Looking Down

Here’s another video filmed with a Go Pro camera. This time the camera was placed on the head of one of the 4-high girls in a pyramid we practiced at Traxler Park in Janesville, WI on August 6th, 2011 in preparation for the National Show Ski Tournament show the team will be performing on the August 13th.

The 4-high girl was part of 4-2-4 human pyramid which numbers 27 people behind the boat and she did a real good job of looking around while up there so you get a real good sense of what’s like.

Looking Around Up Top [video]

Once again, the video was uploaded in HD, so feel free to use the YouTube controls in the lower right corner of the video to bump up the resolution to 720p and make it full screen.

Opening Pyramid at the Mercury Open... a 3-4-3

This past Sunday the Mad-City Ski Team competed at the Mercury Open Tournament in Janesville, WI with 12 other teams. The tournament provides a great warm-up for the upcoming Wisconsin State Tournament that occurs July 21-24.

Mad-City skied first on Sunday which meant the team needed to arrive at the show site by 5am which meant many of us woke up sometime between 3am and 3:30am to make it there on time. (For me at least, that is a time that I’m usually falling asleep, not waking up.)

The team took 3rd at the tournament, placing behind the Rock Aqua Jays (from Janesville who took 1st Place) and the Wonder Lake Ski Team (from Wonder Lake, IL who took 2nd and was last year’s National Champion).

As a  whole, the team was very happy with our skiing at the tournament and we’ll be ready for the state tournament in a few weeks.

Pictures from our Tournament Show

(Click on the thumbnails below to embiggen the pictures.)

Photos courtesy of Jim’s Photos.

The Audience's View

10:20am CDT (11:20pm in China) – This morning we had a really great show – minimal falls until our last act, slow jump (aka fast pyramid). The first attempt we crashed entirely off the dock. Second attempt had one couple fall, but we were still able to build a three high with jumpers. After the morning’s competition we were down by 10 points. The Chinese pulled out a parachute act in which their gymnast superstar girl dangled from some ropes – it was amazing.

At lunch, we were surprised by a table full of KFC. On this hotel’s website, their tagline is funnily translated to “you could receive the most meticulous care” and we can confirm that you actually will receive fantastic service here. The staff has been so attentive and wonderful. We’ve been very well taken care of in Laiwu.

This afternoon’s skiing was not as clean by both teams. A major success to note is that the ballet line had no falls throughout the skiing in China – practice, exhibition, or competition. Great job, ladies! We finished strong with a good, clean four high.

Another note about today’s competition is that we had great fans today – children from local schools arrived on foot and were very excited to interact with the US skiers and were very entertained by the shows.

Tonight we had our banquet and learned that we came out ahead of the Chinese by about 30 points! Mr. Dan Wang earned Best Male Skier and we celebrated with what we think was jet fuel… Gambay (bottoms up)!

We exchanged gifts with the Chinese team and had our last moments with them as they will travel back to Beijing tonight in order to catch a train tomorrow morning and travel back to their home town, which is about 1500 miles away. We’ve been told that the skiers (ranging in age from 15-30) get to see their families about 5 times a years. Apparently that is a lot for them! We are having a great time, but also appreciate very much our lives back home. Thank you all for your support!

Tomorrow we are going to the “grand canyon” of Laiwu. After our local sightseeing we’ll head back to Beijing for another day and a half of sightseeing. Best guess is that our bus ride will be at least 8 hours, so don’t be surprised if there is no update tomorrow night! We’ll be in touch soon!

The Fans Arriving

Karli & Olivia with the School Kids

The Boat filled with Ballast

The Wakeboard Act

Ballet on the Water with the Crowd & Hotel in the Background

The Chinese Parachute Act

"Slow Jump" (aka Fast Pyramid)

The Hotel

Greeting the Fans

Bob Greets the Fans

The Ballet Line Waves to the Crowd

The Jumpers

The 4-Tier from the Boat

Removing the Boat

The Champions

Dan Wang with the Best Male Skier Award

Jet Fuel

The Dinner of Champions

Gambay All Around

Dan & Gary with Na our Organizer

Both Teams Together After the Exchanging of Gifts

Dan is the TOP Male

Launching the Docks in May 2010

With the first show of the year just (at least the first show in the US) one month away on Sunday, May 29th, the team has been getting ready for the ski season all winter long.

The show committee has been hard at work since last fall developing the theme for 2011. The theme might not make it’s debut in that first show, but over the course of the first month of the season, you’ll be able to see the themed ski show evolve for the first tournament of the year at the end of June.

The team has been having indoor practices a couple times a month since the new year started. It’s a great way for the returning skiers to realize they need to get a work out or two in and also a great way for the team’s new skiers to learn the basics of show skiing before getting on the water behind the boat.

The final preparations for the team to hit the water will begin to occur this weekend as the team inspects and repairs all of the docks and jumps before the go into the water in a couple weeks.

With nice days like today (sunny and 60 degrees) the team is anxious to get back on the water to perform shows for our fans that come to Law Park on Sundays.

The team leaves for China from Madison at 7am on April 27 and will arrive in Beijing, China on the 28th (via a brief pit stop in Chicago’s O’Hare airport and a 13 hour flight). The team will have a day of training on April 29th at the Beijing Shunyi Olympic Water Sport Park (the 2008 Olympic Rowing Venue) before performing shows on April 30th and May 1st. After the shows are over, they’ll take a 5 hour bus trip to the Lai wu Shan dong province for additional shows on May 2nd and 3rd. On May 4th they’ll have an opportunity to visit Lai wu before heading back to Beijeng where they’ll get to do some sight seeing on May 5th before doing a little shopping and heading to the airport to head back to Madison on May 6th.

The team roster consists of Mallory Zink, Danielle Zink, Olivia Jahn, Karli Pickney, Ann Tieman, Kristen Block, Megan Rishling, Brad Meier, Bob Panter, Russ Tieman, Paul Pauers, Gary Pickney, Jayson Rishling, Dan Wang and Arik Lebda. Sarah Jahn and Jacci Meier, family members of two of the team members, will be traveling with the team. Danielle, Olivia, Karli, Gary, Dan, Arik and Sarah are making their 2nd trip to China for the ski team.

The Mad-City Ski Team has been performing shows on Sunday nights in Madison since 1963. Shows run from Memorial Day to Labor Day on Sunday’s at 6:00p.m. As one of the finest show ski teams in the country, the Mad-City Ski Team has won 5 National Championships since 2004.

Mad-City Ski Team President Russ Tieman and Show Director Mike Nowicki (also of Skipper Bud's) present a $3000 donation to the American Family Children's Hospital

Representatives of Skipper Bud’s and the Mad-City Ski Team presented a check for $3000 to the American Family Children’s Hospital.

Skipper Bud’s organized Project Snowflake that took place on the frigid shores of Lake Monona on Saturday, December 4th. Skiers from the Mad-City Ski Team performed a small ski shows on the soon to be frozen lake. A raffles was held with variety of prizes and donations were collected for the fund raiser.

Click on Project Snowflake for more details about the event.

Pictures from Project Snowflake 2010

Sara Tubbs accepting the NSSA Female Athlete of the Year Award

Sara Tubbs was recently recognized by USA Water Ski as the 2010 NSSA Female Athlete of the Year at the USA Water Ski Board Reception and Awards Presentation on January 29, 2011 in Haines City, FL. The banquet, which included 250+ people, celebrated the 2010 waterski season by awarding skiers in 9 sports disciplines.

This is the first year that the National Show Ski Association (NSSA) is honoring a male/female athlete of the year. In previous years, they had only awarded the Team of the Year, which Mad-City won most recently for the 2009 ski season.

Mark Jackson and Hank Longo from Central Florida’s Polk County Sports Marketing served as the masters of ceremonies. The respective award winners were selected either by the USA Water Ski Awards Committee or by the sport discipline’s organization.

“It was an honor to be in a room with such talented waterskiers. It is nice to see USA Water Ski giving more attention to the National Show Ski Assocation and I’m glad I could be there to represent all the female show skiers.”

The National Show Ski Association also presented its Team of the Year award to the Wonder Lake Water Ski Show Team, the Male Athlete of the Year Award to David Anderson, Official of the Year Award to Heike Pehler and the President’s Award to the Wisconsin Rapids Aqua Skiers.

4-high at our first indoor practice

At least the part where we practice on land to get ready for the water. Our first show will take place on Sunday, May 29th at 6pm. Write the date down in your calendars so you’re there for our first show of the year. Our Junior Team will also debut that night at 5:30pm right before the main team takes to the water.

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.

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.