By Sara Perales- July 2006
KRA member
My name is Sara Perales and I’m 16 years old. I go to Liberty
High School and am in the choir, I LOVE it!! My interest in kayaking started
about 11 years ago when my dad first started kayaking with KRA. He put me
in his kayak in our pool and I thought that was the coolest thing EVER! But
my dad told me I was too little so I started learning when I was 7.
Like a normal young kid I got side-tracked very easily and would rather have
played in the kiddy pool than learn my strokes. The year after my first attempt
at paddling and after spending most of my time in the kiddy pool, I finally
stuck with it. Eventually after a couple of years, I got good enough to try
slalom racing.
My first slalom race was Cache Creek when I was 11 years old. I felt
like I did pretty well in it, even though I got 2nd place out of two
people. I was a bit disappointed but that didn’t stop me from wanting
to race some more.
Two years after my first slalom race, I participated in the Mokelume
Whitewater Races. The weekend consisted of a downriver race and a
slalom race. After that, I was pretty much hooked on the idea of
becoming really good at slalom and tried to convince my dad to get
me a slalom boat. (I didn’t get my own new slalom kayak until last
year, I got it customized in my favorite colors, pink and black!)
The next year with my hand-me-down slalom boat, I participated in
almost all of the races involved the Sierra Cup I placed pretty well
in each of the races usually coming out first or second in each one.
It was usually only Jen Scarbrough and I in our category we’re both
about the same skill level so we kind of switch off on who wins.
After the Sierra Cup for that year was over and I saw all of the
trophies and plaques for the people in the top 10 I was inspired
to make that top 10 people.
I decided to move up from the junior category into the women's
categories. I was surprised to see that I won 1st place in many of the
races and kept moving up. By the end of that season I was in Women’s
Expert A (the highest women’s class) and I had won 3rd place in the
Sierra Cup right behind Jessica Subido. She is one of my closest
friends and one of my biggest inspirations.
This year I am hoping to make it into the top 3 at the Sierra Cup Awards.
I really enjoy the exhilarating feeling of racing and will continue
doing it for as long as I can. I don’t necessarily have any big dreams of being an Olympian,
but I am hoping to perfect my skills enough to help teach and coach new
generations of kayakers with that dream. Right now I'm just in it for
the fun of the sport; I think that’s the best way to do it!
(Sara not only achieved her goal of placing in top 3 in the 2006 Sierra Cup Series,
but also placed 1st!)
| 
