In the most recent issue of “The Water Skier”, the magazine for all USA Waterski Members is a great article about Mad-City and our National Championship!!

Click on the link below for the article in PDF format.

Earning Their Stripes - The Water Skier

The Nationals weekend was a long, hot weekend for the Mad-City Ski Team. The culmination of almost a years worth of hard work, sacrifice and dedication paid off in the most amazing way imaginable. We put on one of the best ski shows in the history of the Mad-City Ski Team.

The Following is a picture recap of our weekend, special thanks to Jim’s Photo’s and Eric Wedige for the pictures. Please visit www.JimsPhotos.com to view our complete seasons worth of pictures.

Friday Jump Competition

For the second year in a row the Mad-City Jump Team took home top honors for the best jump squad in the entire country. The competition allows every team five-minutes to perform any number and combination of jumps and are judged on difficulty, flow, crowd appeal and execution.

Our team hit the water first and put on a show that no one was able to match! You can view more pictures of our team jump competition at Jims Photos (Link)

Double Gainer

Four Man Front Flip

Quad Helicopters

Ladies and Gentleman, Your national champion Jump Team!!

Saturday Nationals Ski Show

The temperatures on Saturday were climbing into the mid-80s by 9:00 A.M, we knew we were in for quite a day. Mad-City skied third after the Janesville Rock Aqua Jays and host ski team the Ski Broncs. Our show finally hit the water at about noon. More pictures can be seen at Jims Photos Website (Link)

The story behind our show is that with the addition of announcer Matt Baumler, who brings with him a theatrical style all his own, he is looking to make the Mad-City Ski Team over, make us into a theatrical ski show. However, our incumbent announcer, Adam Schaller is resisting, satisfied with Mad-City’s free-wheeling, rock and roll, style ski show. Who will win? Lets find out!!

Sandy, Libby, Taryn, Ann, Kristen and Teri welcome you to our show with a pre-show dance!

The trumpets begin to blare, and that means only one thing…

Welcome to a “Tale of 2 Ski Shows”!!

Kicking our show off in style, a 7-man Bacwards Barefoot Line

Matt Baumler, your court jester!

Our 4-2-4 Opening Pyramid Team

Adam doesn’t look like he is enjoying this! Lets try something in Mad-City Style.

Montage - Jeff on a sky ski

Montage - Kirk and Beau on shoe skis

Montage - Paul on a wakeboard

One Act Show - A Mad-City Original! Shoe Skis, Four-High Pyramid, Strap Doubles and a Pinwheel!!

Now, back to Matt’s style. Hey Meistro, Give me some rhythm!

Ballet - Your Mad-City Dream Girls

Ballet - Dream Girls on the water

Ballet - Dream Girls on stage w/ Matt.

Now we head back to Adams style of ski show, some freestyle jumping

Jump 1 - Paul and Scott perform a double gainer

Jump 1 - On the Dock

Matt won’t stand for this, here comes a pirate theme….

A Pirate Theme? Jack Sparrow thinks so!!

Star Swivel - Kristen Heilman on the water

Star Swivel - Ann Wittenberg, Joey O’Connor, Laura Fick and Kristen Heilman

Adam has other ideas about this Pirate theme! Here comes the Mad-Ciy Big Act!

Big-Act - Trio

Big-Act Doubles

Big-Act Swivel Line

Big-Act Star Staggered Swivel

Big-Act - Conventional Doubles

But wait, what is this? Matt coming in as Adam? This should be good.

And it is…here comes our national champion jumpers again!!

Jump 2 - Dan Wang, Paul O’Connor and Kirk Schultz perform the hangman (Flip over Helicopter and Flip)

And now, Taryn and Adam have a little ditty…or two!

Fellowship and Fun!!!

However, here comes Mad-City’s biggest pyramid ever!!

Our Ending Pyramid - 4-2-4-2-4!

Together at last, Matt and Adam in the “Original” Evolution of Dance

The “Original” Evolution of Dance

Evolution of Dance

Evolution of Dance

But, now its back to business. Welcome the tournament MVP, Paul O’Connor!!

Jaw Dropper - Gainer

Jaw Dropper - Front Flip

Jaw Dropper - 720 Helicopter!!

Stickin it!!

The Skip Gilkerson Award Winner for Best Male Skier - PAUL O’CONNOR!

Not to be left out, a tweak on a Mad-City Original. the Guy/Girl Combo Line!!

The guys on the dock!!

15 guys and 15 girls = 30 person ballet line!!

Combo Ballet on the water - HUGE!

Ladies and Gentleman, YOUR 2007 Mad-City Ski Team!

Sunday Awards Ceremony

After an entire weekend, numerous shows and a amazing amount of nerves…the time has finally come to reveal the winner of the 2007 national championship!

First up, the award for best Ballet Line!

Chris accepting the award for best ballet line of the tournament, our 30 person combo ballet line!!

Next, award for best jump act…no surprise, its….

Paul O’Connor with driver Tony Wang and rider Cyndi Pickney for the Jaw Dropper. A Front Flip, a Gainer and a 720!!

Next award is for best swivel ski act of the tournament…and the winner is?

The Mad-City Star Swivel, Ann Wittenberg, Joey O’Connor, Laura Fick and Kristen Heilman! The best group of swivel skiers in the nation!!

Mad-City doesn’t stop here, next up is the award for best Male skier at Nationals. The Skip Gilkerson Award goes to?

Paul O’Connor!

Turning our attention to the behind the scenes action, the award for best dock crew goes to?

Mad-City! Our ladies behind the scenes get some well deserved recognition!

An important part of every show is the pick-up boat crew, and the award goes to?

Mad-City! Jim and Liz McKenna and Caprice and Lee Vanderkolk take home the award for best pick-up boat crew!

Turning our attention to the tow-boat crew, could it be a sweep of the boat driver awards?

YES!! Tony Wang, Gary Pickney, Don Heilman and Jerry Wesner, the best tow boat drivers in the country!

Bringing the announcers words and the music to your ears, here is the award for best sound crew.

Mad-City Again!! Matt Baumler, Adam Schaller and Eric Wedige claim the award as best sound crew!!

And now…the drum rolls.

The best ski show in the entire country goes to?

MAD-CITY!! Show Director Chris Coupland picks up our award, with show committee in tow!!

and now we celebrate with the traditional dip in the water!!!

Your 2007 National Champion Mad-City Ski Team!!!

Following our National Championship, and right before, the Mad-City Ski Team has got quite a bit of publicity!! The following are some links to various articles and other media about the Mad-City Ski Team.

Mad-City Team Up - Isthmus The Daily Page (Thursday August, 16 2007)

Mad-City Ski Team Retains Title - Wisconsin State Journal (Tuesday August, 14 2007)

Show Ski Gold - Wisconsin State Journal (Saturday August, 11 2007)

Watch The Ski Team Perform - Wisconsin State Journal Video (Saturday August, 11 2007)

Mad-City Ski Team to Compete - Wisconsin State Journal (Friday August, 10 2007)

Here is what some of our competition had to say following the National Waterski Tournament:

Wonder Lake Ski Team (Wonder Lake, IL)  2nd Place - Northwest Herald (Tuesday August, 14 2007)

Janesville Rock Aqua Jays (Janesville, WI) 3rd Place - Janesville Gazette (Monday August, 13 2007)

Ski Broncs (Rockford, IL) 11th Place - Rockford Register Star (Monday August, 13 2007)

Note: The following article is taken from The Capital Times, you can view the original article at www.madison.com

The Mad-City Ski Team got all wet Sunday afternoon and they couldn’t be happier.

The team won its third national championship in four years Sunday on the Rock River in Loves Park, Ill., a victory that came with a trophy and a most welcome tradition on a hot summer’s day.

“The winning team goes for a swim,” said Mad-City show director Chris Coupland when contacted by phone Monday morning. “It was a very welcome celebration.”

Mad-City won the national show skiing title in 2004 and again in 2006.

“It was pretty convincing win,” Coupland said. “We swept the box scores and Paul O’Connor was voted the most valuable skier at the event.”

14 teams, mostly from the Midwest, competed in the division 1 championships, with each show ski team getting an hour on the water to perform 13 separate acts of the team’s choosing.

Judges award points for each of the 13 acts, with the winning team amassing the most points based on execution, difficulty, spectator appeal and flow.

Mad-City competed on Saturday, the third of seven teams going that day, with the other half of the teams skiing Sunday.

Coupland said the conditions weren’t the best when the team’s 57 skiers hit the water Saturday morning.

“It was a strong current and a little breezy, but the team did a fantastic job,” he said. “The team really came together the past two weeks.”

The team puts on Sunday evening shows all summer on Lake Monona, skiing off of Law Park next to Monona Terrace. It has three free shows left this year, Aug. 19 and 26 and Sept. 2, all starting at 6 p.m.

About 80 people, including skiers, boat drivers, announcers and support staff, went to the national championships from Mad City. The skiers range in age from eight years old to 52 years old.

The show ski championships also award titles in three events besides the overall team trophy. Mad-City won first in the team jumping competition.

Bill Novak — 8/13/2007 11:25 am

Links:
Local ski team wins national title again

Our Opening Pyramid during practice on Tuesday August, 7

It was one year ago this weekend that Mad-City capped an amazing year at the National Show Ski Tournament in Janesville, WI with a flawless show and a National Title.

As we head into this weekends National Tournament in Loves Park, IL, the goal remains the same, however, the outcome is far from set in stone.

We are putting the finishing touches on our show as we speak and getting ourselves ready for a huge weekend.

Last year, just like the Wisconsin State Tournament, the Rock-Aqua Jays came in second and you can bet that they are itching for a little payback.

However, two teams that are perennial powers, Wonder Lake from Wonder Lake, IL and the Little Crow Ski Team from New London, MN always bring their “A” game as well and are looking to knock both Janesville and Mad-City from the perch atop the show ski world that we held since 2001.

As for our show, expect bigger and better things for the national show, we have spent countless hours working on our acts and our stage work. Our man behind the sound, Eric Wedige, has been tweaking up our sound and our tag-team announcers, Adam Schaller and Matt Baumler, have taken their humor and skills to a whole new level!

This tournament represents the culmination of almost a years worth of work for every team involved.  Hours and hours are spent behind the scenes to put forth a top-flight show.  The daily aches and pains, the late nights and the tremendous amount of personal sacrifice that go into producing a show such as these 14 teams will put on the water this week-end is a testament to the dedication that every member of the show-ski community have for the sport.

We are all excited for the week-end and we invite everyone down to Loves Park to join us!

We ski third on Saturday, between 10:30 and 11:00 AM. However, do arrive early as seating will be scarce.

The full running order for the weekend is below, each show takes about an hour and a half in total, which includes set-up and tear down.

Saturday: Shows start at 8:00 AM
Janesville Rock Aqua Jays
Ski Broncs
MAD-CITY!!!
Lake Mohawk Ski Hawks
Webfooters
Badgerland
Five Seasons

Sunday: Shows start at 8:00 AM
Backwater Gamblers
Wonder Lake
Little Crow
Aquanuts
Chippewa lake
Midwest Ski Otters

Links:
Directions to Site

It wasn’t long after Mad-City won the 2007 Wisconsin State Show Ski Tournament that the focus was shifted from celebration to preparation for the 2007 National Show Ski Tournament, which is August 10-12 in Loves Park, IL.

But now the dust has settled and we can look back a bit at the State Tournament while at the same time spinning around the telescope and peering ahead to the national tournament.

To that end, we asked our show director, Chris Coupland his thoughts and feelings regarding the State Tournament and where Mad-City is and where we need to go to caputre our second straight National Championship.

1) What are your feelings about winning the 2007 state tournament?

Obviously it feels great to win again. I don’t think that will ever get old. I wish we could have skied cleaner though.

2) Comment on the work going into the show and how everything came together

It’s been a long Season. It took us longer to put the show together this off season due to the possibilities that we had to work with. I was very concerned about us pulling all of the pieces together until everybody stepped up the last two weeks and committed to putting in the extra effort. Hopefully we continue to do that and we achieve the holy grail and have “The Perfect” Show in 2 weeks!

3) Thoughts about competition during the tournament and upcoming for nationals?

It’s always tough to compete against Janesville. I’m sure they’re going to fix the problems they had and bring their A game to Nationals. In addition, you’ve got Wonder Lake and Little Crow that are ready to win again as well.

4) Sum up entire experience so far.

It’s been a crazy summer. Getting married on June 1st and then coming back to the thick of things. Fortunately for myself and the team that we have a lot of veteran skiers and support personnel that don’t need to be micro-managed. I just hope that we can stay focused and push strong through Rockford.

Competing in the Wisconsin State Show Ski Tournament, the Mad-City Ski Team edged out the Janesville Rock Aqua Jays to lay claim to their second straight Wisconsin State Championship!

The ski show, entitled “A Tale of 2 Ski Shows”, featured two stand-out announcers in longtime favorite Adam Schaller and new comer Matt Baumler facing off on stage to determine once and for all which is better, Mad-City Style or Traditional Show Ski Style.

During the course of their epic battle, Mad-City had some incredible performances.

Highlights include: Highest Scoring Ballet Line, Highest Scoring Jump Act, Best Tow Boat Crew, Best Sound Crew, Best Comedy, Best Overall Female Skier in Kristen Heilman, First ever four-tier One-Act Show and Mad-City’s first ever Triple Four-Tier Pyramid!!

Mad-City Dream Girls! - Highest Scoring Ballet Line

Mad-City Jump Team - Highest Scoring Jump Act

Mad-City Comedy Team - Best Comedy

Kristen Heilman - Best Overall Female Skier 

Mad-City Sound Crew - Best Sound Crew 

Mad-City Drive Team - Best Tow Boat Crew 

The Wisconsin State Show Ski Tournament is the largest such tournament in the world and is a four-day long event that celebrates everything that is good in the show ski world, Competition, Camaraderie and of course some fantastic skiing.

There was 26 teams total from three different divisions that compete in this event, held on Lake Wazeecha near Wisconsin Rapids. While only one team competed in Division 3, the Aqua Devils from Three Lakes, WI, there were 25 teams combined competing in both Division 1 and Division 2.

Our neighbors to the south, the Janesville Rock Aqua Jays, came in second for the second year in a row with a steller show of their own. They layed claim to a couple impressive feats of their own as they claimed the highest scoring individual act with their barefoot pyramid act, best dock and equipment and best pick-up boat crew.

However, it was not enough as Mad-City scored a total of 2008 points to Janesville’s 1983.

Coming in third were the Webfooters from Freemont, WI.

In Division 2, the Beaver-Land Must-Skis notched their second consecutive championship as well knocking off the Browns Lake Aquaducks, 1704 to 1644.

With the win, the Beaver-Land Must-Skis, from Beaver Dam, will now join Division 1.

Links:

Complete Scores and Team Placements

Complete Photo Gallery from Jims Photos

One year ago at the Wisconsin State Show Ski Tournament, the largest show ski tournament in the world, Mad-City skied a nearly flawless show and took home the title of State Champions.

In less then a week, we are heading back to the red sand of Lake Wazeecha in Wisconsin Rapids to defend our title.

The weekend is setting up to be an incredible display of skiing from not only Mad-City, but from our biggest competitors as well.

Last year we knocked off the powerhouse Janesville Rock-Aqua Jays, and you can bet they are chomping at the bit for a little payback.

Here is the full running order for the shows on Saturday and Sunday.

1 Mississippi Blackhawks (Division II) 7:00 AM
2 Waupaca Chain Skiers (Division II) 8:30 AM
3 Aquaducks (Division II) 10:00 AM
4 Mad-City Ski Team (Division I) 11:30 AM
5 Aquanuts (Division I) 1:00 PM
6 Muskego Waterbugs (Division I) 2:30 PM
7 Aqua Skiers (Division I) 4:00 PM
8 Badgerland (Division I) 5:30 PM
9 Shermalot (Division I) 7:00PM

Sunday, July 22

1 Webfooters (Division I) 7:00 AM
2 Rock Aqua Jays (Division I) 8:30 AM
3 Chetek Hydroflites (Division I) 10:00 AM
4 Lauderdale Aqua Skiers (Division I) 11:30 AM
5 Waterboard Warriors (Division I) 1:00 PM
6 Minneiska (Division I) 3:30 PM
7 Ski Sprites (Division I) 5:00 PM

The competition begins each day at 6:40 AM, with each team using about an hour and a half per show. Approximate times are next to each team.

The award ceremony will follow the final show and about 6:45 - 7:00.

Directions to Lake Wazeecha

Please take a minute to visit one of our sponsers, Jims Photos at www.jimsphotos.org, to see his pictures from our show during the Mercury Invite.

Jim also takes pictures of every home show and has a extensive collection of photos from our 2006 season including our State and National Championship shows AND award ceremonies.

2007 Mercury Invite Photo Gallery - Mad-City

Mad-City Photo Gallery Page on JimsPhotos.org

Photo Courtesy of Jims Photos

In what is the unofficial kick-off to the Show Ski tournament season, the Mad-City Ski Team competed in the annual Mercury Invite on June 24, taking home third place.The host team, the Janesville Rock Aqua Jays, took home first place honors with the Wonder Lake Ski Team, from Wonder Lake, IL, coming in second.

It is always a fun tournament to be a part of, getting a chance to re-connect with some of your fellow skiers from competing teams in a low-pressure, fun environment.

The weather was outstanding, with temps in the upper 70’s to low 80’s for the most part of the day, while being mostly overcast untill early in the afternoon when the sun peeked out from behind the clouds to reveal many a sunburn!!

This was also the first real run-through for our new theme, “A Tale of Two Ski-Shows” and judging from peoples responses post-show, it looks to be a hit. Our tag-team announcing crew, Adam Schaller and Matt Baumler, kept much of the show close to the vest as to not reveal to much to our competitors until the State and National tournaments!!

The Aqua Jays, as always, ran a first class tournament and were great hosts.

With every team holding back slightly for the bigger tournaments, this could prove to be quite an exciting summer!

Here is a complete run-down of the final standings:

1) Rock Aqua Jays (Janesville, WI) 2,057 points

2) Wonderlake (Wonderlake, IL) 1,926

3) Mad-City Ski Team (Madison, WI) 1,831

4) Waterbugs (Muskego, IL) 1,191

5) Minneiska (Whitewater, WI) 1,077

6) Lauderdale Aqua-Skiers (Lauderdale, WI) 1,031.