Water skiers slalom, trick and jump their way to victory, even if they can’t see it

Para-athletes competing at the 2025 Canadian Water Ski Championships in Edmonton on Friday, Aug. 8, 2025. (Cam Wiebe/CTV News Edmonton)

Canada’s best water skiers are in Edmonton for the 2025 Canadian Water Ski Championships underway at Shalom Park, including several para-athletes.

The championships feature four categories, slalom, tricks, jump and overall.

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Four adaptive athletes are also competing with the Canadian team in Edmonton, two blind skiers and two in wheelchairs.

“There’s a lot of obstacles that they have to get around, but the joy they experience from being on the water, I think it’s second to none,” said Lisa Williams, with Water Ski and Wakeboard Canada.

One of the athletes, Edmonton’s Kendra Erhardt, who uses a wheelchair, started waterskiing in 2022 when she went to one of the “Give it a Go Day” events meant to introduce new people to the sport.

“I thought, ‘Oh, well, got to try everything once, see how it goes,’ I had no intentions of loving it as much as I did, but once I was out there, I was hooked,” Erhardt said.

She competes in slalom and tricks and was part of the Canadian silver-medal team in 2023.

Accessing the water is difficult in a wheelchair, between mud, gravel and steep trails, but Erhardt says with the growth of the sport, more lakes are taking steps to improve accessibility for athletes.

“Everyone’s super good about helping out, whether it’s carrying equipment down or pushing the wheelchairs up the hill … and once we’re on the water, you don’t need the wheelchair, you don’t need legs on the water … we’re good,” she added.

“We’re skiing in the able-bodied tournament … we’re part of the family, part of the group. It’s a very special community.”

Edmonton’s Jonathan Sieswerda is another water skier on the team, he’s mostly blind, with only peripheral vision.

“A big part about learning to water ski, you can watch other people do it and see how they do it, and to try and pick up how to do it yourself, and I don’t have that, so I have to learn everything just by the feel of it or other people kind of critiquing my form,” Sieswerda said.

“It’s a different way of learning, which I think kind of makes things more difficult and more interesting.”

One of his bigger challenges with the sport is the ramps for the jump competition. He skis with a side skier beside him who will line him up for the ramp before getting out of the way.

“I’m just working on learning to not get scared by the ramp, because I can only expect it so much,” Sieswerda said. “But it’s fun, I like all three events, I like going fast and the water and being outside and all the people, it’s really cool.”

The event in Edmonton serves as a preliminary tournament for the world event in Australia in November.

The Canadian team originally hoped to send 14 athletes to compete, but anticipate having to cut the number down due to funding issues.

Canada is set to host the 2027 World Disabled Water Ski Championships.

For people who are interested in giving the sport a try, Water Ski and Wake Alberta runs “Give it a Go Days.”

“Water skiing isn’t for everyone, so there’s nothing wrong with that, but I think when you find something that you like, even if you feel scared to do it … it’s worth doing and worth pushing past the fear,” Sieswerda said.

“Every time I work through something and learn something new, even if I was struggling to do it or kind of nervous to do it before, it’s just like the coolest feeling ever.”

The final “Give it a Go Days” event currently listed for the season on the site is set for Aug. 12.