Sometimes a team of the year wins the championship, but simply winning the title doesn’t make you the team of the year. The team of the year could have been amazing on the water, or amazing off the water, or just that team that everyone loves to be around!
If you haven’t read the other award category nominees, make sure you check out the nominees for Athlete of the Year and Outstanding Leader of the Year too. Awards voting will begin Wednesday (11/7) afternoon.
Honorable mentions go out to The Ohio State University and Michigan State University! Now, here are the finalists for 2018 NCWSA Team of the Year!
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Bowling Green State University – Clemson University – Iowa State University
San Diego State University – Texas A&M University – University of Louisiana at Lafayette
University of Louisiana at Monroe – University of Nebraska — Lincoln
Bowling Green State University
I can’t think of any school that really captures what it means to be college skiers like BG did this year. Their team is full of members who 100% want to be there. They stepped up this year in a way that should inspire us all. Their alumni were around to be a constant support for anything the team may need. Last year, BG was known for always being a good time, they skied behind an old boat of an alumni with no course or jump time. This season, not only was BG known for being a good time, but they started skiing behind the Mollet’s promo Mastercraft at a near by 3-event lake daily. BG stepped up so much this year, and although they don’t have a nationals appearance to put behind their name, they have a whole lot of heart, soul, and love for each other and for this sport and that’s what it’s all about.
They came from having essentially nothing to coming up just a few points behind qualifying for nationals this year. They put a ton of hard work and dedication in and it was amazing to watch them work so hard as a team this year
Clemson University
Clemson University brought the spirit this year at Nationals! As per their annual tradition, the guys broke out their speedos from under their purple break away pants for the Men’s trick event and gave everyone a sight to see. The Clemson ski team has slowly been growing over the years, and has been consistently finishing as 8th in Division 1 Nationals. This year they dropped a position to 9th even though the girls (placing 6th — the 1st non-scholarship girls team!) out-skied the guys. The Clemson team has fun wherever they go, and love to have fun together on and off the water. They truly are a Clemson Ski Team Family.
I have watched the Clemson team move from the middle of the pack in D2 to winning D2 to Coming in to the 2018 D1 Nationals ranked #6. This success has been due to leadership that has been successfully passed down for generations. The team is always growing, not just in skill and ability but in size as well. I constantly witness the better skiers helping the beginners, and by the time they leave the school they are much better skiers and continue on in the sport. My wife and I look forward to officiating the Clemson hosted tournaments. The kids do all of the work, and we always come away blessed by their servant-hood. Now after many years of supporting the team, I can honestly say with out fail, at the end of every event we have been bombarded with gratitude and praise by the kids on the team, and at the end of each season we are always blessed by personal handwritten notes of appreciation and affectionate thoughts.
The Clemson Water Ski team is not just the tournament team, it is a part of a larger watersports club reaching almost 200 members this year! The select A team skiers travels to regionals and nationals, but the B team is very open ended and able to ski in any other fall tournament. Clemson takes skiers of all levels: ranging from competitive skiers, wakeboarders that are open to trying it out, and complete beginners. I believe this team should be the collegiate team of the year because collegiate skiing is all about growing the sport, and Clemson makes that the foundation of their club and team.
Iowa State University
Iowa State has done absolutely amazing things. We’ve hosted 2 out of the 4 tournaments in the Great Plains fall season, including Conference with 240 skiers. We made it to Nationals, and placed 3rd in Division 2 even though we only had two skiers with 3 event skier experience prior to school. We also stood and cheered for multiple teams at the banquet showing our love for not only the sport but other teams. We danced and cheered for not only skiers on our team, but for skiers on other teams as well. We were last year’s Spirit Award champs and came back swinging this year. We’re a team who has improved and showed you don’t need to have the best skiers who grew up in the sport to make a huge impact in the NCWSA.
Iowa State has hosted three tournaments this year, one of which was put together last minute. Within five days, the Iowa State Cyclones got the Waterloo tournament lined up which included flying people in the day before the tournament because the University of Iowa was no longer able to host. Along with these three tournaments, Iowa State skiers helped out with a disabled ski clinic which allowed people who couldn’t walk to ski. The Iowa State skiers are very supportive of other teams and cheering on skiers no matter what school they are from.
Iowa State University really stepped up this year when Team Midwest needed it most. To kick off the season they held an awesome Midwest Alumni Regionals and just kept the good times rolling. Normally ISU hosts the Great Plains Conference Championships, but due to heavy rain and unsuitable lake conditions, Iowa State graciously hosted a last-minute tournament the first weekend of the collegiate season, welcoming THE ENTIRE Great Plains conference to their site. Two weeks later they turned around and hosted yet another successful Great Plains Conference Championship. In addition to their amazing tournaments this year, The Iowa State Water Ski Team in general is one of the best teams to be around. Their team spirit is unmatched, and they truly exemplify what it means to be a part of the collegiate water ski community.
San Diego State University
This is a very cohesive team that truly gets along very well. They all pitch in and do their share. They continually encourage one another at practice, tournaments, and off the water. SDSU team members go out of their way to help one another, both on and off the water. Many alumni continue to support and attend SDSU’s and other West Coast tournaments long after graduation, and a large percentage of the team are rated judges and officials. All team members are encouraged to become three event skiers, judges, and officials. For the past four years, SDSU has maintained it’s rankings between 8th – 6th at the Division 1 tournament of the NCWSA National Championships, with half of the team having either never tournament water skied or having never water skied prior to joining the team.
The San Diego State University Water Ski Team works very closely with the San Diego Water Ski Club on Mission Bay, and have put in countless hours to maintain the Mission Bay jump ramp and ski site. Their tournaments are very well organized and are always well attended by all of the Western Region teams. Everyone has their assignments for the tournaments and everyone pulls their weight. They go out of their way to accommodate and help other teams, whether it be to coach, drive, judge, or officiate at other school’s tournaments. They are very creative with tournament themes (i.e. James Bond, Jersey Shore, and WWA) and do a great job of getting non-collegiate skiers involved in helping and skiing at their tournaments.
The team works enthusiastically and creatively to grow the sport of tournament water skiing and to make it fun. At their Fall 2018 tournament they supported non-college teams to participate in the tournament. This brought many alumni and AWSA skiers to their tournament. At their 2018 Spring tournament, they held a head to head slalom event at the end of the first day of the tournament. Skiers were able to qualify based on their performance in the slalom event and were handicapped based on previous NCWSA rankings and scores. Local tournament sites are always willing to have SDSU host tournaments, as they know they are very responsible and take care in setting up and leaving the site pristine. SDSU has a reputation for serving the best and varied menus in the West with pancakes/eggs/hashbrowns for breakfast, chicken fried rice for lunch, and pulled pork/salad/mashed potatoes for dinner.
The team was also recognized by the SDSU Sports Clubs as the 2017-2018 Team of the Year. Many Western Region AWSA skiers choose SDSU as their first school of choice (albeit a tough school to be admitted to of late). Thank you for considering SDSU for Team of the Year!
Texas A&M University
The Texas A&M University Waterski Team has grown tremendously over the past couple years. There are always new members showing up at every tournament in the South Central Region. The team does an excellent job with recruiting for their team, but also just growing the sport of water skiing. Members of the Texas A&M Waterski Team are always happy to be at the lake and friendly, they are the ones who stop and say hello and ask how you’re doing.
Not only is TAMU Waterski Team a large and growing team with incredible people, they also have some talented skiers. They are one of the top schools in the nation, earning the top spot following the scholarship schools at Division 1 NCWSA Nationals. The team puts an importance on skiing and teaching their members how to ski, or just improving their skills. It is very impressive how they ski hard and take skiing seriously, but they also cheer hard! This is proven by the team coming 6th in D1 and also winning the spirit award. This team is what collegiate skiing is all about!
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette Water Ski Team is highly respected around the country and around the world. This team is very young, made up of mostly sophomores and freshmen, and has very little knowledge of collegiate skiing. Through the change in attitude and a renewed commitment, the team has developed into an even stronger team over this past year. As school schedules allow, everyone skis together and helps each other with anything that is needed. Individuals work together, more than ever, to maintain the water ski site. Each member spends time in the boat, either driving or coaching teammates.
Some of the change that has taken place this season is a result of the team spending time together both on and off the water, and building personal relationships with each other. This support was rewarded in their performance at the 2018 Nationals, earning a total of 14 medals, two first place finishes, and a cumulative 2nd place team finish. Known as a friendly group of athletes, the ULL team likes to mix with the other water ski teams, socializing with other teams, and taking the time to get to know them.
The team volunteered their skills in the community this spring by helping a disabled Veteran test out a new self-release kayak, to help disabled kayakers survive a rollover. The team also volunteered to help the homeless around Lafayette by doing “stuff the boat” food and clothing drives. Additionally, they also contribute their time to support other clubs and teams around campus by going to, and when appropriate participate in their events. In addition to being so personable and friendly, everyone on the team works hard in the classroom having a cumulative 3.3 GPA.
All of these together make the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Water Ski Team an outstanding nominee for the Team of the Year award.
University of Louisiana at Monroe
Upon first glance for most people when thinking about the University of Louisiana at Monroe as Team of the Year, many will look elsewhere trying to spread the love to another team that did amazing things but came up short as ULM went on to claim their 29th NCWSA National Championship title. However, those looking elsewhere so quickly will miss the depth and spirit that this University of Louisiana at Monroe team brought to the table throughout 2018.
In the Spring season the University of Louisiana at Monroe hosted the 2018 NCWSA All-Stars tournament on the Bayou DeSiard on ULM’s campus! The site was the location for the first NCWSA Nationals, and the 2018 All-Stars tournament was a fitting return as the NCWSA prepared to celebrate it’s 40th NCWSA Nationals later in the year. By all accounts from those that watched the event in person, participated in the event, and those that watched from afar on the webcast, the event was a major success. On top of putting on a great All-Stars event, the ULM Water Ski team participated in multiple spring tournaments prior to All-Stars, and had 3 male and 4 female team members qualify to ski on the South Central team at the 2018 All-Stars. Between those seven representatives the team collected 11 (out of 24) medals across the three individual male and female events and men’s and women’s overall.
While hosting All-Stars was visibly fun (and tiring for many), the team is hands down ALL-IN on NCWSA Championships, and once the 2018 fall season rolled around they were actively pursuing their 29th, and third consecutive, NCWSA Championship. Similar to previous years, ULM did not get to #1 in the polls until after Regionals’ weekend, but that did not deter their collective drive. At 2018 NCWSA Nationals the team skied 17 athletes, 5 more than 2017. Add their coach and a few injured members, and the team had a very high membership showing at NCWSA Nationals and throughout the season to ski and cheer. In 2017 the team always looked like they were having fun, but also seemed to have a large contingent of support fans (parents/alumni/etc). So this large contingent seemed to help things when skiers were on the water, but the cheering and team spirit did not seem ever present. In 2018, with a larger team which meant more teammates off the water and finished with skiing their athletes brought their own noise and spirit. Throughout the event ULM was constantly having fun, and the additional team members compared to previous years made the feel of their team much more like other ski teams throughout the nation with a few 3-event skiers but many one and two event skiers that have a bit more down time to bring out the school spirit and make the event special for everyone on the team.
Titletown for the NCWSA is Monroe, Louisiana, but this year the University of Louisiana embraced the NCWSA and showed its fun side while still skiing their way to a very hard fought 29th championship. The 2018 University of Louisiana at Monroe water ski team is the embodiment of what we all hope all NCWSA teams can be; they give back to their community in Monroe, they enjoy and have fun in collegiate skiing while contributing to our NCWSA community, and they embrace collegiate and non-collegiate tournament skiing on a world-wide scale to help grow our sport.
All these reasons spread across all of 2018 make the 2018 University of Louisiana at Monroe Water Ski Team an outstanding nominee for the NCWSA Team of the Year Award.
University of Nebraska – Lincoln
The Nebraska Water Ski Team is in it’s sixth season and continues to grow and evolve. After losing around half of the team membership (similar to last year), one of the largest freshman classes to join the team was recruited by the sophomores. The new team leadership has assumed responsibility for the success of the team going forward.
After securing access to a closer practice site the team focused on training in the fall season and earned their best ever conference finish in return. The competition for team officers was more competitive than ever with new team members stepping up as well. The team continues it’s regular fundraising and volunteering activities, including helping run a disabled skiers clinic.
The new leadership has a even more ambitious vision for the team than those who came before them including a regular practice regiment that not only encourages training, but places an emphasis on studying, access to a private competition ski lake, construction of a team heated garage that will facilitate yearlong operations, and organizing a collegiate tournament to be hosted in coming seasons.
A point has been made to foster relationships with sponsors and the local skiing community, and plans are being made for a basic skills clinic for underprivileged residents in the surrounding area. The team is so excited about the future of skiing at Nebraska some engineers on the team have drafted plans for an indoor ski lake on campus, they just need to find funding for it before they can break ground!
I believe this is the best team Nebraska has ever seen, and expect to see big things from them in the future. The team embodies the spirit of collegiate skiing. These are just a few reasons why Nebraska Water Ski should be named the Team of the Year.
Current Skier and Captain at the University of Cincinnati.
- 2019 NCWSA Awards Nominees & Voting - November 19, 2019
- 2019 NCWSA Awards – Call for Nominations! - October 21, 2019
- Congrats to the 2018 NCWSA Awards Winners! - November 13, 2018
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