If waterskiing is a relatively unknown sport, as the title of a recently released documentary film suggests, don’t blame the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Ragin’ Cajuns Water Ski Team.
The team has established itself as a collegiate powerhouse and, along the way, as adept at ambassadorship as carving up the water. The Ragin’ Cajuns Water Ski Team claimed its third consecutive Division 1 national title last fall, bringing its overall total to nine.
The team, which competes as a club sport rather than an NCAA-sanctioned sport, has drawn student-athletes to UL Lafayette from across the world. Among them is alum and former team member Jaimee Bull, a professional skier from Canada who earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 2022.
Bull, a collegiate champion, professional world champion and world record-breaking slalom skier, figures prominently in the documentary film “The Unknown Sport of Waterskiing.” The feature-length film blends on-the-water footage, explanations of events and disciplines, and interviews.
The content offers “a dive into the passion, determination, and adrenaline-fueled world of competitive waterskiing, and the people who give their lives to it,” according to The Waterski Broadcasting Company, the film’s creator. Several of the company’s leaders and employees are University alums and former ski team members.
Bull weighs in on the challenges – and rewards – of “balancing school and skiing,” during the film, which can be viewed on YouTube. Her success is built around “prioritizing what I need to do day by day” and setting goals “academically and athletically.” The film also chronicles Bull’s championship-winning exploits on the water.
Ryan Gonzales, the University’s assistant director of Veteran and Military Student Services and the Ragin’ Cajuns Water Ski Team’s head coach, finds the film gratifying for many reasons.
For one, he explained, much of its footage centered around Bull is threaded with shots of academic halls, Cypress Lake, athletics facilities, research laboratories and nearby Airport Lake, where the team trains.
Another plus? It captures waterskiing as a thrilling, actioned-oriented sport, countering widespread assumptions that it’s strictly a recreational pursuit. “The joy of the film was seeing our team’s contributions to ensuring our sport thrives in the future, and watching graduates who are succeeding and have become leaders in the professional world,” Gonzales said.
Learn more about the Ragin’ Cajuns Water Ski Team.
Photo caption: The winning ways of Ragin’ Cajuns Water Ski Team – which has claimed national titles in each of the last three years for nine total – have landed it a role in “The Unknown Sport of Waterskiing.” The film sheds light on the competitive side of an action-packed sport often considered a leisure activity. Alum Jaimee Bull (shown above during her time at UL Lafayette) figures prominently in the film. Courtesy photo