The Lake City Skiers have been bestowed with one of the greatest honors in the world of show skiing.
The International Waterski and Wakeboard Federation (IWWF) made their decision official last weekend, announcing that the Lake City Skiers and the city of Warsaw will be the host of the World Water Ski Show Championship in 2027. The announcement to give the Lake City the rights to host the “Olympics of show skiing” was made at the conclusion of this year’s world championships in Australia.
“It’s very exciting. We were the first competitive show ski team in Indiana. There was a lot of work in the beginning and a lot of dreams and this was one of them,” founding member Chuck McLaughlin said. “We wanted to host large tournaments and now here we are.”
As is the case for all major tournaments that travel to different destinations, the team had to submit a bid for the opportunity to host. That whole process began two years ago and was submitted last fall.
“We not only had to highlight the site where the tournament will take place, but we had to highlight the city of Warsaw,” McLaughlin said. “It was a pretty extensive package that we had to put together.”
The decision itself was made back in December, which is around the time that McLaughlin found out that their bid had been accepted. However, he needed to keep it a secret until it was made official last weekend.
The Lake City Skiers are no strangers to hosting big tournaments, as the team has welcomed regional and national tournaments to Warsaw in the past, including the Division I Nationals, which they’ve hosted three times. These tournaments have prepared the team to now host an event of this magnitude.
“There was a lot that had to be done over the years not only to our site but as a team to get ready for something like this,” McLaughlin said. “We really worked hard to move in this direction.”
The tournament will put a lot of eyes on the city of Warsaw, which will play host to an international sporting event for the first time when things get started in September of 2027. It’s also expected to have a pretty substantial economical impact, as McLaughlin anticipates the event bringing in anywhere between four to five million dollars for the city.
“You’ve got people coming in from all over the world. With the countries that could be represented, it could be anywhere from four to eight teams and all of the supporters that they bring,” he said. “There’s so much positive stuff that’s going to come out of this for the city. Australia had close to 5,000 people attend their tournament, and I look for it to be bigger than that in the states.”
The tournament itself will see Team USA looking to defend the title it won in Australia this year. The team will have a special connection to the host city in 2027, as Nicholas Willson, a member of both the Lake City Skiers and Team USA will be able to help defend the title on his home turf.
Teams are expected to show up at least a week in advance to get used to the site and get some ample practice time on it. Each team will bring 34 members that will be competing. Similar to the Olympics, there will be an opening ceremony that will feature each team being introduced and able to proudly display their flag before things get started.
“This might be the biggest event to ever come to Warsaw. Pretty much every international sporting event ever held in Indiana has been in Indianapolis,” McLaughlin said. “We’re getting on the map and we’re excited about it.”