Youths exhibit skills at water ski tournament

Six-year-old Noah Skeen was the first on the water at the Carolina Junior Classic water ski tournament held Saturday at Emerald Lake in Timmonsville.

Swallowed up in a life vest and riding a pair of combo skis, Noah headed into the slalom course for his first “pass” (to use water ski lingo) — the first of many he’ll probably continue to make over a lifetime.
That is what tournament host Buzz Rogers is hoping for — to develop a new generation of water skiers.

“The tournament is designed for non-elite skiers,” Rogers said. “I hope to get these young kids just starting out interested enough to make it a lifetime sport.”

Rogers, 62, is a three-event tournament skier. He has spent a lifetime on the water and said the lake he and his skiing buddy, Ron Lyles, built from a 3-foot deep burrow pit is his “gift back to the sport.”

Competitive water ski tournaments consist of three events: slalom, which is riding one ski (or two if you’re a beginner) through a buoy course; trick, which is performing a series of stunts on a small finless board; and jump, which is riding a pair of skis over a 5-foot ramp and landing.

Slalom is scored on the number of consecutive buoys a skier is able to go around at a certain boat speed and rope length. Trick is scored on the difficulty of stunts performed within a time frame. Jump is judged on distance, but the skier must land and ski away.

This is the fourth year Rogers and Lyles have hosted the Junior Classic, a two-day event drawing families from North and South Carolina and Georgia.

“It’s a great family sport,” Kathy Shirley of Greenville said about water skiing. “It’s something everyone can do at any level.”

The Junior Classic is for ages 17 and younger, but the parents and officials also get to ski after the youths in a nonscored round.

Shirley, and her husband, Keith, were cheering on their three children, Jessica, 23, Kyle, 17, and Kelsea, 16, on Saturday.

“(Water skiing) has brought our family together. We get to spend a lot of time together, and I value that,” said Jessica, a recent Wofford University graduate.

Grey Brummitt had to settle for just watching his daughter, Hope, ski on Saturday as he was nursing a bandaged arm he’d hurt in a water skiing accident. Brummitt is a former world record holder in knee boarding, but he said he began slalom skiing about three years ago.

“My daughter and I learned together,” he said.

Rogers said all the youths go home with medals of participation, as well as a framed photo of them holding their ski. Medals are given to the top three skiers in each event and age division, as well as the top overall skier for each division.

A traveling team trophy also is awarded for bragging rights to the state that has the best showing at the tournament.