Water Skiing Celebrates 50th Anniversary By W. Rutherford Organized water skiing is 50 years young! The International Water Ski Union (then the World Water Ski Union and now the International Water Ski Federation) was created in Geneva during a series of powerboat races on July 27, 1946 by Albert Schmidt, Andr5 Couteau and skiers from France, Belgium and Switzerland who had been invited to perform for the crowds between the races (Imagine how rough the water would have been!). To celebrate the occasion, the International Water Ski Federation (IWSF) returned to Geneva and the water park where it all started for a gala event, which featured royalty plus water ski dignitaries and enthusiasts from all over the world, including some of the participants in the early tournaments. The anniversary events included two events: a luncheon and water ski show, followed by a gala dinner. The ski show was to feature an Australian water ski show team along with local skiers, and demonstrations by world racing and barefoot skiers, Patrice Martin (World Men's Overall Champion) and Helene Kjellander (World Women's Slalom Champion). While the weather had been sunny and pleasant in Geneva, it was cool. But the morning of the ski show, that all changed. The sun shone, but the wind came up and even though the show was postponed several times, it simply wasn't safe to ski in the 3m waves! In fact, the local authorities closed the entire lake, including tour boats and any other boat traffic. While the ski show might have been a bust, the gala dinner was not. A reception was held in a photo- lined gallery and I was intrigued to find pictures of Canadians every where. George Athans was there, along with Clint Ward, Jean Perrault, the 1967 World Championship team, the 1970-something Pan American Championship team wearing an incredible uniform of red jackets and red checked pants ... and more. Even my father, Dr. John Horne, was on the wall as part of water skiing's history. During the evening, the 1996 inductees to the IWSF Hall of Fame were introduced, including Canadian Roger Codere. Roger was president of the IWSF Technical Committee from 1975 to 1978 and served as a judge at four World Championships. He chief judged the 1975 Worlds. Canadians will know him as an active official and executive, including positions as president and past-president of Water Ski Canada. I was impressed by the list of Canadians who have held a position on the international scene. They include Roger Codere and Reg Barnes, who both served as president or chairman of the IWSF Tournament Council. Lloyd Gilbert, Clint Ward, Roger Codere, Jean Perrault and Vern Oberg have all held positions in the Pan American Region executive. A number of other Canadians have served on either the Tournament or Racing Counsel (Kim Reid and Louis Simard and myself come to mind - I'm sure there are more). Then there are the world champions: Tournament Skiing Charles Blackwell Men's Slalom 1953 George Athans Men's Overall 1971 Men's Overall 1973 Men's Slalom 1973 Joel McClintock Men's Overall 1979 Pat Messner Women's Slalom 1979 Judy McClintock Women's Tricks 1985 Canadian Team Team Overall 1991 Canadian Team Team Overall 1993 Kim deMacedo Women's Jump 1993 Judy Messer Women's Overall 1995 Barefoot Skiing Beth Leboff Women's Jump 1992 What does all this mean? Organized water skiing last lasted for 50 years, through several reincarnations and much upheaval as the world changed. The people involved are dedicated (many of those attending the event were involved 30 or more years ago, and remain involved today). We are on the brink of yet more change as we move into the next century. Water skiing has already been included in the Pan American Games and hopefully will be part of the Olympic Games in 2004. Water Ski Canada was chosen as one of the few sports to receive federal government funding. The OWSA is in a similar position. Everything is in place ... except people. What we need now are more volunteers to help the sport take the next step. Where do your interests lie? Administration, barefooting, wakeboarding, communication, officiating - we need as many volunteers as possible. Give us a call today and let's see if we can make our sports bigger and better than ever.