LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) — Winning three straight division one national titles is an impressive feat, but that’s nothing new for the waterski team at UL Lafayette.

With their latest win, the Ragin Cajuns have now achieved nine national championships since being founded in 1988, which is the most in UL Lafayette history.

Which leaves many to wonder, how does this team have so much success?   

“An extreme amount of hard work that goes in. In the fall, every day we are out practicing as soon as people get out of class to the minute the sun goes down nonstop.”

“As long as we have a boat, we do buy and sell our boats, we have to manage that but whenever we have a boat we come out as much as we want whenever we want, and we get to train all year long.”

Although waterski is not an NCAA sanctioned sport, it is a club sport where athletes get to take their game up a notch.

Most club sports are things like chess or intramural soccer or something like that. The water ski team is a very unique sport because each of us as individuals compete at a very high and professional level outside of college but luckily the university here is one of the few universities that gives us an opportunity to compete collegiately.

And what competitions are in waterski?

“You go around buoys at a certain speed at a certain rope length and then for jump you go over a ramp and you have to go the furthest and then for trick we have hands so you can do some flips, 360’s 540’s.”

This student run team consist of athletes from around the world that make up several different countries.

And, despite them growing up miles apart from each other, here in Lafayette, they’re bond couldn’t be any stronger.

“Here I feel like the team is 100% a family. We work together on and off the water.”