Water skiing: Seels warms to his world of tricks

Colombia calling as water-skiers enjoy a breeze on the Tees. Andrew Baker reports

There can be few less likely entries in the sporting almanac than "International Water- skiing: Stockton-on-Tees", and the world's finest exponents of slalom, jumps and tricks must have blinked when they unloaded their gear and found themselves not in Melbourne or Orlando but on the outskirts of Middlesbrough. But there is water, there are buoys, there is a boat; indeed, there is only one drawback about the venue for the Teesside Masters at the Tees Barrage. As Jason Seels, the British Overall Men's Champion, put it: "That water is bloody cold."

The expensive and glamorous recruitment policy pursued just down the road by Bryan Robson has done wonders for the sporting self-belief of the area. Having enjoyed the attention focused locally by the arrival of Juninho, Ravanelli & Co, the Teesside Development Corporation decided to attract more international stars. They constructed a water-ski course on a blocked-off, cleaned up section of the Tees that already boasts a white-water canoeing course and a dinghy-sailing centre. And lo, the giants of world water-skiing have turned up to compete. It is like a wet version of Field of Dreams.

But champions and record-holders like Andrea Alessi of Italy and Bruce Neville and Emma Sheers from Australia have not made the long journey to admire the venue, no matter how compelling the views of the distant cooling towers of the ICI plant at Billingham. There is pounds 40,000 on offer this weekend, and a last chance of top-level competition before the world championships, which take place in Colombia in a fortnight's time.

Clambering into their wet-suits on the slipway before practice on Thursday afternoon, as workmen feverishly laid turf on the spectator terracing, competitors compared notes on their preparedness for the world title event. "You don't need yellow fever jabs to get into Colombia," Philippa Shedd, the British women's champion (and in her spare time, a GP) declared. "Sure," her rival Sheers said, discarding her jeans beneath a towel. "But you do need them to get out again." Shedd cursed, popped her feet into the sockets on a slalom ski, and leapt into the Tees.

"The water's pretty clean, actually," Jason Seels declared after a practice run. "Apparently there's quite a lot of copper in it, but I've seen a few fish, which is a good sign." Seels is one of Britain's brightest hopes for the world championships. The 20-year-old from South-ampton is the present European Under-21 overall champion, and recently came third in the European senior championship. His forte is tricks, in which the skier runs through a repertory of flips, twists and turns during a 20-second run behind the boat. But he is also a useful jumper, regularly clearing more than 200ft, and a more than adequate slalom skier, although his height - 5ft 9in - holds him back in this discipline. "Every time you clear six buoys," he said, "they shorten the rope. Taller competitors have a natural advantage."

Seels' slighter physique is better suited to the acrobatics of the tricks routine, as he soon demonstrates, leaping around behind the boat like a just-hooked fish. The stunts are divided into different categories: those performed with a hand-hold on the rope and those with a toe-hold, those performed on smooth water and those involving the boat's wake and so on, and each manoeuvre is scored. A "simple" 180-degree spin will score comparatively low, while a 720 or a back flip, for instance, will score higher.

"The key to tricks is hours on the water," Seels said as he towelled off. "It is an incredibly time-consuming business, but the hardest bit is not actually learning the tricks but getting them to flow within a routine." The sort of excellence that enabled Seels to break the British tricks record that had stood for 14 years results from a daily grind, summer or winter. "If I can break the ice," he said, "I ski."

In the United States such dedication and achievement would be handsomely rewarded on the professional circuit. But Seels and his compatriots must rely on the support of sponsors such as Ski Nautiques and O'Neill wetsuits (and he gamely named another seven companies) and on prize money from events such as this weekend's on Teesside.

"Very few people in the world make a living from this sport," Seels, who is studying Sports Science at Portsmouth University, said. "But I just love it. I travel all over the world and I am constantly learning new things. It is addictive - I guarantee you that anyone who tries it will be hooked." It was time for another practice run. Seels wriggled his feet into the straps once more, and plunged with a grin into the coppery but clean Tees. He was, he had said, "really up" for the weekend's competition, looking forward to the world championships and - provided he gets the right jabs - beyond.