Big dawg sandbaggers

[Than_Bogan]

@kfennel @Kelvin Ah, I see. But I don't consider that a big deal. If the slots are there for the taking, then perhaps it will encourage Regional participation. But in any case the vast majority of folks don't want to be at Nationals if they are WAY below the level of the field.

 

It wouldn't have a problem if they reintroduced minimum qualification scores, like perhaps level 6. But I also think this is a minor problem that probably isn't worth trying to "fix."

 

P.S. That's amazing for M2 to be quite THAT empty. In the East, which mostly includes short-season states, we had about 10 in M2. B2 had a fairly incredible 15 and G2 was also big at 10. That said, ALL of the women's divisions were in the "show up and go to Nationals" size range (under 5 participants).

[jimbrake]

wakeboarding killed Mens 2

[kfennell]

maybe since there is no competition I'll just go back to skiing 34 and get really good in the next 6 years waiting for M3 :) I'm almost 2 full passes ahead at that speed and I am told I look like I am 100% for sure going to die skiing -15@36

[bmiller3536]

Would more people go to Nationals if we did not HAVE to attend Regionals?

[Than_Bogan]

34 is fun, but so is 36. Get your money's worth out of 36 -- but don't die please! -- and then you can spend the next few decades on 34!

 

(I realize you're mostly joking, but I think most old guys kinda miss 36. Personally I'm glad to have been able to do both. 36 is fast and fun, but -38 is so damn interesting and I would never challenge that line at 36.)

[elr]

Well, you do have to Level 5 qualify in two events or OA to ski OA in SC Regionals. So 2 of 3: 61 balls, 430 trick pts, 60 ft jump or 900 NOPS points to qualify for regionals.

[The_MS]

@mshaw No nats for me this year. Not a chance of a podium the way I am skiing right now.

@jimbrake I will only go if I can get on the podium. I had a blast at lots of nats. Bakersfield, Oke and Houston were all fun. Maybe USA should just host a get together tourney where everyone goes to have fun and drink beer. Rides for the kids and a banquet.

 

To get to nats you should have to place in state, regionals and then bring the best to the nats for the show down

 

 

[dave2ball]

'To get to nats you should have to place in state, regionals and then bring the best to the nats for the show down' is well said MS. And that should be the way the nationals work. BUT It will never happen because USAWS is all about money not the skier. I get a better ride at my local tournament then at the nationals. Something is wrong with that .

 

[mshaw200]

@ jody seal was that painful to admit? :) I have to admit, I really enjoyed it.

 

Believe me, I'm disappointed that there are no other MM overall skiers at Nationals.

[webbdawg99]

@jimbrake. As a M2 skier, I think $$$ killed the M2 division. At 25, when you enter M2, you are no longer on mommy and daddy's bankroll (usually). Hopefully you have a job, but are making the least amount of money you'll make in your life. You can't afford a boat, you can't really afford a new ski, and writing a $160 check to ski at nationals (not to mention the peripheral costs) is painful.

 

I'm lucky enough to have a decent job and a flexible schedule....but most of my peers aren't that lucky. If you aren't 100% passionate about this sport, it's easy to walk away from bc of the expense of truly participating.

 

I was the only M2 skier at our state tourney. The tournament director said to me jokingly, "You're the only M2 skier bc everyone else has to work for a living". Unfortunately, I think this was all too accurate.

[bmiller3536]

@webbdawg I could not agree more, not only is it a $$ issue for us M2 guys, but also between the ages of 26-35 alot of us are starting careers and families and the first thing to go is all the extracurricular activities. That is why I think making skiers attend regionals in ordeer to go to nationals really hurts the number of participants in the M2 division. Having to budget (time and money) for one long ski trip a year is hard enough, trying to budget for two just makes it that much harder

 

[webbdawg99]

@bmiller3536 100% agree. I pass up on lots of other social activities and trips so that I can afford my habit....but I love it. Look forward to meeting you at Nationals!

[The_MS]

@dave2ball Well said. Most 3 event drivers are not good slalom drivers. JD is one of the few that can pull it off.

[Razorskier1]

I'd love to ski nationals some year, but I have too many other commitments with family, friends, vacation time, etc that all absorb both time and money. I can't justify the time off to go to Florida to ski one round of slalom. Someday when the kids are grown hopefully I'll go and spend the whole week having fun. In the meantime, I'll just continue skiing a few tournament weekends a year with my homeboys in MN and WI.

 

Agree with the thoughts on M2, by the way. When you are young and possibly getting married, having kids, etc, it gets tough. There have been many years where I didn't ski a single tournament. The last few years I've skied 3-4 tourney weekends. This year, I might be lucky to get two in. Just the nature of other commitments.

[skidawg]

Unfortunate for many of us that life gets in the way of skiing

[bmiller3536]

@webbdawg I will be around thursday watching some of the big dawgs and skiing some practice. We should meet up and ski a practice set, any other ballers planning to be around the practice lake thursday?