75% of ballers older than 30 y.o.

[6balls]

So far the most recent survey shows approximately 75% of ballers older than age 30. The challenge moving forward would seem to be involve the younger demographic and the female demographic.

[ral]

Is this a surprise???

[Ilivetoski]

Im 16 and in with the other 5 people who are in that demographic. All the people I talk to around my age (B3 kids) all just dont seem to be that into it. They have said things like "I think skiing is ok, but if I never skiied another day in my life that would be perfectly fine with me" I dont see how anyone can feel this way. So I see no way for them to sign on to a forum website.

[Nick Sullivan]

Livetoski, I'm really glad your on here but I can also understand why your buddies are not. I'll bet someday they get back around to skiing like I did after school and getting married. Now, its a huge part of my life at 32.

[Ilivetoski]

It almost seems like they are, for lack of a better term, burnt out. They have been skiing since they were 5 or 6. I have only been skiing for about 4 years. Granted I am now actually competing with them instead of coming in last every tournment, but I cant see myself ever getting burnt out.

[Wish]

Think that's a possibility with JR skiers. The parents have a very tricky balancing act. Also this foram...people actually write more then a line or two like a txt. That requires you buddy's attention span.

[crashman]

good to know there are some seasoned skiers on here. I turn 35 next March and I'm kicking myself because I just really got into the course last year. I'm just thinking where I might be if I had been doing this all along, but then again hopefully I have some good skiing ahead of me.

[inland]

This past season was the first time I was on a ski in 20 years. I'm 38 and could not be happier being on the water again. Ran through the course this year a few times and it was the first time in my life having done so. I didn't do well, but doing it was better than wishing I had.

[Horton]

Being into skiing and hanging out here are two different things. My niece is a top G3 skier .... would not be caught dead on a forum.

[Chef23]

My son who is 12 and Boys 2 is a 3 event skier and reads the forum but doesn't post on it.

[Ilivetoski]

Well I think that part of it is that I always have to know what is going on with skiing. The others ski and thats all they do. Im always reading something new about technique, skis, just trying to understand it more. The limit that my friends know? They ski on GOODE's and according to them RadaR's suck. Also that they own Nautiques, and according to them, Malibu's suck. Thats who you are passing the sport on to.

[A_B]

Actually, it's about 85% if you count the few outliers that are "older than Ham".

 

 

[jipster43]

@livetoski When I was your age my friends skied on Kidders and HO sucked. They owned Mastercrafts and Nautiques sucked. It looks like the future is in good hands to me!

[jefflyman]

Not sure if I'm "older than Ham" but for us older folk I bet my skiing hostory has a lot of similarites to others. I skied from 8 to 21 then came the girls... then came the kids! No to little skiing at this time. As the kids got into their early teens we all got into it. Partly because I could now aford a Prostar! and at 45 excersize of any kind was GOOD. Now 50 skiing is part of my life. I hate to say it but slalom as we know it may not be growing. A recent survey on our lake proved wake boarding was a fav. over slalom. This was from guys that rip up the course.

[alex38]

Im 42, and have huge plans for shortening rope, 99.9 % of my questions get answered here before I can even ask them. So thank you. Maybe more like 99.99%.

[eleeski]

Old farts rock! Especially those of us in Ham's demographic.

 

We can still kick the kids' asses. OK, Kirk did beat me at Regionals but he needed a PB to do it. But I did beat the kid who was top seed.

 

Today, people are staying healthy and active for much longer. Waterskiiers peak at an older age and stay near their peak for a long time. As long as there are old guys, the sport will not die.

 

Eric

[jipster43]

At 44 I'm the old fart at our lake. The rest of the kids are hovering around 32-37. Several of the younger folks are crossing back over from wake boarding. I'm not worried about the future of this sport. It sells itself.

[Steven_Haines]

Jipster43, which site are you skiing at in Bozeman?

[jipster43]

I ski at Otter Tail Lake in Willow Creek. It's about 40 minutes west of Bozeman.

[dthate]

Eric, I like your profound understanding of life.

[Steven_Haines]

Jipster43, is that the man made lake next to the freeway? I haven't been to Bozeman for a while. You live in recreational paradise! Used to ski Big Sky quite often when I lived in Missoula but that was prior to 2004.

[lpskier]

@jipster43 Do you have a college age gal named Abby skiing at Otter Tail?

[jipster43]

@Steven Haines Ottertail is about 20 minutes west of the pond you're speaking of - just south of Three Forks. And yes, this is a recreational paradise... when the weather cooperates.

 

@lpskier Yeah! I took Abby skiing two or three times before the weather shut us down. She's a brassy gal!

 

 

[ForrestGump]

I'm 41, but try to date women in their 20s so it averages out. Isn't that how it works?

[lpskier]

@jipster43 Abby and my daughter are good friends from boarding school. Abby spent the summer of 2010 with us and decided to become a water skier. She's a ball of fire, for sure.