Tony Iacconi
Hey everyone, my name is Tony Iacconi, I am a 22-year-old professional wakeboard athlete from Newcastle, Australia. I have been wakeboarding for 14 years and doing it professionally for 5 years now. My greatest accomplishment was winning the US Nationals. I joined the BbTALKIN team in 2018.
A good coach plays a major role in any athletes life, mine included. One of the things all my coaches had in common was a passion for the sport. This is the number one reason that I got into coaching, so that I could share my passion with as many others as possible. Wakeboarding, just like any other sport should be fun and bring joy to people. Teaching someone to wakeboard for the first time is so rewarding and getting to share that joy and happiness with someone is one of the best feelings I have ever experienced. Getting people out on the water whether it be their first time or their 50th time is really what I live for. When a family gets introduced to water sports it truly can have a huge impact on their whole family dynamic. It keeps families together, spending time with each other and creating memories that are going to last forever. Being able to hangout with a family on the water and help them progress their skills will never get old. I think to myself every day that I am so blessed to get to do what I love for a living and share it with so many others.
More about Tony:
I split my time between Orlando, FL and Newcastle, AUS each year. Orlando is one of the most amazing places to live for not only wakeboarding, but any watersport. Especially wakeboarding though, because Orlando has some of the best lakes to ride and train on. I live on Lake Conway, which is a chain of several lakes located about 10 minutes from the Orlando International Airport. That’s also another reason why Orlando is one of the ultimate places for wakeboarding; it’s close to everything. In order to compete on the pro circuit you really have to live in the states because we compete all across America, traveling to a different state almost every weekend, so being close to the airport is super convenient.
After I was introduced to wakeboarding by my dad, I instantly fell in love with the sport and the lifestyle that came with it. Once I decided to pursue my dream of wakeboarding for a living my dad pushed me to be the best that I could be. We were out on the water every morning as the sun was coming up so I could get a ride in before school, then back out as soon as school was over.
My parents sent me away to many different wakeboard schools and camps so that I could better my wakeboard skills and continue to grow as an athlete. Looking back at all the coaching I’ve had over the years I know for a fact that without it, I would not be where I am today.
