Your kids are skiing on terrible gear.

[Horton]

Your kids are skiing on terrible gear. Ok maybe you are the exception, and your kids are on the right stuff.

After working local Jr dev for the last 15 years I can say that a large percentage of kids are on gear that makes skiing harder. Skis and bindings that are too big. Even worse is bindings that are not only too large but double boots that are way too far apart. If you want your kids to do your sport then you can’t as ask them to do it with crap hand-me-down gear.

Being a parent of a G1 skier and having access to a lot of gear has been instructive. When Buford was struggling at 15 & 17 mph I moved her to a wider ski with a cut off tail ( a custom Radar Vapor). She really excelled on that ski until it became too big for her at about 23 mph. At 23 and 25 the wake crossings were scaring her.

Now she is back on a Radar TRA and excelling again. She ran a tournament PB of 4 @23 her second ride on the ski. I imagine some of you rolling your eyes that I change my G1’s ski between 15 & 25 mph. (Give the kids whatever your find in the shed and call it good.) If you are a short line skier would you consider a different ski if your speed changed 2 mph? How about 4 mph?

[swbca]

Parents need to be as attentive to their kid's skis as they are to their own. Ski, Bindings and setup. Getting the setup right is harder than doing your own.

In 1987 modifying skis with files and sand paper was the only way to get a good ski. I tuned a 64" Kidder for my 13 year old son. It didn't work out of the box, but when finished he ran 4@28 off 36mph in his second tournament.

The point about parental effort, it took a few weeks of tuning and testing to get it to the best setup. With modern skis its an entirely different process, but still requires a good amount of parental effort to get the best results.

[blagrata]

My 9 year old (he's now 12) learned really fast on the right ski. We ditched the half combo ski really early in favor of the Radar TRA. I'm a big fan of the Wiley's front boot for kids. I originally went with it because it's the only one I could find in a XXS. We're now up to a Medium for him. I think it's really good for its simplicity. No laces to adjust. Definitely benefits them to have things optimized. The right rope for kids helps too. At 60 lbs and 15 mph the standard adult rope was dragging in the water.

[Bruce_Butterfield]

@Horton you are not wrong, but you are being a little dramatic. Yes its important for kids to be on "reasonably" good equipment, but by far the most important part is time on the water and parental / friend involvement.

We'll see if this link works since it got lost in one of the site "upgrades".https://www.ballofspray.com/the-future-of-our-sport-tips-to-addict-the-next-generation

Yeah, the 20-25mph range necessitates a different ski than 10-18 mph or 28-32.

[wettek69]

Thats fine and dandy if you have unlimited access to equipment at the right price. Not that easy or inexpensive for some of us to have the ability to change it up so easily.

[Horton]

@wettek69 point taken but many parents don't even try

[LK_skier]

Interesting topic. I've got limited $$ to spend on gear so I did buy 2nd hand decent stuff - started with a tiny 59" single for them to just get up and ski around on socially and then started them on that into the course - they were about 6/7. Once they progressed it got hard - they grow fast they improve fast and I couldn't justify a new ski every year - I opted for a 65" so they could stay on it for years to come - theoretically too big but at slow speeds it helped having the larger ski. My kids (and most I've seen can turn the ski but the struggle is the pull behind the boat - largely due to massive washes - I'd say the larger ski didn't help that but in the end they progressed fast enough that they overcame the fear of the wash and went up in speed that the wash became less horrible luckily. I know other parents that have gone from a 62 to a 63 to a 65 but my budget just wouldn't stretch that far. And then theres the boots! I've just stuck to Wiley for now as I think its a safe good boot to learn on - and yes I update those as they grow out of them as thats a non negotiable for me.

[jjackkrash]

You don't need a brand new, current year skis to have a really good ski, and if you buy right you can sell and upgrade the ski without taking a huge bath when he/she grows. I have found some ridiculous deals at both Wiley's and Wakehouse on new several-model-year-old left overs for my boy, his cousins, and his friends. You need to plan ahead a bit and be patient until the right deal presents itself though. Also, a Radar Vector with an RTP is a pretty nice binding set up for juniors and the Vector has some wiggle room for growth more so than some other boot systems if you get the right size for growth.

(I did splurge on my boy's current ski, but it is big for his size and I think he'll get a few years out of it.)

[Intheday]

Then they three event!

[wettek69]

@Horton Yep, fully agreed with the "most parents don't even try" It is just hard when you have 4 kids that grow like weeds to try different combinations, let alone keep up with sizing.

[jjackkrash]

Oh boy jump gear would really suck having to buy for 4 different size kids.

[wettek69]

With 2 sets of twins, it's hard keeping up with anything let alone ski gear! At 14, my boy is 6'5" with size 15 feet. I reckon I can see him growing every day. It's a shame he sucks at basketball!

[chrislandy]

Having done a lot of kids development days over the last few years I can whole heartedly agree with @Horton

The crap I've seen 8-14 yr old kids trying to ski on is ridiculous. In the UK we have a very club based mentality (due to lake access) so most kids are thrown a 1980's kidder out of the club locker once they can mono with an old stiff high-wrap, only once they get half decent do they invest in a ski. But again, due to access, we don't normally get to try before you buy.

But thanks to a great group of people running "Friends of Tournament" here in the UK, they are trying to promote and develop youth skiing so loan out new and used good quality kit to kids to try first

[Skiphreak]

@Horton what bindings are you running for Buford on the TRA?

[6balls]

Agree with @horton and also @Bruce_Butterfield

My thought would be this: if your kids are interested/driven, and not just doing it to make you happy--spare nothing. Use your wisdom to give them a great start and every opportunity that you (or most of us) did not have as a kid.

I skied mis-matched BS--we could only afford so much and it had to work for my 22 year old brother who was 6-7, and me who was 12, and Jim in between--but we wanted it BADLY. There is nothing we didn't want to be the best at.

My kids--shoot could have been great. Grew up on a lake cuz I wanted to be there. I actually knew how to coach (for the most part) properly at that point--could have had two highly competitive slalom skiers but they didn't want it skiing. When you push it--you take some diggers--you have to think some degree of pain and sacrifie is ok to advance. They were good at other things, and chose their directions.

Some kids--just hope they want to have fun on the water and in the boat--accomodate. If you have that kid with fire in the hole on slalom--shoot whatever it takes to live vicariously--because really--that's what we are doing to some degree unless it is their fire in the hole.

[dchristman]

I will never forget making little Brenda Nichols cry when, as safety director for one of our early 80's tournaments in Reading, PA, I told her she was _not _going over the jump on those 60's era cut-down wooden jumpers with screws hanging out the bottom. Ed then bought her a pair of well used, cut-down 70's era EPs from Jimmy Mandolos' niece so she could ski. I like to think I somehow contributed to her future success, but more likely there was nothing holding her back.

[Hallpass]

If you don't have the money, you don't have the money. Everyone understands that.

But, when I look at the actual numbers, I don't think the numbers support a lot of the griping about high cost of kids' equipment. I'm out maybe $2000 on my daughter's slalom gear from the time she was 3 until now at age 16. Could have been less than that if I had bought more gently used gear, and sold more of the gear I did buy. I certainly have friends that have spent way more than that on baseball and football equipment.

-HO Trainers - $100. Still have them, but I could still sell them for $75-O'Brien Amigos - $50 used - highly recommended on this site for young skiers. Still have them but could sell for $50 today.-O'Brien 59" with Bindings - $225 on clearance. Most people on this site recommend a larger ski, but I had already bought the ski. Got her through a couple of years of Slalom. Sold for $125 (had folks offer more after I had agreed to sell). Kid who got the ski used it at Nationals.-Radar TRA with bindings. Around $400. Used three seasons. Even when I offered to buy a new ski, coach told me no, it was working fine. Sold for $175-KD Platinum. Also stepped up to a Reflex plate/boot, and rear toe plate. Was around $1500 for the ski. Seems like bindings were about $500 total. Used 2.5 years, including a podium finish at regionals. Sold the ski for $500, didn't really try to get more for it. When her foot grew, bought a new boot and lining, sold the old one. Took about $100 loss after a couple years of use, but still use same reflex plate, and will for years to come.-D3 ION 2. Current Ski. She's 5'10". Pretty much an adult and on the same schedule for skis and equipment as all the other adults.

Along the way there was a junior rope around $100. Could have sold it, but gave it to another young skier. Six life vests, the first four of which came from Costco. I suppose I could have sold some of them but did not. Several sets of gloves.

So, all told I've lost maybe $2000 in 12 years on kids' slalom gear, and have around $2500 into her current gear (Ski, bindings, Rope, Vest, Gloves), which is no different than what most"adults" have into their own setups.

It just doesn't strike me as particularly expensive when compared to equipment costs of many other sports.

[disland]

Go to a tournament and ask for help. Most folks I know will do back flips to help kids who want to ski and compete. And most of us have lockers full of old skis and bindings that are still in great shape. Wileys can be rebuilt and made smaller with very little to no investment

[bbruzzese]

Not necessarily Kid's specific but could cetainly fit the bill for teenagers etc. Both Vapor Pro's,I believe the one on the right is a 21 and I apologize, I can't remember the year of the other...65 and 66 respectively. Happy to pass along at a fair price to anyone interesed.

[jercrane]

Could not agree more. My daughter learned the slalom course at 12 on a 62 TRA. She improved drastically. This past year she grew like 2 inches over the winter and I started the season with her on the 62 thinking it would still be fine given she was at 25mph. It was petrifying. Constantly looking like she was going out the front. Actually ended up having a really bad out the front as well. Could barely ski the course at 25. I thought it was technique. Finally had a coach say the ski looked too small. Got her on a 65. Turned into a breakout season.

[wettek69]

Down here in Australia, it's more about the availability of gear, unless you want to buy brand new all the time, which with 4 constantly growing kids is just not practical. We just don't have the skiing population (particularly as kids) to be able to pick up good quality, better level, second hand gear, use it until they outgrow it, then resell.Over here, you can keep up with one kid if you wanted to buy brand new probably half of the time, but not really with 2 or more.

[dleenhouts]

Like father like son

[GregHind]

I spent a lot on kids skis and then let my 3 bigger kids try my 2012 67" Connelly Prophecy. They all prefer that..... Eldest went from not being able to run a pass at 26mph to everything in between and several buoys at 36mph in two months.... At the time they were 110 pounds to 140 pounds.

[mmosley899]

We taught my grandson(now 7yo) to run the slalom course on a trick ski with a small fin added to the back. He is running into 28off @ 15.5. We can't even get him to ride the new HO slalom ski, though it is obviously time to change. He also has a smaller trick ski for tricking on and set a new PB last weekend in tricks.

You have to keep the kids excited about progressing and moving forward. Having other kids around to ski with is a big plus!

BTW, like his mother, he has learned to ski using my releasable binding system. And I have a box full of new size 2, 4, & 6 super shell boots. If you are looking for those sizes please message me.

[escmanaze]

Thanks for saying it Horton. It needed to be said. You're a good dude.

AMEN

[lpskier]

G1 Eastern Region Champion was on a ski that was at least 20 years old (although both the ski and boots were the right size). She was fourth at Nationals. I’m not sure she would have moved much further up the leader board with a newer ski.

That said, I agree that kids should have the best gear their family can afford.

[S1Pitts]

@bbruzzese Have those skis been listed on SIA? Or would you prefer a PM? I have a friend whose kids could use both of those skis.

[bbruzzese]

have not been listed on SIA. Feel free to PM me.

[RAWSki]

@mmosley899 where did you find a short trick ski for grandkid? Been searching high and low and all we can find is 40-42"s. Had great luck cutting down a slalom ski for out 6 y.o. but that isn't going to work for trick.

[ironhorse]

I couldn't agree more with this title, but only because my son is always on a surfboard and I cant seem to get him on the new Senate more than a couple times a year.

[Bruce_Butterfield]

@RAWSki I would not recommend going shorter than 40" for any kid trick ski. The theory on shorter trick skis is that they turn faster and are more "agile". You don't care and really don't want that for a beginning tricker - more surface area and stability are the important parts. I know several elite level coaches that start really little kids on 41" with great success.

[ForrestGump]

Same discussion as in other sports. Some football parents have little 12yo Johnny using hand me down school shoulder pads and helmets. And some buy the latest $1000 CarbonTec shoulder pads $850 Vicis helmet. I know this because I just bought $1850 of pads and helmet. lol

[LeonL]

Just saw on TV a couple of days ago, youth hockey. The kid is a goalie and his equipment cost nearly 5K.

[chrislandy]

@LeonL I suppose though, the potential salary that kid could earn playing hockey is likely tens of multiples higher than that of a pro waterskier.

Our kit just costs money for the sake of buying new kit / progressing / replacing broken bits; that kids kit was probably seen as an investment to get a scholarship and potential career his/her parents

[BraceMaker]

Hockey is sport by sport the one that your kid could most likely play at a high level. But also there is high resale potential on the goalie equipment.

[mmosley899]

@RAWSki what @Bruce_Butterfield said, grandson is riding a 42" trick ski with very small wakeboard fin for learning the slalom course. And he tricks on a 40" ski for tricks. In the mean time, he has decided to use his new 63" HOski for slalom and is now learning to ride that ski.

[ironhorse]

I feel your pain. I have a 16 year old that plays football and hockey. Skates cost more that football shoulder pads. Now saying this, there are lots of options for good used gear in all sports if a person looks around. We have stores like Play It Again Sports for used gear.