sponsorship from Bennett’s Boat & Ski, Rukus Board Shop and louisianawakeboarding.com.

Silcio believes the club brings a new style to traditional Louisiana water sports such as fishing and water skiing. Wakeboarders, like water skiers, are pulled behind a boat. But wakeboarders feel the similarity ends there. Wakeboarding incorporates techniques and aerial tricks similar to those found in surfing and snowboarding; these tricks have earned it a reputation as a stunt sport.

“Everything about [wakeboarding] is fun,” Beau Landry, club vice president, said. “It’s a lifestyle. You’re out there to enjoy the weather and have a nice time. That’s what makes it awesome.”

Wakeboarding is known not only for its gnarly tricks and beach jargon, but also for the shoulder and knee injuries its riders suffer. Five members of the club are currently stricken with knee problems. Silcio himself has experienced the dangers that come with “dropping hammers” or performing intense stunts. His knee was severely injured in the summer of 2007 at the annual University of Louisiana at Lafayette Wakeboard Tournament while he was performing an air trick called a “raley.” The accident tore Silcio’s ACL, PCL, MCL, meniscus and patella tendons — almost his entire knee. Doctors were unsure if Silcio would ever be able to walk correctly again, let alone wakeboard. But after a successful surgery and seven rigorous months of rehabilitation, Silcio was back on the water.

Exactly one year after the injury, in the summer of 2008, at the same competition in which Silcio injured his knee, he won first place for the first time. Silcio and the team have since gained success at regional and collegiate levels, including several individual titles at the ULL Wakeboard Tournament, a second place title at the Collegiate Team Challenge and numerous honors at Southern Regional Qualifiers this fall.

“[Wakeboarding] is like any other action sport,” Silcio said. “It’s like the counterculture to mainstream sports … We don’t train for this stuff. It’s about the camaraderie, having fun and doing what you love.”

Competitive Eating

When mass communication junior Tim Zimmer would go out to eat with friends, he was always the first one finished. His friends joked that Zimmer should try competitive eating. The jokes sparked his curiosity and in the summer of 2008 he entered a qualifier in New Orleans for Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest. On June 7, 2008, Zimmer won third place at the qualifier and realized that Major League Eating was harder than he thought.

“You have to eat really fast without choking. If you regurgitate your food, you are disqualified,” Zimmer said. “I’d swallow [a hot dog], put another in … and food would come right back up. I had to keep my hand over my mouth.”

Zimmer won third place in the New Orleans qualifier, but only the first place winner continued to the international competition held in Coney Island, N. Y. The first place winner of the international July Fourth Eat-off receives $10,000 in prize money. The objective is simple: eat as many hot dogs as possible in 10 minutes.

During the competition one may hit “the wall” or the point where a competitor feels as though he or she cannot eat any more. Zimmer noted that to avoid the wall, contenders must have endurance. He explained that this is the reason why many competitive eaters are surprisingly thin.

“My technique was to use Propel water. I ate the hot dog meat by itself. Then I would dip the bun in Propel water, put [the bun] in a ball and eat it,” Zimmer said. “It tastes horrible. I threw up 10 or 20 minutes after … I wasn’t full. I just didn’t want to eat anymore.”

Zimmer described techniques used by fellow “gurgitators,” or competitive eaters. Many competitors use soy milk or lemonade as their dipping substance. He also mentioned that while training for the big day one must not only practice with the same type of food as the one in the contest, but also the specific brand, because varied tastes and textures can hinder one’s game.

“You can come out of nowhere and be big if you know the technique,” Zimmer explained on the fame that comes with competition.

Zimmer described the glamour of Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest. The contest, which airs on ESPN, features seductive women called the Bunnettes who play a Vanna White-esque role by flipping scorecards at the competition.

Zimmer plans on entering the Nathan’s hot dog qualifier in New Orleans again and hopes to one day compete at the national level.

“You don’t have to be in good shape. You can get money and fame from eating,” Zimmer said about the appeal of Major League Eating. “I eat a lot of food every day … so I might as well make money out of it.”

Quidditch

Challengers dart around golden goal posts astride their brooms while avoiding dangerous bludgers in a race to catch the Snitch. The seeker finally captures the golden ball and there is victory for … Team LSU? The surprisingly brutal game of Quidditch is not played in the skies above the mythical Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but on a field of requirement here on the grounds of LSU’s campus.

Behind Blake Hall, between Highland Road and a placid lake, bewildered passersby stared at members of the Quidditch Club at LSU running on assorted broomsticks, Swiffers or mops, chasing a student designated as the Snitch. At first glance, the game appears peculiar, but members of the Quidditch team warn that if one can get over initial self-consciousness and grab a broom, playing Quidditch can be both hysterical fun and a pretty intense sport.

“I don’t think I’d like [Quidditch] if it wasn’t violent,” Bri Gaethe joked. Gaethe, sociology junior and club vice president, also noted that there is at least one broomstick-related injury at every practice.

There are only three rules on physical contact in the nationally renowned Intercollegiate Quidditch Association’s rulebook: no two-hand tackle, no punching or kicking and no grabbing of the neck or head. However, pushing, tripping, slide tackling and anything else is fair game.

“The Snitch” — though played by a human —“is a ball, not a player … so nothing is against the rules,” Kori Lopreore, literature junior and team captain, said about the Snitch’s mischievous role.

Dustin Harless, chemistry junior and club president, explained how the Snitch is encouraged to taunt and even lightly slap players.

Members of the Quidditch Club at LSU and other college Quidditch teams across the nation traveled to their Mecca — Middlebury, Vt. — to participate in the Quidditch World Cup in late October. Middlebury College is the birthplace of Quidditch in the muggle (non-magical) world and the location of the IQA headquarters.

A game of Quidditch along Highland Road does provide a thrilling adrenaline rush, but some players’ love for the Harry Potter series, rather than an interest in athletics, has drawn them to the sport.

“If [Harry Potter] could attract non-readers, then I knew it must be something special,” Laura Springer, English literature senior and member of the club’s executive committee, said of her first encounter with the books about 10 years ago. “I went to a private school where [the book] was banned, so I had to read it … I may have never read Harry Potter had it not been forbidden and a pop-culture phenomenon.”

Harry Potter has become a prominent part of pop-culture internationally, generating toys, films and an upcoming theme park in Orlando, Fla. — not to mention the IQA, which allows students’ imaginations to take to flight even if their feet never leave the ground.

“People like Harry Potter as a book because our generation grew up with Harry and we could relate to him in a fantasy setting, which is more fun,” Lopreore said. “People play Quidditch because it reminds them of Harry Potter … and the fantasy.”

Skydiving

“You always think you can’t go through [the clouds],” Angela Cascino, nursing sophomore and skydiver, explained. “Then you fall through one.”

Cascino first skydived in June 2007 on a tandem jump, in which she was strapped to a skydiving instructor at Gold Coast Skydivers in Lumberton, Miss. She had her doubts as the plane took off. But when she began falling out the door, her doubts, much like the rest of her, “went out the window.”

“[My parents] would rather me do something a little less risky. But all-in-all they are pretty supportive,” Cascino said about her family. “My mom, sister and brother have all jumped … My dad is the only one who hasn’t.”

Cascino’s mother Sue and sister Theresa both have only skydived once. Her brother Tony is the most adventurous Cascino.

“[Skydiving] has definitely brought me and my brother closer,” Cascino said.

Cascino explained how she accompanied her brother this past summer on his one-hundredth jump. Cascino, with 21 jumps behind her, is four away from getting her license. She noted how, after 100 jumps, you can qualify to be a coach or instructor, a goal both Cascino and her brother share.

Of the dangers of skydiving Cascino said, “There’s so much that can go wrong in a split second.”

Cascino herself has endured a couple of close calls. On her first non-tandem jump, her instructor intended to jump with her simultaneously as a precaution. She explained how a skydiver is supposed to stick his or her body out, come back into the plane and then jump out. The technique is simply “out, in, out.”

“I just went out!” Cascino joked about her impromptu fall. “I fell out and had to get stable … it’s dangerous even once your parachute opens.”

Aside from falling out of a plane, Cascino also faced danger when she was nearly hit by a car, on her first (intentional) solo jump. On her way down, Cascino ran into trouble when she did not land in the landing area, or in the neighboring cow-field, but in a tree over the nearest road.

“I was landing and went too far over the trees … my parachute got caught on the top of [a tree]. I swung out over the road and at the same time a car was coming down the road. The car stopped and the tree picked me back up,” Cascino said. “I was just hanging there for 20 minutes until someone came and got me. I was very lucky.”

Despite her intense experiences, Cascino described skydiving as relaxing. She added that her favorite part of skydiving is the free fall, which she said is a stress-relieving way to get away from it all.

Cascino shared a quote by Leonardo Da Vinci that she thought best described the way a skydiver feels when they are falling. “‘When once you have tasted flight, you will always walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward; for there you have been and there you will always be.’”