Olé, Olé, Jose
It was the fall of 2017 and Jacob Hildebrand is running Purdue University Water Ski Team’s team tryouts. A 12 year old looking boy comes to the dock and yells his speed and rope length; “58km, 18.25m.” Jacob, confused, yells back “WHAT??” and their discourse continues…
Boy: “What is the top speed?”
Jacob: “36”
Boy: “and the first rope length?”
Jacob: “15′ off”
Boy: “Yes, that”
He ran into 32′ off that day. Once finished, the boy, Jose Luis Tejada says to captain Jacob “How do you call yourself a leader, when you don’t know kilometers and meters?”
This was only the beginning for the spitfire Peruvian. Camille Clark, club president, was just happy he came out and joined the team. Jose enrolled at Purdue University with a strict focus on his engineering degree; skiing comes second. The major has been a challenge and studying consumes a lot of his time. Still, he makes an effort to come to the semi-weekly practices or attend at least one. Adjusting to being a full-time student has been difficult, but Jose has not missed a beat on the water and managed to dominate his region to become a driving force for pushing Purdue University back to NCWSA Nationals and competing for the title in Division 2.
The Purdue team commutes 45 min to their practice site, thanks to a kind farmer who owns a private ski lake, where they can slalom and trick, and ski around on jumpers sans ramp. This brings another change for the skier from Lima, who used to have a private lake and coach back home. Additionally, the Boilermaker practice site has little wind barrier, serving as less than ideal conditions to train. Although, at some collegiate tournaments that may have helped Jose. One of his best tournaments was when he set a personal best with 2 buoys at 35′ off (12m), and won the Southern Ohio Challenge. This early Fall Midwest tournament is remembered for down pouring rain, 20mph winds, and many scratches in the poor weather.
He is a machine, nothing affects him: wind, rain, etc.
Before each set, Jose has a routine. Modest by nature, 2018 was the first year the Peruvian would allow the team to seed him higher than 3rd round. He’ll be cheering on the shoreline with the team, supporting his teammates until the round prior to his. Then, he goes off on his own, stretches, warms up, and gets in the zone. No one talks to him, and no one helps him with his equipment. “Most skiers shouldn’t get in their heads, but Jose Luis does his best when he’s in his mind.” Teammates believe this to be a large part of his success on the water. Jacob recalls Jose thanking him one day on the dock, for keeping the team quiet for his start. Yet Jacob wanted to thank Tejada, for his being a mentor and for being a killer athlete.
Bringing more to the table than looks and athleticism, Jose Luis Tejada has been helping the Purdue team by coaching the team. He’s very patient with tricking, and is always in the boat helping when he can. During jump, Jose can be found nearby, “he’s always on shore screaming at the team… giving hand signals only half of us understand, and giving pointers on what to do.”
Jose Luis Tejada had an great 2018, which began on the national level with an All-Stars appearance in May 2018. His resume includes a slalom win at the Southern Ohio Challenge (trick was canceled due to weather at the would-be two event tourney), overall, trick, and jump gold at Great Lakes Conference Championship, followed by a sweep of golds (slalom, trick, jump, and overall) as he dominated at Midwest Regionals, including PBs in Jump at 147 feet (44.7m) and trick with 2,470 points.
As the weather cooled in West Lafayette, Jose Luis was heating up for Nationals, and a propelling power to the team’s silver medal in the Division 2 of NCWSA Nationals. His solid division 2 placements, a second-place tie in slalom, first in trick, and second in jump, helped him snag the Division 2 men’s overall title. In his excitement, teammates fondly remember Jose’s toe trick run being reenacted at the banquet.
Sophomore Jose Luis Tejada has more coming for us, with two more years of eligibility we are excited to see what the future has in store for his participation in the NCWSA. Jose was among a field of amazing 2018 nominees, and we are honored to have him as our 2018 NCWSA Male Athlete of the Year.
- 2025 IWWF World University Waterski Championships To Be Held in New Zealand - March 28, 2024
- 2024 Officer Elections: Call for Applications - January 6, 2024
- Congratulations to the 2023 winners of the NCWSA Annual Awards - December 1, 2023
You must be logged in to post a comment.