At any given time of the year, the TAMU Wakeboarding team can be found on Lake Bryan, which serves as its practice grounds.
Practicing tricks for both recreation and competition, the wake team officially became an organization 11 years ago and has transformed from a club into a recognized club.
Wakeboarding is a water-based sport that uses a board to ride behind a boat or attached to a motionless cable at a cable park. Athletes perform tricks and maneuvers using the wake from the boat’s speed or the features at the cable park, based on their skill level.
TAMU Wake cinched the title of national champions in the finals against Arizona State, who were the reigning champions. The tournament was held from April 15-19 on Lake Las Vegas in Henderson, Nevada.
 The competition is a boat tournament held every spring. Eight members of the team are chosen by a ranking system to represent Texas A&M against the nation’s other top eight collegiate teams.
This is the third time the wake team has competed at this level. However, this is the first year it won.
Whether a team member strictly wakeboards at the cable park or rides both boat and cable, they all have tricks they love, said agribusiness junior John Volleman, who competed this year at the national competition.
“My favorite trick right now has to be ‘the Scarecrow,’” Volleman said. “This is done by edging into the wake on your toe side, flipping forward over your toes and spinning frontside 180 [degrees] after the flip is complete.” 
Tricks like “the Scarecrow” can be split into three different categories for competitions Morgan Burchell, communication senior, said.
“There are spins which are like 360s or 540s — anything with a handle pass or where the board is spinning,” Burchell said. “Then you have inverts, which is anything where the board goes over your head, so any kind of flips. The third category is mobes, which is any  combination of a flip and a spin.”
Club members spend most of their time on Lake Bryan practicing these flips and spins to prepare for competitions and to improve their skill level. Practices take place year-round, and athletes wear wetsuits in the winter to stay warm.
 “We try and take the boat to the lake four times a week if we can, weather permitting, and if there is a driver available,” Burchell said. “How it works is we can usually get through six people in two hours, so we have two time slots in the afternoons that the boat goes out.”
Throughout the year, the officers rank members using a scale catered to their organization. They use this ranking system to choose the seven men and one woman who will compete at the national competition. 
Before the tournament, the wakeboarding team was awarded Team of the Year out of the 85 teams in the league. This award is based on overall attitude of the group, team participation and culture at events, behavior at events and leadership involvement.
Spencer Thames, environmental studies senior and the club’s vice president, said most students who seem to strike an interest in getting involved usually first hear about it through social media or word of mouth.
“They look us up on the Internet or Instagram or something like that, and then they come out and talk to us at MSC Open House as the beginning of the semester,” Thames said. “At open house, we give them all the information about joining. We have two informational meetings the week after open house where they come, and we’ll give them a run down of how the club works.” 
Zachary Ellis, organization member and chemical engineering sophomore, said each member contributes his or her own passion as well as personal commitment.
“There’s something to be said about the camaraderie found in team sports, and TAMU Wake is a prime example of this,” Ellis said. “What started out as a hobby has transformed into a passion, and I would attribute this to the encouraging environment within the club.”