The Mad-City Ski Team will compete in the Wisconsin State Water Ski Show Tournament near Wisconsin Rapids on Thursday, July 15 through Sunday, July 18. The team skis third on Saturday will perform our show at approximately 930am on Lake Wazecha. With 25 teams competing at the tournament, the tournament is the largest water ski tournament in the world. For more information about the tournament, please visit the Wisconsin Water Ski Federation Website.
On Thursday, two members of the ski team competed in the individual competitions. In the swivel competition, Sara Tubbs placed 3rd and Brea Imse placed 5th. Both will likely compete at Nationals in August.
Because the team will be out of town, the free weekly ski show at Law Park will not take place on Sunday, July 18. The team will return to the shores of Lake Monona for a show on Sunday, June 25, starting with the juniors’ team at 5:30pm and the full team at 6:00pm.
This summer, as part of the Madison Public Library’s Splash Into Summer program, two of the Mad-City Ski Team’s skiers did a presentation at the Hawthorne Library Branch to a group of preschoolers to talk to them about the ski team.
Danielle and Mallory Talk about the Mad-City Ski Team
After watching a short highlight video of the teams’ 2009 season, Danielle and Mallory explained the many different aspects of show skiing, from pyramids to barefooting to swivel skiing to jumping. Assisted with a wide variety of team equipment, they told the kids all about how we do all of the tricks out on the water. They also answered several very unique questions, the kinds that only kids can think of.
The kids to inspect the water ski equipment first hand
At the end of the presentation, the kids were allowed to inspect all of the equipment first hand. Surprisingly, many of the kids found the long ski ropes to be some of the most fun to play with, although the spinning swivel binding was also a big hit.
This past weekend, the Mad-City Ski Team, along with 9 other teams, competed at the Mercury Marine Open in Janesville, WI at Traxler Park. Mad-City has always used this first tournament of the year as a way to gauge our progress as the team prepares for the state tournament and after skiing a very nice show on Saturday, our state tournament preparation is coming along nicely.
Mad-City’s Opening Pyramid
In the tournament, Mad-City took 5th place overall and was only about 160 points from 3rd place. With lots of places in our show for our team to continue improving, we were very happy with our overall show and placement. The state tournament is just 3 weeks away and we plan to put on a great show for everyone up in Wisconsin Rapids on July 19th.
Final results of the all the teams were as follows:
Rock Aqua Jays
Wonder Lake
Webfooters
Water Bugs
Mad-City
Beaverland
Lauderdale
Aquaducks
Five Seasons
Minneiska
To view more pictures from the tournament and all of our shows, please visit Jim’s Photos.
Tomorrow on Saturday, June 26 the Mad-City Ski Team will compete in it’s first tournament of the 2010 ski season. The team skis second in the Mercury Marine Open Tournament and will take to the water sometime between 930a and 10a.
The tournament will be held on the Rock River at Traxler Park in Janesville, WI at the Rock Aqua Jays’ ski site (follow link for directions).
With several members having moved away or taking time off this season, the team on the water is young and eager to prove themselves on the water at their first tournament. For many members, it’ll be their first time competing in any tournament.
One thing that will provide a challenge to Mad-City, and all of the other teams competing, is the Rock River itself. With all of the rain in southern Wisconsin over the past several weeks, the Rock River is currently very high and with a reported very swift 6 MPH current. The current will be fast enough to move you nearly 100 feet in about 10 seconds.
The Mad-City Ski Team performed a small exhibition ski show in front of the Edgewater Hotel’s pier on Lake Mendota in downtown Madison, WI on Thursday, June 3rd as part of the hotel’s Jump Into Summer event as well as for the Sunset Party being held on the hotel’s rooftop which has hosted by Dane County Lakes and Watershed Commision and the Clean Lakes Alliance.
At the Sunset Party, the Dane County Lakes and Watershed Commission handed out their Water Champions awards for 2010. After the awards were handed out, the ski show started. In the album below are some pictures of the ski show taken from the rooftop of the hotel. It was a small, quick show, but the perspective from the rooftop is unique.
There is a new section taking shape on the team’s website. At the top you’ll notice a new tab called ‘History‘. There you’ll be able to find out all kinds of interesting information about the team, including theme information, awards won and vidoes. So far there is info about 2008 & 2009, but more will be coming soon. Be sure to keep an eye on that section.
As for right now, I have pretty good information dating back to 1998, but if you have information on earlier years, or pictures or videos to share from yesteryear, please email it to the team at info@madcityskiteam.com.
In the meantime, here’s the team’s 40th Anniversary Video that shows highlights from 1963 to 2003.
This weekend, Matt Heilman and Dan Wang will travel to Winter Haven, Florida to attend the USA Water Ski Awards Reception at the Admirals Inn. The awards reception celebrates the 2009 water ski season and will honor awards recipients from all of USA Water Ski’s sports divisions.
Matt and Dan will be accepting the National Show Ski Associations Team of the Year Award for the Mad-City Ski Team.
You can find out more details about all of the awards being presented on USA Water Ski’s website.
This will be the fourth year in a row that Mad-City has won the NSSA Team of the Year award (2006, 2007, 2008 & 2009). Previously, Mad-City was named USA Water Ski’s Team of the Year for 2008. That was the first time the award was presented to a show ski team.
Interested in joining Mad-City? Email the team at info@madcityskiteam.com to find out how to join. Include some info about your water skiing experience or if you're brand new to the sport. People of all skiing abilities are welcome to join, but the more we know about you, the better we can answer your questions about joining the team.
Upcoming Shows
The 2010 ski season is just around the corner. Our first show of the year is the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. Put it on your calendar now!
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Opening Pyramid from the Mercury Open
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