¶ Professional Water Skier
Years ago , I went to Six Flags Magic Mountain with my brother , will . I rode a ride called Goliath and I remember almost passing out as I experienced around 3-4 g-forces against my body . My next guess is somebody who experiences g-forces all the time . No , he is not a fighter pilot . It is professional water skier , thomas de Gasperi , better known as T-Gas .
So get ready to experience G's and make sure you get rid of your pillow top mattresses . It's time to go water skiing with T-Gas . Welcome to Journey with Jake . This is a podcast about adventure and how , through our adventures , we can overcome the challenges of life that come our way .
While I expect you will learn some things about different adventures , this show will entertain you . Each episode will feature a different guest or guest , as they share experiences and stories from the different adventures they have been on .
Not only will you be entertained , but you will also hear the failures and trials each guest faces and what they have done or are doing to overcome the hardships that come their way . My goal is to take each of us on a journey through the experiences of my guests , with the hope that you'll be entertained and inspired to overcome your day-to-day challenges .
After all , it's not a lot about the destination as it is about the journey . Hello everyone , my name is Jake Bushman . Welcome back to another episode of Journey with Jake . We are on episode 89 today . We're just cruising right along .
This is the podcast that inspires you to overcome challenges through adventure , and my guest today is professional water skier Thomas de Gaspery , and he has inspired me , and I'm sure you will all be inspired as well . Before we get to my conversation with Thomas , I invite each of you to give me a follow on Instagram at Journey with Jake podcast .
This is a fantastic way to get to know my guests a little bit better . It gives you a chance to see who they are and what they look like . This is also a space that I like to share some of my adventures and journeys as well , so be sure and check it out and give me a follow Again . That's at Journey with Jake podcast .
Okay , let's get to my conversation with Thomas . So I'm excited I have Thomas and Thomas . I don't want to butcher your last name . How do you say it ? How do you say your last name ? De Gaspery ? Just the way , de .
Gaspery De Gaspery . Yeah , just use your hands , because I already said that that's the Italian way , right ?
You just got it , de Gaspery , which you are Italian . You're from Italy , live part of the time in Italy , live part of the time in Orlando , I believe . So let's just jump into that Kind of tell me a little bit of background of who you are , where you're from , all that good stuff , before we get rolling into the waterskiing .
So yeah , I grew up in this little city northeast of Italy it's called Trento , very close to the Austrian border , in the Dolomites , surrounded by the Alps , beautiful mountains , and a lot of people ask me how did you get into waterskiing from being in the mountains ? And maybe could have been a snow skier or a soccer player or whatever the reason is .
My parents had , and still have , a ski school in Italy for 50 years . So my dad was a teacher in high school of physics and during the summer he had a lot of free time because school was out . And his best friend acquired his ski school and asked my dad to help him over the summer to make some extra money . And my dad did it and he loved it .
He loved it so much that back then , a long time ago , you could retire whenever you wanted in Italy . So he did I don't know a few years , like both jobs , and then he asked my friend his friend to if he wanted to sell it , because his friend was not not very intrigued about it and my dad really loved it .
So he acquired it and that's how it started Started with some friends , just easygoing , and then it became a little more of a job , a job and he was good because he could apply his physics study to aerodynamics you know , hydrodynamics and position and forces and leverages , and everything to waterskiing lessons .
And then one day , my mom being from almost our sea but still part of Italy , german part she wanted to try and she came down with her boyfriend and my dad was there with her mom , with his girlfriend , and then later they were married and 40 years later , here I am .
Wow , okay , that's a great story . You pretty much grew up on the water then
¶ From Childhood to Professional Waterskiing
.
I grew up in the water so in the winter , you know , I was doing all kinds of sports because my dad has always been in sports . So I snowski race for seven years . I play volleyball , I play soccer , I did judo , I did swimming , I did tennis , so all kinds of competitive sports , but it was always kind of in preparation for waterskiing .
So since in the summer that my parents were running the ski school , my mom was doing a little bit still does a little bit of restaurant there for the clients and my dad was in the boat , we as kids , me and my brother , were stuck at a ski school year all summer . So there was no vacations . No , you know , it was work , work , work .
I remembered like doing homework . And then one day my dad I was five was like , do you want to try it ? And I said sure , and then I tried and I was a little chubby , let's say , and I love that , you know . And then it started just more as a game , more than a sport or anything . Never thought it could have been my life .
And then my classmates came around and we had a big group of kids of skiing , started competing and then , as progress , I was doing a little better , a little better , and I said , you know , this is kind of cool . And then I won my first European Junior title when I was 14 . A little unexpected but it was still good .
And then I think the breaking point was in 2001, . I won the European under 21 World Championships , european Championships under 21 . And then I remember the coach at a time . He was a French guy , just got hired a year and he was very good on preparing you with the right mindset for a tournament .
And I remember forever I was last one on the dock , so I was seating first after the semifinals . So I was last one on the dock and the World Championships Open division was gonna happen like two weeks later . Never thought in a million years I was gonna get invited to that because the team was made they were in Italy , was right after 9-11 , it was 2001 .
Like , never thought , like you know . And here comes , like two minutes before I get on the water , I was already nervous because I was the last one and he said , thomas , if you win this event , I'll take you to the World Championships . I was like wow .
No pressure .
More pressure , right , yeah , right . So I went out and I won and I said what ? But Tangy , his name is Tangy . I said Tangy , the team is done . Like you know , people is just traveling , start coming here to Italy to get ready for worlds . They've been ready getting ready for two years , since it's every two years . He's like let me take care of that .
So he took me . It was a big mess in the Federation because , you know , I was like created this kind of like problems for this guy that wanted to come to the worlds and he didn't like me for that . But I was doing my job , you know . So I went to the World Championship as the younger one of the Italian team .
I was my first World Championship and I made the finals and I missed the podium by this much and I got fourth , beating all the Italians and all the Europeans , and from there I kind of like I was like , okay , this could be , you know , it could be my life , and my dad was there and my mom was there and it was just , oh , a great start of the career .
And then the first four , in the next year I got offered a scholarship , university of Louisiana , monroe , to do to be part of the ski team and I got a full scholarship and I said , why not ? I get to study for free and I get to ski for free during the winter . It was really cool because I combined , you know , studying and sport together .
You know , I couldn't speak English when I arrived in Louisiana , like zero . I was using my hands a lot more , a lot more than that . So I did my marketing degree and then , yeah , I was like okay , now it's time to decide what I want to do in my life . You know , because do I go back to Italy ? Do I stay in US ? You know ?
I thought , okay , well , if I want to do it , I have to do it right , cause that's , first of all , the personality that I am . But also there was no other way around . Like in Italy , I could train like four , five , six months maybe at a year .
If you want to be a pro and compete with the guys that are here all year round and train all year round , you have to be here . So I came to Florida in 2007 , working at a ski school , just to didn't have much money .
I remember I was working at a ski school until four o'clock in the afternoon and then at night I was going serving tables and I was saving every penny to buy my first house . Yeah , it was cool , like yeah , about my first house .
Then I bought this lake house and then I opened my ski school and then after college , when I really start , you know , deciding that this was going to be my life , the results start showing up more , cause I was more committed , like , just start working out more . In college I was working out , but it's college life .
So we won two national titles with the team . I won one national title as individual and funny things a lot of the guys that are competing against me now were the guys that were back in different schools , so the rivalry was still there . So , yeah , so my parents always had this ski school in Italy . That's why I go back to Italy in the summer .
My dad passed away last year , so my mom now is still involved and it's good for her . She's actually here in Florida now spending the holidays with me , so that's really cool .
And , yeah , it's a great combination , because Florida in the summer it's not what I love the best , because it's humid , rainy , too hot , and then people just go away from the summer in Italy I mean from Florida , like nobody stays here .
So , yeah , I go back to Italy and run the ski school there without a couple of guys that helped me , and then I have most of the pro tournaments are in Europe in the summer , so that's great for me . I can go in and out for the weekend , but I'm based in Italy and then , yeah , the winter , usually from middle and September till June , I'm here .
That was a lot . I mean , that was awesome . Oh , sorry man , no , that was great , because that was just so much of who you are and what you're about and how it all came out . I didn't realize that there's ski teams with colleges . Yeah , I had no idea , so that's why I love doing this podcast . I learned so many things , which is really cool .
Louisiana Monroe is where you went to school . What are some of the other big time players in college then ?
Monroe and Loughby . At both on Louisiana Raging Cajuns and we were the Indians , now that were the Warhawks . I remember getting like three , four scholarship . There was one in Florida , one in Arizona State University I think they were offering smaller scholarship but I couldn't speak English .
So I had a couple of friends from Italy , from my Italian team , that they were reading Louisiana and the Louisiana programs were more complete as far as for a student , like they were offering full scholarship and because they won so many national titles the school was funding a lot of them .
Wow , okay ,
¶ Water Skiing
very cool . So you made the right decision as far as financially and things like that go for sure . Oh , yeah , yeah , yeah .
No , it was great experience because I you know you always seen the movies but it was actually like the movies . You know , like you go through nationals of Waterski collegiate tournaments that doesn't happen in Europe , they don't have that and there's like 50 teams or whatever .
There's like a bunch of kids and they look at you like you're God because I was one of the best ones , but a lot of them were just there for fun , you know . Yeah , more excuse to party and we were not able and allowed to party unless we were winning .
So , serious business with you guys .
Well , I mean , the money came from the school so they couldn't let us get drunk during the day .
Yeah , and you know trying to ski the next day with a hangover or whatever else . Wow , Okay , Awesome . So yeah , I came to US not even speaking any English . You speak great English now . I mean it's been whatever years I speak four languages .
So I pick up languages pretty quick . In Europe we learn early different languages . I mean I could speak a little bit of English , but it was very like basic .
Minimal .
Yeah , yeah , like hi , my name is Thomas . How are you ? You know like that , but so it was a little hard the first year to the school program for me because I couldn't understand much the teachers and some stuff already learned . But so yeah , it was a little bit challenging .
Did you learn the Louisiana English ? What is that ? Cajun or whatever , However they speak down there , louisiana .
Yeah , yeah , yeah . I remember one time I was in a class and the teacher wrote on the board like Y , apostrophe A-L-L , and I was looking through my dictionary back then Like what the hell is this ? Y'all yeah I went to the teacher after I say excuse me , I'm from Italy . What does that mean , y'all ? And I was like I can't find it .
And she goes oh , you all , I'm like whoa . If you don't speak proper English , how can I know Exactly , how do you learn that ? Something funny though .
Yeah , that's great . So your father's passed away . Your mom still helps you . She's here for the holidays . You have a brother . Is your brother older or younger ?
My brother is older . He was a water skier at first , but then he never really liked it , so he pursued what he really wanted , like he was in music a little bit , but then he studied psychology , became a doctor in psychology Wow , yeah , yeah . So he has his own practice and , yeah , he does that and it's pretty good .
He has two kids and no , I get to see him in the summer . He came here last year .
Okay , so he's still in Italy , your brother . Yeah , he's still in Italy . Yeah , good , so you got a niece or nephew there in .
Italy . Yeah , two nephews , two nephews , very cool , all right .
Very good Family for you , married or anything or no ?
Well , no , dodge the bullet . A couple of times , a couple of times I was engaged and then let's not get in there . But it didn't work out , no , so far . No , it's hard to date somebody like with the mentality of the athlete , you know , because I live for what I do and I'm sure all the other athletes do . We travel a lot . It's not easy to understand .
I always say to whoever I'm going out because , like , it's not going to be easy , because there's times that are going to be gone , there's times that I need to put my 100% effort in this and this is my DNA , this is who I am , you know , and I always say it first . So maybe we'll come around somebody .
But Just looking at you here and I know people might see some snippets of this . They're not going to , it's mostly just audio , but you look like an athlete and from what I read , are you your six foot four . Is that correct , is that ?
correct yeah .
So you're six four . You've got a great look as an athlete . So that takes effort . You got to work like an athlete , you know .
I'm not fighting anymore .
Well , you still look good , so it's carrying over , I guess . Good , I'm good at food . Yeah , there you go . Good at time , right . I don't know a whole lot about professional water skiing . I've only just skied recreationally a couple of times , like years ago when I was in high school .
Yeah .
What ? Okay . So when I've watched some of your videos , is it pretty much just slalom . You're kind of going back and forth around the buoy Like kind of explain give us a little basic education if you don't mind .
In water skiing there's three main . There's three disciplines . There's slalom , tricks and jump . Jump is whoever goes furthest out of the ramp . Tricks . You have two Passes of 20 seconds . You do the best tricks that you can do and each trick has a point , a sign point . Okay , so I know is a little different .
So there's a set of buoys , a bow path where the bow goes straight , and there's alternative . Left and right there's six buoys , so the bow goes straight . We go around six buoys , gps speed of 36 miles an hour , so the boat go by itself . The driver has to go straight . Just in perspective . It's every time we finish a pass in a tournament .
We make the rope shorter , so we stop , and each rope has a different colors , if you look at it , and each color correspond to rope length . So whoever runs more buoys with the shortest rope wins . So every time we conclude a pass of six buoys , we stop , the rope get shortened . If we miss a buoy or we fall , it's game over , normal again .
Thank you for explaining that to me , because I was trying to figure it out . I'm like the boats got to be going the same speed for everybody , so it's not quick . It can't be speed of going around these things , it's got to be how you're going around them . That makes total sense .
You can like . If you go around the buoy and you fall , that's half a buoy . If you get to the buoy a little bit earlier , it's quarter buoys , a full buoy . You have to go around the buoy and come back to the center , right behind the boat , to be In case you don't get to the next one , you know .
So you have to go around the buoy in order to get a piece of a buoy or a complete buoy . So you can have like two and a half , two and a quarter or three . These are the three . There's a quarter , half and a full buoy . A buoy always Counts a lot , you know , because we all so tight at a shortest line .
So if you think about it , about it like , where does the pylon of the boat is to the buoy ? I don't know your feet , I know in meters it's 11 , 11.5 meters . So what is it ?
37 feet or something about 30 something feet .
Yeah , close to 40 we get to a point where the rope is like six feet shorter than that distance . So we have to use that . That's why there's so much Acceleration , more than a formula one car , because the bogos
¶ Growing Up Waterskiing and Winning Championships
36 , but we decelerate around the buoy about 1520 and in a Six feet we are about 75 , 80 . So the force there's a lot by . I Think it's 3g is a force or maybe more , I don't know . The force on your body it's incredible .
So it looks brutal , but if you learn out , you know , with correct position and Of course working out helps , you have to be strong because it's not injuries start coming , but it's , it's pretty cool , like it's pretty cool if you see a front of boat perspective . It's live , it's really , really cool .
It's very interesting Just watching some of your videos . It was impressive and you being six foot four , that's got to help a little bit right .
That's how we have a bigger reach , but it doesn't , because my center of gravity is a lot higher than somebody that is lower .
Okay , yeah , so you got a positive and a negative .
Correct he that I generate . It's harder somebody that is shorter , it's harder to reach his feet , you know . So you don't want to be too tall , but you don't want to be too short .
This is awesome . This is great for me to hear it because I'm just learning all this cool stuff . So let's kind of go back to your childhood a little bit . So you're kind of growing up on the water . Your mom goes down there with a boyfriend , meet your dad . They end up , they end up hitting it off , getting married here . You and your brother come along .
So you're kind of raised on this , this lake . In the summer it's part for me to imagine a little bit , because I , you know you picture lakes of people waterski . It's usually desert areas or warm areas like Florida . Yeah you're about this like a mountain lake , right ? I mean , this is pine trees and like mountains all around it .
Yeah , yeah . So this is like a big natural lake and my area is very they . They're very conservative about having boats and environmental Hazard on our area . So there's no boat allowed in our lake , only small , four horsepower for like Transportation or or fishing . So very small boats . Because in water skiing you want always flat conditions .
So we're very lucky that our lake is not open to the public . So there's no jet skis , there's no big wake surf boat , there's nothing , so you are the only boat on the lake . Correct so well . There's lifeguards that have bigger boats , but they know , we know it .
We know it so well that whenever they go through the course , unless there's emergency , they'll we stop idle and then take over again . Yeah , we're friend . Well , we offer them lunch every day , so hey yeah , that's the smart , smart businessman right there .
That's smart , yeah for sure . So you grew up learning how to ski . Now I see you got a ski in your background here . It's like once you're just on one ski , right . So in slalom .
It's one ski . You have one foot in front of the other one . So you have them , yeah , stack up in front , one in front of the other one . For jumping there's two skis and Trick , it's a smaller ski , like 40 inches , compared to like a 67 inch ski , and if the back foot is always Tilted because you're a lot quicker to make flips and stuff like that .
So you're growing up in the water , you're doing this , you find out , you kind of like it . Your first competition , we say , was junior nationals in Europe , or what .
Now my first tournament . Actually , my parents used to organize . It's the Mickey Mouse trophy , which was sponsored by Disney , really okay .
And how old were you for this one ? I was like seven or eight .
Okay , just a young kid , just run young , yeah , maybe a little bit like ten or .
But I remember that my parents organized is so good that Disney sent Minnie and and Mickey Mouse costumes and that's something that doesn't happen every day , like I remember that my dad was like was telling me throughout the years I was like so hard to get a real deal like the real Mickey Mouse costumes and Minnie and there was like 300 kids coming from all
around the world to do this tournament . So those kind of where , like my first big tournaments that I consider big back then , yeah , then if you do well and in some like Italian tournaments , if the team , the Italian team , will take you to like Europeans and World Championship juniors , you know level . So 94 I did my first European Junior tournament .
I didn't go well but in 95 I won okay , so 94 , not as good 95 .
You won . So you have to go though as a team . You're part of the Italian team , right ? So you're competing as a team , like you get a score as a team as well , and then it's no , it's still individual .
But you bring points team , so there's a , there's a team Standing at the first at the end of the tournament . So like , let's say , team USA had the best scores or team Italy had the best scores . They add up those numbers and then a presentation of the teams . The most it's it's individual , but it's still in a video .
Yeah , I still compete for Italy , but I don't do it for of course I do it for the team , but it's me .
Yeah , and that's kind of let's like runners , you know , runners at college and stuff . They're representing their college or whatever , but they're still running for their individual , their individual races and trying to do their best . Very good . So 1995 you did it , you you wanted .
Yeah , it was great . And then I decided to Do culinary school because in Italy you can do in high school , you can do Kind of in preparation of what you want to be in future . So there's like plumbing school , there's engineering , there's electrical , there's hair cutters , cooking . I don't know why , because my some of my friends did it .
I did cooking culinary school so I was doing it all more classes , but I also was learning how to cook . And those were the years that I start getting bigger Because I was eating all day . I was in the kitchen in school a lot . So those years for me were not so good as far as a Tournament results .
But then , once I got out of it , start losing weight and that was the year of 2000 , 2001 and you know the results of coming with the team under 21 and fast forward . You know , after the world's in Italy I am I won my first World Championship title in 2007 in Austria Great best memory of my life because my parents were there .
Then in 2009 , in Canada , since they are every two years , I got second . My dad was there . Then in 2011, . I won in Russia , then I second in 15 , second in 21 , and this year didn't go so well . Conditions were not so well Then I chased every pro tournament around .
So two World titles , I don't know , three silver medalists , 10 European titles and eight or 29 pro-tour stop winners , the European championships that you do in Europe , do they kind of rotate all over Europe ? Correct . Every year is a different , different , different . I won this year and I won the last four in a row .
Where was this most recent one ? Where did it take place ?
This one was in Italy this summer , close to where I'm from , nice . The year before was in Milan . So two back to Italy , which is unusual . The year before was in Greece , the year before was in Spain . Next year they're talking about France , but we'll see .
And then , of course , the worlds are like you said . You've been to Russia and you've been in .
Malaysia , china , canada , chile everywhere .
Where was the first one that you won ? Where are you both ? I ?
was seven .
And where was that at ?
Austria . So very close like I drove up . Oh , okay , you drove up very good A bunch of people came up and watched from my door . That's cool , very good , yeah , really cool yeah , yeah .
So tell me about that feeling when you won that one , when you found out you won , I don't know , do you know kind of at the moment , or did you have to wait for some other people to compete ? Like how did you know ? When did you find out you won , and what was that like ?
I was , I think , fourth last on the dock in the finals , so I had like four more guys after me , but I knew the score that I put up was pretty good . I didn't think somebody would beat me but I was thinking somebody can tie me and if they tie me then there's a runoff .
So I was staying warm and getting ready , sitting on the dock when the last one went out , and with my coach and the doctors and another team member or something , and yeah , when they didn't beat me , it was like , you know , like as soon as you win , everybody comes up to you , your phone's starting and it's crazy , like I ran to my parents that were on the
other side of the lake , you know , and I don't know it . Just it takes so a little bit of while to kind of like step away from it . Once you get back home and realize what you do , you know and what you just did , and I mean you got your world champion forever Right , and it's a cool , the coolest thing ever .
You know , I won the Masters , I won all of the event , the slimes we call them the slimes , like kind of like in tennis . I won all the big events , you know , but something about the world , since we don't have Olympics . You know , the world is the most prestigious .
And it's great that you're both . Your parents were there . You got to have them with you . How has that been ? How has the support been from your family ?
You know I always say , like without my parents I would never be where I am now . You know I owe everything to them , pretty much because , even with limited , I mean , we're not rich . You know , okay , it's not that we were missing food on the table , but we're not like , hey , let's go on vacation for a month .
You know , like that didn't happen , but they gave me always an opportunity to live the best life . And you know , like and with the right of vices , and never told me no , like if you feel like you're going to do it , this is my opinion . You know , no , I owe everything to them . You know , like they're everything to me .
How about injuries ? Have you dealt with any injuries or did you get in good enough shape to where you've been ? Okay , I had some back problems in the past .
Actually , he's getting much better now , like the last two , three years has been great . But four or five years ago I was at the stage that I couldn't even walk , like my hips were out of alignment . I went every kind of doctor possible in the world and I changed my bed and it changed my life Incredible . I changed my mattress . Really .
That was the trick , wow . And it was funny because I was going back to Europe in the summer , in Italy , and a week later I was great , like I was . It was incredible . I was like what is it ? Is the food , is it ? And I never thought about the bed , the mattress , you know .
And then I realized that here it was common to have the mattress and a pillow top on top . We don't use that . There's no pillow top .
So the softness even if I was a stiff mattress was always causing me to have a curve and I was like I was getting good for a while and then I started skiing and pushing hard in the gym and I would start getting bad again and I couldn't figure out what it was . It's like I can't stand here anymore .
You know , like I was certain points I couldn't even walk . I was hurting just standing like laying on the floor , and then I started buying a mattress . Is that ? At some point I had like five mattresses laying around the house and I keep rotating them and then I finally find the one that I have and I'm straight as an arrow ? Incredible .
Huh , that is incredible . I looked it up so much . You spend 33 years in bed in average life .
Wow , that's a lot of time . I need my wife to hear this because we have this pillow top that drives me nuts .
Yeah , so never again pillow top and it's been great . Yeah , so that was . Of course water skiing didn't help , because it's very symmetrical . You have one floor one hip is in front of the other one and I mean we pull serious , heavy loads on our back .
But if you stay healthy , you eat right , you take care of your body , then you can do it as long as I'm doing it , you know . And no other injuries , no knock on wood .
Yeah , good for you . And , speaking of that , how long you've been doing it . You're what ? 42 ? 42 , yeah , 42 years old and you're still going strong .
Oh yeah , ice ski . Today was freezing , but it was awesome . Freezing in Florida doesn't sound very normal , but the water was cold . It was like in the 50s .
Oh wow , yeah , that is chilly yeah .
And I was like , oh , this is a bad idea .
Any experiences or stories that you would mind sharing , of whether it was a tournament or whether it was just a moment that you learned something , or just kind of what you think would be fun for the audience to hear the guests you know the people listening to hear about something that maybe you went through .
Well , I mean for sure last year was the toughest year of my life when I lost my dad , because he was my mentor , my rock , my best friend . You know he's the one that brought me to all these achievements and titles and I mean he was sick for a while . But you know , you can kind of always wonder how it's gonna end .
You know , yeah , last year was really tough , like really tough , and it still is now . You know , like it's been all just a little over a year
¶ From Skiing to Family
and you know , first year I think you're kind of in shock of what's going on . And then the second year is like you start realizing a little bit , hey , he's not really here anymore . You know , you start really missing him .
So that's been kind of hard and for sure that's been the toughest year of my life and for my mom and but my mom she's doing okay now , so that's good .
What do you do to kind of overcome that ? Because I'm in the boat , I still both my parents are still around . I'm a few years older than you and you know you never know something could happen any time to any of us .
Yeah , yeah , I mean , there's nothing really you can do . The only good thing that in all this bad picture is like I was in Italy , you know . I didn't go to any tournaments during the time and I was there with him until the end , from the beginning until the end , you know . And my mother , my mom , my brother , all their relatives were there .
So of course , if he was sick and I was in Florida I would just close everything and go . But I was there from the beginning and you know I held his hand until the end and I was talking to him until the end . Yeah , it's something like you can't prepare . Be prepared for this thing , you know .
But the memories that I have , growing up at a ski school with him and going to tournaments and he was taking me around everywhere , for him water skiing became everything , you know . It was almost obsessed because it became part of the DNA , is everything he was doing , and for me to succeed so much in the sport for him was everything .
So it bonded us so much . I'm too , because I left home to go to Louisiana . Well , for Europe is early , like at 20 years old , and being away kind of brought me back closer to my family .
So again , this bond that was created because of the sport , because of the same ideas , the same passion , and then we got so close and the last 10 years they were here , like in Florida , for three months during Christmas and we spent time together . We go everywhere . Oh , just for me it's nothing best , it was like nothing better than that . It was great .
Love that . Thank you for sharing that , and I know it's hard . You lost someone who's meant everything to you and oh yeah , thank you for sharing that , because I think people like to hear that , like to know who you are .
Yeah , I mean a lot of people . Just , you know , just see my pictures , and but it's hard sometimes to tell your story because you know it's like if somebody else tells it it's different , like I'm not just going to get on the phone and say , hey , this is my story . You know , family is everything , man , it's , it's who we are and where we come from .
And if we don't , if we don't , you know I'm knowledge that I'm here because of them , then I don't know it's like when my mom is gone . I call her every day . You know when my dad was alive and I was here , like every day . You know , just five minutes a day .
That's all . I love that . Thank you for sharing that . Yeah , family . Without a doubt , that's my number one priority as well , so I appreciate you sharing that . What does the future hold for Thomas ? What do you think ? Where are you going to be going with this ?
Well , I'm still going . You know , I've been asking myself when is going to be the day that I'm just going to hang this key on the wall . I've been asking us that for five or six years now , you know .
But the passion drives me to be young , you know , I think my main , the thing that makes me the most well , let's say , I'm still competitive and I'm still winning and I'm still successful , because I love this game so much . But it's not just the game , it's just the journey that takes me to where I am and what brought me to that ?
So my family bonds again , you know , it gives me a purpose . Like , without a purpose , I wouldn't be going to the gym every day , like , you know , I wouldn't wake up early in the morning to go to the gym . I wouldn't want to , like , I wouldn't want to stay in shape , but I wouldn't be so strict about it . I want to ski when it's cold outside ?
No , but it keeps me young . It keeps me , it gives me a goal , which is every year is a new goal , and for me there's no stopping . I love it too much and as long as my body can do it and I can still compete with the other guys , I will do it . It's not even a passion anymore , it's a way of life , you know .
And of course sometimes tournaments don't go well and I get angry and I get upset . But because I care and people's like asking me , like on the dock , are you still getting nervous before tournaments ? Like , of course , the day that I'm gonna not get nervous on the dock is the day that I'm gonna
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quit , because doesn't mean it means that I don't care . I don't care as much . So my fire , my anger inside is still very much alive and I want to pursue myself , maybe because I'm a little wiser now and I want to work harder , to be better , but not just in sport , in life in general and with my relationship with people .
So the day that you know you stop learning or you stop wanting to improve , that's the day that you're going to stop doing whatever you're doing .
Can you take us through kind of a typical day for you , Like not a tournament day , but just like maybe a day that you're training or whatever ? What's kind of a typical day for Thomas .
What is skiing ? It's not golf , it's not baseball , it's there's no much money involved . Okay , so I kind of follow what my dad did , which is coaching , and I love it because I'm a person . I'm a person , people person , sorry , sometimes I'm a people person . I like hanging out and knowing and learning about new people .
Why not sharing my knowledge with others , you know ? And so ski school , of course , allows me to , you know , be able to travel and do whatever I can do and I want to do . So my day is I wake up in the morning , depending on the day .
So , like now , it's kind of like slow season as far as coaching , because it was the end of this , just the season ended . People don't really want to travel , they want to rest and holidays and everything .
So I have a lot more time in my hands , jim , in the morning , not a mama Mazeer , come back lunch with her , hang out with her , take her shopping a little bit , some lessons , depending on the day , you know . Then I ski and then I will do a little workout , maybe a home and night that's it .
Having dinner with my mom cook together , you know , I ask her all the time it's like how can you make it so good and I do the same thing and I can't .
She's like oh , we ended up doing it together , you know , and that's another thing Like we share time together , we share these memories together , so it's great , yes , it's very easy , and it sounds like , you know , like , oh , you don't do much , but then when it's tournament season , which right after New Year's Eve , the first pro tournament is in March , it's in
Australia . That's the time that it's time to get serious again . You know , like the last tournament this year was the World Championships and it didn't go well for me . Conditions were really hard , so a lot of the top guys didn't do well , but I was like , you know what , I'm not going to waste any time this year .
I'm not going to wait until like January to start working out and go to the gym . I was like I felt like I didn't deserve to have a break because I'm so tough on myself , you know .
So , yeah , maybe I didn't ski for a week or a few days or whatever , but comes like , okay , the tournament is over 23 , is over 24 starts now and I start going to the gym . You know , I started watching what Are you Better ? I started doing this .
I do exercises , I have my routines and once you start getting to this mechanism of going and going and going , it's really hard to stop Because , again , the mentality of the athlete is not . We're never happy enough of the results . You know , I won a big pro event like two weeks before the Worlds , and it gave me a good boost of confidence , you know .
And like the tournament was on Saturday , on Sunday we're flying back to Orlando and people was like I had a couple podcasts and they're like so are you enjoying this week ? I'm like . I was like whoa , did you go party ? And I'm like no man , we have Worlds in two weeks or three weeks . I was like , come on .
I was like , no , this is not the way I do it . Maybe I'm too tough on myself , but that's the way , but I enjoy it . I enjoy it . You know , it's not a punishment to me , you know , it's just where I am . And now , with the routine of going to the gym early and often , like I went , I think I went every day in the last three weeks , you know .
So it's hardcore . Like I go hard on it , you know , and just be committed to go every day . You know I when I could say I'm tired , I want to take a day off . And of course , I got to listen to my body . Sometimes this is the time that I can push , because when I start traveling I have to ski more , you know .
So I have to do more time in the water instead of in the gym , and yeah , so from March until September , october , sometimes November it's hectic so this is the time that I now I can enjoy my mom and have a little bit of break , Exactly , Take advantage of that time You're still working hard .
I sometimes wonder that about , about athletes and people like you like . If you're too hard on yourself and you kind of admitted that you are , but you said you like it though that's you kind of thrive on that and that's kind of who you are .
I read some articles and there's actually a couple of books that they talk about . The mentality of the athletes is completely different of sorry , a normal person like some that is not an athlete . Sure , and the drive and you know , the commitments that are evolving around being an athlete are incredible , and then it translates to everything in life .
So , everything I do , if I cannot do it right , I'm not going to do it , but if I , if I know I can't do it right , I'm gonna give my 100% until it's over , you know . I think , you know , as I said , yeah , my parents gave me a great opportunity to travel the world , me new people , see new cultures , learn , learn languages .
Being here in a beautiful lake , on the lake , beautiful house on the lake in Florida . I gotta be appreciative of everything that brought me here . You know it's the journey that . Makes everything better . Of course I can win on Sunday and be happy . I talk to everybody , tons of call , phone calls , photos and everything . But then on Monday you start over .
I mean , you said it , it's the journey . That's why I do journey with Jake , because I love , I love the journey , I love the , what people do to get to where they are . It's , it's incredible . I appreciate that We've been chatting for quite a while . I don't want to take up too much of your time , especially away from your mom .
I do want to ask you kind of one last question . So you got some , I don't know , 10 year old , 11 year old Italian kid or American kid who's thinking , hey , I like to ski . What would you tell them ? What would you tell them as they're looking to maybe get into skiing ?
It's a beautiful unknown sport Because back in the 90s was , it was a hot sport because it was an ESPN with hot summer nights . I don't know if you ever seen it I didn't see it because I was in Italy , but I rewatch it so it was broadcasting on ESPN all the pro tournaments every summer , every week . So what would I tell ?
You know , it's a little bit unknown but it's a great sport . You're out in the nature , out in open air , in the water . You have , you know , the wind , the water , the adrenaline , the speed . It's just you and yourself .
And it's such a great sport because it's such a complete sport and it's so competitive and there's never an ending goal , like there's never ending goal as far as like , okay , I want to break the world record , but then you want to re-break it .
You know , and I think it's just , I don't know it , just it gives you so , like , people that water ski and people that don't water ski don't understand . But people that water ski , they're addicts , like , I'm sure , in many other sports . But there's people that they are like obsessed , like there it's their life . You know , it's great people .
It's a clean sport , there's , there's no much drama . You know , it's just , it's a big family . That's what it is . It's a big family and everybody help each other and the coolest thing about water to ski is you can come ski with me Any day of your life . Tell me when you can go play golf with Tiger Woods ? Never , so that's the coolest thing , you know .
You can go to water skier and ski with them and meet with them and chat with them and that's so cool .
Like the kids , you know they love it and I coach kids here all the time and they're like at first , when the condor , like their eyes are like this , I can see it and then we become friends and I teach them and then I see their improvement and for me , so rewarding , you know , no , it's cool , it's the coolest thing .
The coolest thing is because it's small and we're trying to grow it , but it's small and it will stay small because the people in it not as far as like the sport is growing , because it's coming back . It is a comeback in the sport , but the people in it stays the same as far as accepting new people and Treat people correctly , you know .
So the coolest thing is like you can go to any pro water skier and talk to them and it doesn't happen in all the other sports .
Absolutely , and here I am talking to you this . For me , this is awesome , I love your professional water skier and I get the chance to talk to you . To me , that's just . I love it for me , so I appreciate it . Thomas , this was fantastic .
I got to know a little bit more about your sport , about who you are , and I love who you are as a person , how much you care about family , how that's important to you . I Think it's fantastic . I appreciate everything you shared with us . Thanks for coming on journey with Jake .
Yeah , it was great . Thank you for having me and I appreciate the time that you gave me . Thank you so much .
Special thanks to my guest , thomas de Gasperi , for coming on the show chatting with me . That was a lot of fun for me . I was super inspired by what he had to share . I appreciate his honesty , talking about his father , just the things that he's gone through . I know that meant a lot to him .
I'm grateful that he was able to come on the show and chat about that with me . Check him out . Give him a follow on Instagram . You can find him at . This is T gas . It's at . This underscore is underscore T gas . That's this underscore is underscore T gas . Check him out on Instagram .
A lot of fun things to check out from Thomas see what he's up to , see how he's doing in His professional water skiing career . What a great conversation . Thanks to each and every one of you . Listening to journey with Jake each and every week . It really means a lot to me . I appreciate it very much .
Just remember , it's not always about the destination as it is about the journey . Take care everybody .