The Way Forward | Marcus Brown

[Horton]

http://marcusbrown.net/the-way-forward

[Texas6]

Wow. Well said Marcus! As the father of a 12 year old skier and someone who genuinely cares about the future of this sport, this is such a priority for me personally. Ive watched analysis paralysis plague businesses, the career path of friends and co-workers, and now the sport I love....I can tell you without hesitation, that without an expeditious and well prescripted change of direction, we will not course correct. Im careful not to dillute the relevance of the Big Dawg (and I don't think that was your intent either), because that demographic is honestly the ONLY reason we still have a pro tour today. But the future of the pro tour IS about the youth, and turning more kids like you and I once were, into fans of the sports elite. We need to refocus the outcome of the tournament scene into an event that caters to he youth, supported by all of the other skiers. The collegiate scene and universities should be catered to, as an obvious catalyst for the growth of the sport. Tournaments have to be fun for kids, I can't say that strongly enough.

[Broussard]

Believe it or not, kids are still interested in water skiing and choose to ski over wakeboard! We need to make the sport more accessible, host novice tournaments, and bring back the Pro Tour.

[Bulldog]

@MarcusBrown once again your passion is bang on with your article. Thank you again for all that you do and please know that you are a true hero to my children.... and to me.

[gregy]

1987, I was starting my first job out of college not too long after that. I made about $9/hr. My ex was working and was making about the same. We bought our first house for about what a new ski boat cost today. We bought a new Mustang LX 5.0 that was loaded. We had a MC PS190 that was just a few years old and I don't remember being strapped for money. Now days people doing the same job I did back then make about $10/hour and I just don't see how you could get by on that much less be buying a house, car, boat, etc. Things just aren't the same as they were back then and cost of entry into tournament skiing has gone up.

 

College is a great way to get young kids into skiing. I had skied since I was 7 but never skied in a course until college. Once out of college we need to figure out how to keep them into skiing.

[Dano]

I've been around boats my whole life. My favourite child hood memories were on a boat. I started skiing at 6 or 7. a day on the lake is still my fave thing. Skiing or not. It's the lifestyle more than anything that keeps me involved. Early mornings, time with friends and family, sunshine, exercise, and relaxation all in one. I think Marcus's flow point series is on point when he shows what the lifestyle is all about. I think this needs to be pushed as much as the competitive skiing does.

[aupatking]

Anyone know what Master Craft PS or Ski Nautique yearly sales were in '87? Or any year through 92? I'm wondering what the difference in sales numbers is from when marketing and promotion budgets were big.

@MarcusBrown is right. I don't know how the companies building the products can expect to sell them for more than another 10 years. The Big Dawgs getting paid more than the pros is proof of an aging demographic. How many Oldsmobile's have you seen lately? Chase an aging market into the grave.

It just seems that the more money the companies put into the pro events, the more their product is seen. And sales follow. I'm sure someone will tell me they are selling the same number of Nautique 200's today as 2001's, but like MB said, the market was 2,200,000,000 people smaller, so steady numbers is a huge decline. I know the boat companies are generally the title sponsors of tournaments, so are they not doing their part? Should the sponsorship/prize money have gone up in proportion with sales price?

Where did the beer companies go? Was that where the money really came from?

I agree with everything MB said. Now I've got nothing but questions

[ALPJr]

Great article @MarcusBrown ! I really appreciate what you do. And the team at HO for their commitment to the sport. Perhaps we need a pro waterski commissioner to oversee committees for sponsorship, marketing, tournament scheduling and competition rules. I nominate Marcus B.

[aupatking]

That "like" @ALPJr is my "second"

[TallSkinnyGuy]

I worked for many years in a role where I was making decisions about sponsorship of events as well as trying to get other sponsors for events my company owned. Firstly, marketing budgets are almost always decided on based on projected sales. If projected sales are higher, then the marketing budget goes higher. The inverse is also true.

 

The challenge of a marketer is to be as efficient as possible with whatever marketing dollars are available. You want your brand in front of consumers who are most likely to purchase your product and you want your cost per thousand people reached ("CPM") to be as low as possible while still focusing on those targeted consumers. If a sport is not generating enough audience interest to get TV airtime or significant event attendance, non-endemic (i.e. non-industry related) sponsors such as beer companies will not be able to justify spending money on sponsoring the sport. Even endemic companies that produce equipment for the sport will have a hard time justifying such spends.

 

Your product/brand doesn't just get "seen" because you put more money into an event. Even creating a television show from an event does not mean it will get seen. Heavily promoting an event will create awareness of the event, but just because people know about it doesn't mean they will come to the event or even watch it on TV. They have to be genuinely interested in the event. I think this is the most important point of Marcus Brown's blog post -- the events have to be interesting to spectators/viewers even if that means it is a 4-buoy course.

 

Marketing dollars get spent where excitement is created within a large enough population of targeted consumers. If skiing doesn't create that excitement the dollars will not come to support and further promote the sport (particularly the non-endemic dollars).

[Horton]

@TallSkinnyGuy very well said

[bishop8950]

@MarcusBrown Great blog as always. You put a few things in new super clear words that hit home for me. Thanks.

 

No question kids look up to the Pros more than the Big Dawgs, and should. As one of the middle of the pack Big Dawgs, my jaw always hangs open when I boat Judge the Open skiers in the CA ProAm. The skill/talent is so impressive and inspiring.

 

My 7yr old son is proud of his dad as a skier. But he thinks it's even better that I am friends with Nate Smith. He has met Nate multiple times and this year both my boys got autographed posters from Nate which are now on the wall by their beds. At the CA ProAm I was fortunate to place second to your bad ass brother in the MM event. When I came to shore my son said "great job dad, will Nate ski soon?"

[DanE]

Even if world population is increasing I doubt potential skiers/buyers are.

We have let the price of equipment rise to a level only a small piece of the population could ever afford getting involved.

That in it self narrows down the demographic who can participate.

[Fast351]

This kind of follows what Marcus was saying a little bit (and others here have mentioned). The sport needs to be more interesting for kids.

 

Here is the difficult part: the technology today has redefined what "interesting" is for kids. As kids, my brother and I did thinks like pull eachother around on a cart made from a broken canister vacuum cleaner. We played outside for hours with nothing but a soccer ball. Todays kids are not all that interested because it competes against game consoles, HDTV, and computers. So it has to be interesting.

 

Look at snow skiing. The sport has evolved. There is now downhill side by side racing. There is exhibition downhill (sorry I don't know the name). I follow Mikaela Shiffrin on Facebook because she's exciting to watch. We need something like that in water skiing.

 

What's weird is that we've shunned other towed sports, instead of joining forces. Wakeboarding and surfing have everything that skiing is looking for. X Games, sponsored events, dollars, etc. Let's hope that water skiing has a huge resurgence. It needs it.

 

I like the idea of side by side competition. That would be interesting.

 

[John Brooks]

I believe the growth needs to come from the ground up. If you want to have a strong high school football / baseball / ect program, the key is to make sure the little league programs are solid. Probably very similar for water skiing, our local clubs need to make sure we attract, retain and get involved with kids. If you have kids skiing, how many of their friends have you got involved?

[Wish]

Im guessing the youth participation is a bigger problem then we think. Here in FL (waterski capital of the world) there are all of 3 boys 1 skiers listed under USA WS rankings list. 3..

[iceboating]

Open water shredders, that's what sparked my interest as a kid to want to slalom. Two brothers would ski along our shoreline behind a Glastron and just rip turn after turn. After 20 years of water skiing I have no interest in open water skiing. Private lakes and tucked away ski courses on back waters behoind a zero off boat is the only way I ski any more. Who do I inspire? No one because I ski in areas where no one can see us.

[RazorRoss3]

As I've said before, I think our best shot of getting televised again is to try and work with summer X games which airs on ESPN every summer, it may grow from that to w televised pro tour, who knows.

As for access it has been documented that the highest sport growth is at the collegiate level. I think a club registry that can help these kids find ski clubs after college so they can stick with it easier is key because no one out of college can individually afford a boat and lake access but can likely afford membership dues. the college kids are definitely the tier of the sport where we lose the most members the moment they graduate, if we can keep them then you have a large base of younger people, with careers, buying waterski products growing the industry, increasing demand in the sport. That increased demand likely grows marketing budgets abd with any luck that combo tickles down to younger skiers as well who start seeing the sport earlier.

[Fast351]

Access in MN in particular is an issue. I'm lucky I have a lake place with another skier on it and we push each other, but I've been trying to get pulls with others that I can learn from (and to be fair since joining BoS, several locals have offered) but the local water ski club has a website that advertises ski nights for beginners, which would be a perfect venture for me, but the website is out of date and as far as I can tell it never happened this year.

 

We have tons of lakes where free skiing is easy to do, and this is, after all, the place where water skiing was invented. If popularity here is an issue, I can't imagine how bad it would be in other places to get growth going.

[Omland]

While probably not popular I have to disagree with one aspect of Marcus Brown's post. I disagree with the statement: "if you’re one of those people that didn’t watch or didn’t like the US Open strictly because there were only 4 buoys, you are part of the problem."

 

For me the 4 buoy course was simply not as fun as watching on a 6 buoy course and therefore watching the US Open over the webcast was not as enjoyable. I hardly think this makes me part of the declining participation problem in the sport of competitive waterskiing. I would probably agree with that statement if it was more along the lines of you are part of the problem if you complain about 4 buoys while doing nothing to help put these events on. It's not fair to sit on the sidelines and complain, I'll agree with that and it's why I didn't complain. While I would prefer a 6 buoy course I can understand why organizers of these events may choose to do 4. I also think it's probably worth trying to see if it does boost participation or awareness.

 

 

[Razorskier1]

Seems to me the "senior tour"/BD is more about the skiers, less about growing the sport. Don't get me wrong, I love the BD, but that's because I'm a slalom junkie and all of the BD skiers are so frickin good -- they represent what I'm trying to be as just another old guy. I attended a couple of Bud Pro Tour events in Minneapolis back in the day, and the shoreline was packed. Not sure what worked then, but that isn't the sport now. Seems, perhaps, the sport has turned into a world record hunt rather than a spectator sport. Not sure how to revive interest. @MarcusBrown has better thoughts on that than I do.

[Than_Bogan]

I am part of the problem.

 

The sport, as currently construed, meets my needs almost perfectly. I have no incentive to try to change it in any fundamental way.

[TallSkinnyGuy]

I would expect that getting slalom skiing into the Olympics would have a big, positive effect on the sport. Countries would invest more into training their athletes in the sport if they could potentially win an Olympic medal in it. I assume this has been attempted in the past -- is there currently a waterski governing body that continues to put effort into getting the sport into the Olympics?

[RazorRoss3]

I don't think the Olympics will ever happen. Name as many Olympic events as you can where the athlete is under power of a motor... The list is very short. Also being on TV once every four years is t really punching the right ticket which is why I've suggested summer X in the past. Annual, on ESPN, all events are extreme sports that draw crowds of young athletes, and the engine thing wouldn't make us look out of place.

[klindy]

A couple tonights - first I agree with much of what's been said above from public venues, youth involvement, marketing, sponsorship, even being included in the Olympics.

 

For those that don't know, years ago we set up USAWS to be the single governing body for towed water sports. A prerequisite for any attempt to be included in the Olympics. Part of the effort did include the obvious visiblity for the sport and any boost that can come from that. However a bigger (at least a very valuable benefit) incentive is perpetual funding from the US Olympic committee which is available for "medal" sports (there's also much more limited funding for PanAm sports which waterskiing is currently).

 

The primary point is not about just the Olympic involvement but the fact that we have TWO organizations which oversee 'traditional 3-event waterskiing' - USAWS and AWSA. As a board member of AWSA I see some confusion on how responsibilities are divided up between the organizations. From my prospective AWSA should handle running tournaments, creating rules, maintaining ranking lists and selecting a National Champ - which is largely true today. USAWS should be responsible for all things that cross sports disciplines (pretty true today) and be a marketing engine. One other important function is waterways advocacy to keep public (and potentially private) water available to participate - but that's another topic.

 

For even the 3-event Nationals the bulk of the burden for marketing is left to the LOC. Sure USAWS contracts with any associated nationwide vendor but who's promoting anything?? I'd suggest that the LOC is plenty busy enough running coax and setting up cameras to "get the word out".

 

To clarify, there is some marketing that is done. I also understand there's a limited budget. And there's typically excellent press releases after the fact (where else do they go except usawaterski.org??). But event promotion is an art and requires a special effort to do it right. Tagging along with other festivals and events are excellent ways to spread the effort and share the "reward".

 

4-buoy course? Not ideal but if the choice is a highly visible location vs a private lake outside town, I'll take the 4-buoy course. Make it work - the show must go on! But if the only crowd you plan for is the family and friends of those who are skiing, go find that private site and ski all day and set some records.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DooSPX]

I for one pretty much agree 100% with MB. I too, understand the reason for the 4 bouy course. If it gets it in places where the public eye can see it, I'm good with that. I have attended the 4 bouy at Disney years ago, and I will say that it was very smart to have it there. I have been to Disney a few times after in recent years, and I look over the lake and then look at the crowd and always think what if there was a course out there with all of these people from all over the world, It would have to spark an interest of at least a few people and make them want to get into it.

 

What got me into skiing was similar as another baller here. I grew up on the Potomac River, and became friends with a ripper and part time coach for VT WS team. I would watch him rip up and down the river behind his new 91 MC PS190, after befriending him he taught me to ski in return for mowing his river lot and helping wash the boat after the weekend. Years later, Thanks to him, I now have that passion and now own that very boat. I still return to our family River lot on the Potomac, and love watching some of the guys rip it up. One has a new LXi and one rips behind a beautiful MC BF200. I may not ever make it to extreme shortline or need to go spend 65K on a new ZO boat and 2K on a new Ski. I am very happy with my 91 PS190 and my 2010 HO CoX SL. I always try to get people to see Water Skiing, be it on a DVD, Online Video or bringing them on the boat, it doesn't matter. I try to get them to see it in my eyes. The fun, the drive, being behind the boat.

 

I for one, didn't mind the Big Dawgs at the US Open this year, but I was surprised that they were paid as much as they were. I still want to thank them, and all the Open skiers for coming and competing at the US Open though and putting on a great show regardless of the purse size. Do wish it was higher for the Pro's though. Also agree about describing the rope length so newbies can understand it. I too have been asked over and over again what 32 off means. I believe it would be beneficial to start saying feet left of the rope along with line off the rope. Danno did a decent job, describing how far the handle was in relation to the bouy, but I think it was still over some peoples head. It was a start though. I end up describing it that way to newbies so they understand difficulty level though.

I have thought about 3 event being on the X Games as well. We need a boat manufacture to step up, contact ESPN and the X Games committee, and get some other sponsors. I would think it would do well on there and would be one step of getting it back on cable TV. I miss the days growing up where I could turn on ESPN and watch my childhood water ski hero's.

[TallSkinnyGuy]

Slalom skiing is difficult to appreciate unless you participate in the sport. The X Games is about the show and the excitement. My grandmother (may she rest in peace) could watch wakeboarding or barefoot jumping on X Games and be impressed and intrigued. If she watched slalom skiing I would imagine her only comment would be something like "Are they trying to see who can make the highest spray?" I don't see the X Games owners ever being interested in slalom skiing unless it had already gained a significant grass roots appeal.

 

On the other hand, the Olympics has all sorts of boring and/or obscure sports, but if the sport is in the Olympics then countries have motivation to develop athletes in those sports. I was bringing up the Olympics mainly because an Olympic sport gets more respect from government bodies. For example, if I am trying to get approval for installing a permanent slalom course in a public lake, if I can argue that slalom skiing is an Olympic sport and we need a way to develop our athletes I would guess this would make it easier to get approval. It would probably make it easier to get high school and college ski teams developed, etc.

 

However, you may be right that the Olympics will never happen. Especially if nobody is trying to get skiing into the Olympics.

[Than_Bogan]

Is it time to discuss the Olympics again? I'll be hiding under my desk. Somebody come get me when it's over.

[Horton]

My list of things that may have contributed to the decline of the sport - not in any order

 

Move from public to private water - because of lack of access to pubic water and because of the increase of private water for those who can afford it

Zero Off

Creation of USAWS - less focus on AWSA

The economy

The price of boats (see Zero Off)

All efforts to get water skiing into the Olympics

Evolution of western culture to a more tech oriented society

Fracturing of print and broadcast media

Fracturing of extreme sports (Wakeboarding / wake surf / other)

Loss of a pro tour (result of some of above)

 

[TallSkinnyGuy]

I agree with most of the items on Horton's list, but I think one of the biggest factors is the fracturing of boat-pulled sports. When I was really getting excited about waterskiing in the '80s, slalom skiing was the ultimate and what everyone I knew did behind the boat. A few of us also barefooted, but that was too extreme for most people. Recreational slalom skiing (free skiing) was attainable and attractive as a sport. I had a Skurfer, but it was actually pretty difficult to get up on and ride, so not many of my friends did it.

 

As wakeboarding technology developed it became a sport that was easier to learn than slalom skiing and lots of fun -- thus, a higher return on time investment for most people. It became the focus for participating in a sport behind the boat. Now wake surfing is even easier to learn than wakeboarding and lots of people who want to do a sport behind a boat are shifting to that.

 

As Marcus Brown said, there are now way more people in the world. However, those people who are interested in doing a sport behind a boat have more options and what most would consider better options than slalom skiing.

[sb_dc_mbs_13]

I think @RazorRoss3 is exactly on point in talking about collegiate skiing and a registry. That would be great. I was an open water skier before college, but got absolutely got hooked through my team competing with NCWSA. Since then, I have been constantly searching for places to ski, but it is difficult (1) to find lakes with slalom courses, (2) sometimes cost prohibitive for recent grads to pay annual memberships if $50/$60 per set, and (3) not realistic for many to buy a boat right away. That unfortunately leaves myself and many of my former collegiate teammates on the outside looking in.

 

A more thorough registry would be a great idea. I know that I have used wakescout at that is certainly helpful to a point, but I'm sure there are plenty of lakes and clubs it is missing.

[jcamp]

The first thing someone will get asked if they approach the X Games, or a TV network or potential sponsor for an event or a tour is "What are your demographics?" I know this because I have tried and been asked this very question and the conversation didn't go very well from there. Our sport is too old, and too small (but mostly too old) to get anyone's attention.

 

We need kids, lots and lots of kids.

[RazorRoss3]

@jcamp, we gotta keep the college kids on the water after college. The sport may never have a spectator base beyond it's participants and their families again but if you can keep the college kids around and then 15 years down the road they get their kids involved and they go to college, ski, and can stay involved as well then the sport participation will grow.

 

I believe @Mattp posted that NCWSA grew by 15% this year, that means in 4 years that growth will have graduated and could be AWSA growth if we make an effort to keep them involved.

[jcamp]

@RazorRoss3 College kids are a particularly attractive demographic for sponsors and TV network execs.

 

Of course, keeping post-collegiate skiers involved goes back to the cost issue, and around and around we go ...

[RazorRoss3]

Yep, the cost is the most prohibitive part of the sport. Again I think that goes back to ski clubs make themselves known to the skiers in that age, none of them can afford boats or lake houses but may be able to afford club dues and gas. If you can distribute the costs of ownership over a larger base rather than having a 1-to-1 relationship then the sport becomes much more accessable to the younger generation of skiers.

[MarcusBrown]

So many great ideas and positive vibes floating around here. I may have stepped on some toes with my writing, but this is what I was hoping for...discussion and sharing of ideas.

 

But I would like to clarify a few things:

 

1. I brought up Pro Prize money relative to Big Dawgs, and relative to 1987, not to paint a picture that the Pro's need bigger purses at events......but as an overall broader indicator of where things were, and where they are now. We don't have a product that is worthy of any more money or any more TV coverage, at the moment. It would be a dead end to try to beat down doors and ask for money to make Pro Purses bigger. Events need improvement, athletes need cohesion, formats need tweaking, etc, etc....

2. In an April 1988 WaterSki Mag that I found online, the editor was writing about the Olympics....and who would be a favorite to make it to the 1992 Olympics....Kristi Overton?...Wade Cox?... It was crazy to read between the lines, and hear the excitement in his words....that skiing was a probable inclusion for the 1992 Summer Olympics. Thats how close we apparently were in 1992, when skiing was still strong. And for whatever reason, it didn't happen. I've been on the USOC AAC for the sport of Water Skiing. There are a lot of moving parts....a lot of politics. I don't see water skiing ever making the olympics. And in speaking with a buddy of mine, recently, who won and Olympic medal in Alpine Skiing in Sochi, I developed quite a sour taste in my mouth.....just seems the olympics are becoming more about commercialism and politics, than about pure sport. Don't know if Water Skiing needs to step into those problems. BUT, I don't disagree that inclusion in the Olympics would be a boost for our sport. I just don't have a good vision of how that is going to happen.

3. MasterCraft put an enormous amount of time, effort, money into the MC Throwdown for X Games. It was the biggest spotlight I've seen placed on water sports in the past 2 decades +. Don't forget that folks. The problem is, we can't just go to X Games or ESPN or any TV for that matter, and hand them Water Ski and say "put this on TV"....cuz we don't have anything to hand them. We saw an hour and a half of wake boarding and Freddy flying and thought, "wow, cool!...they need to do more of this!". But MasterCraft and Godfrey created something from scratch, painted the picture, pitched it and put themselves on the line, and executed. It took a team to pull that off. // I believe that is something to aspire to, but it can't be the jumping off point. Social Media, web content, BOS, etc....these are the things that can be done now....that take a fraction of a fraction of the investment that real TV does....things that can generate an organic movement, that someday (hopefully) could turn into a groundswell movement.

 

4. To Horton's point: my #1 contention for the past 5+ years, has been that the day we started building private man-made lakes, was the day the sport started to decline. I grew up on public water. I saw others doing it. So I wanted to do it.....the US Open gave me the desire to want to try to be great. But the public lake scene was what got me on the water to begin with.

- That's where FlowPointTV comes in. Battling a back injury that has kept me out of the course, has been a bit of a blessing in disguise. It forced me to take steps back and look at the broader picture. Public lakes are that "feeder mechanism" that I mentioned. Public waters are where new skiers are born.

 

5. Collegiate Skiing is a big part of the Future! You guys are right on about that. It makes skiing affordable (for at least 4 years), attainable, cool and fun. Kids come in as freshman, join a club they know nothing about, and leave 4 years later as changed individuals that become water sports enthusiasts for life, and bring their kids up on boats and lakes....thats the future.

 

AND, Collegiate skiing is also the last FlowPointTV Episode of the season. I know NCWSA nationals just went down....but I was wondering if anyone out there has had enough Collegiate skiing for the year?

 

Or do you wanna see a bit more?

[bishop8950]

In the end, what would be a great result? Would we be happy to see sponsorship/coverage as it was in the late 80s early 90s? Would we be happy to see sponsorship/coverage similar to snow ski racing today? Are either of these goals reasonable or realistic? Who is going to make it happen and how? First steps?

 

Love @TallSkinnyGuy s points on marketing and budgets. Sales -> Revenue -> Marketing Budgets. Internal Sponsors (boats/skis/etc) are spending what they can (I assume). Asking them to spend more is likely futile. Companies rarely gamble marketing investments well beyond current/appropriate budgets. Todays waterski related revenues are a fraction of what they were years ago (based on a few companies I am familiar with). This said, reviewing the efficiency in which existing budgets are spent is a great idea and probably one of the most effective places to start if we want anything to change.

 

Cutting straight to ESPN coverage will be very challenging. People would simply rather watch other things. It took many years and Freddy essentially guaranteeing a World Record to get any airtime. Can this practically be extended to more coverage across 3 event in its current format? To change this we need it to be more entertaining to watch. How? I dont know. But it reminds me of forum posts over the last few years that radical change needs considered.

 

We need more people to want to do ski. Horton has a great list on why things declined. If more people skied more people would buy products and would want to watch events. Yes, getting the younger generations involved is critical. Yes addressing several hurdles is critical and to me this is by far the biggest challenge.

 

@Wish raises a good point on incentivization. If you want anything to change you should start with awareness here. Internal Sponsors would like to make more money. Pro Skiers would like to make a living. And some of us would just love to see the sport thrive. I know its been tried, but a skier/sponsor group working together still seems like a good idea. Increase the idea generation and collaboration to build events that maximize the ROI short and long term for both skiers and sponsors. Maybe its a small group of pro skiers that represent all the major sponsors and agree to go back through existing skier/sponsor relationships to influence event planning? In any case I think there would be a benefit of increasing this dialog. As an example, several pro skiers spoke up with great ideas as how to improve the most recent US Open. I bet some of that would have been taken on had the discussion been had plan-fully in advance and led to improvements overall.

 

Some Pro Skiers are independently doing what they can. Nate and other pro skiers jump in the boat at tournaments and work. Rossi and others support INT and other Grass Root approaches working on increasing participation. Marcus, Detrick, the Wilson Bros and others hit social media hard. TGas pulled in some interesting External Coverage. Hitting this stuff hard alone probably wont be enough, but its got to help and be worth doing as much as possible. What else could be done in this category?

 

Sorry for the long post. Its just how I see the big picture today. The blog by Marcus and the content of this form have changed my view on some of this so thank you.

[ejj]

I think we need to highlight the overall market and how it supports competition. In 1988, the overall ski-market was huge, and that was the feeder for course skiing. It supplied young skiiers and money. The downhill world is a good comparison; Plake and other Freeskiers help keep the ski market going--it's not the racers. The general ski population helps support racing with young skiiers and money. Waterskis like the Freeride and Katana are a huge part of building the future organically. We can't just throw money at the top of the pyramid and expect it to flourish. Even getting young kids into the course is just a part. Pro soccer in the US has dealt with a similar issue.

 

(Note I am a former downhill racer and later skied professionally, so I have seen the alpine world go through some ups and downs.)

[boarditup]

There already is a pattern out there - skateboarding. It about died as a competitive sport and in the media. It was revived by two events - vert and street. Tony Hawk anyone? Look at vert snowboarding and skiing - very spectator friendly. Terrain is very youth friendly.

 

You want some excitement for slalom - put an accelerometer on the ski and readout g-forces and top speed in real time. Kinda like the section splits in downhill. Make it more than a paint-drying show for the uninitiated. 36-72-36 mph with 4-gs in less than 3-seconds on a piece of plastic composite.... now that is something you can relate to.

 

Remember - in Marcus' story it was not just watching on TV - it was seeing it live, it was participating, it was getting better. We are the teachers and coaches of the kids.... are we up to the task?

[DooSPX]

Again, I agree with @MarcusBrown. The man is incredible. I grew after falling in love with Water Skiing watching MB, Wade Cox and the others at Tournaments. I still wish MB was competing, but as he said, now I think he is doing better things for the sport then ever before! That and @FWinter, I believe these to men have what it takes (with help) to get things back to where they should be!

[Dirt]

@MarcusBrown very well said. I really enjoy FlowPointTV. The Asher episode was my favorite.

I believe the way to get Water Skiing on TV again is with a reality TV series. You already have the talent and skill to produce a professional series. You know all the interesting people and places.

The series could focus on the lifestyle. Fit people skiing and boating with their friends and families. Pros travelling the world. Interesting places and challenging conditions.

People watch crab fishing and gold hunting week after week. It is the characters, scenery and learning about something you knew almost nothing about that is interesting.

[bishop8950]

@dirt just this morning I was picturing College Skiing reality TV. Really good or really bad idea? Some crazy stuff went down back in the day and I am sure it still does

[Horton]

@bishop8950 would not be good for the image of the sport.... at least a show about what happened when I was at NLU wouldn't be good for any sport

[Than_Bogan]

Image is an interesting question, but if you want people to actually watch this imagined reality TV program, I'm afraid out-of-control college kids are pretty much the best hope. Wouldn't cause me to watch it, but I'm not the target audience in any way.

[klindy]

I can see the new show now....

 

**Naked and Afraid - Collegiate Waterski edition**

Segment 1 - learning to jump on an academic scholarship

Segment 2 - on the road to Regionals

Segment 3 - tent magic; "where's my sleeping bag?"

Segment 4 - after your first time; "cut later & pull harder"

 

There may be something there!!

[RazorRoss3]

Not where is my sleeping bag but more of a "can I sleep in your tent because two other individuals are IN my sleeping bag"

[fu_man]

@iceboating Same story here. I slalom on my buddy's small semiprivate lake bacause he has a course. We are out there constantly but there is little audience. My lake is bigger and although we have a portable course, it is a hell of a lot easier to just drive 5 minutes rather than deploy the course. Therefore I only trick on my lake. Probably worth getting back to free skiing some on the bigger lake where there are more observers.

 

Regarding the issue of making tournaments more audience friendly I think open men should start at -35...oops I mean 40 feet. Unless something goes wrong they all run -38. Stop boring us with -32 especially after the 1st prelims.

[Fam-man]

I married into a family that has been big into towed watersports forever. Of the members that are currently the most active I'm the only one that slaloms, I do it because that's what I enjoy. The others wakeboard and wakesurf.

We only ski on public lakes so that means I ski before or after the lake lice come out to congest and churn everything up. The Mrs and Kids think its the best time to be out because it's calm and we have lots of lake to ourselves.

I will expose my kids to all options of towed sports and hope they find something they love. The time on the water with family and friends is what I value, it doesn't matter what you're doing behind the boat.

The challenge with growing slalom in mainstream media is your putting 6 hard turns against big air and inverted tricks. To a spectator there's more awe factor in the big tricks. Sports are continually evolving and cycling, there was a time when everyone wanted to snowboard but lately there's be a resurgence in skiing. Perhaps a movement towards a watercourse where rounding bouys and catching air being pulled down something other than a straight line on a single ski would garner more interest from the young crowd?

[walleye]

@Dirt add a lo income family to the show with all the calamities' we encounter traveling the country in a pop-up competing against the heavy hitters.

 

@MarcusBrown letting my kids swim and spectators too. People do buy swim passes to the pool and travel great distances to swim at beaches. No swimming at last 4 Nationals.

[lcgordon]

It needs redbull as a sponsor. They sponsor all kinds of cool events. They have so much money to blow put a little down on sking.