Water skiing is a sport that was first introduced in 1922 by Ralph Samuelson. Wherever appropriate conditions exist, one will find activities involving water skiing. All that is needed is an expanse of water that is not affected by the movement of water. Sheltered bays, rivers and lakes qualify. Skis are made of wood or fiberglass composites.

Skiing is a recreational sport and has become a very competitive one, too. There are many variants of this sport. The popular ones would include Wakeboarding, which combines waterskiing and surfing, and Slalom, which is skiing with one ski. An interesting variation in this is skiing barefoot, which, as the name suggests, is skiing without skis. Kneeboarding, hydrofoiling, trick skiing and ski jumping are some of the other variations.