The state of water skiing in the USA from the BallOfSpray perspective

[Cayman2]

Been my experience that the true elite of the sport are wonderfully gracious ambassadors of the sport. It's the wannabe elites who tend to be dicks. Shared the shade behind judges tower at Broho with KLP and JR for part of the day. Super nice guys, got into long discussion on bindings. That doesn't happen much in other sports, and is one of our strengths.

[eleeski]

I am guilty of accusing folks of being elitists. Many are still wonderful people and good friends but have such a narrow view of skiing that overall the sport can be hurt. We need to embrace the weird tastes of the kids and do things like encourage wakeboards, design boats that have some wakes and allow some changes in the rules. Chasing that extra buoy might be fun and rewarding personally but can be detrimental to the sport if it excludes the base.

 

Still, most skiers are absolutely wonderful with the best intentions. Even small, this is a great sport to be part of.

 

Eric

[kpickett]

I was spoiled for the last 10 years, being a member of a great club in NorCal - the best owners, great club members, and perfect conditions pretty much every day - and we skied three or four days per week. We skied the INT because it was hosted there.

 

We recently moved to a part of the country where there are no private lakes. There are many public lakes, but you cannot train on a public lake. I'm lucky to have made friends with another slalom fanatic, and he got a permit and put a course on the public lake, but most of this summer, it has been out of commission because of flooding.

 

My 9 year old wanted to ski tournaments this year, but we've had about 3 sets on the course all summer. I'm not going to put him out there with no practice and have him have a bad experience and decide he never wants to do it again, so we're out of it for another year.

 

Access to good training conditions is the biggest barrier. I've been so frustrated that several times this year I told my wife I'm ready to sell the boat and do something else. This is a sport where you can't really compete without access to a private lake.

[Bulldog]

@Cayman2 Got it exactly correct... I have met a few top pros in our sport and they have been amazing people to speak to. Its the guy who thinks he is better than everyone else is who I think hurts our sport and turns potential new skiers away just with his shitty attitude. @ eleeski that is what I meant by the term "the bomb".

[BrennanKMN]

I find this thread particularly interesting as I am some who aspires to compete in a tournament, but hasn't yet. The main reason I haven't is I don't think I am good enough. I would LOVE to go out there and tear up the course and meet new ski buddies but at the moment it is a waste of my time.

 

As an M1 skier I just ran my first ever 15 off 36 MPH pass last week. (For context)

If I were to attend a tournament I would pay money to drive some where far away, ski a pass or two, likely miss a ball in my second pass and not even score anything because I didn't even get to 36MPH. Why would I do that when I can go out to my local public lake and enjoy my self working at getting consistent at 36 mph?

If I was a skier who could run 22 off of the dock, hell yeah I'd be going to tournaments.

Moral of my story is you need to find a way to make tournaments more attractive for those who are not as good as the vast majority of tournament goers.

 

I have been skiing the course for 5-6 years now. I set a goal last year that once I can run 28 off at 36 I'll start attending tournaments. Hopefully they are still around when I get there...

[Waternut]

In the past 3-4 years I've probably pulled/introduced 100+ different people behind my boat on open water. For the record, I have never pulled a tuber. Most continued to come out for at least a full summer. Of those people, I'd say less than 10% of them could slalom ski and maybe only 5% could actually ski well enough to even try the mini course. Let's not forget that getting people into competitive waterskiing is not exactly quick and easy.

 

I think @Stevie Boy raises a cool idea. I think it would be cool to compete against another club, especially if it's a local club. I don't see more than a handful from each club competing and you'd have time to play around afterwards. You'd make new friends that you'd likely be able to hang out with on a regular basis...not just at tournaments. You'd also be able to have a much more relaxed judging group as everyone are friends. You could instigate mulligans to give people a second chance.

 

I'm likely one of those problematic people who are pulling the official numbers down. ZO would be cool but PP is fine by me. Last Saturday, I skied 5 @ 35off (new PB for me) and Sunday I skied 3 @ 35off but I have no interest in real tournaments. When I skied to my new PB on Saturday, I was struggling and it took me 3 tries to ski my opening pass at 22off. In a tournament, that means I get half a pass and I'm done skiing. Even if that was at my home lake, what a F-ing waste of time! I ski because I love to ski and see how far I can go. Now if the tournament was to ski 6 passes and where you end up, regardless of any miss or fall, is your score, I'd probably be interested. Not sure if that's what GrassRoots does or not but that's about the only way you're going to get me to compete.

[Horton]

@BrennanKMN maybe this is not the best answer but it is like jumping in a pool. Ya just have to jump. There is no right time.

[Texas6]

I really like tournament skiing, and the more I do it the better it gets, the more people I meet, the more I appreciate it for what it is. Skiers putting together a day with like minded people to test our progress against ourselves and the rest of the sport. But half the fun is getting to know the other skiers and actually participating in the camradarie. Regardless of how you ski, it's worth jumping in with both feet. For the record, I generally ski terrible in tournaments, but still feel they are worth my time. And my 12 year old had so much fun at regionals, that he made me pull him for three sets on Saturday!!

[skinut]

In my neck of the woods I see fewer and fewer skiers both at our public ski site and at tournaments. I think unless something changes drastically with the fundamentals of our sport it will go the way of snow ski ballet. Over the Fourth of July I saw maybe three people free skiing the entire weekend.

 

There is almost nothing that is gives people a reason to ski. Boats with huge wakes, rough water, lots of other activities on the water, regulations on floating courses, changes in younger generations culture(It's hard to get likes on Facebook from a video or picture of skiing), etc. Take it one step further. You have to have smooth water, time to set up a course or access to a private lake, tournament boat. Oh, and you've gotta have a new ski as well.

 

In order for the sport to continue it has to evolve. This is somewhat like the snow ski industry faced as snowboarding began to eclipse snow skiing. The skiing industry evolved and created a product that bridged the gap between the two with wider skis built to work in terrain parks and float better in powder. A great example would be using drone technology to have a floating course that didn't require mainlines and pvc pipe(this was mentioned in another post). You just throw out some markers and they find their way to the appropriate position.

[rodltg2]

I just checked out registration status for the tournament at our lake this weekend. Maybe 1/4 of our club members are registered. It used to be closer to half I think.

 

I have more fun at my sons BMX races. He is only 4 just learned to ride a bike a month ago. As soon as the training wheels came off I took him to track. Even though he is just learning he has a better chance of winning a race than I do skiing. He races against kids in his skill level and age.

[ToddL]

At a tournament, you cheer on your friends. It doesn't matter if they are your direct competitor or not. You want everyone to ski his or her best. That's my take away from tournaments. I'm on the shoreline rooting for my friends. When your friends are at the tournaments, you want to be there, too.

 

If you are new to tournaments, start making friends at them by helping out with delivering waters, lunches, etc to judges. Dock start for other divisions. Getting involved means making friends and that makes tournaments fun.

 

Also, at a tournament there is something formal and you gotta suck it up and get it done. There are no mulligans. Sometimes the perfect gate & 1 ball are lost at 2. So, the stakes are just higher. I get nervous and amped up because of it. I'm sure others do, too. So, when someone kicks butt at a tournament, it is worthy of celebration. I am not going to tournaments to be on a podium. I go for two goals: ski better than my seeding placement and/or ski better than I have done in prior tournaments. That's how I measure success. At practice, I still recall that time I ran a shorter line than ever before... even though the boat wasn't properly calibrated and the times were very slow. However, when I run that pass in a tournament, holy cow! I will be on such a high that my feet will not even touch the ground.

 

[lcarnes]

We are trying several new things with the Mystic Waters Ski and Skeet to make the tournament interesting for spectators, easily accessible to new skiers and worth the trip for the pros. We are borrowing ideas from Tryon International Equestrian Center down the road, which is drawing 5,000 plus crowds every weekend for show jumping. 90+% of the spectators are not horse people. Their model: create a fun, engaging atmosphere (some call it carnival) and people will come to watch an obscure sport.

 

We will have a “Pick a Team/Win a Prize” booth where spectators enter a raffle benefiting our local charter school and it gives them a reason to cheer for a given Pro/Am team (plus gives the sponsors a new email list). We are including some drama by bringing in Alex the Super Juggler to attempt to juggle on water skis right before the Pro Head to Head final. Pros are vying for $3,000 cash prize for men and $3,000 for women. We will have both MasterCraft and Nautique pulling the skiers in a format similar to Diablo.

 

The handicapping system for the Pro-Am allows brand new, never-skied-a-tournament before skiers to actually have a shot at winning in the Pro-Am for $1,000 split between the Pro and the Am.

 

There is a Health and Wellness Festival that includes vendors anxious to be in front of the athletes, live music, other demonstrations, kids play areas, open slots for the public to join the shooting tournament. We have four outstanding food trucks, and a catered awards dinner open to the public. All of this is a huge part of the draw for the crowd (we are anticipating 2,000). No one was bored last year; it’s a festival you can enjoy all day, skier or not.

 

We are doing this because our ski site is incredibly friendly to the skiers (many PB’s set at last year’s event) and has the infrastructure to handle a big crowd. It’s also EXPENSIVE to produce. Almost impossible to get enough sponsor money to cover the costs. It’s a chicken or egg thing. The only way this kind of thing will get any traction is if the industry supports it.

 

[ToddL]

FYI -

SCR Regionals slalom participation was down 2014 to 2015 from 215 slalom skiers to 169. Of those, 135 skied both years; 80 skied only last year; and 35 skied only this year.

 

Of 135 those skiers who skied both years, 69 of them matched or improved their total buoy count, 31 of those skiers improved by 5 or more buoys.

[Orlando76]

I don't ski tournaments because:

1) I'm a lousy skier

2) I've never felt the need to compete and beat the next guy

 

I always try to beat my PB. I do go to every tournament as a spectator within 1.5 hours of my house when I find out about them but unless I see it posted here or receive an email from Performance S & S advertising it, I don't know about it.

[brody]

Not sure why you can't train on a public lake?? I regularly do, the conditions aren't consistently as nice nice as a tournament site, but I free ski on the bad days and work on technique more. I also train behind a pp boat as well as a zo boat. Then I go compete at the local tournament site. My public lake and tournament site pb's are within 1 buoy difference (1@38 vs 2@38 34mph). Ski as many places and different conditions as possible!!!!

[kpickett]

@brody - Well, I'm told this year was unusual, but a couple weeks after the course was in, the floods came and ripped all the buoys off. Then we went to put the buoys back out, and the floods came again. Then we put in a portable course, and the debris made the lake impossible to navigate. Since then, the launch ramps have been under water.

 

You're a better skier than I am, but I feel like I can't "train" when the conditions are so inconsistent. You can get a few good sets in, but I wouldn't call it training.

 

This is a real question, because my wife and I have been discussing whether it's worth trying to have our kids compete - does anyone have any statistics about how many folks competing at the regional or national level train on public vs. private water?

[Texas6]

@ToddL - ughhhhh

[Waternut]

I think waterskiing can be seen as a lot like golf. For a long time golf was an elite game played only by those rich enough to have a membership at a private club. Golf is not something you can pick up and do in a day or a weekend, it takes time and a lot of practice. Think about how many times you swing a driver in a round of golf... I bet it's less than a single pass through the slalom course. Golf is often more expensive to play than skiing and requires equal up front costs to start playing. You're constantly buying very expensive new gear to try for just a marginal increase in performance.

 

So how come golf is so popular when it costs more to play, cost more to get into, requires more land, and more upkeep costs? IMO golf has figured out a way to make the sport fun and competitive for Joe Schmoe. Something that waterskiing just isn't doing. In golf, you can play against your friends even though none of you are any good. You can play by your own altered rules as you see fit even though the majority of golfers still play by the core rules with only very minor tweaks to make it less punishing (aka more fun). Who the heck plays a real golf tournament anymore besides the pro's? I know I haven't played one in over 25 years and I hated it even then. I've played in countless handicap, scramble, and best ball tournaments though and yes they are more expensive than playing a standard round with friends.

 

I worked at a really nice private golf club in SC for 2 years and it had 2, 18 hole courses. We closed 2 days a year (Thanksgiving and Christmas). So between 2 courses and 726 days of possible golf play, there was not one single straight up tournament. You either play handicap, best ball, scramble, or something else. Not one person ever complained that there wasn't a tournament where they had to play straight golf against each other. So why is that all we do in waterskiing? No questions...that's just the way it is....and we wonder why tournament participation and AWSA memberships are on the decline.

[Horton]

@OB

Yea. What is your point. The forum is 75% of the traffic. You are the source of 90% of the drama.

[Ilivetoski]

@OB how does not having ball of spray grow the sport?

[aupatking]

BOS is where I came for answers to fin setting, offside turn problems, and other tech/technique questions when I first came back to skiing. Pretty much every time I'd search for info, it led me here. That's why I'm a member, and a drama contributor.

[brody]

@kpickett. Sorry I always forget that other lakes aren't as "good" as mine. We are on a fairly small shallow lake. The water levels from a drought to a flood might change 2 feet and we don't really have a ton of boat traffic. Really only factor is the wind factor. Couldn't ski there today! I do understand what your point is

[kpickett]

@brody - I am actually really grateful that my buddy maintains a course on our lake. At least we get to ski it, and it's pretty good for the kids at slower speed. I had been working on 35 off at 34, but with the rollers on open water, I just feel like I can't advance at all, and it's frustrating. My wife feels like our kids won't really be able to compete with kids who train on private sites.

[Ed_Obermeier]

@Waternut - your post above pretty much summed up what INT League is trying to do. Yeah INT isn't perfect but it addresses the issues you've correctly pointed out (IMO) more closely than anything else going right now. Just sayin'.

[gregy]

@kpickett I never been even close to be competitive in a tournament but yet I've been to plenty. I went out to a tournament a few weeks ago and wasn't even skiing but met several new friends from BOS. Had some good conversations. The kids all run around with each other whether there near professional or just getting started.

 

Unfortunately I work most weekends so its hard for me to get tournaments now days. I really miss them. You can get involved, get judge ratings, driver ratings, dock starting etc. Its not something I want to spend every weekend doing but there is a lot more than being competitive.

 

Marathons, Iron man, Golf etc. how many people in any of these sports really go into the competition thinking they could place or win.

 

We have had a lot of flooding issues this year at the lease lake I'm on. Definitely cut down on my skiing early this year. We are still are missing one of the starting docks. Few years ago nearly every private lake in the area went dry. Sometimes natural doesn't cooperate. I have a portable course and just make the best of it when the private lake has issues.

[aupatking]

Marathons and Ironman are constant action by the participants and just finishing is THE accomplishment, except for the 10 or 20 Olympic level athletes there to win. Every golf tournament I enter I expect to win. All formats are handicapped in such a manner that winning is always possible. Well, except for the PGA, of course.

[Horton]

if I may return to the original point....

I advocate tournament skiing because that is what I do => the state of skiing is not nearly as dire as the state of tournament skiing

[Horton]

@skibrain I hate your last sentence and I am not sure you mean it the way it sounds.

 

For many of us balls are the metric we measure ourselves by. Runners and Cyclists have times => golfers have scores and skiers scores. I am the first to admit that it can take the fun out of skiing but it is the metric that most if use use as the challenge. If you are having fun without balls you are likely having more fun than many of us.

[Horton]

@skibrain this is back to my point. There are a lot of guys who love the sport and who are not all about balls. It is a good thing.

[aupatking]

@Horton I was just thinking about how you made a good point about your great website. That was the discussion. We've devolved the hell out of this one

[brettmainer]

I get on the podium as often as not when I go to regionals but couldn't go this year because of work and kids (3). I think that is fairly common for guys my age (43) and is nothing against tournament skiing, I think that there were M2 and M3 skiers in the same boat 20 years ago.

 

The "problem" is the 20-40 crowd. When I skied the 1999 Nationals, there were 80 entrants in M2. How many this year? The "problem" stems from the soaring cost, the lack of TV coverage (ESPN carried the pro tour every week when I was in HS) and the proliferation of wakeboarding during their formative years.

 

With regards to the proper metric for measuring participation, I suggest Horton asks Denny Kidder or Dave Goode about ski sales numbers 1995 vs 2005 vs 2015. That would compensate for the "too bored, disinterested, or busy for tournaments" crowd who still skis and supports the sport regardless of awsa membership.

[Horton]

@aupatking I was trying to make a point that tournament skiing is in trouble but the skiing world is is way better shape than many think.

[aupatking]

@Horton that's what I meant earlier when I said something about overall "ski sales" but @brettmainer got that a little better when he just suggested you ask guys who sell real skis, and don't have diluted, skis made in China, numbers. Thanks again for the pull @brettmainer. Great ambassador to the sport

[Hockdog]

The local tournaments need to re-invent themselves, yes, they are boring if you are not engaged with judging, driving, dock starting etc. A handicap points system would be one way to get the non-tournament skier in a competition and see how they stack up against a MM skier. Good announcing would get people's attention and engage them as to who the next skier off the dock is or what their PB is or what they are riding.....

[gregy]

Well then what happens if tournaments die out. Who was it the other day saying the last promo boat in southwest Colorado was done after this year. Tournament skiing definitely drives innovation. But, I bet a smaller percentage of wakeboarders (and surfers) compete then do skiers? There a lot money being poured into wakeboarding/surfing innovation right now. Is tournament skiing a dying division of watersports as a whole, with watersports being live and well. The lakes around Central Texas are insanely crowded summer weekends compared to what they were in the 70s and 80s, people are out doing something on the lake. Frankly I'm not sure what because I try to stay away from the crowds.

 

 

[crashman]

Why do people participate in bowling leagues when they could easily just bowl on their own and obtain the same measure of skill?

 

I think the team competition could add a fun element. It could be fun to have teams comprised of skiers with different ability levels- I'm thinking that would really add to exchange of ideas as the better skiers advise the novice skiers. As an experiment @horton could generate teams at the BOS cash prize handicap tournament- East Vs. West; California vs everyone else or whatever.

 

[ToddL]

Teams, Handicaps, ability level groups, etc. Any one site, tournament can do it.

 

What's missing is a mature and consistent method that all sites adopt.

 

What if AWSA data captured these data points for all skiers:

Handicapped, Adjusted score (34 MPH equivalent).

Handicapped, Adjusted Ranking Average (34 MPH equivalent).

Ability Level Group Division.

 

These could be in addition to what is already captured. Then, local clubs can use these national data points for their own new tournament formats.

[Edbrazil]

Of course, I go back to the back-when. In the mid-1970's, when our tournaments had an entry

fee of about $25, boats were around $7,000, and travel via auto wasn't much more than 2 cents

per mile. Although, that was when money was worth money. But, even accounting for inflation,

boats are about 3X that now. Similar for tournaments, but tournaments have a lot more technical

requirements now.

Although, even back then, Rick Gruneau(sp?) from Canada did a study on sports, and water skiing

was only 2nd to one other sport in expense. Which was...??

[wtrskior]

Lots of great comments here, I definitely have a new perspective on some things.

 

Our sport is always evolving, from when Ralph Samuelson and others first took to the water towed behind boats. That's what it's all about.

 

I told someone today that "I was a waterskier" and they responded with "like wakeboarding"?..

 

Ya I can do that. . it's like wakeboarding just different.

 

Tournaments are boring, unless you are one of the dwindling few who has been absorbed by the community it's a small and tight knit group and in some cases hard to break into. That's fine, but that's all you're going to get & that is AWSA and other wateski associations. They don't add value to those not already involved in the sport on a competitive level. Even insurance benefits are not as good as offerings outside the affinity association, likely in part because of the decreasing population.

 

If we want to promote the sport, get access to more water and better conditions, we have to be more inclusive and open minded.

 

The carnival comment from mystic waters is where its at IMO, and for now I absolutely buy into that business model. You need to appeal to a broader audience and make these events fun and for everyone. Waterskiing is a family sport afterall.

[disland]

If @horton can refine his handicap system. Then we can get it into the rule book, we can start doing broader handicap based events. Can you imagine a nationals with a handicap division and the elite division. Now that sounds fun to me.

[Horton]

@disland Ooooo Noooooo. My handicap is an experiment and if it fails it is @Than_Bogan's fault :)

 

Seriously I am not sure handicap is the general solution to tournament skiing.

[DW]

Some interesting comments on innovation and tournament skiing being the driver for that. From the engineering side, I love innovation and product development. From the buyer side, I hate innovation and product development, as it empties the wallet. I have noticed there are skiers who won't ski or train behind a PP equipped boat, has to be a ZO version, consider the cost consequence of that, and remember that PP was the gold standard not too long ago. Another barrier to tournament participation and that has also been commented on in this thread.

[Wolfeie]

I have been a member of Ski West Village for over 15 years, I ski 8-9 months a year often getting in 7-11 sets a weekend, I have bought and sold 4 tournament boats and can't remember how many skis I have owned. I have worked the Nationals when they were held at Ski West,

dropped by to visit and watch some of my ski partners compete in tournaments at neighboring lakes, and plan to attend the Malibu Open this year in Milwaukee.

 

Number of tournaments I have skied in "0". I am not doing this to see how I fair against others,

I do it because I love skiing and being on the water. I ski against myself and my own personal

goals everytime I get behind the boat.

 

 

[Horton]

@Wolfeie you are the most competitive person I know

[WBLskier]

Interesting timing on this topic. I was talking about this over the weekend with some people. Here is my perspective. I grew up skiing tournaments (only modestly competitively and only in Minnesota) in my late teens and early 20’s. I always kept skiing the course on a very regular basis after I stopped skiing tournaments. I always wanted to improve, and I didn’t think it made me any less of a skier.

 

Fast forward 15 or so years and my then 8 year old little girl who had really got into skiing and begged me to sign her up for a tournament. I did and reluctantly signed myself back up too. My dad who had also not skied a tournament in 15+ years signed up as well. We are now in our second year of skiing a few tournaments a year. We skied at the Minnesota state tournament last weekend and had a blast. Here is what I noticed:

 

The numbers are about the same as I remember from 15+ years ago. There were more than 70 slalom skiers at the state tournament and I recall that being about the same.

 

The names (and in most cases the people) were the same. There were lots of kids with recognizable names who (like my daughter) weren’t born 15 years ago. They are all talented, gracious, and nice kids. My kids felt welcome even though they didn't know anyone to begin with.

 

The format is largely the same.

 

Everyone pretty much knows each other. I am a newcomer and everyone was as gracious as I could ask for. I didn’t ski well and not a single person gave me a hard time about it.

 

Skiing at a local level seems about the same as I remember from quite a while back. The pro tour has changed for sure, but I guess I am not seeing the impact at our local level. If pro skiing goes away completely, that may be a different story.

 

Has the local scene changed that much in other areas of the country?

 

On another note...we have hosted a local unofficial handicap tournament for the last two years on our public lake. More than 35 people showed up. Tons of kids who had never seen a course tried it. An adult who had been through only a couple times before won the whole tournament because of the handicap system. Everyone was interested in who was in "the lead" and couldn't care less about who was winning in a given division. I think adding a handicap winner to real tournaments would get everyone really interested in what everyone else is skiing while still allowing people to win in their own divisions based on true buoy count.

 

[Porkfight]

I would love to play couple of hundred rounds of golf with my pals before entering a tournament. Public golf courses are everywhere in SocCal so that's actually possible. It's pretty tough to find a place to have a friendly afternoon slalom competition with my friends and get confident enough to think I won't embarrass myself at a tournament amongst people who belong to ski clubs with monthly dues higher than my boat payment.

 

Without easy and inexpensive access to courses on public waterways, the measure of skill for "serious" recreational skiers will continue to be big spray and touching shoulder to water.

 

Why are there no laser-projected slalom courses on the market yet?! Plug in, focus, ski, unplug, go home.

[Texas6]

Fair point, but I can honestly say that I've never seen somebody get embarrassed at a tournament. Other skiers are incredibly supportive, and generally just there to have fun - not to judge. Just doing it, regardless of how good you are, is taking the first step...I honestly think the feeling that you have, about needing to be at a certain level to compete, has a lot to do with poor tournament numbers. It needs to be about fun, and a measurement for yourself, not about how you are perceived among the one percent elite - who by the way are always very easy to get a long with and very supportive

[Porkfight]

@Texas6, I appreciate that. Within the next two years, I do hope to enter a tournament. I just got a real boat and know of a course that I can rent by the day so there will be a few new course addicts out there soon.

[Edbrazil]

By the way, the answer to the question posed above about what sport was more expensive than

water skiing: Polo Ponies.

[Jody_Seal]

"The State of waterskiing actually is rather healthy!! Many a skier has not quit skiing just quit tournaments. "

 

The State of the competition is what is at question. We can all go back to the early 90's when a division at the southern regional's like men 3 had 110 competitors men 4 had 90. today maybe 10 men 3 and half that many men 4.

So what is the "Answers"?

I dont think that just one or reasons can be the culprit but maybe we can identify 5.

 

1. The shear cost to stay involved and compete has driven many family's and single skiers from the sport. Truly a sport of kings.

Some of us are lucky we have an abundance of un-overpopulated public water and have unrestricted accesss to. Others either own lake's or buy into or purchase pricey memberships to private lakes. Boats to utilize now cost over $sixty thousand dollars and are climbing in price$$. to gear up with good ski equipment will cost over $2,500$$ and that's just to slalom, imagine being a three event-er. Shear cost IMOP is the number one contributor to tournament attendance drop. That's what I want to do this weekend, drive 5 hours to slalom once on sat and then once on sun only to have to drive 5 hours back home and get ready for work on Monday and have spent $500 plus..... Shoot next weekend I can buy $100 worth of gas and hamburgers, ski with my friends on my on lake as many times as I want (public or not) and have a BBQ too!!

 

2. The Rankings system and the age group division's. We are the only sport I know of where the elite level skiers can at any time drop down and compete (if that is what we want to call it) with rank and file skiers. We have a rankings system that we base or qualifications for Championship series tournaments but still allow high level skiers to ski in a age group division rather then the elite level divisions that was designed for them. Many a ex skier has stated that they would rather just stay on their own site or lake because level 9 Elite skier has decided because he wants to ski on Thursday rather then Fri in the age group division rather then the Elite division or because level 9 elite skier has never won a national championship and skis in a age group division, This has truly run off many a good skier that would otherwise participate in the championship series. until this is addressed our the competitors will continue to dwindle and will not find the sport inviting.

 

3. Excessive rules / policy and equipment necessary to run a tournament.

Do we really need a new boat with zero off to run a class C tournament?

In my Region I think that the number of record tournaments have diluted the competition base. We also tend to make rules or dictate policy that are beneficial to the few rather then the membership base as whole. A good for example is the 6 flip IWWSF rule. I truly believe that the elimination of that rule alone would influence many a young trick skier to continue tricking both in our country and around the world as whole.

 

4. "There shall be no distinction between amateur and professional" This is in our rule book. How can we expect the sport to propagate and grow if our own sanctioning body will not recognize, support or supplement a professional level? we spend thousands of dollars every year on junior development yet when these juniors realize that there is no real financial gains or professional future in the sport they get wise quick and move on either after or before they go to college. I once asked one of our past ex-Director what the number of new members that came into the college ranks continued to be members after they graduated??? No real Professional future in the sport.

 

5. We have far to many old school ideals that continue to run the sport.

some ideas that have filtered down is to allow skiers to pay entry's for regional's and stay home and still ski at the Nationals. split the western region. change the nationals date to labor day. bring the US open back to the Nationals. Allow for a general tournament format change based on a trials type of format rather then a division format. I am sure you all could add far more to this one!

 

 

 

"The State of waterskiing actually is rather healthy!! Many a skier has not quit skiing just quit tournaments. "

 

Where does this leave us?

I am a participant not a spectator! "Quote" Chad Scott

 

Skiers want to ski and have a general want to compete and participate, make it fair, make affordable, make it fun, They will participate!!