A glimpse at the future of water skiing

[MISkier]

Over the last month, I've been involved with tournaments and a clinic that has shown a little of the future of water skiing (at least in my area).

 

At the beginning of June, there was the well-attended Spartan Buoy Bash tournament of primarily collegiate skiers (35 skiers total). The tournament director was the Men's captain of the Michigan State University Water Ski team and several of the collegiate skiers were drivers, judges, scorers, and a safety. He did an impressive job. It was very well-run and successful. I enjoyed participating as both an official and a skier and found only positive experiences throughout the day. Great attitudes, great skiing, and actual fun.

 

In mid-June, Michigan Water Ski Association held a drivers' clinic and some collegiate skiers attended to get their driver's ratings in 3 event. They were very capable and were focused on the importance of safety, good driving, and the responsibility of being an official. It's important to note that they were already multi-discipline judges and weren't just pursuing a driver rating first, but adding to their versatility as an official.

 

Just over the weekend, the water ski portion of the State Games of America tournament was held. 35 skiers attended. 11 were collegiate and 7 were younger than collegiate. As I mentioned in another thread, several of the collegiate skiers were performing practical requirements to pursue their judging. A lot of great skiing occurred, even as the wind conditions deteriorated for Slalom. The collegiate Women were the most impressive to me. They had the poorest conditions in both rounds and put up very good scores when many veterans were missing their openers. Across the board, I saw a great enthusiasm for the sport and the willingness to take on the challenge for the fun of it - everyone who attended knew the forecast would be less than stellar and they came to throw down and see what they could do.

 

One item of note: both the Spartan Buoy Bash and State Games of America had more than just Slalom. They both had the Trick event and the State Games of America also had Jump. When I was commenting to another official on the turnout of younger skiers, he said that the 3 event format was a better draw for them than just Slalom. I hadn't given that much thought until then. I think the format of the competition, part of a larger multi-sport convention for the summer, may also have had some influence. Medals for the State Games were awarded. Either way, there was good participation.

 

Water Skiing still has a bright future. I've met some of the leaders. Let's help them when we can.

[msuws]

+1 on these tournaments being a whole lot of fun. As a collegiate skier, I agree that the biggest draw to a tournament is multi round, multi event, as it's the biggest bang for your buck. We are dirt poor after all! See link below for the Q&A article on Spartan Buoy Bash. Thank you to all the veterans who are helping us develop as skiers, officials, and tournament directors!

 

Spartan Buoy Bash/

[MISkier]

I encourage everyone to read that article linked by @msuws.

 

@JeffSurdej, please note the number of new water skiers in the first AWSA event at the Buoy Bash.

[JeffSurdej]

@MISkier will do, it''s gonna take me a bit to go through the scorebook and see who skied their first AWSA event unless you know the names, but as soon as I get that I will post them all as new AWSA tourney skiers, thanks, great event and that article is perfect. We actually have a NCWSA/AWSA liason position that just started, being spearheaded by Emily Danmeyer and Christy Kingsmill with their goal to help bridge thew gap between NCWSA and AWSA.

[spartanskier10]

+2 on what's been posted. Helping all skiers, beginners especially, feel equally comfortable/ less-intimidated skiing against those older getting many many buoys is a big factor. Spartan Buoy Bash and State Games did an great job incorporating all age groups and levels alike.

 

At State Games last weekend, I paid just $60 for 6 sets (2 in each event). That was awesome and commented on positively by much of the younger, broke crew. Most college kids get to jump only ~5 times ALL YEAR so tournaments with a ramp are a huge draw to the M1/W1 age groups imo.

 

Thanks to all putting in the effort to crank out some awesome tournaments!

 

[msuws]

@JeffSurdej

 

Skiers with their AWSA debut at Spartan Buoy Bash (a few of these skiers became USAWS members specifically for this tournament):

 

Kurtz, Evan

Simonelli, Dean

Lynch, Tim

Gaylord, Grant

Krauter, Alex

Walejewski, Michael

Carlone, Kaleigh

Clink, Kellyn

Height, Landon

Machnacki, Andrew

Carlone, Andrew

Macarther, Brenna

Meinhardt, William

Mcginnis, Christopher

Patnode, Kayla

White, Brendan

 

My mistake... I was inaccurate in the article. There were actually 16 debuting AWSA skiers. NOT 12. A happy mistake :)

 

Let me know if you have any questions!

 

Alex Clark

clarka42@msu.edu

[BrentOvermire]

Just to clarify......at the State Games of America 2017, there were 42 skiers and 26 of those skied more than 1 event. It was a great tournament.

[bishop8950]

I ski today because of collegiate skiing. @BrentOvermire and his brother Todd taught me how to run the course. There are several BOS members from that mid 90s scene such as @JeffSurdej, @bojans and others. What a blast that was. I learned a ton about leadership when I was president of the MSU team for years. I also met my wife on that team. Safe to say that whole experience changed my life and all for the better. Who knew. I am so glad I went to that first meeting.

 

It's great to see those organizations still going and having an impact. Keep it up!

[eleeski]

San Diego just got a jump. The Class C tournament was 3 event. Normally a handful of skiers show up and the tournament is over early. This year, the tournament was full and ran all day. Lots of young people - mostly recent college graduates. Of these young people, most did not have slalom as their best event. But they all slalomed.

 

The tournament world is changing with a focus on overall and fun. Bravo!

 

Eric

[Than_Bogan]

FUN!? Kids these days...

 

:smile:

[Mateo_Vargas]

@BrentOvermire but was Chunk there?

[BrentOvermire]

@"Mateo Vargas" , yes all 3 brothers were together this past weekend at the tournament plus Scott D!

[6balls]

@bishop I skied collegiate in those days as well...I always hoped for bad conditions it was the only way I had a shot at @JeffSurdej

Graduated '95 skied for Iowa

[klindy]

@bishop8950 I was around those days too. Never skied collegiate but certainly attended more than a few collegiate tournaments!

 

I remember being asked to CJ my first collegiate tournament at the Spartan Open on the Grand River. Beautiful weekend but there were exactly 2 rated judges/scorers and 2 drivers at the tournament. There were like 8-9 full teams and several nearly full teams. I think there were at least 3 or 4 rerides caused by ducks - at the bout, landing between the boat and the trick skier, in the chest either in slalom or jump, on the ramp and the poor guy who was flipped by the jump rope trying to take off when the skier was wide of the boat just before turning to the ramp.

 

Oh ... and a raft regatta right in the middle of the tournament.

 

We had a blast!!

[bishop8950]

@klindy I was the tournament director and remember that well. Thanks again for your help!

[kurt]

Sunday night at the state games after everyone was done and gone . We were just finishing paperwork up, it was said that not only was it a good tournament but it was enjoyable/fun to work at and ski and just hang out with everyone from g2 to m8.

Everyone had a great time, and the college kids are really good skiers.

One of the trick judges said to me while in the boat , I used to win mens 1 5 yrs ago with 500 points now it would not even make the top 5.

Lots of energy and great to be a part of.