16-year-old Austin 'Flyboarder' lighting up Lake Travis

"At first I was really scared of it. And I chickened out a couple of times. After I tried the board, I looked at my instructor and was like ‘why was I scared of this again?" -- that's 16-year-old Hunter Verlander from the Houston area.  He's a pro 'flyboarder.'  It's a relatively new sport that involves water propulsion from a jet ski.

Verlander has only been flyboarding for a little over a year.  It's safe to say he’s already really good.

"It's a lot of balance, core strength and leg strength. With a lot of these tricks it comes from really good core," Verlander said.

He's on an Austin flyboarding team called "Aquify" — so this summer he’s been hanging out on Lake Travis practicing and teaching others.

Verlander has competed in flyboarding championships in Dubai and Louisiana…he says he’s ranked third in North America and fifth in the world — and he’s often one of the youngest competing.

"This really just helped me out a lot coming out of my shyness and all of that.  This is something that I really love to do.  I've never loved to do something this much before," Verlander said.