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While pure on-the-water talent is something we’d all love to be blessed with, sometimes it takes painful fall after painful fall to make progress as a skier. On top of that, the only way we can all enjoy the benefits of tournament weekends is due to the work that team captains, coaches, board members put in each and every season.
Who did you see putting in the most effort for themselves or their team this year?
Harrison Hartzler
He is the president of our team but he went way beyond his duties this year. When our boat was not able to pull jumpers, he made sure we had access to a different boat to pull jump practice before tournaments. He was out at the lake most days of the week for hours pulling anyone who wanted to ski. He was able to secure our team just about $9,000 of donations and sponsorships for our team so we could travel to nationals at no cost. This was not easy and required a lot of coordination, planning and time, but he was able to do it. He was cheering every member of our team on at tournaments and this includes on the dock pep talks too. Even at Regionals when his score was reported as better than what he did, Harrison went to the officials to get it corrected and showed true sportsmanship. He handled our new sports club director with grace and patience as she figure out her new role and what waterski club requires. Overall he did a great job this year and worked hard to get it done on and off the water.Mikayla Poppe
Mikayla has been on the team for 3 years and has put a lot of work into the team both on and off the water. She always says yes to help with any organizational tasks that are needed. She helps a lot with organizing where various people and equipment need to be during practices and tournaments. She can often be found helping teammates learn new skills, answering questions, or just cheering on teammates. She has also put a lot of time into practicing and improving her skills on the water.Kincaid Devenport was grand valleys equipment manager. Grand valley doesn’t have the most convenient ski site option. We trailer our boat to the river everyday to practice. That’s if our boat wants to run that day. Kincaid used his own truck to trailer the boat so we could practice everyday during the season. He spent countless of hours running practices. We also got a new trailer right before season and he spent a lot of time figuring out how we were going to organize and build the inside. Along with making sure everyone’s equipment was in order and running skis up and down the lake. He worked really hard so our team could have the best opportunity possible to ski our best.
Mandy Lawson is one of the hardest workers I know not only in the collegiate world, but in AWSA as well. She’s always willing to help, and always goes out of her way to make sure she does everything right and is always asking to help. She’s one of the few people I know that worked extremely hard to blaze through ratings so she can do more at tournaments. She was my Chief Safety at LA Night Jam this year, and I couldn’t have done that without her help. She also stepped in to help safety night jump at collegiate nationals when our chief safety wanted to go night jumping (I don’t blame her one bit, we had a blast).
Mandy is always looking for her next position to continue to help to ski community. She’s always willing to lend a helping hand and encourages everyone to do more for the ski community. This year alone, Mandy has been your Great Plains conference chair, working with other teams to accomplish successful seasons. She worked throughout her own team completing the logistic duties and helping run practices. And Mandy is always, always working on a tournament. She’s judged, scored, and been the safety for many tournaments including the Missouri State tournament, conference championship, NCWSA nationals, and Night Jam! The season wouldn’t run smoothly without Mandys hard work! We love you Mandy!
Alyssa Hinden is has made KU Water Ski into what it is today. She has turned our team around and set us up for the better for future years. Alyssa last year was named NCWSA’s top female leader of the year 2022, her first year in an executive position. She also happens to be a full time Pharmacy student who still manages to find time to run things for both MCWSA and KU Water Ski. Her direction, leadership, and commitment to hard work has had a trickle-down effect on our other executive leadership as well as our team members. There is not an event or plan on KU Water Ski that has not been influenced or approved by Alyssa and her reach within our club has provided a solid backbone for the past two years. She is by far one of the best leaders in the Midwest and within college Water Skiing. Her roles range far and wide within team management, but she prefers to take on the title of Public Relations officer. She has grown our Instagram from a mere 400 followers to 1,200 today and has made it a platform for information for anyone interested in KU Water Skiing. She also sends out emails to our Alumni and parents regarding important season information and fundraising. Her hard work and dedication in team logistics has created a solid team base for our team to exist and thrive on. She has also completed requirements for scoring at tournaments and is in process to complete judge certification while also encouraging other team members to join in the process. All of the stickers on our trailer were put on by Alyssa and her attention to detail in logistics and team organization is unmatched. She is KU Water Ski’s greatest asset in my opinion.
Kincaid Davenport.
Kincaid has been a special asset and role model to myself and others on this team as well as being one of the most hard working athletes I’ve seen in the sport of Slalom. Not only is he a great slalomer, but he is also our equipment manager and takes a lot of time out of his day to take care of our boat and our ski essentials. One example is when he took countless hours to build a contraption in our trailer to keep our equipment organized and easy to find during long hours of tournament. On the water, I can see his passion he has for the sport when he runs the courses, and gives others the advice they need in practice to succeed in tournaments. Overall, he’s a hardworking individual and deserves the spotlight for his doings.
Will Fiedler.
You can catch Will on the boat helping with ropes or maintaining team equipment, really anywhere anyone needs an extra hand. He is always thinking of others and making sure the tournament runs smoothly for more than just our team. While ensuring our team is helping out at tournaments, he is also working hard at focusing on his events and slaloming the best he possibly can. Will is just one of those people who does a lot of work that goes unnoticed, so I think if he won this award some of that work would finally be noticed!
I would like to nominate Sean Freitag from SIU. He was out president this last fall season, and is graduating this year. Although he won’t be with us anymore he is still putting in 100% effort to make our organization great. Sean helped get our waterskiing site in tip top shape. He helped repaint our ramp and install a course for us this year. He even spent time learning how to run a tournament, and all the logistics behind one, so that our team could host one at our site this year. This wasn’t his only year he put in hard work, from the day I met him he’s been a hard worker. He’s helped rebuild our team into what it is now. He would spend tons of time recruiting and teaching newbies to ski. I believe Sean is a great fit for this award.
Sean Freitag
I would like to nominate Sean Freitag for the hardest worker award for everything that he did for our team this fall. Not only is he an incredible skier but went above and beyond to help our team become more self-sustainable. Rain or shine, Sean was at the lake fixing the course or improving our equipment to make everyone else’s life easier. For example, Sean spent a few weeks of his own time taking our ramp out of the water and striping it completely to repaint and refresh it just in case we have a spring tournament. Taking his own time and money to do these things is just a small part of what he really does for the team. AND after everything was done he would spend extra time to improve his own skills. His dedication to this team is incredible and his hard work and organization will hopefully lead us to a successful team in the next few years.I nominate Keelie Plessner from UW Madison for hardest worker of the year! She was (and still is) our secretary, and I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to call her the backbone of the team. She scheduled and ran our meetings, both board and full team, and made car and packing lists for tournaments.She organized hotels rooms, rental cars, reservations and travel plans. Keelie was also one of our top recruiters this year, I can list at least a half dozen people who showed up at their first tournament because she encouraged them. It honestly might be faster to list the things Keelie didn’t do for us this year. There were hundreds of times in the past year where I’ve been incredibly grateful for her, but if I had to pick a standout moment, it would have to be Nationals. We arrived at the hotel in Louisiana, and were told that we didn’t have most of the hotel rooms we had reserved. Keelie worked with the front desk for well over an hour to get us into our rooms, and she did it with more patience and grace than I’ve ever seen a person display. On top of all her incredible administrative work, she skied A team for all three events AND became a certified team boat driver! Being a team secretary is a thankless job most of the time, and she absolutely deserves recognition for her hard work this year. We truly wouldn’t be the team we are without her.
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