Practice scores don't count

[chris55]

I started slaloming 3 years ago and went to my first tourament that year. Practice was the 6 at 28mph practicing on open water. The first tournament.....3 at 28mph. Last year practice was 6 at 30mph and tourament was 3 at 30mph. This year I went to 2 tournaments and I got 3 at 32mph and practice was 4 at 34mph. I still have a las tournament and my goal is to run the 6 at 34mph (60year old 34 is my speed limit anyway). Tournament is the real thing where it is hapening or not because everything is measured and it is offical, published too. Practice count, I agree but PB at tournament is the ultimate.

[RazorRoss3]

Like I said @mattp, the requirement of running the 35 is the challenge. If I can get that to start falling 50% or greater then the purple scores will more than likely increase.

[FLeboeuf]

@Horton, I agree with everything you re saying just not with your title. It is true that you have to be honest with yourself if you want to claim a practice pb though and it should be done, of course, as a tournament style set.

[6balls]

Shoot...if someone tells me they ran 38, then took two pokes at 39 and the second one fell I'm pretty impressed regardless even though it wasn't straight up the line. I'm also very impressed by anyone who has every run 39 tourney or practice...very envious.

 

If I every run 39 and it's on my tenth try...you will all hear about it whether it counts or not.

[ozski]

I think we need to add that scores on Horton's lake probably don't count either because no lake should be that flat.

[FLeboeuf]

No doubt if you run 39 and even 38 after 10 tries, youve earned the right to brag about it. But I think its established that the term "personal best" in slalom is a score done straight up the line.

[MillerTime38]

There is definitely something special about running that line length you have been practicing all month on in a tournament to validate all that hard work that went into it. But to say that practice scores don't count I disagree with. I spent 5 years skiing every tournament I could find within reasonable distance (10 a year then regs and nats) and it was a blast. I had access to private water, a lot of good skiers that took the time and patience to help me, and a understanding wife. Now I find myself back on public water spending a lot of time skiing open water with my wife and @mjump family waiting for the Wally's and wind to cooperate. When things do go our way and I get into the course, yes that counts because I guatentee you I can show up on a private lake with perfect conditions and duplicate my performance. (And probably getting the weave if it's not a record). I will still try to ski a couple tournaments a year and go to nationals when they are in FL

 

I would agree with a score does not count unless you run it at nationals because that's when the real pressure is on.....

[Horton]

@MillerTime38 I admit the thread title is a bit inflammatory. Practice scores mean a lot to most skiers and there is ZERO wrong with that. I just want to push more skiers to ski tournaments.

[parkerc2112]

I'm taking the words "personal best" literally.. There's not a condition on that. You can say tournament pb if you desire. Everyone usually knows their capabilities. Just don't ski tournaments as much now vs. 20 years ago.

[kpickett]

I've got to say @Horton , having talked to a few of my buddies who don't ski tourneys, saying that what we do doesn't count doesn't really make us want to join the club.

[Horton]

@kpickett not trying to alienate anyone. Just pushing skiers to step up and certify their scores. It is daunting but gratifying in the end.

[kpickett]

@Horton I get it, but the language of "counts" or "doesn't count" definitely contributes to a culture of insiders and outsiders. That culture definitely exists in waterskiing, especially in my experience with tournament waterskiing, and even on your board - where I know you go out of your way to welcome newcomers.

 

I was able to do some tournaments a few years back, and my practice PB and tournament PB happen to be the same. That was the time when there was the biggest hue and cry about Zero Off, and as someone who practices with PP, I was once again an outsider, and it made me uninterested in competing. I did have access to a great club with perfect training conditions, though. Then, I moved across the country to a place with no private lakes. I've got a buddy who maintains a course on public water, and I'm damn lucky to have access to that. It's taken me three years to get back to my practice PB, and it is way harder to achieve on public water than on a private lake. So, for me, it "counts." Now, I'm not going to compare my PB with anybody else's PB.

 

I follow every thread about tournaments, and why people do or don't go. In my head, every year I think I'm going to do them, but the reality is that "stepping up to certify my score" has got to be at the very bottom of the list of reasons I might go. With a young family, and really limited lake time, I think what would allow me to go would be a tournament with activities for kids. If the family just has to sit around all day, there's just no way it's going to happen for me.

[skispray]

Honestly, @Horton, I would be really interested to know the percentage of skiers that participate in tournaments and how that has changed over time. I wasn't skiing in the 70's and 80's but from what I understand skiing was way more popular then. I wouldn't be surprised if the tournament scene is still the same fraction of skiers as it's always been.

 

That being said, I'm not planning on skiing any tournaments this year, which is a departure from previous years. Why is that? Well, if I stay home over the weekend I can go to the lake and get solid sets at a great club with other enthusiasts but spend half or less than half the time doing it. I can then spend the rest of the day getting stuff done that I just don't seem to have time for during the week. I can spend more time with my fiancé, and I can get to dinner or whatever in the evening with my friends, the large majority of which don't ski at all.

 

I would ski tournaments if there were more of them, they were closer to me, and they were cheaper. I would be interested in tournaments more if there were some sort of local amateur series to compete in. But as a guy who can easily go to regionals but definitely not nationals, every singular tournament seems kind of meaningless, except for that score legitimacy everyone has mentioned. So maybe a format change could help. Try running all the rounds for half of the divisions in the morning and the other half in the afternoon. Then people can commit half the time. If you're there with family, well you would have been there all day anyways.

 

As far as having more tournaments, I guess we need more people picking up a ski and trying it. The only way to ensure the sport can grow is to prevent the majority of interested people from being priced out. Boat costs are way higher now in real terms than they were in the 70s and 80s. I'm 30 and have a good job but if it weren't for being a member of a club (and so all the costs get shared) I probably wouldn't even be skiing. I'm not going to buy a boat right now. I'm trying to buy a house in an expensive ass city. Clubs with shared boats are obviously the way to keep people skiing before they get rich. They're also social, fun, and more affordable. I cant figure out why there aren't more of them.

 

As far as making tournament entry fees cheaper, that might help the tiniest bit but I'm stumped on how it would be possible to do that.

 

Oh and change the damn divisions to add ability based divisions. Look to motocross as an example, they have both ability and age based divisions. Broaden the age brackets to drop some of the many, many age based divisions (of which the majority will have 0-2 skiers per tournament) and add some ability based divisions.

 

Okay, end of rant.

[Ralph Lee]

Every time I ski I'm trying to get a PB. Rarely do I think of a set as a ''practice set.'' That's the beauty of the course, each time out is its own little tournament.

 

And we in here talkin bout practice, listen, we talkin bout practice, not a tournament, not a tournament, not a tournament, we talkin bout practice. Not a tournament that you guys would go out and die for, and ski every tournament like its your last, we talkin bout practice man. I mean how silly is dat? We talkin bout practice. ~ Iverson

[MillerTime38]

@horton I agree everyone should go ski one tournament every year. But don't go ski the tourney for a score, go ski one just to meet all the great people and have fun.

[RazorRoss3]

I certainly have a number of friends who quite frankly couldn't care much less about skiing tournaments after they graduate. I know some of them have skied in the Midwest Alumni Regionals event the past two years but that is a team scored tournament like in college and its a weekend for them to go to basically a collegiate tournament for people in the real world so I think they are going for the reunion and nostalgia rather than for the sake of skiing a tournament. However they all want to keep skiing, keep hitting the course, and keep getting better. In some ways I think a lot of people don't see a lot of value in tournament skiing when they are playing through speeds rather than rope lengths. The social side of tournament skiing needs to be better advertised and possibly improved upon a little bit, if the events feel more social and inviting it's possible more beginners would give them a try.

[swc5150]

Unfortunately my summer schedule simply doesn't allow the time, so my practice best is all I've got. I will say that I bet I wouldn't run at a tourney what I can muster on my home lake. Early sessions, off the dock, one and done would do me in...not to mention the extra nerves. I alpine ski raced USSA for 18 years, and my training runs were always much more relaxed than a race, so I understand where Horton and the gang are coming from on this. If asked about my PB, I'll preface it by saying it was in a practice run, and not a tournament setting, but it still means a little something to me personally.