Michael Woodgate Resiliency Award

Tri-Lakes, Bennett’s Water Ski and Wakeboard School, and the Woodgate Foundation would like to introduce the Michael Woodgate Resilience Award.

This award will be presented in 2021 at the NCWSA Collegiate Nationals during the banquet to commemorate and remember ULM head coach, Michael “Woody” Woodgate, who tragically lost his life on November 3, 2020, in a cycling accident. We are working on details and logistics in hopes to make this a yearly award in memoriam of Woody.

This award will be presented along with a $500 scholarship from the Woodgate Foundation to an individual who showed resilience at collegiate nationals or in the fall season leading up to NCWSA Collegiate Nationals.

Background: 

Michael “Woody” Woodgate, originally from the UK, began skiing as a child and spent many years water skiing in England, where he skied as a member of Team GB on numerous occasions. 

In 2015 Woody was driven to the US to train at Bennett’s Waterski School in Zachary, LA. 

In the UK, Woody was a prominent member of the water ski community judging at tournaments, helping out where he could with tournaments, coaching, and boat driving at Hazelwoods Ski World. Once he ventured to the US this continued in everything he did including assisting Bennett’s host the 2017 NCWSA Nationals and ultimately ending up at ULM.

Woody continued this passion when he joined the ULM Warhawks while pursuing a Masters’s Degree and eventually going on to become head coach of the water ski team.

Throughout Woody’s accomplished waterski career, Woody like many skiers found himself on the road to recovery many times but each and every time he overcame these injuries and got back on the water. Woody incurred every injury you could think of  –  broken bones, knee injuries, he was hospitalized badly from a car accident and was even told he might never walk again from his second torn Achilles injury.

His torn Achilles injury happened while he was training at Bennett’s just before embarking on his ULM career and this injury ultimately ended his water skiing career, but that wasn’t enough to keep him from the sport. His passion grew this time off the water, still spending countless hours, coaching and driving, and he still went to ULM. 

In an interview when asked the question what inspired you to stay in the sport he answered – “This is a difficult question because saying “stay in the sport” implies that I ever had a decision to make in walking away. Water skiing isn’t a professional sport nowadays, it’s a lifestyle. A lifestyle that I love. Unquestionably my journey in the sport has changed a lot from where I was intending. I love skiing, be it hitting the ramp, running buoys, and even putting my foot in the toe hold! I can honestly say even though I haven’t skied since my last Achilles injury 3 years ago, I am enjoying my time around the sport as much as ever right now.”

During Woody’s time at ULM, he spent countless hours working to keep ULM as the premier school for collegiate skiing, whether it was in boat driving or coaching. Woody would also not shy away from the other aspects of collegiate skiing, he took on many leadership positions, from helping host collegiate nationals in 2017, hosting multiple NCWSA tournaments such as the Bayou Classic, and hosting NCSWA All-Stars on the Bayou. Woody was the first to offer advice or help out a fellow south central team or anyone in the NCWSA.  

Nominations:

This award would be open to any individual skier (whether they are skiing or not) whose team is competing at the NCWSA Collegiate Nationals. Recipients can be nominated by anyone: fellow skiers, officials, and tournament volunteers.

Nominations for this award will be due via Google Form before the last skier is on the water on the final day of the championship tournament. Nominations should include an individual and a brief explanation of why the nominee is deserving of the Michael Woodgate Resiliency Award.

You can nominate an individual by completing this form with your individual nominations.

Selection Process: 

Nominations will be given to the chief judge and then be voted on by tournament officials during the final official meeting before the banquet. The voting panel for this award will contain all appointed officials (drivers, scorers, tech controllers, safeties, and judges) and chief officials may vote, each appointed official gets one vote. All nominees must be presented to the voting pool with explanations by the awards chair. The votes will then be counted and the recipient will be announced and revealed at the Awards Banquet following the tournament. 

Michael Woodgate’s presence will be deeply missed by not only ULM and the South Central regions, but by many others across the NCWSA community. This award is the perfect way to honor Woody’s work and passion for collegiate water skiing and presenting it at Collegiate Nationals, his favorite tournament, is a great way to commemorate him.