History

Texas State Wakeboarding, the Ride of a Lifetime

By Sam Isenberg

Jack Guenther, founder and president of the Texas State Wakeboarding team gets ready to ride. Photo by: Adam Rejino

The inception of the Texas State wakeboarding team took place in August 2012.

Jack Guenther, founder and president of the team, came to the university expecting there to be a wakeboarding team, and when he found it otherwise he and a group of motivated friends made it happen.

“In our first semester we had 40 members,” Guenther said. “Since then, just six semesters later, our biggest semester has been 80 members.”

As the team has grown, so too has the success at competitions. Texas State usually places in the top two overall at competitions against other regional universities, according to Guenther.

The universities Texas State competes against include: UTSA, Baylor, Texas A&M, Texas, Arizona State, Oklahoma, and many more.

“With so many lakes and Texas Ski Ranch right here, I feel like it just attracts riders,” Guenther said. “We have so many really good riders.”

The team usually participates in three competitions in the fall and one or two in the spring.

Members of the team are given the choice to compete on either the cable team, wakeboarding while being pulled by a cable, or they can be on the boat team, wakeboarding while being pulled by a boat.

Aside from practicing for competitions, the Texas State wakeboarding team tries its best to give back to the university, the community of San Marcos and the surrounding areas. The team participates in Bobcat Build and tries to do all it can to help out at Texas Ski Ranch.

Photo from texasskiranch.com

“Texas Ski Ranch takes really good care of us, so we try to take really good care of them,” Guenther said.

Guenther says being part of the team is about more than just wakeboarding.

“I’d say we’re 50 percent competitive team and 50 percent social club,” Guenther said.

The Texas State wakeboarding team gives students an opportunity to live the lake lifestyle while in college. This team is about hanging out with people you have a common interest with, being outside and making memories that will last a lifetime, according to Guenther.

“I came into college with five to ten friends, and now I have 60 awesome people on this team who I can hang out with anytime,” Guenther said.