Kevin Jack, shown here performing water skiing tricks in Miami, has won six individual national water-skiing championships – including two this summer. Todd Ristorcelli photo
Kevin Jack teaches fourth-graders in Florida, in the small city of Bartow, 45 miles east of Tampa. But he hardly lives the quiet life of a small-town teacher.
Jack, 33, travels a lot, and not just visits back to his hometown of Windham, Maine, to see his parents. Jack is a sought-after water-ski instructor and often gives private lessons out of state.
Then there are the trips to competitions.
Kevin Jack
Jack, who first learned to ski on Highland Lake at age 8, is the best trick water skier in the country. Last month, Jack won his second straight open men’s tricks title at the Water Ski National Championships, in Zachary, Louisiana. Jack also won the overall title in his age group (25-35). The two first places were his fifth and sixth individual national titles.
“The overall event is the combination of your trick, slalom and jump score,” Jack said. “I was very surprised to see that I had enough points to win the overall score in my age division, because I am mostly a trick specialist, and just slalom and jump for fun.”
Jack grew up playing baseball and ice hockey in Maine, and graduated from Cheverus High in 2005. His first national water-skiing title came nine years ago, shortly after graduating from Florida Southern College (he attended the school on a water ski scholarship, which is rare for a Mainer). Trick skiing involves – you guessed it – tricky maneuvers, including flips and twists. Jack was always a quick learner, advancing from lessons in Maine to a national-caliber instructor in New Hampshire, and then to Florida.
The good student is apparently a good teacher. Jack is a natural; a professional educator in the classroom, who also has a growing list of water ski clients. During the school year, he will give lessons after school, on the lake in the backyard of his house in Winter Haven. Jack’s renown as a skier and instructor continues to grow.
“I started to get requests for traveling coaching clinics about 10 years ago,” Jack said. “I started doing that in order to save up for my first home and boat.
“I love traveling around to different ski sites around the country and working with new students, helping them learn new tricks, run more buoys, or jump farther.
“This summer, I coached in Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia, and we traveled to South Carolina for the regional water ski championships. I also coach in Texas and in Arkansas frequently as well.”
The “we” refers to Jack’s wife, Kathryn Anne, who Kevin described as “the most beautiful woman who is the best person I know … She is also an amazing boat driver.”
Jack’s travels are not limited to the summer. Even when teaching school – “which is at least a 50-hour-a-week job for me” – Jack will schedule a clinic out of town.
“I often take flights on Friday night out of Orlando to do weekend clinics with my out-of-state students. I will coach them all day Saturday and Sunday, and then fly back home on Sunday night. When I am on the plane, I can catch up on lesson planning or resources as well.
“Everybody in my family says that I work too hard, which is probably true, but I absolutely love this sport.”
Jack got a scare last September when he broke his ankle in a slalom skiing accident.
“The (line) handle got caught around the tip of my ski. It broke my fibula in two places,” he said. “Fortunately, I was back on the water in December, and I worked very hard to be competing at a high level by March.”
That high level continued through the national championships in August.
Jack said some of his students are surpassing him in ability, but Jack said that with pride, not concern. He sees himself as a teacher and competitor.
“I can’t say that I see myself quitting anytime soon, but when all of my students start kicking my butt, I might have to move on to my age division in tricking, too – and some of them are getting pretty close,” he said.
“I guess if I stopped enjoying it, I wouldn’t compete anymore, but I love it just as much now as I did the first time I tried it, maybe more.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.