Water is a pretty common occurrence. We drink it, we bathe in it, we fill up balloons with it and hurl them at each other’s face all for the sake of enjoyment, but rarely do people ever glide across water at break neck speeds doing complex tricks and maneuvers along the way.

Senior Matt McCoy as been doing these water sports for some time now.

“My cousins and uncles were in to it,” McCoy said. “So they ended up introducing me to it when I was 3 years old.”

Most people think of tubing as being a water sport, but it’s quite the opposite. Water sports consist of water skiers competing with each other by doing increasingly complex tricks and jumps, all while being judged.

“My cousins and I have always had smaller, friendlier, competitions between each other,” McCoy said. “But I haven’t been in any official competitions, although there are some coming up in the near future I plan to compete in.”

Many assume water sports are just the common day activities people do when at the lake, but water sports are a lot like other trick sports, such as skateboarding and snowboarding, while having it’s own advantages for the rider.

“It’s different from most other trick sports,” McCoy said. “You have a lot more room to experiment with more complex tricks without having to worry about breaking your neck or anything like that.”

Matt does most of his water skiing at Perry Lake in Kansas, but sometimes he and his whole family take trips to Beaver Lake in Arkansas where he gets a chance to show off his new skills to his cousins.

Although it’s one of the more obscure sports out there, water skiing isn’t lacking a public interest, especially from McCoy.