Ski Sharks welcomed back by Shawano residents
Shawano water sports have kicked off their 2021 summer.
The Ski Sharks made their anticipated return to the water on June 9. Dozens of visitors came out to relax, have dinner, and show their support for the athletes at Smalley Park.
The 2021 season immediately saw a difference as they started in early June this year, rather than early July last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Another difference that arose was the Ski Sharks’ introduction of Mercury boats, rather than Evinrude boats, that went out of business last year. A third change that occurred was adding a theme for their shows this year. After not having a theme for last year, the Ski Sharks adopted “Shawano’s Got Talent” as their theme with three people posing as judges sitting at a table on the shore that is reminiscent of that on America’s Got Talent.
With the changes and the return of the event, visitors came from the Shawano community, as well as outside the community to witness the event.
Lucas Schulze, an Appleton resident made his first trip to Smalley Park for the show. He mentioned that he was surprised how talented the skiers were.
“This is my first time ever coming,” said Schulze. “I did not know what to expect, but I loved the show.”
Others in attendance, including first year show director, Jaime Anday, also mentioned that they were excited to see the Sharks back in the water.
“It was nice just getting everyone back out onto the water,” said Anday. “Getting the practice out there was nice, we got our pyramids up and its pretty exciting.”
Anday also mentioned that excitement arose from an abundance of youth on the team this season. According to Anday, the results of the youth performing for the audience were positive.
“We have a very young team this year and our first show went great with them,” said Anday.
Events that were performed, included the pyramid, barefoot skiing, swivel skiing, jumping, trick skiing and ballet skiing.
Team president Dave Passehl mentioned that although it was great to see everyone out on the water and in the audience, there are spots for improvement in the show.
“We had some technical difficulties with boats dialing it in,” said Passehl. “The kids skied awesome really, its just that we have to get our flow figured out and the skits a little more dialed in.”
As the Ski Sharks have become a larger attraction in recent years, Passehl noticed that the size of the crowds plays a factor into the skiers performances.
“With 90 degree heat, we had a decent sized crowd,” said Passehl. “The bigger these crowds get, the more these kids get energized.”
With more people getting vaccinations and the pandemic starting to slow, Passehl mentioned that the Ski Shark members are excited to run in a season with little restrictions.
“The kids are excited, because last year we took so many precautions behind the scenes,” said Passehl. “We don’t have that so much this year.”
The Ski Sharks will be providing full concessions this year after having a limited stand last season. Concessions will include burgers and hot dogs with pizza, candy, popcorn and soda.
Due to the success of it last season, the team is bringing back its raffle. Passehl said that he went to American Marina and Prime Powersports to inquire them about putting up a UTV, ATV, Snowmobile or Sea-Doo as a prize in the raffle. During the season, each show will have a raffle with one winner taking home $100. The winners of the $100 are automatically put into the next week’s drawing.
The raffle on the final day of the season will include someone winning $1,000, two people winning $500, two people winning $250 and five $100 winners. There will also be one person who will win either $5,000 or their choice of one of the vehicles.
Passehl mentioned that in the future, the Shawano Ski Sharks plan to hold more events, including their weekly shows, learn-to-ski events, tournaments and swivel competitions. He also said that Shawano is hosting the division two nationals as well as a world record pull in September. According to Passehl, the Shawano Ski Sharks will attempt to exceed 40 people being pulled.
Andrew Puissant, a team member of the Ski Sharks, mentioned that with the first show being a success, he is excited for the rest of the summer.
“I am happy to be back out here in the summer,” said Puissant. “Hopefully we can put good shows and a good state show together in the future.”