WEST Vancouver model Kate Bock is in the running to become the Sports Illustrated swimsuit model rookie of the year as the magazine's 50th swimsuit issue flies off newsstands.
The most purchased, least-read sports magazine of the year features Bock basking in the sun of Easter Island and drawing attention from the moai statues that dot the shoreline.
Her ability to command cameras was first discovered at age 12 near the water of the West Vancouver Community Centre pool.
"She was very young and she had braces," recalled agent Liz Bell, the founder of the Lizbell Agency. "I scout young girls like that and develop them."
The "mother agent" remembers being impressed by her height.
"You've got to have the physical attributes. . . . She was always tall because she comes from a lovely tall family. Good genes," she said.
The five-foot-eleven soccer player and straight-A student did numerous photo shoots before graduating from West Vancouver secondary and deciding to run away to the runways.
"When she gets to 18 we don't know if she's going to go, 'I've decided to study medicine at McGill,'" Bell said. "She realized the opportunity, because so few people in the world get to model."
Before jetting off to Paris and modelling for Victoria's Secret, Bell said Bock needed a certain physical transformation.
"She played a lot of sports as a teenager which makes you very muscular and more of an athlete than a lean-bodied model. . . . She trained to be a model, and that means yoga and pilates and changing the shape of your muscles."
The expenses of transcontinental flights and Parisian apartments daunted Bock's parents, but Bell said she was mindful of the waiting rewards.
"It is really an incredible business if you can do it beautifully and be on the top."
Asked about Bock's success, Bell attributes her rise to desire and design. "She just makes . . . good choices in life," said Bell, adding good management also helped.
"Having that support as a model is crucial. It's kind of a, 'It takes a village to raise a child' kind of thing."
