College Relationships

The Very First College Water Sports Competition

Spoonerville College did something towards the end of the college year that it never did ever since it opened ninety-four years ago. They were giving out try outs for the upcoming College Water Sports Competition. There was never one before and this was the very first one ever.

Once I heard about the competition and saw it included jet-skiing, water-skiing, wakeboarding, wind-surfing, kayaking, and kitesurfing, I immediately signed up. Of course, I couldn't do this competition alone because it was all about teamwork. After persuading my friends to join in, they signed up too. I didn't expect Charlotte to join us, but I was glad she did.

Now that my friends and I all signed up to the competition, we all started practicing the water sports on the big lake near the college when we weren't doing our college lectures or doing our jobs. We all had a go at the water sports to see what we were the best at, except PJ and Lucy. They didn't really fancy doing the actual sports, but, when it came to the sports that required a speedboat, PJ was happy to drive the boat and Lucy was happy to be the spotter, so they were still part of the team and they would help us when they could. When we practiced the sports that required a speedboat, they were already good at their jobs and the more we practiced, the better they got. As for me, Charlotte and Bobby, we practiced all the sports. We were already quite good at them, but the more we trained, the better and more confident we got. Never be too proud to never improve yourself on anything, no matter how good you are.

My friends and I took this competition very seriously just like we did with the College X Games. In fact, when we practiced the water-skiing bit, it made me feel like we were training for the Water Ski World Championship and we could even try to enter that year.

My team and I weren't the only ones that was training for the College Water Sports Competition. They were a few teams and, according to the competition rules, each college could enter only one team, so we worked very hard to make sure that we were the very first team to represent Spoonerville College for the competition. And I still cannot tell you to this day how happy that our team was when we got chosen on the day when all teams came together and showed the judges what we had been practicing. Even though we hadn't done the main competition, we were still very happy and pleased that all our training had paid off. We all did very well, but I still think what impressed the judges was everything Charlotte did and how she did it. I knew she could do those activities because she did them with me and my friends on that Spring Break trip in Cancun, but when she practiced with us for this competition, she really amazed us at what she could do and how she could do it as much as she amazed the judges.

Then the day for the very first College Water Sports Competition finally arrived. The competition took place on Lake Santeetlah, North Carolina. My team and I were all grateful that many of our families and friends came to watch us on this historical day, including my dad, Sylvia, PJ's family – Pete and Peg (though the two kept their distant from each other – very distant – with their new partners) and Pistol – Bobby's family, Lisa and her kids Bennie and Alicia, Stacey and Lauren from Harvard and Charlotte's parents. Not only did they come to see us, but they all had the privilege of sitting on the edge of the lake on the nice warm grass on that glorious summer day. It was like they were had front row seats in an auditorium and they were excited to see us – they were behaving as if they were in front row seats for a Powerline concert.

Harvard and Lisa's university in Montgomery were two of the universities that didn't make it into the competition. The ones that did were Mouston College, Duckberg University, St. Canard University and unknown colleges and universities which I can't even remember the names off from Florida, California and Arizona. Even though the competition was called the 'College Water Sports Competition', universities were allowed to enter as well.

Our competitors were few, but they looked very skilled and very confident. As we got ready, my team got very nervous and thought we didn't stand a chance, but I managed to put their minds at ease by motivating them.

"We are here because of our skills, hard work and dedication," I told them. "Whether we win or not, we will make history for Spoonerville College by being the very first team to take part in this very new competition on their behalf. Every college and university have tried to enter this competition, but only seven have been chosen to. We trained to be chosen to represent Spoonerville College for this competition and we earned it so that must mean that we are good enough to compete against those other colleges and universities. Now, let's go out there and show everyone what we can do and have fun. What do you say?"

That made my team feel better and more motivated as we finished getting ready. Soon, everything was ready. The speedboat was ready, the jet-ski was ready, the water-skis, wakeboards, kitesurfing boards, windsurfing boards and kayaks were ready and our swimming costumes were ready. I wore my orange swim shorts, Bobby wore his purple swim shorts, PJ wore his green swim shorts and orange sleeveless shirt, Lucy wore her black bikini and Charlotte wore her red and white strips bikini.

The first water sports challenge the colleges and the universities had to do was the kayaking. My team and I did our best, but we came second. Duckberg University won it.

The second water sports challenge was the kitesurfing. Despite our best efforts, we came in third and St. Canard University won it.

The third water sports challenge was the windsurfing. We managed to come in second, while Mouston won.

The fourth water sports challenge was the jet-skiing. We came in third again and I think it was the university from Florida that won that challenge.

Then came the challenges that required the speedboat. After PJ and Lucy warmed the speedboat up, Charlotte and I did the water-skiing challenge. We did the traditional water-skiing together while Charlotte did slalom water-skiing by herself and I did trick water-skiing. We came in second and I think it was the Arizona university that won.

Then came the final challenge – the wakeboarding challenge, which I did by myself, while the rest of the team was in the boat. Despite my best efforts, we came in second and the California university won.

It took the judges an hour to go over the scores. While that happened, my team and I rested. Our family and our friends came to us and told us how amazing we were. They told us that even if we didn't win, they enjoyed seeing us and they were so proud of us for being the first team from Spoonerville College for to represent them.

Then the time came for the judges to give out the score, but everyone was surprised when they announced who won the whole competition, which was us – the Spoonerville College team. Even we were surprised, considering the fact we didn't win one of those sports individually. The judges explained that they added all the scores together of all the teams and while all the other colleges and university won one challenge, they didn't achieve second or third for the other challenges like my team and I achieved, so that meant we won the biggest scores all around and that was how we won the whole competition fair and square.

Then we went to collect the trophy as everyone applauded us. I was the one who gave the quick speech about how grateful we were to help Spoonerville College win this very new competition and how grateful we were that our college chose us to represent them and how much fun we had on the water and how the audience was amazing.

Then everyone congratulated us, even our competitors. They were tough, but they were fair and they accepted their defeats like professionals and never tried to cheat. My team and I were just glad that we didn't have any competing teams like the Gammas for this competition.