Pro-Wakeboarders at Pine Cove

Campers at the Ranch and Timbers experienced a thrill when professional wakeboarders Shaun Murray and Emily Copeland-Durham performed tricks and stunts on Pine Cove’s new wake park on Lake Lackawanna Monday afternoon. The Ranch’s own Jiggs Gaffney kicked off the festivities by singing the national anthem before Emily and Shaun got out on the water and showed off their wakeboarding skills!

What did our campers and staff think of Shaun and Emily’s performance on Lake Lackawanna?

“On a scale of 1 to 10? FIFTY.” -Bat Awesome

“Epic!” -Reed

“It was cool. I wish I could see it again!” -Emanie

“They’re good at flipping.” -Meghan

“Pure awesomeness.” -Ryan

“I wanted to be on a wakeboard next to them!” -Nicole

“Great!” -Jiggs

Once Shaun and Emily were done wowing the audience with a ton of flips, tricks–and a couple of wipeouts–everybody headed up to the Timbers’ gym, the Wind Cave, to hear them share their testimonies.

After having seen these athletes impress everyone with their skills on the lake, it meant a lot to everybody to hear from them both, and why they do what they do. Emily told the campers, “It’s not just about wakeboarding and doing cool tricks, it’s about truly finding our purpose with Jesus Christ and our identity with Him.” Later she also shared, “My purpose isn’t just riding a wakeboard, it’s living a life worthy of Jesus.”

Shaun shared his testimony with all of the Timbers and Ranch campers.

Shaun held the kids’ attention by telling them about why he believes in Christ, and using some wakeboarding illustrations to help bring the gospel to life: “The cool thing about wakeboarding is that it paints a cool picture of how we get connected to God. He sent His only son to connect us to Him.”

Shaun ended his time on stage by saying, “I wish I could say a code word to make y’all do another cheer or something…”

Famous last words. This prompted the campers to yell to Shaun to “Say a number!” He complied and the campers answered with the number cheer, to which Shaun said “Alright!”, which led to… Well, it was a near endless loop of camp cheers that Shaun finally ended when he offered to sign autographs for anyone who wanted one!

Emily and Shaun signed autographs for campers and staff at the end of the afternoon!

It was an amazing talk from both of them, and we’re so appreciative that they took the time out to not only perform for our campers, but also to connect with them and share their personal stories.

But that’s not all- these awesome wakeboarders will also be making an appearance down in Columbus tomorrow, so our Silverado and Outback campers will get to enjoy the same amazing time with Shaun and Emily that our Timbers and Ranch campers got to experience yesterday! We are so grateful.

Thanks to Emily, Shaun, and the entire This Iz My Story crew for coming out to Pine Cove!