A couple of decades ago, a young girl from Greenville, South Carolina became known as the 'Carolina Comet'. She went on to win just about every title in water skiing and became a fixture in the sport, both as an athlete and a leader in the development of professional water skiing. Her name was Camille Duvall. A few years later, another 'Carolina Comet' came down the path. This time, she was from North Carolina. Like her predecessor, this girl went on to stardom, capturing titles and setting records in every event she competed in. Her name was Kristi Overton.

Looks like another 'Carolina Comet' has arrived!! She is originally from Angier, NC, just a little south of Raleigh, in a part of the country that has spawned a series of outstanding female skiers.

April is one of a few remaining world class water skiers in the U.S. that remains a true Overall skier. She reflects exactly the same opinion expressed by Patrice Martin. Overall skiing takes more dedication and self discipline. Precisely because of this, a lot of skiers have elected to become one event specialists, usually either slalom or jump because that is where almost all of the money is in professional skiing. However, April thinks Overall skiing will make a come back, especially with new emphasis on overall at the Masters and the U.S. Open. And, it should be noted, overall skiing remains very big in the rest of the world.

Let's take a look at April's past. She started skiing with her dad when she was only 3 years old on the intracoastal waterway in North Carolina.

Her dad, Gary Coble, has remained her primary coach through April's skiing career. April credits her dad with the ability to get her focused mentally. Gary even coaches April during the jump event. Gary was never a competitive jumper himself, but April says he is like a sponge, soaking up everything he hears from other great coaches, like Jack Travers in the jumping event.

April now trains with Brian Swenson during the winter months. She trained with Bill Peterson in the early years, especially in tricks. She also credits Pat Fuller and Mark Bedsole with providing coaching in her formative years.

The Cobles are one of many families dedicated to skiing. In fact, April says that Dr. J.D. Morgan and his family has served as a role model to her since she was a junior girl competitor. The Morgans were a strong force in the late 70s on the eastern coast, living in Virginia Beach, Virginia and skiing at just about every tournament in Virginia and North Carolina every summer. It seems that a lot of skiing families that were around the North Carolina/Virginia area are still at it--names like Hargis, Overton, Fields, Truelove, Lohr, and yes, even Jaquess, although this author wasn't born until after my family moved to Atlanta!

In fact, April is part of a group of outstanding female water skiers that basically grew up the same time in North Carolina (Kristi, Karen Truelove, Tammy Hargis, Valerie Coble, Jackie Rollins, Starlotte Smith). Although they all were not in the same ski club, they did compete against each other. During those days, it was tough being are junior girl competitor in North Carolina!

April remains very close to fellow Carolinian Karen Truelove. They have been best friends for many years and continue that relationship to this day.

April gives credit to super slalom driver and skier Tommy Harrington for being an inspiration in the early years. She remembers begging to ride in the boat and watch Tommy ski, he was such a technically perfect skier. Nowadays, they occasionally get to ski together and they take turns driving each other.

Kristi Overton-Johnson is one of the professional skiers that April looks up to. She is such a fierce competitor, but remains a true friend and is a completely open and honest person. Kristi is the 'queen' of North Carolina skiing that everyone looks up to.

France's Patrice Martin is another Open skier that April admires. She considers him to be the greatest skier in the world (not to mention a lot of other people, this writer included--See last month's Spotlight Article). April especially admires Patrice's continued hard work and dedication to being the best Overall skier in the world.

What about those stories of the Coble clan over the years? Gary Coble skied for years before teaching his wife, Shirley. Then April and Valerie picked up the sport. In 1983, April's first year at the Nationals, her mom also competed. They have been at it ever since. April is quick to comment that she could not have continued to ski at the competitive level without the dedicated support from her parents and sister.

The famous Coble motor home (they are on motor home number 2 at this point) has over 125,000 miles. During the winter months a few years back, the family would pack up the motor home and depart for West Palm Beach every Friday night after April's high school basketball game. They would drive all night, ski 1/2 day on Saturday and 1/2 day on Sunday, then drive back to North Carolina. And they are only on motor home number 2? Anyone need a good used motor home? Sounds like the Cobles may be in need of a new one soon. April still trains in West Palm every January and February, then leaves for Australia during the month of March. The rest of the time is primarily spent at the Coble ski school back home in North Carolina.

Let's talk a little about April's skiing career. She is a 21 time U.S. National Champion and holds the Women 1 National Jump record. Her best performances to date have been:


Slalom 1 @ 39' Off


Trick 5,730 Pts.


Jump 148'

She uses a 65' Connelly slalom and a 41' trick ski. Her jumpers are 80' Connelly square tips.

Sponsors include Mastercraft, Connelly, Speedo, Revo, Overtons, Ski Warm, Straight Line, and Valeo. April's favorite tournament sites include Harmony, NC for slalom, Jack Travers Sunset Lakes in Okahumpka, FL for jump, and Melbourne, Australia for FUN!

April was a member of the UNC Chapel Hill ski team for 3 1/2 years and was a member of the 1994 NLU team that won the National Collegiate Championship, one of April's most cherished accomplishments. She also rates winning the Overall title at the 1997 Masters right up there with the Collegiate Championship. In fact, this past summer was April's super season-- a Masters Overall crown combined with selection to the U.S. Team. Big smiles!!

April received an invitation to the 1997 Masters at the Masters Qualifier tournament just one week prior to the big dance at Callaway Gardens. Happy to just make the field, April made her first trip to Callaway in a relaxed mood (well, as relaxed as you can get before the Masters). In her first appearance, she wowed the crowd and sealed her overall victory in perhaps her strongest event, jumping. Winning at the Masters was a 'long term' goal that wasn't supposed to happen so soon. Oh well, so much for the crystal ball. April was all smiles at the Masters banquet and she still hasn't stop smiling to date. To her, winning the Masters overall was the best feeling in the world.

For sheer fun, spending a month in Australia last spring was a great experience that she hopes to repeat in 1998 as she gets ready for Moomba. Moomba overall maybe?

In regard to professional women skiing, April likes some of the new things that have happened this past year. She thinks the 5 1/2 foot ramp height for women will eventually be a great boost (so to speak) once the girls get used to the new ramp angle. She is very complimentary of the new U.S. Open format and all that Parker Overton has done to benefit the skiers. She says that 'Mr. Parker' is obviously a very knowledgeable man about the sport. He has been a huge advocate of women's skiing and puts on a fantastic tournament. With his support and leadership, professional skiing may just leap to that mythical next level and even include women!

What kind of goals has April set for life? She keeps it simple. Be the #1 Overall skier in the world and have the largest ski camp in the world.

For young water skiers, she advises to be ready for all the sacrifices you have to make to finally reach the top levels of the sport. Skiing is the type of sport you have to be very dedicated to and have lots of parental support. If this is you, go for it!!