About Us
USA Water Ski & Wake Sports #
USA Water Ski & Wake Sports is the national governing body of organized water skiing and wakeboarding in the United States. USA Water Ski & Wake Sports is a member of the International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation (world governing body), the Pan American Sports Organization and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee. Affiliated with USA Water Ski & Wake Sports as sport discipline organizations are the American Water Ski Association (AWSA), American Barefoot Club (ABC), American Kneeboard Association (AKA), National Collegiate Water Ski Association (NCWSA), National Show Ski Association (NSSA), National Water Ski Racing Association (NWSRA), USA Adaptive Water Ski and Wake Sports Inc. (USA-AWSWS), United States Hydrofoil Association (USHA), and USA Wakeboard (USA-WB).
From the beginning, USA Water Ski & Wake Sports has had a dual mission of promoting the growth and development of recreational water skiing, and organizing and governing the sport of competitive water skiing. The largest and most active water ski federation in the world, USA Water Ski & Wake Sports has a paid staff of six people. Headquartered in Auburndale, Fla., the staff serves more than 11,000 members across the country. Nearly 80 percent of USA Water Ski & Wake Sports' members are involved in tournament competition each year; the remainder are recreational water skiers.
USA Water Ski & Wake Sports programs include: water ski instructor certification; learn to ski clinics; officials’ education; junior skiers’ development; legislative assistance; safety training and information dissemination; membership development, including affiliation of state federations and local water ski clubs; public communications and media information; industry relations; and local, national and international competition ranging from novice to world-level tournaments.
USA Water Ski & Wake Sports' communications program includes publication of a four-times-a-year magazine, The Water Skier, which is sent to all members and other persons with an interest in the sport; and numerous educational materials addressing all aspects of water skiing.
USA Water Ski & Wake Sports trains and maintains performance records for competitive skiers and nearly 3,000 judges, drivers and scorers who officiate at sanctioned tournaments.
Approximately 600 local water ski clubs throughout the United States are affiliated with USA Water Ski & Wake Sports. The clubs provide a working base in almost any locale for development of USA Water Ski & Wake Sports programs, and in addition are the local organizers for nearly all water ski competitions in the United States.
The Beginning #
Water skiing was invented in the United States in 1922 when Minnesotan Ralph Samuelson built the first pair of skis and was towed on them behind an outboard-powered boat. What Samuelson originated became an exhibition sport on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1920s and early 1930s. It developed officially into a competitive sport in 1939 when the American Water Ski Association (AWSA) was organized and held the first annual National Water Ski Championships at Jones Beach, Long Island, New York.
As a Recreational Sport #
Throughout its history water skiing has closely paralleled the development of recreational boating in its appeal to the general public. Over the years it has shown almost continuous, sustained growth.
Water skiing is a family-oriented activity and the participants tend to be well educated and affluent. Three-fourths of adult USA Water Ski & Wake Sports members are college graduates and many are career professionals and administrators — physicians, attorneys, psychologists, business owners and top-level administrators, among others.
The Competitive Sport #
Interest in competitive water skiing has grown considerably over the years and continues to attract many more enthusiasts. USA Water Ski & Wake Sports sanctions more than 900 tournaments each season. These range from small, local events for novices to national and world-level tournaments for more experienced competitors. Male and female skiers of all ages can compete in traditional three-event water skiing (slalom, tricks, jumping) tournaments, as well as in tournaments for wakeboarding, barefooting, kneeboarding, show skiing, collegiate water skiing and wakeboarding, water ski racing, hydrofoiling and adaptive water skiing. Watch the Water Ski & Wakeboard – Understanding The Sport Video.
International Competition #
As a member of the International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation, USA Water Ski & Wake Sports and its sport disciplines select teams that compete in several world-level tournaments, notably the Elite, 35+, Under 21 and Junior Water Ski World Championships; Elite, Senior and Junior Barefoot Water Ski World Championships; World University Water Ski Championships; Formula 1, Formula 2 and Junior Water Ski Racing World Championships; Wakeboard World Championships; Disabled Water Ski World Championships; Pan American Games; and World Games.
Sanctioning & Proprietorship #
As the national governing body for water skiing and wakeboarding, USA Water Ski & Wake Sports sanctions three-event (traditional water skiing), wakeboarding, barefooting, kneeboarding, collegiate water skiing and wakeboarding, show skiing, water ski racing, hydrofoiling and disabled water skiing tournaments, as well as professional cash-prize events.
USA Water Ski & Wake Sports is the proprietor of the U.S. Elite Water Ski Team, U.S. 35+ Water Ski Team, U.S. Junior Water Ski Team, U.S. Under 21 Water Ski Team, U.S. World University Water Ski Championships Team, U.S. Elite Barefoot Water Ski Team, U.S. Senior Barefoot Water Ski Team, U.S. Junior Barefoot Water Ski Team, U.S. Formula 1 Water Ski Racing Team, U.S. Formula 2 Water Ski Racing Team, U.S. Junior Water Ski Racing Team, U.S. Wakeboard Team and U.S. Adaptive Water Ski Team. USA Water Ski & Wake Sports is also proprietor of the Water Ski National Championships, U.S. Open Water Ski & Wakeboard Championships, Barefoot Water Ski National Championships, Division 1 Show Ski National Championships, Division 2 Show Ski National Championships, Kneeboard National Championships, USA Wakeboard Nationals, Adaptive Water Ski National Championships, Collegiate Water Ski National Championships, Collegiate Wakeboard National Championships, U.S. Open Water Ski Racing National Championships and US Hydrofoil Nationals.
Sport Discipline Descriptions#
USA Water Ski & Wake Sports is comprised of nearly 14,000 members across nine sport discipline organizations.
The three events of traditional water skiing are slalom, tricks and jumping.
In slalom, the contestant negotiates a zigzag course of six buoys. The boat speed is increased two mph until a maximum speed for the division of competition is reached. Thereafter the rope is shortened in pre-measured lengths. The winner is the one who rounds the most buoys without a miss or fall. The best skiers do not miss until the rope is shorter than the distance from the boat to the buoy and the skier must try to round the buoy by leaning over it with his or her body. In tricks, the contestant performs two, 20-second routines of tricks that each have an assigned point value. Some of the most difficult tricks include wake flips, and multiple turns performed with the towrope attached to the contestant’s foot. In jumping, the object is distance. Although there is a maximum boat speed for each age division, the skier can increase his or her speed by “cracking the whip” behind the boat; men jumpers approach speeds of more than 60 mph at the base of the jump ramp. Some men skiers in Open Division competition, the highest achievement level, jump more than 230 feet off a six-foot-high ramp. Women competitors are jumping more than 170 feet using a five-foot-high ramp.
At collegiate events, athletes compete on co-ed teams in traditional water ski and wakeboard disciplines. Athletes who are former junior national and world champions compete side-by-side with beginners. Collegiate tournaments also are more relaxed, often with as much action on the beach as there is on the water.
More than 50 schools field teams that seek the Holy Grail of collegiate water skiing, the annual national championship title. Collegiate water skiing is not governed by the NCAA and is considered a club sport at most schools. However, there is tremendous growth in this segment of athletics at colleges and universities, backed up by the increase in scholarships awarded to water ski athletes, as well as the number of schools hiring part-time and full-time coaches.
Extremely popular in the upper Midwest, and practiced throughout the nation, show skiing combines components of all water ski disciplines. Water ski shows are an aquatic Broadway musical, featuring several water ski acts choreographed to music and built around a theme that tells a story.
Unique to show skiing are ballet/swivel skiing, adagio doubles, freestyle jumping and human pyramids. Ski show exhibitions or shows involve amateur clubs which usually have 30 or more members. Some clubs even have more than 200 members! Age is not a factor since ski club performers can range from children to grandparents.
Once considered an obscure addition to the family of water sports, wakeboarding now is recognized as one of the fastest growing water sports in the world. Although it is easy to see why people are attracted to the spectacular moves of wakeboarding, it is not easy to identify the sport's birth. Perhaps the origins of wakeboarding will never be known, but surfers deserve most of the credit because the beginnings of the new sport most likely began when surfers started being towed with a ski rope behind a boat.
A San Diego surfer named Tony Finn began the wakeboard revolution in 1985 when he developed the Skurfer — a cross between a water ski and a surfboard. Finn diligently promoted his Skurfer, and was quite successful in raising people's level of awareness to the new sport. However, it took the design skills of Herb O'Brien to truly send the sport off into new heights. O'Brien, owner of H.O. Sports, a leading water ski manufacturer, took an interest in advancing the sport in the late 80s. Before long he changed the wakeboard industry by introducing the first compression-molded neutral-buoyancy wakeboard, the Hyperlite. This innovation led to a massive growth of the wakeboarding marketplace that continues to this day. The Hyperlite's natural buoyancy allowed easy deep-water starts, which in turn made wakeboarding accessible to virtually everyone.
Barefoot water ski events – wake slalom, tricks and jumping – are similar to the three events in traditional water skiing. Differences arise in the speed of the boat and the skier (depending upon age division, barefoot events are sometimes faster, with a top speed for the Open Division of 43.2 mph), in the lack of buoys in slalom, and the height of the jump ramp (18 inches as compared to five or six feet for traditional jumping). The absence of skis more than makes up for the differences in the equipment on the ski course.
In wake slalom, points are awarded for full crossing from the outside of the first wake wave to the outside of the second, for crossing one wave only, and for straddling a wake wave at the moment the 15-second pass is terminated. Crossings can be made on one foot or both feet, the barefooter facing forward or backward. Point values increase for the more difficult methods. Barefoot tricks runs are 15 seconds in length and are scored by judges in much the same manner as those in conventional tricks skiing. In barefoot jumping, the takeoff edge of the ramp is approximately 18 inches above the water line. Jumpers must step off a ski prior to reaching a step-off buoy, located 165 feet before the ramp, and maintain a barefooting position into the ramp.
Water ski athletes who feel the need for speed participate in water ski racing competitions. The roots of ski racing are planted firmly in California and Arizona. Although most participants compete at speeds between 35 and 70 miles per hour, elite athletes compete at extreme speeds of up to 100 miles per hour!
Ski racing athletes compete in two types of races. Marathon races are timed events with multiple laps on a short course. Sprint races are lap or timed events typically held on an oval course. Protective headgear and flotation devices are worn by athletes, drivers and observers. Some competitors also wear neck braces and other restraints to help avoid injury in case of an unfortunate fall.
The National Water Ski Racing Association (NWSRA) was formed in Southern California when a handful of water skiing daredevils got together and began water ski racing events. The organization joined USA Water Ski & Wake Sports as a sport discipline in 1991.
The International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation (world governing body) sanctioned the first Water Ski Racing World Championships in 1979. The Worlds is tentatively held every two years.
Water skiing has been adapted so that physically disabled athletes can participate and compete. Tournaments offer slalom, tricks and jumping events for vision impaired individuals (blind or partially sighted), multiplegics (paraplegics and quadriplegics), leg amputees (above and below knee), arm amputees and athletes with both arm and leg disabilities. The skiers in the latter three categories compete with the same water ski equipment used by able-bodied athletes and have the option of using a prosthesis.
Vision impaired athletes do not require special equipment. However, they are guided by another skier in the jumping event, although they must be released before they go over the ramp and use audible signals instead of buoys in the slalom course. Multiplegic athletes use a sit ski, which is larger than the ski of an able-bodied skier and includes a cage similar to that used in snow skiing. A narrower slalom course than that set out for able-bodied competitors is an option for those whose disability is greater such as quadriplegics and athletes with both arm and leg disabilities.
A popular alternative to three-event water skiing, wakeboarding and barefooting is kneeboarding. Along with a pair of combo skis, you'll find a kneeboard in most recreational boats. However, the sport also has a competitive following.
Kneeboard athletes compete in slalom, tricks and expression session events. In slalom, the six buoys are positioned the same as a traditional course. Tricks are performed in two 20-second passes and awarded technical and subjective points. A kneeboard expression session is similar to a wakeboard event, each pass is scored subjectively for style points.
Hydrofoiling is an exciting sport that has things to offer at all levels of expertise. From riding and enjoying a smooth ride in rough water to performing aerial tricks anywhere behind the towing water craft. A hydrofoil is made up of three major assemblies:
- Seat Tower - This is the where you sit on the ski. Typically made of aluminum, there are models with a shock and without a shock. These are called "Shock Towers" and "Rock Towers." The seat comes with a safety belt that keeps the rider from being released from the seat/ski.
- Board - The board is typically made of fiberglass or carbon fiber resin molded ski. There are two bindings with safety straps that keep the rider's feet from being released from the board. There are bindings that can be adjusted up and down the board for different rider leg lengths.
- Foil Assembly - The foil assembly consists of three major parts. The strut/fuselage which acts as a rudder to guide the rider in the direction they turn their knees/body. The front wing which provides the lift and enables the rider to rise/jump the ski off the surface of the water. Lastly, there is the rear wing which stabilizes/counterbalances the lift from the front wing. There are many different kinds of foil configurations and these configurations are critical for how the ski reacts and rides in the water. The foil assemblies are typically made from cast or billet aluminum.
A hydrofoil is towed behind some type of watercraft with a driver and a spotter. The rider straps into the hydrofoil and secures the safety straps on the seat tower and the bindings. Starting in deep water, they lean back to keep the tip of the board out of the water and then once the board begins to plane, the rider leans forward to keep the hydrofoil from leaving the water. Once the rider is at a speed high enough to provide lift from the foil assembly, they will bring the board off the surface of the water at which time "flight" begins. This is when the "balancing" act begins. To bring the board off the water, the rider leans back and to bring the board down to the water they lean forward. The rider steers the hydrofoil by moving their knees in the direction they want to go.