McClintock Water Skiing Dynasty Aims Higher

Article by Guelph Mercury

Jason McClintock runs through some of his trick routines on Thursday, August 14, 2014. - Rick Madonik, News service

Whitney McClintock runs through some of her trick routines on Thursday, August 14, 2014. - Rick Madonik, News services

When water skier Jason McClintock starts a slalom course, he knows he's going to fail somewhere along the way before he gets out of the water.

It doesn't matter if it's on the perfect, warm, glassy lakes of Florida where he trains or chilly, wind-whipped Spray Lake outside Newmarket, where he and sister Whitney will compete in this weekend's Canadian water ski championships.

It's simply the nature of the event. Like high jump, the bar is raised until an athlete fails — only in this sport, it's the boat's speed that gets faster and the tow line shorter. So, the only question for the Canadian champion is whether his best on any given day will be good enough to win a medal.

"You can never max out," he says.

No matter how short the tow line or how many buoys he gets around, "you always want more. It's pretty addictive."

He's also the reigning Canadian open trick champion with his crowd-pleasing front flips in a judged event that comes with its own joys and frustrations.

The 27-year-old has been water skiing since he was so small he was practically hidden by the speedboat's wake. Being a McClintock, he says, meant you had to ski early and well. He's part of a dynasty in the sport that goes back generations.

His grandparents bought a trailer park on Puslinch Lake in Cambridge, a favourite for water skiers.

His father Jeff was a Canadian champion, while his mother Sherron competed nationally for the U.S. and later Canada.

Uncle Joel was a world champion, and aunt Judy set 48 national records.

Younger sister Whitney has earned world and national titles in all three events: slalom, trick and jump.

They aren't the only multi-generational talents in the sport — the Athans, Horwood and Ross families are also prominent names — but the McClintocks are synonymous with water-skiing success nationally and internationally.

"There's something about the McClintocks," says national team coach Steve Bush. "They like the challenge. They like to win. You can't buy what they have, Jason and Whitney. Their uncle and aunt had it, too. It's crazy."

He should know. In his 36-year run, Bush has coached them all.

While he's happy to coach the first skier in a family, it's the second or third down the line he really looks forward to working with.

"They're usually better," he says.

Kids want to surpass the achievements of their parents, and younger siblings want to crush the records held by older brothers and sisters. So it was with the McClintocks.

Jason competed in his first nationals at age 8; Whitney at age 6.

Jason is a Canadian champion many times over; Whitney is, too, plus world champion in 2009 and '11.

He picked up two silver medals at the 2011 Pan Am Games; she came home with gold and three silvers, after two golds plus silver at the '07 Games.

Now they're both looking to make the 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games team, with four spots open.

Being part of a family with such history in the sport and having an older brother "pushed me when I was younger," says 24-year-old Whitney. When Jason mastered something, she wanted to do it.

These days, though, she's also driven to reclaim the women's world record in slalom and fend off younger competition in the trick and jump disciplines.

In slalom, the world mark held by American Regina Jaquess is now 3.25 buoys on a 10.25-metre tow line, just ahead of her Canadian record of two buoys at that length.

"That record, that's my focus," says Whitney, bundled up on the shoreline while watching junior competitors struggle with windy conditions at this weekend's nationals. She's coming off an ankle injury and isn't competing in the jump event — in which, similar to ski jumping on snow, they take off from a ramp and soar as far as they can before landing, hopefully, on their feet and skiing away.

At last year's Canadian championships, she was beaten by teenager Taryn Grant in the open division.

"She's pushing me," says Whitney, a national team member for more than a decade. "She's amazing."

McClintock is starting to face pressure in other disciplines as well. In the open division of the trick event last year, she was beaten by Neilly Ross — all of 12 years old at the time. She's the daughter of Whitney's old teammate Drew Ross, gold medallist in slalom at the 1999, 2003 and 2007 Pan Am Games.

Jason McClintock, meanwhile, has been battling 20-year-old Stephen Neveu.

"Four years ago I was coaching him," Jason says, and now "he's nipping at my heels."

That's a measure of how hard it can be to stay on top in a sport where equipment and training is constantly improving and records are broken often.

"If I talk to the young skiers like Neilly and say the world record in tricks is over 10,000 points, she says, 'OK,' " coach Bush says. "They're chasing whatever Whitney and Jason do. It's not a big deal. They're just chasing it."

When it comes to flipping and spinning on the water behind a speedboat, Neilly Ross, now 13, stands out. She's beating people who have been skiing longer than she's been alive. Strap on a water ski and she looks ready for the university team.

"In tricks, in the world, she's five years ahead of everybody else," Bush says.

Ross was born in Belleville and lives in Florida, where her father runs a water ski academy. In fact, the entire Canadian team and most of the best from around the world are based in and around Orlando.

Next summer, though, Toronto will be the sport's epicentre during the Pan Am Games. Athletes and coaches hope to boost water skiing's profile internationally and perhaps even revive attempts to become part of the Olympics.

Water ski and wakeboard competition is slated for the west channel at Ontario Place. Though the nearby wind turbine was an early concern, Bush now says the location is ideal.

"The venue itself is spectacular because it's in Toronto. That's great visibility for our sport," Bush says, noting other sports will be contested in the area. "We've never had that; we're usually tucked away."

He's hoping to make the most of it, targeting eight medals from the four athletes.

What was once a two-horse race with the Americans is getting tougher with Central and South American countries upping their game, but on the strength of 35 medals from past Games and with home-crowd advantage, he likes his chances: "We do so well because we treat it like our Olympics."