I love slalom skiing. I've never skied a tournament. I ski because it's fun, it's an amazing workout and it satisfies my competitive nature (chasing buoys and achieving practice PBs). I grew up free skiing...slalom, trick and jumping wakes on old wooden combos (pretending I was jump skiing). Skiing was a big part of my childhood and our family. We always had a nautique, always skied on public water, but didn't have access to a course or jump. I don't feel like I'm missing much by not skiing in tournaments. My slalom buddies have become great friends and my family ( wife and 2 young kids) enjoy getting out on the lake together. When I think about tournament skiing, it feels too time consuming. I can't see leaving my wife and kids all day to ski in a tournament, and the last thing my wife wants to do is drag the family to a lake and sit around waiting for daddy to ski. Part of me wants to ski tournaments, but they seem overwhelming. FWIW, I thought it may be helpful to hear the perspective of someone who doesn't tournament ski, but takes 3-4 sets/week and spend enormous amounts of money on this sport.