Lomond Assistant Principal Tina McCauley is good on her feet, so to speak. During the school year, she stays busy, keeping a kind, watchful eye on Lomond students. But in the summers (and pretty much any time she can catch a break from work or her evening gig as a swim coach for the Lake Erie Silver Dolphins), Tina loves to spend her time barefoot waterskiing. Her passion for the sport goes beyond a hobby: she is the current Women’s B National Champion, a title she earned this past July at US Barefoot Nationals on Lake Grew in Florida. Learn more about Miss McCauley and her unique pastime. 

How did you get in to barefoot water-skiing?
Since I was small, my family spent our summers at Berlin Lake in Deerfield, Ohio. I don’t ever remember not going there in the summer. My grandparents had bought land on a reservoir and built a cabin where our whole family would stay. I was a swimmer and a water-skier, but my brother started barefoot water-skiing. I used to watch him do it from the boat and finally, one day when I was about 20, he asked me if I wanted to try. And that was it. 

And now this is something that you and your brother do together?
Yep. It’s a family affair. My brother is the Men’s A Overall National Champion and his daughter, my niece, is the Women’s Open Overall National Champion. She’s also a two-time Junior World Barefoot Champion and this year, she was third overall in the World for women.  And she’s only 17. 

So tell us a little bit about how barefoot water-skiing competition works.
There are three events in barefoot. First, there are tricks, where you have two 15-second passes to do as many as you can score. Then there’s slalom, where you also have two 15-second passes to cross as many wakes from the boat as you can. And then there’s ramp jumping, which I don’t do. Just for context, when I’m doing tricks, I can do about 6 or 7 in 15 seconds, but my niece can do 13 or 14!  

What appeals to you about the sport? And are you ever scared?

I love meeting people from all over the world—there are so many international skiers. I love the feeling of standing on the water at 42 miles per hour. I’m not scared of the sport, but I will say that the falls are scary because you’re going so fast that when you do fall, you skip like a rock. Fortunately, you wear a special suit that’s padded to protect your body. Still, falls happen. One time, I fell hard enough to tear cartilage in my ribs. That was painful.

How often do you train?
I train as much as I can. During the summer, I’m able to get to the lake once or twice during the week and then I’m there every weekend. In the fall, I usually take a trip to Florida to train and then in the spring, I head to Lake Lanier, outside Atlanta. 

We hear you’re also a barefoot water-skiing judge? 
I’m the highest Level 1 scorer in the US and over the summer, I scored at the World’s in Canada. When I’m scoring, I get the sheets from the three judges in the boat—World’s was pretty intense because we score the sheets, entering scores and posting them live simultaneously. It was a great experience.

Last question: what IB learner attribute do you exemplify?
Barefoot water-skiing has taught me how to try something new and accept a challenge. So I guess I’d have to say that I’m a risk-taker.