Tournament Numbers

[MI3Eventer]

Quick poll on tournament participation this year. I have been involved in some tournaments and I feel numbers are down this year. Anyone else feeling this way?

[MISkier]

The Tuesday tournament at Lyon was down substantially, apparently almost to cancellation level. @Kimbymon was there. I looked at the SafeSport status of some of their club members and some of the previous competitors and several showed their training had not been completed.

 

 

[skierjp]

Full blast here in Central Florida. Some tournaments have a wait list.

[Mastercrafter]

With the cost of living right now, I can imagine some just don't want to spend the time and extra money to drive and pay entrance fees. I know this is a rich man's sport but when it takes $200 to fill my truck up, spending another $50-100 gives me pause.

 

I'll bet Safesport had a hand in it too. I was somewhat reluctant to take the training, but I love the sport and want to continue to participate and contribute when I can. At 32 years old I have a lot of skiing ahead of me.

[Jody_Seal]

@skierjp Wait list of foreign skiers. Nothing changed there! popular place Florida is for waterskiing..

[dave2ball]

True Orlando area does not seem to a shortage of skiers. I would like to see the break down of foreign skiers vs citizens in the tournaments to get true numbers.

[ski6jones]

The two tournaments I attended this spring were down. One went from Sat/Sun to Sat only due to low numbers on Sun.

[lpskier]

I’m going to a Tournament in Canada tomorrow. It’s day three of a three day event. I couldn’t get in to days one and two and I sent in an entry 45 days ago. Apparently no shortage there.

 

But then gain, I’ll be a foreign skier…

[MrJones]

I would not use Orlando numbers as a gauge of average tournament participation.

[LeonL]

32 skiers at Sawmill Lake in Indiana, 2 rd slalom. 40 the next day at Champions Lake. 8 at 3 event at Timberlake, also in Indiana. So.....?

[MISkier]

Sawmill and Champions offered L for skiers chasing those scores. Those will continue to be a draw for serious competitors and those needing World rankings. I believe the other tournament was C, so possibly not as attractive. Looks like all 8 skiers were from just two families. All 3 tournaments were over the same weekend, so they were competing for attendance.

 

I also believe Florida will continue to see regular attendance, as I think most of those are L or R. It might be the C tournaments that suffer this year. We are running a couple of them here, so we will see.

[MISkier]

Also, a bunch of the skiers at Sawmill and Champion were the same skiers attending both tournaments like a coordinated event, so there is overlap in those numbers. And, I think at least 10 were not from Indiana (or at least don't live there now).

[lpskier]

Two record tournaments in NY sold out this weekend with a waiting list.

[PatM]

Nearly 50 skiers in the tournament at Pangea in NY yesterday. Another there today with similar numbers. 2 rounds of slalom ending around 7 pm.

[brettmainer]

The numbers seem down to me this year. Regionals participation will tell a more complete story. I do believe we are down about 10x 1992 to 2022, but that is not the point of this thread, which is more about year over year.

[liquidz]

At Liquid Zone Sacramento Area our Class L 3 Event for next weekend is full with a waiting list, 99 Rides Saturday, 91 Rides Sunday. 2 Weeks ago our L Event had similar numbers.

[Jody_Seal]

 

this photo taken 3 years ago in Helena Mt.

we are whats left of a very exuberant group of skiers from the late 70s and 80's. in upwards of 40 skiers would make the trek to the different competition venues in the state 4-5 events a year.

so I guess if someone wants to take a real look at the progress of sport and where it is today I would have say membership and participation has diminished greatly.

 

anyone can look online and do their own deduction. tournaments that once were 40-45 entrys with half being 3 event are now down to 25 entrys.

sites that in the last 5 years would hold multiple events now this year one, or even sites that are not continuing as a competition site.

 

yea I know there are overbooked tournaments in Florida and other states however those for the very large part are where the elite ski and is not indicative of health of the southern region as a whole.

my estimate in some areas 50% participation loss for 2022 and 25-40% loss in the organization as a whole.

 

I can say we can kick the can back and forth but all the analization as for the reasons why is a waste of time.

making decisions that create a strong membership base and a real competition playing field is not going to happen as long as the ideology in the sport is rankings performance based.

this ideology has proven it does not entice participation and its retention of members.

then add in on the safesport indoctrination mandate the participation just continues to hit bottom and:start to dig!

 

three years ago in Helena we had nearly 30 entrys. this year I think they had 11

 

[skierjp]

Without thinking too hard, I can name 7 skiers that I personally know that can run deep 38 and are not AWSA members. That all own boats and have the latest equipment but see no use in tournament skiing

[A_B]

Midwest Regional's big M3-M5 divisions looked to be down about 25% or little more...

[MISkier]

@A_B, that may be because it was in Kansas. I checked this years numbers against the last time it was held in Kansas (2019).

 

M3

2019 17

2022 15

 

M4

2019 20

2022 15

 

M5

2019 15

2022 16

 

Total (M3 - M5)

2019 52

2022 46

 

About a 12% decline

 

 

[MattP]

Number of individuals that skied Nationals

2022 - 596 - Maize, KS - Currently Registered

2021- 694 - Wilmington, IL

2020 - 531 - Zachary, LA

2019 - 704 - West Palm Beach, FL

2018 - 729 - Maize, KS

2017 - 670 - San Marcos, TX

2016 - 550 - Boise, ID

 

Nationals participation is a yoyo don't read too much into it. Nationals is down 100 skiers in 36 divisions. That is less than 1 skier per division per event from last year.

Yesterday was the deadline for entry. There will be a few stragglers and they should beak 600. I think having MW regionals & Nationals at the same site only a week later might not help the numbers from the MW region. Some places in the region are 14+ hour drive away.

[MISkier]

@MattP, the drive is the issue. I personally know almost 10 skiers in the M3-M5 groups that attended Regionals in Wilmington in 2021, are still active tournament skiers, and did not go to Regionals this year. And, I know a few in M6 in that same situation as well. And, the same will apply to Nationals as well, since they did not attend Regionals. Many of those attended Nationals in Wilmington last year and will not be there this year.

[RAWSki]

 

what @MISkier said....sorry .... looked like it was a great event I am sure Nationals will be amazing too!

 

[Ali]

38 signed up for our NH C tournament in a couple of weeks, we may have to install lights to get everyone their 3 rounds. We had to close entries for our June class C too.

[jgills88]

Ohio is up 61% in tournament participation from last year, even with one of our tournaments getting canceled this summer

[unksskis]

What boats are pulling all these tournaments? Promo, club, personal?

[MI3Eventer]

Around the midwest it seems to be a mix. We are lucky to have two MCs and 1 CC in Michigan. In other midwest states it has been a mix of club and personal boats added into that.