Jacob Wassermann’s dedication and relentless pursuit of excellence has paid dividends in more ways than one. His commitment to his new sport of adaptive water skiing has resulted in his selection as this year’s top adaptive athlete by Water Ski Canada. The National Organization made its selection based on the observations of national coaches.

It was an unusual year for most sports, and competitive water skiing was no exception. With no opportunity for national or even local competitions, athletes took to the gym and practice venues to continue perfecting their techniques. 

In spite of the odd past year, Wassermann, former Humboldt Bronco who migrated to the sport following his injury in the Humboldt bus crash, appreciates the recognition. Coaches Dave Wassill and Lisa Williams recommended Wassermann for the award which takes into account three disciplines of the sport. 

“With adaptive skiing, most of our skiers do all three events, slalom, jump, and trick,” explains Wasserman. “This past year was a lot of training with no competitions available, so it was a lot of work put in and time on the water. It was honestly a good year for me to get the repetition in and really build up the skills for when competition comes back.”

Wassermann admits to being relatively new to the sport, but utilizing his natural athleticism and determination, he began to turn heads in his opening year. That determination is reflected in his credo, “You’ve got to do it a hundred times and fail before you’re going to really excel.” 

Now with a year to train, he is optimistic of what the future holds for him in the sport.

“Like a lot of things in our world, we don’t really know what the season looks like, but our fingers are crossed that we can even have provincials or something like that - more of a local competition. We’ve had a year to figure things out and see how things are going to look.”

If interprovincial or national competition isn’t in the cards, then Wassermann is hoping to see some of his teammates and local competition back out on the waves. Until then, he is grateful for the award and the chance to improve in the sport he’s come to love.