Pro Skier/Coach Section – Behind Pay Wall - What do you think?

[Horton]

Pro Skiers are busy people and getting them to hang out on a forum is hard. I have talked to a few about creating sub forum where they run the show and for a month at a time. It would be a private section behind a pay wall. At this point it is just an idea.

[FrankS]

I dont know if I would be willing to pay for that.

[Wish]

Where does the $ go?

[Chuck_Dickey]

Could be great, bring it on!

[Horton]

@Wish

All the money goes to the coach. This is about giving you guys another way to get good information.

[luckyone]

great idea , anyone who can get me to 32 , off that is not my current mph. you put out a number ? Im on radar equip......cant be that hard.

[luckyone]

can i pay by the rope legnth ?

[Horton]

I have not negotiated the price yet. I talked to two skiers so far. There is tentative interest. One problem is that it could become a $1 an hour commitment. Sort of a bummer for guys just trying to make a living.

[BG1]

Sounds like a good idea and I sure don’t see what it could hurt.

[jipster43]

@Horton Apparently you haven't cruised the wide world web of porn. That is admirable. However there are ways to delay an unveiling until the price is right.

 

Errr... ugh.... That's not to say I want to see Rossi disrobe - but maybe some sort of financial ticker can be set up that alerts them when their dollar threshold has been met.

 

@Than_Bogan might know more about this than myself.

 

[RichardDoane]

seems like sending video to the said pro/coach for a fee would be more beneficial than just talking

[skibug]

Depends on the price and time of year. In the off season (November - March for me) I might not be as active. I would want to be able to "use" any knowledge gained, give feedback, recieve feedback, go try agian....repeat the cycle. I can't do that in the off season.

[6balls]

@richarddoane if it was an area with gated entrance on the forum, I would think one may want to post video for the discussion.

[tjm]

It s a

 

[ToddF]

I am assuming we would post our videos and they would analyse them.

 

From prior experience to something like this and depending on how much they are getting paid, there would have to be some type of rating system or expectations on the coaches ability to respond and critique the skier.

 

Have an actual timeframe for which they would be online. 6-8 Tuesday, Thursday and Sat

 

I wouldn't want to pay 100 dollars to post a video and get only one response back

that says "get stacked". I know that was an extreme example but I guess it would all come down to the expectations from both sides.

[skihart]

I think that this forum is about open and free discussion between enthusiasts of our sport. I love the fact that the pros pipe in once in awhile with valuable comments that really add to the uniqueness of the forum. Being able to converse with the top athletes of any given sport is something that is almost unheard of. My opinion is that, if a pro chooses to participate, he or she will inevitably get compensated through more ballers actually getting lessons from them.(and perhaps video coaching) I am sure the WIlson bros, MB, and Seth S. have had more ballers visit after their participation and input on the forum. I for one am more tempted to visit one of these guys because I know they are interested in Joe Average by their comments on various topics. Also through their comments I can gauge whether or not their coaching style is something that would work for me.

[luckyone]

like the video idea some how.I like a coaching style that just tells me what to do .(squeez back hand at a certain time or whaterer.)Maybe the pro can see something my friends cant express to me.

[estrom]

My vote stems more from the perspective of not having access to a course, so the idea just wouldn't be useful to me, not that I don't like it. I do see a point to what @skihart is saying though. Water skiing is very unique with the interaction between "pros" and "joes" and it's very cool. I'm sure some pros would participate and others wouldn't. Would that change how people look at or feel about them? I don't know the answer to that. Would this idea make interacting with these pros at tournaments now seem "weird". Just throwing out random thoughts here.

 

Ultimately, I would say find a pro willing to be the guinea pig and give it a beta run to see how it works

[Brady]

I have a different take than @skihart has, although I really appreciated his opinion. Maybe we could have the best of both worlds with this type of forum. I for one would love to get advise on a posted video and would be willing to pay quite a bit for that advise. In addition, I would love to see the comments and advise given on other Ballers who have put in their videos. Case in point, when @aswinter05 posted his video, I loved all the comments, but I especially loved when @OB commented on his wife's skiing telling her not to push so hard on her back foot. That made sense to me and really helped me out. (I also liked his advise on when to start and stop filming and what she should be wearing! :))

 

So, for the ballers that don't want to pay for the forum, they will be able to continue as is and will be able to get excellent advise from fellow ballers.

 

For the ballers who want to pay a small premium to be able to view and see comments from ballers who have submitted their videos to the pros, they could have access to the pay-per-view forum.

 

And for the ballers who want to have specific advise from the pros on their own videos, they could pay a higher price.

 

I think ballers who turn in videos for review could also have access to a particular pro maybe on a one-time basis in a forum for an hour or so. This would be super invaluable and would limit the amount of time the pros would have to be on, so to speak.

[jipster43]

Schnitz sorta' has a program like this in place where you pay a fee and can call him at any time to discuss stuff. It seems like you could pay a monthly fee and expect a response to a post within 24 hours. Perhaps have a feature in which you can request a specific pro's counsel - bumping the pro's take ($) at the end of the month.

 

I do worry about what it may do to the non-paying side of the forum. It is always a nice surprise to get a response from Marcus or Brooks or the like. I'm assuming that would disappear in the regular forum.

[Skoot1123]

The one caveat to my vote is that during the winter months I would be less likely to pay for the service when I am not skiing.

[Horton]

@skihart I hear you. This idea is more of a limited engagement thing. I for sure do not want to move the pros out of the public part of the forum. Hell no! I want to let one pro at a time go behind the pay wall for a month at a time and give some more personal attention. This is really just an idea for now. Not sure if it will happen.

 

@TJM Yes. Your way is better but not everyone can do that.

 

@jipster43 I do not think and do not want this to impact the public forum. If it did I would kill it.

 

@ToddF it would be largely up to the coach but i see it as more casual. Post a video or a question. I do not think it would be $100. At least not at the start - not even close.

 

This is still a evolving idea. In the end I am trying to create value for you guys.

[6balls]

It would also be a cool way to provide support to our pro's. Good outside the box thinking.

[Brady]

@OB. Amen brother, although I don't remember ever saying we always had to be serious!! :) I love the fact that we can have fun and yet learn at the same time. Sorry, I didn't get the quote right, but hopefully I got your advice right. If you would like, I could just set up a pay pal account with you. Where would you like me to send the money for your advice?

[Horton]

I am thinking that the first coaching section should be "OB's Airport Lounge". $5 to get in and a 3 drink minimum

[TylerR]

@horton I'd pay for that

[RichardDoane]

@Horton - our "off-season" has begun up here (drysuits and cold water) but we're still skiing, next weekend I'll shoot some video now that my hand is functional, I'll be glad to post and be a guinea pig for whoever you can get to be your November "coach" if you'd like ?

[Horton]

@richarddoane this may be a video thing but it does not have to be. I don't want to paint is a all video all the time. I am not against that but is it more free form than that.

[sunvalleylaw]

For now I voted not interested. Perhaps I could be convinced to invest, but for now, I think the open forum has plenty for me to learn from, and the more experienced members can help me with any vid I might post, and/or coaching tips that would apply to where I am in the game.

 

If some others see some sort of use in it, doesn't bother me personall if it exists. As long as the open discussion and sharing that has been present continues. Our sport is small enough. If one started to have to pay to get any decent advice here, I am concerned it concerned it could drive potential sport and forum participants away.

[Texas6]

This is a thin line but it could work DEPENDING on the level of commitment from the pro skier. Knowing what I know of this bunch, I doubt this will be a problem. You would really need a BETA test candidate to help you by doing this for a month or two for the entire forum for free. OR you could ask them to drop in on occasion for a week at a time until the Ballers get some idea of what it is they will be paying for.

[BraceMaker]

To me - I would almost feel as if a "ball of spray bulk discount on video coaching" or a "video coaching exchange - ala health insurance exchange" where coaches could take on all baller's videos for a month (impose some form of limit) would be useful.

[Bulldog]

I would pay depending on who it is….

[tjm]

right

[Chef23]

Even if it was some sort of commitment from the coach to spend a certain amount of time discussing their ideas I would be interested in seeing if it has value. I really enjoy when a Marcus or a Seth posts stuff on here but given what else they have going on they aren't here all the time. If it was a different coach each month that made some money by being willing to commit to the dialogue I would be open to paying for that and seeing how it goes.

[BRY]

Seems everyone is looking at this as "coaching", in particular one on one coaching. That probably can be done better directly, one on one with said coach. Think they all do video coaching.

 

Alot of what is on this forum is theory (most?). Perhaps having a Pro or two (dissenting viewpoint, Roger & Ebet style?) expounding on a topic. Example: Arm preasure, how much, where, which arm and why? Reaching forward and down in the preturn, why, does it matter? I think it would be fascinating to have them expound in depth with the knowledge and experience they have. At ski school it's your 15 or 30 minute or whatever. Rarely is there time to sit with them and discuss. Doubt they are going to do so on a forum for free. Such discussions with skiers at tournaments and on this board have been invaluable to me and a big part of the fun. Having a Pro "sit" in and engage seems very cool, particularly if they are for sure going to be around for a week or a month.

[6balls]

If it does fly, and video is involved...it's human nature to want to send in your killer best line pass and ask for help. The best pass you have on video is not your typical skiing, nor will showing a pro help you improve. It's ok to send that video, but you better also send the one that shows your most common mistakes and where you implode most frequently...correcting the habitual implosion problem could be terribly helpful. One must be humble enough to throw that out there, though, and say that nine times out of ten this is what I do. When I get it right one time out of ten this is how it looks. How do I make the other 9/10 look like the 1/10 more consistently? This puts more time onus on the individual asking for help to provide the best info such that the pro may, in time efficient fashion, make a difference for the student.

[robscholl-OF]

It is always worth a try. If it does not work, what is the harm? If it works, you are brilliant...OF

[Brady]

@Horton. Any time frame if and when you will try this out?

[ScarletArrow]

Wasn't this idea already tried with another site? Why didn't it work before?

[Dez]

KISS

Have a limited number of baller dicount vouchers for the Pro's couches that are interested.