By water skiing in Germany for seven months, Jakim Wilson is fulfilling a dream he's had for a number of years.
"It really is a dream come true. I've wanted to do it for so long, but I always found a reason not to. I've got to do it now," said Wilson in a recent interview.
Wilson, 29, Warsaw, will be water skiing at Holiday Park in Hassloch, Germany, for Water Ski Shows Inc., based out of Sevierville, Tenn.
"I skied for the company right out of high school at Indiana Beach," said Wilson.
In August last year, while browsing the Internet, he saw the company was taking applications for water skiiers. He filled out the application, and the company contacted him in November. The application was for any position. The company asked Wilson to put together a video of his water skiing. He put together a five-minute clip.
In December, Wilson was contacted again and offered a position.
"They told me they were holding a position for me in Germany if I accepted the offer," Wilson said.
He didn't accept the job offer immediately. He took a week to mull it over.
"Honestly, talking with the Hawblitzels, who have done it, Gary was like, 'It's something you've wanted to do, you don't want to pass up the opportunity,'" Jakim said.
Wilson started water skiing at age 17 with Lake City Skiers, the Warsaw-based show ski team. During his dozen years with the team, he's been the show director for four of those years and has won several awards.
His journey to Germany will be a unique experience for him. It is his first trip to Europe, and Wilson's great-grandparents hail from Germany. Hassloch, Germany, is in the Rheinpfalz region of the country, and is 75 minutes southwest of Frankfurt near the "Weinstrasse," a famous landmark.
Wilson leaves March 4 for Germany. Rehearsals start March 8, with the show opening March 27. It closes Sept. 12. This year marks the 28th season for shows at Holiday Park.
The show is titled "Jim Pond," but Wilson hasn't seen a script for it yet. He said it's a cross between a ski and stunt show, and the idea behind the show is based on James Bond.
"I know it'll be pyramids, jumping, barefooting. They do a zip line in the show. They do a lot of boat chase scenes," he said.
Once the show starts, Wilson will be working five days a week, with two days off. He'll be doing about four shows a day, each show is at least a half hour long.
"I'm looking forward to definitely improving my skiing skills. There will be a lot of great skiers there who I can learn from," Wilson said.
He is looking forward to experiencing a different country and learning a new culture. On his days off, he hopes to visit other European countries and parts of Germany.
Thanks to the Internet and Facebook, Wilson is already getting to know many of the skiers he'll be working with on the show. The company sent out a contact list and as soon as everyone received it, everyone started adding each other to their Facebook friends list.
One of Wilson's roommates will be flying out with him from Chicago.
"Facebook is such a small world," said Wilson.One obstacle Wilson will have to overcome is that he doesn't speak German.
"It's going to be hard, definitely," he said. "Fortunately, a lot of guys going have been there before and know German now."
Wilson has a lot of friends and family support for this adventure.
"At first, when I was talking about it, they just thought I was in la-la land," Wilson said. As Wilson showed he was serious about it, his family became excited for him.
"They thought it was an opportunity I needed to take," he said.
While he's gone for seven months, Wilson said he'll miss his family and the Lake City Skiers. This will be the first summer he's been away from the Warsaw ski team for a whole season. The LCS also are hosting three tournaments this year, he said, so it's a tough year to be leaving.
Along with the opportunity of water skiing in Europe, Wilson will get free lodging, free flight to and from Germany and gets a salary.
"I look forward to skiing as much as I want to and not having to pay a penny for gas," Wilson said.
He will have to get used to the weather in Germany.
"Everybody that I have talked to has told me to be prepared for the cold there," Wilson said.
The average high temperature for March 8 is 51 degrees fahrenheit, with the average low being 32. The record high for March 8 is 55 degrees, with a record low of 24.
Despite the cold, Wilson said he's looking forward to the experience. He said he's passionate about the sport and loves water skiing. He acknowledged he didn't get to his level of skiing overnight.
"A decade of skiing, and persistence and skiing with great people that had the patience to teach," Wilson said. "There's absolutely no way I'd be at the level I'm at without Randy and Tracy Patrick and the commitment they have for the Lake City Skiers. If it hadn't been for Randy in the dark being bitten by mosquitoes, I never would have learned my tricks.
"Going into the Lake City Skiers (12 years ago), I always heard about the people who went on and made a career of it. Now it's actually happening for me."
