The Wake

One of the most popular activities during the summer in Minnesota is to hop on a boat and go to any of the more than 10,000 lakes. People will spend the day on the boat lounging, drinking beer and maybe doing a little bit of swimming to get some exercise. Not the Water Ski and Wakeboard team. They head to the water four days a week to practice intense jumps and high-paced skiing and boarding, regardless of the weather.

“There is nothing like being on the water, and the adrenaline rush is amazing,” says civil engineering junior Jonathan Raduenz, practice captain, former president, apparel chair and Web director.

Most members of the team have been doing water sports since they were about four or five. “It is simply a part of my life. I cannot live without it,” says aerospace engineering sophomore Heath Marnach, practice coordinator.

The water-skiers have three tournaments per season, spring and fall. “Tournaments are by far the most fun weekends I’ve had in college life so far,” says president and mechanical engineering student Corey Bergendahl. In this tournament, there are three events: slalom, trick and jump, in which five people compete. “Wakeboard tournaments are wakeboarding, sometimes combined with barefooting,” says physiology student Cole Bond, tournament director and wakeboard captain. “I joined the team to slalom and I have found an even greater love for wakeboarding and jumping,” Raduenz says.

One obstacle of the team is that it includes two sports. While both require a boat and the water, they are also unique. “With skiers and boarders it becomes very difficult since both want practice time and they both require different setups,” Raduenz says. “Everyone gets to ski, but we usually pick an emphasis for each day and that’s who’s going to get the most time.”

“There are occasionally days where we only run ski practice in preparation for a three-event tournament, or wakeboard-only days in preparation for wakeboard tourneys,” Marnach says.

The team is sponsored by Midwest Mastercraft, who is helping them get a boat and gear, as well as helping them promote waterskiing as a sport. “Without them, we wouldn’t have a team because it’s such an expensive sport,” Raduenz says. The group receives no student fees funding. “Everyone pays team dues, and those dues pay for boat payments, insurance and gas to run the boat,” Bond says.

The Water Ski and Wakeboard team has been a club for five years, Bergendahl says, but this team really got going in 2003 when they became a part of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Water-ski Team INC, a program started by Scott Coley, president of the organization. This allows them to get a brand new Malibu ski boat each season. New boats are purchased from the dealers at relatively cheap prices and are financed through the bank. The teams are required to make interest and insurance payments on the boats. At the end of the season, the boats are resold at a cheap price and the loan is paid back completely from the sale.

Once you have a boat, you still need water suits, skis and ropes. People on the team “generally have their own equipment,” Bond says. “But that’s not to say that you need your own equipment. Most everyone who has it is more than happy to share with everyone.”

Practices generally run Monday through Thursday and begin at 3 p.m. “There are many members who join simply for the water time at practices,” says Bergendahl. Practices usually begin with slaloming, followed by wakeboard practice. The team is typically on the lake until an hour after sundown and practices are on Lake Josephine, Lake McCarron and Owasso Lake in Roseville.

“The great thing is the amount of time you want to put forth is completely up to you,” Raduenz says. “It’s probably about 10 hours a week without the tournaments during the season and just a couple hours a month in the off season for fundraising.” The team generally does have meetings twice a month to handle paperwork before they leave for tournaments.

The team will take members of all skill levels. Everyone is “willing to help each other out and teach new things to everybody,” Bergendahl says. “There are plenty of people who started on the team not knowing how to get out of the water, and then ended up placing high up in the tournaments even in the next season.”

The fall season runs from the beginning of the school year to about November. The spring season usually starts in April (as soon as the ice is off the lakes!) and runs until around finals week. This guarantees the chills. They also have a long winter off of the water. “We don’t really do anything in the winter except hang out,” Raduenz says.

“Weight-lifting and off-season training are essential to being ready for the spring season,” Marnach says. The team also has an intramural hockey team so they can play another Minnesota favorite together.

Another struggle is the “lack of community involvement,” Bergendahl says. “We are a great group of people, but are looking to the University and local Twin Cities community in general for support as far as a permanent site to ski, course to practice on and some major sponsorship in order to differ our travel and boat costs.” Despite the logistics, the Water Ski and Wakeboard team has about 40 members who live to be on the water.

Last year, the team won the Collegiate Extreme Wakeboarding Championships against all of the colleges in the Midwest. The team competes with schools throughout Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, Minnesota and Iowa.

They have two upcoming tournaments the weekend of April 22 at the UW-Whitewater Wakeboard Tourney in Janesville, Wis. and a Three-Event in Dayton, Ohio. While chances are good you’re not making the trek to watch them in these events, keep this team in mind. They’re representing the U how they know best, by kicking ass and having fun.

For more information about the Water Ski and Wakeboard team visit .