In the hill country at the San Marcos River Ranch, the Texas State Water Ski club takes on the wake, buoys and ramp to further prepare for a season already underway.
The club competed in two tournaments, the Fall Classic and Bayou Classic, earlier this month on Sept. 3-4 and Sept. 17-18, respectively. Texas State placed fifth overall in the Fall and Bayou Classic, battling it out for the final spot to qualify for nationals.
Next up for the squad is South Central Regionals, which will take place Oct. 1-2 in the Lakes of Katy, Texas, and National Club Water Ski Association (NCWSA) Nationals, which will be hosted by Texas State this year from Oct. 13-15.
Vice president of the club Peyton Barry, an exercise and sports science junior, sees hosting nationals as a great convenience. Barry, who has been on the team for two years and has been skiing since she was six years old, sees competitive skiing as a rare opportunity not just for her but for everyone.
“I think it is definitely worth joining. A big selling point that we have is that you do not need any experience to join or anything,” Barry said. “So, you can just come show up and say you want to learn how to ski, and we will teach you everything you need to know.”
The team competes in three different events, jump, trick and slalom. Split into men’s and women’s teams, members can compete in as many events as they want.
The club faces off against six other schools in the NCWSA south-central region: the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, University of Louisiana-Monroe, Texas A&M University, Baylor University, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Arkansas.
According to Barry, having to spend sizable portions of the week and travel to different states for tournaments together brings on diverse ways for a community of skiers to become closer.
“I know that there was a lot of karaoke going on the last car ride. There was a lot of me sleeping,” Barry said. “Other than that, we get to just talk and bond.”
Adam Long, a computer science freshman, found out about water skiing at new student orientation and, since joining the team, has been to the first two classics of the season.
“It seemed cool,” Long said. “I used to do motorsports for a little bit, and so I was like, ‘I’m out of a sport, why not hop into a new one.'”
One of the teams’ coaches and high-flyers, Cody Overmire, an accounting senior, has been with the club for four years and likes all the tournaments because of the family atmosphere between opposing teams. Overmire also believes that anyone can join, experience does not matter and it can be easy to pick up.
“To stand up takes usually one set; a set is like one time going out skiing for about 15 minutes,” Overmire said. “Most people get up their first set, and that is all across ages, bodies and usually they get up their first, and if they don’t, they do their second.”
Members of the Texas State Water Ski club are also ambassadors for the sport. Over the summer, the team volunteered for Texas Regional Para Sport for its AllCanSki program, which is an adaptive water ski clinic for athletes with physical disabilities. It is club president Taylor Royal’s favorite experience with Texas State Water Ski, being that she grew up in a ski world.
“My dad is actually blind, he is on the U.S. adaptive team, so I grew up in competitive skiing,” said Royal, a human development and family sciences sophomore. “AllCanSki helps disabled kids and individuals learn how to ski.”
Since Royal had previously been around a more competition-focused atmosphere, she liked getting to enjoy a sport she knows at a different pace than what she is used to.
“We heard about AllCanSki and I got in contact with them and we started volunteering at all of them,” Royal said. “Which was really cool because they are just kids, and they are just starting out. I grew up in the competitive world and this was totally just for fun, which was really cool.”
To join the club, there are three tiers of fees to join each long semester. A team of top five skiers’ men and women competing is $300, B tier skiers competing team is $275 and C team who ski for fun at practice is $250.
For more information on Texas State Water Ski, visit its Instagram @txstski or the campus recreation sports club’s website. The club meets at 9 p.m. every Tuesday in LBJ 3-10.1.