Who is going to regionals?

[lpskier]

@Horton You are hurt, right? Get an exemption from your EVP, skip Regionals and go to Nationals.

[Horton]

@lpskier

I am not that hurt.

 

For me this year it is more about Girls 1 than Men 4.

[klindy]

@Horton you just made an interesting point. You said, "For me this year it is more about Girls 1 than Men 4." and I think that's awesome!! However above you said if YOU didn't have to ski the Regionals, you'd "VERY likely" attend Nationals.

 

I really do get the struggle with time off, cost to travel, cost to ski, practice time, family time, etc. But if you didn't have to ski Regionals, would you have not given your daughter the chance to ski HER 'biggest' tournament of the year?

 

@unksskis also said that he has no reason to ski Regionals. I get it, Aaron you are a great skier and your ranking shows. But there are MANY more skiers that go to Regionals that either decide not to go to Nationals or, more likely, are not qualified to go to Nationals. That is the biggest tournament of the year for a lot of people.

 

Point is there are no perfect answers and there will STILL be choices folks will have to make regardless of the pathway.

 

Since you're going Regionals for Buford Danger, I assume you're skiing yourself. So you're literally ready to ski Nationals this year. I'm interested to know what choice you'd make if you didn't have to ski Regionals?

[Horton]

@klindy Buford Danger is qualified for Nationals so if we could have skipped regionals we would have both gone to Nationals.

 

A lot of people who love regionals, love it because it's a social event. That's not everybody but I think that is a common defense of regionals.

 

I propose that if you survey the ski and boat companies they would tell you they would like Nationals to be as big and competitive as possible.

[buechsr]

As to your last line Horton, maybe, but is the opinion of 5 ski manufacturers and 3 boat companies the 8 opinions that should drive the ship?

 

Maybe I'm wrong but I had the impression it was your opinion that when nationals gets bigger, it also becomes less competitive and that nationals qualification was already too "easy"? If that's not your opinion, would you not agree that size and competitiveness are kind of inversely related, save for a few slalom divisions? For the record, I support a large nationals which serves as the aspirational goal of a ski season, particularly for the kids.

 

How about expanding the number of auto-qualifiers so they don't have to decide between regionals or nationals, but still allow the more borderline skiers the opportunity to ski nationals if they've jumped through the hoops to get there both by season scores and regional participation? In theory, size would go up but you're less likely to lose any of the highest ranked not come due to time/money already spent on regionals.

[buechsr]

Another idea: How about amending the penalty rule such that the current model and regional requirement stays, but someone who skis 6 events can "clep" their way out of regionals? Obviously the intent of the penalty rule and "NCQ-PRP" (or whatever the acronym is) is to avoid a skier posting one score and showing up at nationals, but someone who shows support of multiple events wouldn't be pushed out of nationals simply because they couldn't make regionals.

[unksskis]

@klindy it's an unnecessary expense. I'm not sure what your point was, that many people go to Regionals and choose to not go to Nationals? The point is the Regional requirement and cost associated is prohibitive to going to Nationals. If Regionals is the biggest tournament for some people, then make the tournament for them. However that seems to make it even less valuable for someone just trying to go to Nationals, and again, an unnecessary expense.

[Horton]

@buechsr I do not follow your logic about the size and competitiveness - I did not mean to suggest anything of the sort. Nationals should be the upper "some percent" of the skiers in the country. What that percent should be is another conversation and I have no idea.

 

The question at hand is should Regionals be a requirement? Beyond that I really think we need much other changes. Small stuff at most.

 

Yes we should care about the ski and boat companies. If we don't care about them - then they will not care about us. A larger nationals means more skiers looking for every possible advantage to ski their best. I do not know what the right size is but I do not favor a smaller event.

[skier2788]

Every year I feel like a bit of a dick. I am level 8 and I placed top 5 at last years nationals. Every year there is some guy on the bubble hoping someone seeded above him makes a mistake. If you are going to force me to go I am going to ski and that more than likely means he goes home and not to nationals. I have been tempted to get out of the water and just before the 55's throw the handle in the air and yell f$!k yeah I get to go to nationals now. Then I think about how much money I am spending on it and I just ski.

[buechsr]

Horton, all I was saying was that increasing the size of nationals seems inverse to increasing its competitiveness. Just the top 5 skiers in each event in each age would be more "competitive", but would be an unfairly small penultimate annual reward. I agreed with you that I like the concept of a large nationals. There have been multiple threads in which people have expressed their opinion that nationals was too easy to qualify for and was too big. For some reason I thought you were of that belief. I'm glad that's not the case. In any event, to avoid the problem in which people can't ski nationals because budgets and time get exhausted going to regionals, see my second post, which would allow people to both get nationals the traditional ways, but also allow some to skip regionals with a sufficient number of scores.

 

As for the opinions of 3 boat companies and ski manufacturers, I didn't say their opinion didn't matter, but I think the opinions of the 700 skiers, and the untold number of others who wished they were there (like you) are more relevant.

[BraceMaker]

different sport but why not have 3 paths to nationals.

 

1st invite all previous year national attendees who get invited so long as their average with penalties is equal or above last years average. A legacy invite as it were. one event score with penalty they still are high enough on rank to be invited they are in. This values year after year attendance > participation.

 

2nd as per usual rank with regionals. traditional.

 

3rd a high participation non regionals attendance. enough scores above a certain number. this is your guybwho goes to lots of local events has the scores and rank but doesnt want to go to regionals. bypasses regional participation.

 

Now the fun bit. how do you treat a family with a mix of qualification

 

[BS74]

For me, I started losing interest in regionals and nationals when they went to five year brackets. I had a lot of satisfaction when I got a top ten finish with 50 to 70 skiers or placing with 25 or so in a regionals even though there were skiers

8 or 9 years younger.. Now in men's 9 there may be 5skiers in a regional or 10 or less in nationals. I'm still able to compete with men's 8 skiers, maybe not win, but competitive and I'd get a lot more satisfaction from that than placing with a hand full of skiers. I get it that as we age some divisions will get smaller, but having smaller age brackets with more winners just didn't do it for me. I'll be 76 next month, still skiing 32mph.

[Booze]

Me

 

[markn]

Reading this got me interested to look back to 2004 participation in State, Regional and Nationals. Men 4 numbers. Florida State: 18, Southern Regionals: 56 and Nationals: 117.

Based on these numbers compared to current numbers, interest and participation in these three tournaments has declined precipitously.

[Jody_Seal]

1993 southern regionals 111 men 3 slalom skiers..

94 men 4 slalom skiers.

At that time the then AWSA had nearly 20k members...

Analisim in the sport along with misguided direction has brought competition watersking to its grave.

 

Team Seal not attending regionals this year and possibly never again.

[Hallpass]

@Klindy.

[Horton]

well back the original topic of this thread... as soon as my daughter and niece crank their butts out of bed the drive to Kansas begins. Okay not all the way to Kansas but almost all of the way to Kansas. Let's just call it Colorado.

[Horton]

correction: almost Nebraska

[Andre]

Niece and daughter,guess you're not stopping in Vegas...

[lpskier]

@Horton When you are traveling with children, it’s a trip, not a vacation. ;-)

[Horton]

somewhere in Utah

 

[The_MS]

Stop and get a set with Chipman

[mbabiash]

You guys could rehash surface area!!!

[ScarletArrow]

An interview with Chipman would be compelling content for your next DFC episode.

[RichardDoane]

He’s definitely a big distance from center.

[lpskier]

I am no longer going to Regionals. I am now AT Regionals at Avon Old Farms Skiers in Avon Ct.

[Horton]

17 hrs in the car over 2 days with a 7 yr old. Should have been 14 hrs except for road closures in the Rockies.

[dvskier]

@Horton What a memorable father-daughter bonding experience, you’ll cherish this trip forever. Good luck to Reagan.

[Horton]

hate to admit it but it's been pretty fun so far.

[Andre]

Post a pix of the site if you can...

 

[lpskier]

@Horton So how is Dr. Seuss in audiobook format? :-)

[Horton]

@lpskier Reagan is way too old for Dr Seuss. It's all mermaids and unicorns.

[Deanoski]

here is the crazy thing if you want to go to snow ski master regionals and national and you have a license you can go, no rankings or BS. just pay the $ and go its a great event so what is more skiers sign up

 

 

my guess it would be a great event.

 

Crap I may even go.

[Rednucleus]

@horton check out the "Hank The Cowdog"series for great roadtrip entertainment. My kids (and wife & I) got many laughes over the years. The books are fun for kids to read as well.

[Horton]

 

[Andre]

Thanks John!

Nice site for sure!

Do those barrels act like a turning island\wave breaker ?

[Horton]

@Andre I think that's the idea. I don't know how much or little impact it has.

[thager]

@Horton Don't suck!!!

[Horton]

@thager I won trick. Not a big score but my first Regional gold since 1993.

 

Slalom is tomorrow. My expectations are not high.

[thager]

Nice job! That doesn't suck! Tomorrow don't MOP!!

[Not_The_Pug]

@horton congratulation on the win. Does it make it more sweet that you beat @dirt?

[Dirt]

@Not_The_Pug There was some poor sportsmanship. I yelled at him to look down at the start of his first pass. Many spectators (ok it’s trick, there were 3) cheered when he cringed in pain, grabbed his hamstring and stopped toe tricking.

 

[thager]

I didn't know @Horton had a twin!

[Horton]

@Not_The_Pug that was my motivation

[ScarletArrow]

@thager I was wondering why Horton was wearing a Malibu shirt.

[Dirt]

That is @Not_The_Pug brother Sam. He is the opposite of horton, super cool, great guy.

[ScarletArrow]

I still think @The_MS is on to something... Horton should either ski with or interview Chipman on his drive back. Or maybe both.

 

Imagine the setting... Desert landscape... Horton gets his makeshift outdoor studio all set up... mic check... camera starts rolling... a man, whom we all believe is Chipman, walks in and sits down... his identity is concealed with silhouette lighting and voice distortion...

 

Horton goes into [insert name of favorite news anchor / late night comedian] mode and asks, "Are you the real Chipman, or one of his aliases?"

 

What's the

?

[AdamCord]

@Horton paid tribute to @rico today

 

 

[BS74]

@ Horton: Good skiing, on a Denali?

 

[Horton]

@BS74 Yes. It's potentially my last ride on the C85 for a long time depending on what UPS brought me while I was away from home.