MSU Water-ski and Wakeboard team
Short but Successful Seasons for Team

Katie Luscombe

Above: Betsy Wehner goes off a jump during the early morning jump events. Below: Wehner is getting out of the water, carrying her skis, heading back to hang with the group. Above: Betsey Wehner, Tiffany Talamonti, Amber Finkbeiner, Melissa Talamonti relax after a couple of runs. Below: Bretty Satovski carves hard into the water during the competition.

A female on the Michigan State University Water-ski and Wakeboard team need not worry if a teammate refers to her as a pirate hooker, a wench, or even a woman with a small brain (one-third the size of men's—it's science). It's all in good fun, and in tribute to the team's two favorite things: pirates and Ron Burgundy. Odds are, she'll turn around with a zinger of her own, anyway.

Yes, we have a water-ski team (They're the ones who drag their boat to Party at the Aud now known as Sparticiation), and they've been around since 1982. Consisting of skiers and wake boarders that range from inexperienced newbies to long-time experts, the team packs an enormous amount of time together into their condensed 5-week season, as outdoor conditions are not so warm and toasty past mid-October.

The short season makes them work even harder to keep the team together in the off-season through conferences, summer ski school, and winter trips to Boyne Mountain including theme parties.

I had the opportunity to attend one of the tournaments: MSU Ripfest 2007, held in BFE: Gaines, Michigan, which is just outside of Fenton. I arrived Saturday morning with a couple other "groupies" (there are always a handful), and spent the day lounging at the lake watching men's and women's slalom ski course and ski/wakeboard trick events.

Alternating between two boats, skiers and wake boarders from collegiate teams all over the Midwest—rookies and national champions alike—go one-by-one through the course racking up as many points as possible before their turn is up.  Teammates cheer them on from sidelines, quoting Will Ferrell's Anchorman almost without thinking and fighting for the next burger off the grill.

Once the long day is over, the real fun begins.  The most unique part about the collegiate ski crowd is that they're a rugged bunch. They travel far to compete, but wouldn't be caught dead in a hotel.

Instead, every participating team bans together, pitches tents, and throws rivalries out the window for two nights of campfires and a fair amount of shenanigans. Every skier, wake boarder, and groupie at Ripfest was explicitly instructed to come with his or her most swashbuckling pirate gear.

By dawn on Sunday, everyone manages to wake up (if they went to sleep at all), and drag themselves from the campsite to the lake for the early morning jump events.  This must be a recipe for success, because it's a well-known fact that this is usually when the athletes make their most successful jumps.  Dangerous? Yes. Thrilling? Most definitely.

And "success" is most certainly a reoccurring thing for the MSU Water-ski team. As one of the leading teams in the Midwest, the skiers and wake boarders consistently qualify for national competitions, where they ski against teams who have the advantage of favorable weather year-round.

These athletes, with their deeply rooted team loyalty, friendly relationships with their rivals (even University of Michigan) are a group that any Spartan can admire.

For more information, including how you can join, go here: www.msu.edu/~waterski