Ashley and Lori Cooper live in a pale yellow house on 60 acres of land at Smith Mountain Lake , near Moneta. They have five children, 10 horses, two dogs and two cats - but only five channels on their television.

That lack of sedentary entertainment has been beneficial, though. Without it, the Coopers' four daughters have become so focused on water skiing that they all qualified for the slalom competition at the National Water Ski Championships last month.

At that tournament, in Lago Santa Fe, Texas, 13-year-old Michaela won the national slalom title in her age group, while her sisters - Suzanne, Randolph and Caroline - were among the fewer than 100 girls in the nation who competed. Their achievements were a culmination of years of development.

At the base of a hill leading from the Coopers' house sits a narrow cove where, three years ago, Ashley Cooper arranged an Insta-slalom course on the water. It mirrors the course on which the girls ski in competitions, with six buoys to ski around, plus an entrance and exit gate to ski through. This is where the Cooper children, including 3-year-old George, turn for their after-school entertainment.

Nearly every evening from March until the water temperature sinks too low in October, the Cooper girls return home from Christian Heritage Academy and don their bathing suits and life jackets. When Ashley Cooper gets back from his job at Cooper Wood Products, they head down to the lake and take turns practicing. Cooper drives a Mastercraft boat, and the girls climb on the back, strap on their ski - slalom is performed on a single ski that resembles a narrow snowboard - grab hold of a rope and get into the water.

One afternoon last week, Michaela skied first in the 90-degree heat, exhibiting the poise and determination that made her the Girls 2 (ages 10-12) national champion. Caroline, 7, went next, followed by Suzanne, 14, and Randolph, 10.

Suzanne showed the most enthusiasm of the quartet as she flew around the buoys on a brand-new ski. She was the first Cooper girl to take up the sport, when she was about 5. Almost immediately after that, Michaela began begging her parents to let her ski. They soon obliged.

"She wanted to start as soon as Suzanne did," Ashley Cooper said of Michaela. "She drove us crazy. She had a fit."

When asked if she remembered why she started skiing, Michaela had no reply. But her youngest sister knew.

"It was because Suzanne did it," Caroline said.

A few years later, Randolph and Caroline began skiing. None of the girls had to be pushed into water skiing by their parents, and Ashley Cooper promises not to push son George to pick up the sport.

"You can't make them do it," Cooper said. "They have to want to do it. If they didn't want to do it, it would be misery" to teach them.

The girls inherited much of their talent from their 40-year-old father, who grew up in Rocky Mount and began water skiing when he was 6. He still skis. He met wife Lori, 39, at Franklin County High School, and the two married 17 years ago before moving to Evergreen, Colo., where Suzanne and Michaela were born.

After four years in Evergreen, they returned to Franklin County in 1990 and moved into a house on the site where they live now. By the time they moved into a new house two years ago, all four of their daughters were skiing. Last summer the girls began competing, with Michaela capturing the Girls 2 state title and Suzanne coming in second in Girls 2. Earlier this summer, Michaela set the state and regional record at the state tournament at Lake Holly in Sparta before winning nationals.

"It's a tough sport," Lori Cooper said. "But these girls make it look easy."

It comes from practice. For the two older girls, Ashley Cooper sets the boat speed at either 32 or 34 miles per hour - the same speeds at which they compete. Each time one of the girls gets a pass - skiing around all six buoys and clearing each gate - Ashley takes more leeway off the 75-foot rope.

In slalom competitions, a skier's score is determined by the number of buoys he or she successfully clears with the shortest length of rope. For example, Michaela won the Girls 2 championship by clearing 3 1 / 2 buoys (it counts as a half-buoy if the skier clears the buoys but does not ski all the way back around it before falling) at 28 feet off the rope at 34 mph.

Suzanne competed in Girls 3 (ages 13-17) at nationals and placed 12th against many girls much older than she. Randolph, who has moved up to Girls 2 this season, placed sixth nationally in Girls 1 (up to age 9), while Caroline surprised her parents by qualifying for nationals.

The girls received coaching during the national tournament from professional skier April Coble-Eller, the 2000 USA Water Ski Coach of the Year who runs Coble Water Ski school in Lillington , N.C. During Michaela's championship runs, Coble-Eller helped her stay calm - a job her parents couldn't handle. Lori Cooper was so nervous during the tournament that her camera was shaking, according to daughter Caroline.

"They come to me for fine-tuning and motivation," said Coble-Eller, who meets with the Cooper girls often in season. "Their parents are the ones who do all the dirty work."

Coble-Eller, who twice was named USA Water Ski Athlete of the Year, coaches about 600 children each year. She said the Cooper girls, whom she has been coaching for three years, are among the best. While professional slalom skiers struggle to gain one buoy each year, the Cooper girls are adding an extra two to three passes annually.

"The ones who really pay attention and are willing to trust what I say and try it on the water are the best," Coble-Eller, 29, said. "And these girls do that. They're progressing quickly.

"Our sport is so self-centered. You have to make the dedication and sacrifice. . . . And [the Cooper girls] make the sacrifices to do it. I'm surprised that all four of them have that drive."

Coble-Eller is also impressed by the dedication that Ashley and Lori Cooper have to their daughters. They take pride in their daughters' success, placing their medals on the mantle in the living room just below enlarged, framed photos of them in competition.

Their extended family also is involved, often watching the girls compete. Three of their grandparents live on the lake, including Ashley's mother, Suzanne, who at 70, still skis.

"Lori and Ashley are both incredible with the girls," Coble-Eller said. "This family as a whole displays a togetherness and an old-time way of doing things together. Skiing is a big family affair."

The Coopers are involved in other activities. The family is active in Hales Ford Baptist Church in Hardy, where Lori leads Community Bible Study twice each week. The three older girls play soccer.

But much of their time is devoted to water skiing, The Coopers will get a break from the sport after the girls compete in October in Charleston , S.C. When the water warms up again in March, the girls figure to get right back on their skis and push themselves even more.

"The hardest thing is being aggressive enough," said Suzanne, explaining what she needs to work on. "My turns are slow and they need to be 'Bam!' "

Her other goals may take longer to unfold. Suzanne, a high school freshman, wants to ski collegiately and study law. Michaela, an eighth-grader who has joined Suzanne in Girls 3, wants to win the national championship at that level and qualify for the junior world championship - which her father believes she could do.

"You tell her something and she just gets it," Ashley Cooper said. "Then she moves on to the next" level.

He could easily have been talking about any of his four daughters.