Paraparaumu College student selected for World Under 17 Waterski Championships

Samuel (Sammy) McKenzie. Photo / Grace Odlum

A Paraparaumu College student was one of six young Kiwis selected for the International Waterski and Wakeboard Federation World Under 17 Waterski Championships.

Over Easter weekend Samuel (Sammy) McKenzie, 14, competed in the New Zealand National Waterski Champs and his results were impressive enough to land him a spot on the team.

Sammy participated in four waterskiing categories – tricks, slalom, jump, and open tricks.

The tricks category is where the skier is scored based on the tricks they perform, the slalom category is where the skier must pass through buoys to reach the end gate, and the jump is a category where the skier skis over a ramp and tries to go the farthest possible in the air and ski away.

Sammy got gold in tricks, which is his favourite category, silver in slalom, bronze in jumps, and just missed the podium in open tricks, placing fourth.

When he found out he had been selected for the New Zealand team, Sammy said he was really excited – not only for the competition, but also as it will be his first time visiting Canada.

Sammy McKenzie in action.

Sammy will be heading to Canada in late July, along with one of his parents and the other five water skiers and two reserves on the team, where he will be waterskiing alongside other competitors from all over the world at Predator Bay in Calgary.

Competitive waterskiing isn’t completely new to Sammy either – he also competed in a competition between Australian and Kiwi water skiers in Whanganui last year, where he managed to place first in the tricks category.

Someday he would like to waterski professionally – but said he would probably have to go to the United States for that.

Sammy was inspired to start waterskiing about five years ago by his parents who are passionate water skiers.

At first, he just did barefoot waterskiing – a type of waterskiing where you don’t use skis – but when he tried traditional waterskiing, he decided that’s what he really loved.

“I just took an instant liking to it.”

His parents own a boat, and they often go waterskiing at Lake Inspiration, a man-made waterskiing lake based just north of Ōtaki.

He said one of his favourite things about waterskiing is the adrenaline rush and the speed – but he also really enjoys learning new tricks.

“I like achieving new things - like getting new tricks or getting a bigger jump.”