Photo

Weekend at the Lake

Photos and Story by Mary Ciecek

Mary Ciecek
Published: Monday, April 30, 2001

Matt Scott pulls a fellow water ski team member behind the boat during a practice run. First-year student Eddie Grenier skis the slalom course at Horton Lake. Former team president Scott and current president Mike Bonino oversee UCLA’s first ever water ski tournament. Linda Disney, left, Scott’s mother, serves breakfast to water ski team members Becky Donnelly and Chris McKown. The water ski team served 35 large pizzas out of the back of Scott’s truck Saturday night for the 99 skiers and volunteers who participated in the tournament.

On April 21 and 22, the UCLA water ski team hosted its first ever water ski tournament at Horton Lakes near Barstow, Calif.

There are over 20 members on the water ski team now, but it was just four years ago that senior Matt Scott went to his first meeting and was handed a binder full of rules.

“It was only me and another guy at first, and it just started getting boring after a while,” Scott said.

Seeing the potential for a competitive squad, Scott began to recruit more members by bringing boats on campus and passing out flyers. Soon current president Mike Bonino and former treasurer Becky Donnelly joined Scott and the team grew into the competitive squad that it is today.

UCLA competes in the western region of the National Collegiate Water Ski Association against schools from California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona and Nevada.

The Bruins often find themselves skiing against schools that can afford to give their teams significantly more money than the $1,300 UCLA allots for the water ski team each year. Dues and fund-raising make up the majority of money the team needs to fund practices and pay for the eight tournaments they compete in each year.

But hosting a tournament has been the dream of Scott since he became president of the team.

“That was the one thing he wanted to do before he graduated,” Bonino said. “He pulled it off this weekend.”

Ninety-nine skiiers from such schools as UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis, Cal State Chico and Arizona State competed. UCLA placed fifth out of the 12 schools that competed, their highest showing in a tournament yet. They were led by second-year medical student Mike Leonardi who placed third overall in the men’s division.

“I think we did really well for hosting our first tournament,” Bonino said. “The most important thing is that everyone had a good time.”

UCLA relied on the help of volunteers to pull off the tournament. All of the judges and drivers braved the cold weather and were only paid in hot dogs and hamburgers from the concession stand. Scott’s parents were on hand in their motor home to help out and feed the team as well.

“My parents were such a huge help,” Scott said. “They were up before anyone making coffee and getting breakfast ready.”

With Scott graduating in June, he knows the team is in a much better position than it was four years ago.

“There is such a good balance between skiing and having fun,” Scott said. “Everyone involved just wants to have fun, ski and hang out at the lake.”