This year, the Water Ski/Wakeboard club is taking its organization to a different level, according to Club President Dustin Prescott. “We wanted to make this a competition club,” he said. “In the previous years it was just a social club for people to get together and ski or wakeboard.” Matt Murphy, a senior in accounting, said the club, which has been in existence for 15 years, has no restrictions on whom joins. Students must show up for the meeting, pay the fees and pass a driving and swimming test.

“This is the first year we are going to start an actual team which will be eight to 10 people,” Murphy said. “You have to be [legitimate] and able to do inverts [to make the team].” With the addition of a team, riders will finally be able to compete with other schools and possibly receive rewards, Murphy said. “We will hopefully go to a competition in south Florida or Orlando in November,” he said. “Sometimes competitions have cash prizes. The Collegiate Nationals, which is once a year, awards a boat for the winning team. Hopefully we can get there soon.”

The competitions consist of four different levels including novice, intermediate, advanced and outlaw.

The club has high hopes for the future team but is already facing several obstacles. Lake Wheeler, which was the main practicing ground in the past, has a bacterial problem. “The bacterial issue is putting a strain on practices,” Prescott said. “Lake Wheeler is only 10 minutes away from campus and the club could practice four days a week there. Falls Lake is almost 45 minutes away and the club can only get there two days a week, if we’re lucky.” Micah Reyes, a graduate student in environmental science, said the longer drive to Falls Lake is leading to involvement issues, while only half of the members go out to ride on a regular basis. The two biggest problems, however, are club funding and the club’s boat. The boat, which is older than the club, is starting to show its age. According to a letter to potential sponsors from Prescott, there are many downfalls to the age of the boat. “There is the constant maintenance as well as the lack of performance for wakeboarding. This is a small boat therefore it cannot produce a large wake,” he said, “This hurts our wakeboarding members who are trying to take their riding to the next level.”

The club is in the process of getting a new boat that will be good for both practice and competition, Prescott said. Last year, several boat dealerships were contacted, but plans didn’t progress. If a boat dealership can back them financially and they get the school’s support, a new boat is a strong possibility.

“Hopefully we can pull in some corporate sponsors to help get our name out there so we can accomplish everything we want to,” Prescott said.