crashman Posted December 19, 2014 Share Posted December 19, 2014 Hoosier park casino has a lake in the center of the horse track. I say bring in the pros- let's drink some kilo and wager! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller gt2003 Posted December 19, 2014 Baller Share Posted December 19, 2014 I believe there is at least one NASCAR track with a center lake area like that. Hmm Crashman, you may have quite the idea! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller_ Wish Posted December 19, 2014 Author Baller_ Share Posted December 19, 2014 Hmmm drinking, eating and placing bets on pro ski events......LIKE IT!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Kelvin Posted December 19, 2014 Baller Share Posted December 19, 2014 @gregy, yes the Lake Belton Ski Club had a few tournaments in town at the site of the old Temple Country Club. The golf course had transitioned to a municipal course by the time they had some tournaments there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller gregy Posted January 3, 2015 Baller Share Posted January 3, 2015 Just saw this report of a local golf course closing after 60 years. http://kxan.com/2015/01/02/financial-woes-shutdown-lost-pines-golf-club/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller footloose42 Posted January 8, 2015 Baller Share Posted January 8, 2015 The biggest problem with waterskiing IMO is not just that its inherently expensive. It's that it also inherently serves a small number of people. You can invest millions of dollars into a golf course and have dozens of people playing on one 18 hole course at any given moment, or invest millions in a ski resort and have hundreds of people snow skiing at any given moment. You may have to pay a lot as a customer to go there, but at lease once you pay you're given immediate access to hours of fun. You can invest millions of dollars to build a 2, 5, heck even a 10 lake site, but you will still always be limited to 1 skier per lake every 10 minutes (or however long a single set takes). Compared to other high cost sports, that's a ridiculously small capacity. The problem isn't just that there's not enough people who want to ski. Its that even if there were, there wouldn't be enough places for them to go. So what's the solution? I don't know. The problem is inherent so its not like we can just have multiple people skiing at the same time on a single lake. Perhaps we need to focus more on adding entry level activities (similar to creating 15 inch golf holes) that simply exist to a) increase visibility of the sport, b) increase revenue of ski sites to allow them to continue serving "pure" 3-event skiers without going under, and c) hope that some percentage of those who come for the lesser activities eventually transition into 3-event. In this regard, sites like Trophy Lakes come to mind for me. On top of their ski lakes, they also have a cable park and a disk golf course. These things don't get in the way of 3-event skiing, but they give the site a whole lot of extra revenue to be able to keep the 3-event lakes open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller_ Wish Posted January 8, 2015 Author Baller_ Share Posted January 8, 2015 Going to play soccer golf next week at a local golf course. Should be fun. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller scuppers Posted January 9, 2015 Baller Share Posted January 9, 2015 Here's another thought. Skiing also requires people to take their baggy clothes off and put on somewhat revealing bathing suits. Most young people I see these days are pretty reluctant to do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller ToddL Posted January 11, 2015 Baller Share Posted January 11, 2015 While at the snow ski resort, I was enjoying lunch at the bottom of the mountain and taking in the spectacle of it all. Old & young, big & small, all shapes, sizes and abilities were enjoying a slide down the hill, each at their own level. They each paid a fee to access the lifts. Some rented skis and gear, while others had their own. Not everyone was doing "competition"-level skiing; in fact very few were. Still, it was clear that this sport was not in decline. Families were everywhere. In fact, the mountain I was at capacity the first day. 8000+skier lifts per hour... So, you pay ~$40-$80 for a lift ticket and get to ski as much as you want from opening to closing on that day. You can rent gear if you don't have it for another ~$30/day. You can enroll in a class or pay for a private lesson. The park has options for beginners through very advanced. Business is booming. So, what would the traditional water skiing equivalent of this look like? How would it need to be laid out? What should it cost? Maybe it is a multi-lake site with a cable lake for beginners, open water boats for intermediate, and a slalom course for advanced... The main difference is that you can't quite get 8000 pulls a day with water skiing... Not sure how to close that gap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller ToddL Posted January 11, 2015 Baller Share Posted January 11, 2015 This video from Texas Ski Ranch... low cost entry point fall in love with what we love the anchor is the cable lake Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Brady Posted October 12, 2019 Baller Share Posted October 12, 2019 I am guessing the sport is definitely growing if people from Cambodia are springing up and commenting. Was fun to reminisce and go through the entire thread again. Made me miss Mapple all over again!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller ScottScott Posted October 12, 2019 Baller Share Posted October 12, 2019 Interesting this thread popped up again, I hadn't seen it before. I have often thought about the similarities. This thread seems to focus on the sport itself and its popularity, but I often think about the progression of learning the machanics and how many progressive aspects to the mechanics there are. How you work on one thing, then move to the next thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Brady Posted October 12, 2019 Baller Share Posted October 12, 2019 @ScottScott I agree that that is one of the never-ending challenges. I was a professional long driver for 11 years--I have always been able to whack a ball a long ways. I played to a 1 handicap as well, so in water skiing lingo, I was a "Open Rated of 55K Skier." There are so many nuances and tweaks to equipment in golf--like skiing, and there is also a huge amount of muscle memory in both. They are very precision-oriented sports....well, golf is only that, skiing is more. I also played football at a division 1 school, so I kind of excelled there as well. (I won't say what school now because they suck ass). One of the reasons most high school footballers don't move on to the next level is that they are not willing to go all in. They are not willing to forget the pain and sacrifice it takes to sacrifice your body fully. To see a short line skier go into 38 or 39, those guys have no fear. It is a rush just watching them ply their craft. The point of this is that the way I would describe course skiing is the precision of golf with the brutality and adrenaline rush of football. It is a perfect hybrid between the two. I have not seen a sport on this planet that has more to offer than skiing. And everyone that I introduce it to falls in love as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Stevie Boy Posted October 12, 2019 Baller Share Posted October 12, 2019 Golf either the hole is too small or the ball is too big, seriously, if you walked into a bar with some darts threw them at the floor walked,picked them up threw them into the floor, walked and picked them up and then threw them at the dart board, people would think that you were nuts. As for fitness, how does that work if you ride around on buggies all day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller liquid d Posted October 12, 2019 Baller Share Posted October 12, 2019 Sorry Stevie Boy, golf's a game...until you're good. Then, it's a sport. Darts will always be just a game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Clydesdale Posted October 13, 2019 Baller Share Posted October 13, 2019 Access might help, but I don’t think declining access is the reason for declining interest. Tubing is the real enemy. Every hour our kids spend tubing they are not skiing. Not developing skills. Then they reach 18 or so and they walk away from tubing/watersports altogether a “something I did when I was a kid”. Sorry I’m just whining and not offering a solution. I do think most of the ideas posted have merit. But... tubing is pure evil! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller BraceMaker Posted October 13, 2019 Baller Share Posted October 13, 2019 @Clydesdale if you were on a small private ski lake the tubing would be boring and they wouldn't want to do it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Clydesdale Posted October 13, 2019 Baller Share Posted October 13, 2019 @BraceMaker agreed that would change my personal situation, but not a lot of people have that opportunity. I think activity on our public lakes creates interest and can most broadly give a new generation the bug. 40 years ago when I was starting we inspired one or two new tournament skiers from our lake each year. Compare that to the last 10 years I can count the number of tournament skiers coming from our lake on one hand. Actually 3 fingers, and one of those 3 is my son so one could argue he doesn’t really count because I made him practice every day before he could go tubing. Eventually he grew to love it. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller scuppers Posted October 14, 2019 Baller Share Posted October 14, 2019 Over and over we keep going over this - Tubing is a symptom of the disease. The disease is our society's new way. Slalom is hard work (so is trick and jump) and it requires work, dedication, practice, strength, fitness. In this modern world most people just wont put in the effort. All difficult (let alone expensive) sports are declining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Clydesdale Posted October 14, 2019 Baller Share Posted October 14, 2019 Sorry @scuppers I’m new to the forum and the subject, but yes, my point exactly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller scuppers Posted October 14, 2019 Baller Share Posted October 14, 2019 @Clydesdale not meant to be a smear to your post at all just an opinion on the state of water skiing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Chef23 Posted October 14, 2019 Baller Share Posted October 14, 2019 @Clydesdale when my kids were young we had a rule that there was no tubing until you skied and on a weekend morning no tubing until another tuber showed up. My kids learned to slalom, trick ski, wakeboard and wake skate. This got them interested in skiing. When there were friends over they could tube but I always try to teach the guests to ski. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.webp.594e76dd75aefabbbd8c63a3242fcd7d.webp)
.webp.c1d9c97f9cd6aed3eb2f057593d2bd42.webp)
.webp.3cd841288e23e58f209509e0bce4937d.webp)
.webp.a30f66e5f4553a0ea06e4fe12520951c.webp)
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now