Waterskiing is a sport where an individual (or more than one individual) is pulled behind a motor boat or a cable ski installation on a body of water. The skier is either wearing one (slalom) or two (double) skis. The surface area of the ski (or skis) keeps the person skimming on the surface of the water allowing the skier to stand upright while holding onto a tow rope.

A patent for a water ski was given to a constructor in Sweden already in 1841, but whether it ever came into use is unclear. The word water ski (Swedish: vattenskida) occurs in the encyclopedia Nordisk Familjebok in 1921. The American Water Ski Association states that water skiing began in 1922 when Ralph Samuelson used two boards as skis and a clothesline as a tow rope on Lake Pepin in Lake City, Minnesota, the Guinness Book of Records of 1974 also stated that a Mr Storrey won a 'plank-gliding' event at a Regatta in Scarborough, North Yorkshire in 1914. The sport remained a little-known activity for several years. Samuelson began taking his "stunts" on the road, performing shows from Michigan to Florida. Numerous claims began to surface as to who was the first water skier, but in 1966 the American Water Ski Association formally acknowledged Samuelson as the first on record. Samuelson has also been credited[who?] as the first ski racer, first to go over a jump ramp, first to slalom ski and the first put on a water ski show. Katherine Lomerson of Union Lake, Michigan has been credited as the first woman to water ski, in 1924.[citation needed]