JeffSurdej

@Horton along your line of thinking I was thinking what if we let everyone ski at home, have the normal nationals running order and live stream it from every site in the country. And you literally ski in order as if you were at the same site, knowing what you have to do to win. Granted yes we are talking different boats, conditions, drivers, possible cheating but it would make sure we have a huge Nationals. The hard part would be the technical side, the NFL draft is what I was thinking, how they did it all virtually, but I'm not so sure we could set up hundreds of sites on live streams, maybe we do the same concept of live stream but with 10-20 remote sites around the country. It could even be judges an a central location if we could get all the cameras to live stream to a central location in the country.

USA Water Ski & Wake Sports, the American Water Ski Association (AWSA) and the Ski Club of the Palm Beaches announced today that the Ski Club of the Palm Beaches will not serve as the host of the 78th GOODE Water Ski National Championships, Aug. 4-8, at Okeeheelee Park in West Palm Beach, Fla., due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on South Florida. It is important to note that the Nationals event has NOT been cancelled at this time. The AWSA board of directors is actively seeking an alternate site - and alternative dates if necessary – to conduct the world’s largest three-event water ski tournament in 2020. The South Florida counties of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach have been Florida’s hardest hit areas with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic. In a letter addressed to the board of directors of AWSA, the Ski Club of the Palm Beaches said: “We agonized over our decision and this certainly was not the outcome we wanted. However, the health and safety of our competitors, officials, volunteers, and staff in these troubled times amidst the Covid-19 virus had to be our priority. We realize that the event is not until Aug. 4, but there is simply no way to tell what the accessibility status of Palm Beach County will be with this health crisis at that time. Many factors went into our decision.” USA Water Ski & Wake Sports suspended sanctioned events due to COVID-19 on March 18. USA Water Ski & Wake Sports is planning to begin sanctioning events again starting on May 18 and is currently finalizing Return to Play Guidelines for its more than 600 affiliated water ski clubs, nine sport discipline organizations and 14,000 members. Information on all sanctioned events, including the status of AWSA regional championships, will be available at www.usawaterski.org in the coming days.

@gjohnson at this point we don't know exactly how it will all run, meeting with regional host next week, loosing nationals site just threw a monkey wrench into what was already going to be a challenging decision process but I do not blame okeeheelee at all as there was just too many unknowns, so we must move forward as this does give us an opportuntity to move it later, somewhere new, something different, you name it. If there is a year to experiment this is it

That's the plan, nationals is not canceled, but it will not be at west palm beach, that we know. more to come..........

@dave2ball @liquid d Please note my draft was just that...a very rough draft, I by no means had it all covered nor are indicating that this is the plan, but just as all businesses must start to think about how to reshape their business in this "new" society, we too must start to think about how tournaments might need to be ran in 2020. And yes it will vary by state and perhaps there will be some areas we can not follow CDC guidelines on but its worth starting to think if and how our sport might be able to adapt in states that allow public gatherings.

I started to draft something today. Just spit balling. Social Distancing for AWSA Tournaments 1) No more then one judge on a tower at once for slalom 2) Trick judges must be 6 feet away from each other 3) No secretaries for tricks 4) Only one VJ operator in jump 5) No dock starter unless dock starter is 6 feet away from athlete 6) Only one skier on the dock at a time 7) Only one judge in boat with driver at a time (jump safety must be done from shore) 8) Boat judges must sit to far right of driver as opposed to the middle seat (please have weights to aid in balancing boats) 9) Any aspects of the tournament that form alone such as registration or practice should have 6-foot distance indicators 10) All scoring or registration trailers should not have more than the required personal needed to run the event, no extra people.

the score being submitted itself can not exceed the current level 5 cutoff average.....I think :)

Here are some of the first official video submission scores submitted. https://www.dropbox.com/s/onr2zz5dfs8167n/Rick%20Fenton%20-%20rickfentonapril92020.MOV?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/7fb4vz8kpm5nrvn/Mark%20zimmerman%20-%20MarkZimmermanApril2020.mp4?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/4l2wqg6xo100i5v/AWSA%20President%20-%20KaitlynKovacsApril152020.MOV?dl=0

Sanctioned events may be put on hold for the near future, but that doesn’t mean skiers still can’t compete. AWSA is pleased to announce that members can now enter practice scores to be judged online by a panel of officials where final scores will be submitted online to the AWSA national rankings list. Please note that USA Water Ski & Wake Sports and the American Water Ski Association strongly encourage all members to practice social distancing and any other CDC or state guidelines that are currently in place, and remember that USA Water Ski & Wake Sports is not sanctioning (providing insurance coverage) any water ski activity (tournaments, clinics, practices or exhibitions) through May 17. There are 2 methods for submitting practice scores. 1. You can submit a video of your practice performance in slalom or trick at https://forms.gle/8efMwUzQWnZWnJJi8. Practice scores will be judged online by a panel of officials where final scores will be submitted online to the AWSA rankings. Videos can be uploaded to AWSA's DropBox at https://www.dropbox.com/request/CliJqh1WzDDvdO9Z2vaN or any other platform such as YouTube. Videos should be named so that we can identify who the skier is and the date of the video, for example, johnsmithjune62020. Trick videos should be submitted as one continuous video for pass 1 and 2. Make sure there is a clear indication of the start of the trick run. Slalom videos should show the boat speed and rope length before each pass and boat times after each pass. Slalom videos only need to be submitted for last completed pass and final pass, for example, if you run 30 mph, 32, 34 and 3 @ 36, you need only submit the 34 and 36 passes on 1 continuous video. 2. Practice performance scores in slalom, tricks, or jump can be submitted and signed off by a rated official. You can download a performance card by clicking here (PDF). This card can be mailed in or uploaded online at https://forms.gle/PCYpk7XsoYAVRDj56. You can also manually enter a practice score at https://forms.gle/6E6tmcRYSK56zTQeA Practice scores will count as class F scores, which means they cannot exceed Level 5. You only need to have a $19.95 membership to be eligible to submit practice scores. Join at https://www.sharelifeonthewater.com/join.html.

@RichardDoane no decision on anything past May 17th as of now, just too many unknowns at this point to start thinking about June, right now we are 5 weeks out of our current date. I don't think anyone knows what tmrw will bring let alone next week or next month, we just need to take it day by day and week by week. We also dont even know what life will look like after this pandemic ends. I think in a few weeks we will be able to make a better assessment of any events past May 17th. For right now lets just get through this as quickly as we can and hope we can salvage the 2020 season in some form. Hope everyone is hanging in there and hope your families are safe and healthy.

If we are targeting newbies than it sounds like we should just use the class F flexibility and give them 4 passes or 2 falls, we do this in Illinois and it works great and you only need a boat judge turning that hour or so of GR skiers. if the target market is skiers above L5 then yes this presents some challenges mainly with total water time which means less entries so its a tough balance. The more I hear and see all these great ideas that require class F the more I wonder if @klindy is on to something where we don't limit level by class of score but rather the time frame they exist on rankings, class F for 2 weeks, C for 1 month, E,L,R for 6 months, IDK, this way class F can be used more instead of trying to change class C. or we need some point system on rankings like NASCAR and GOLF, this way score doesn't matter and at the end of the day you need to go to regionals and nationals to win, Skiers qualification committee is a firm believer that rankings list should we weighted to winning state, regionals, and nationals, why shouldn't the national champion be ranked #1, I think a few years ago the top 10 M3S skiers did not event go to Nationals. OK I'm getting off topic. Moral of the story is class F allows all these ideas but I assume we are trying to alter the format for skiers above L5 as well?

@BraceMaker a $25 tournament guest pass is on the very near horizon, just had some calls about it last week, should be here soon which would cover the one time give it a try tournament pass

@Horton he didnt jump night but since he was on draft list and didnt ski you get the next skier down whihc is hazelwood so it might actually work out for ya

@BraceMaker he ran his opener 32 off, opted up to 38 and ran it with no continue out exit gates, he should get credit for running 35 and 38, so only explanation for a score of 6@ 35 is they took his entrance gates at 38 but if they did that then he would be scored 0 @ 32 off, something is not adding up

@BraceMaker good point, to me its either 6 @ 32 or 6@ 38,

@Kelvin but i feel like it should be 6 @38 or 5.5 @ 32, cant be 6@35

So tom Poole was scored 6@35 but he ran 38 with no continue. Anyone explain. Shouldn’t his score be 6@38. He opted up from 32 to 38. Ran 6 but fell out gates at 38?

@mfjaegersr he competed in the 2nd division of night jump so he has a head start on the rest

@Jody_Seal pigozzi skiing ?

Here is a news story (this will not be posted but wanted to share with the BOD) https://www.wistv.com/2020/03/04/multiple-fatalities-following-plane-crash-georgia-officials-say-flight-left-columbia-this-afternoon/ In Memoriam – Gordon Hall, 1957-2020 USA Water Ski & Wake Sports is saddened to learn of the sudden passing of longtime member Gordon Hall. Gordon, 62, of Martindale, Texas, was a multi-time national champion tricks skier, renowned water ski site developer, tournament organizer, and board member for the American Water Ski Association, National Collegiate Water Ski Association and USA Water Ski & Wake Sports. In addition to being co-founder of the University of Texas water ski team in 1976, Gordon was an AWSA three-event Senior Judge, Senior Scorer, Pan American Judge and a State Safety Director. He was currently serving as chairman of the board for the American Water Ski Association and as treasurer of USA Water Ski & Wake Sports. Gordon’s contributions to AWSA, NCWSA and USA Water Ski & Wake Sports cannot not be overstated. USA Water Ski & Wake Sports extends its sincerest thoughts and prayers to Gordon’s wife, Barbara, and the entire Hall family during this difficult time. He will be dearly missed

It is with a very heavy heart that I report the unexpected passing of our dear friend, chairman of the AWSA Board, USAWS director, owner of SMRR, and long time leader, Gordon Hall. Gordon was in an aviation accident Tuesday, March 3rd. Please keep Barbara, Steven, Bobby, Katy, and the entire Hall family in your prayers.

@Horton i May have worded it wrong but scoring basically starts at 90 buoys for men which should be 32 off. So 91 buoys will now be considered 1 buoy times 8 FWS points. Women I’m starting at 84 buoys which is also 32 off for them.

@Horton no it's 192, which sounds low now that I say it out loud. So 6@39 is 114, so minus 90 is 24 *8=192. 1 @ 41=200, 2 @ 41=208, 3 @ 41=216, 4@41=224, 5@41=232, running 41 is equal to jumping 240.

@Horton podium is 100 for 1st, 50 for 2nd, 25 for 3rd, As for night jump I dont 100% know, the schedule makes it seem like one round 1 night but I swear in the past the night jump was multiple rounds, anymore out there know?

@Bill22 FWs tourneys with one event dont work. Not enough skiers to draft so we end up with a 50 way tie for 1st.