Water Skiing in the X-Games / Pro Ski Coach Water Ski Forum

jerrysnow · #1 Tue, Aug 25, 2009 12:50 PM

Some disciple are getting boring and waterskiing could refresh itself and the boating industry at the same time. Worked with wakeboarding! Waterskiing problem is a marketing problem: no visibility =marginality= small fragile market. I am doing my best to grow the sport myself by introducing friend and family to it with success; 2 friends bought boat this year and were not skiing last year. I made 6 familly change their boat for skiing boat after a couple rides with me.....I think i am doing better than waterski canada and USA ! What the hell are they doing? We had the worlds in Canada and there was no Tv coverage at all....can't talk for Alberta but in the East nothing. As a guy in sales and marketing i am really worried for the future of the sport.

WadeWilliams · #2 Tue, Aug 25, 2009 1:39 PM

Jerry,

You're doing the sport a great service by geting your friends and family involved. Unfortunately it's a challenge that we all need to deal with. We can only ski with a fininte (worse, a small) number of skiers each. So we are all limited in our reach.

Simply, skiing isn't in the x-games because the people who host the x-games don't see it as something that they need or want to include. Ya, it's a pretty good fit. But they don't have the knowledge or understanding of the sport that we do. These guys haven't gone OTF once. They probably don't understand that skiers travel at around 60MPH over the water even tho the boat is doing "just" 36MPH.

It's a hard sell. Waterskiing has an image problem still. Dana Reed at Pro Slalom Events is doing a great job trying to get more visible tournament locations for next year. X Games would be awesome -- but if we hosted a pro event at SkiTek and everyone who is on this forum came, then it would have better attendance than any of the pro events I have been to this year so far.

Increase attendance at our regular events and maybe we can get someone else to notice.

AndersonSkiTeam · #3 Tue, Aug 25, 2009 3:10 PM

I was at a lake this summer free skiing for vacation with my family. My kids alternate 1 slalom ski for 1 wakeboard and they really like both sports. They think what I am able to do on a ski is cool but when the big boat comes by with 12 people in the boat (not 2 trying to get a small wake), 3-4 of them being cute girls in bikinis, music pumpin, and guys getting ridculous air doing backflips and 720's I can see there wonderlust. What we do as skiers is very difficult, fast, hard on the body, and technical, but without the knowledge of how hard it is I think people lack the appreciation for what it is skiers are doing on the water. Everyone knows doing a huge backflip is hard; they do not know turning around a buoy is hard without the experience of trying. Just my 2 cents.

WadeWilliams · #4 Tue, Aug 25, 2009 3:40 PM

Ski Jumping would wow some folks for sure...

jerrysnow · #5 Tue, Aug 25, 2009 3:40 PM

All my friends wakeboarders are cool, they have plenty of beer and drop gorgeous gils in the boats....but now in there late 30's they are also on ice and advil.....and surfing behind the big boat now. Wakeboarding is also loosing a bit because even the cool guys have to work on monday and with busted ankles or a cast they loose the $ to pay the boat. Woman in the boat get bored watching the guys surfing and in the evening they look at the skiers and say wow that is cool. Time is on our side...all wakeboarders get old and cripple....at the end skiers win .

Killer · #6 Tue, Aug 25, 2009 3:55 PM

I remember watch Peter Fleck and Ron Scarpa go head to head years ago at X games... best event of the show!

from back flyers to a wake slalom/trick run to jump all without falling.. and they cancelled it!

we don't need x games, we can have our own!

HO410 · #7 Tue, Aug 25, 2009 4:23 PM

Private lakes have killed 3-event skiing, at least in terms of public awareness. My parent's generation eventually made enough money that they could (with a few friends) build their own playground away from the riff raff on the big lakes. While they are happy to share this private haven with other people, there is a certain point where they want to be guaranteed a set before sundown. Inevitably there is a point where you have to turn away members, even if it is just to be fair to them because they could not have the same access as charter members. And you will inevitably run into someone that doesn't want to admit members because he spent $100,000 on the site and this new guy will only spend $1,700 + gas each year to ski.

How to raise awareness.

1. Promote tricks. If you are on a public lake, or visit with friends, take a trick ski. You can ski a tournament trick set anywhere. Be very clear, you want to trick because it is hard. That is one of the positives (I think) about the rising popularity of wakeskate, wakeskate is much harder than wakeboarding.

2. Let's ask/demand for USA Waterski to release a guide to getting slalom course permit on a public lake. Permanent, sinker, doesn't matter. Let's get permission and provisions to be there again.

3. Jump will never return to public waters. It was an insurance mess then, it's a nightmare now. 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

Wade: The OWSF is working to set up a Pro event in Oklahoma City again. Last time there was a pro tour stop in the early 90's, they averaged 9,000 paying attendees a day over three days. The only difference is this time we're going to do it downtown. Give a sport to watch, on the right weekend at a reasonable price [and giving away a boat doesn't hurt], in Oklahoma City you are golden. We're probably 2 years out from making this real. The stone is continuing to roll on this, so I am very optimistic about this happening.

chrispenner · #8 Tue, Aug 25, 2009 4:26 PM

I like that last post Jerry, time is on our side, I am 25 years old and everyone I ski with is at least 35 or older. I am slowly recruiting friends into the sport but is a bit of a grind. Over the long term skiers always have better chance of going for the long haul. I know lot's of guys like whom you speak of that are wreaked and tried from wakeboarding. But no one I know is tired of skiing. Keep swerving everyone we will eventually win this deal.

Oh by the way slaying buoys in much more difficult than doing a back flip. I am still working on my 15 off pass and have been skiing for 4 years. Mind you I haven't had time on the water tell this year. But I was hucking back flips by the third time I got up on a wake board and landing them by the end of the season. It is cool for a bit but skiing always wins out.

Cheers!

snow1122 · #9 Tue, Aug 25, 2009 4:34 PM

We were very dissapointed that the worlds were not televised! and nothing on wakeboarding, slalom or footing on summer X Games!
My family wakeboards, slalom, tricks and foots. The pains are all the same, bad:o) going 46mph on your feet behind the boat and taking a header is not a joke so as flipping on your wakeboard and not landing it, how about OTF's?
Same here, we teach friends and family members to enjoy the sport of water skiing...........but, it takes a little more than teaching, you got to have a boat, driver, course for most of us, glass calm water and all the gear ( in our case 3people for slalom, trick, wakeboarding and footing) and did I mentioned gas?? not a cheap sport.............

tjo · #10 Tue, Aug 25, 2009 7:09 PM

HO 410 wrote:
2. Let's ask/demand for USA Waterski to release a guide to getting slalom course permit on a public lake. Permanent, sinker, doesn't matter. Let's get permission and provisions to be there again.

HO410 is on to something here. Like all of you, everyone that I introduce to the course absolutely loves it!! The challenge, the measurement, the goals, etc.... The biggest problem in my mind is public access. It is difficult to gain regular access to a slalom course, at least where I live. Over the past 10-15 years, the state of Utah has spent a lot of money developing skate parks and even motocross parks for the public to access. There had to be some type of lobbying going on to get tax dollars spent on these projects, but the related sports are now reaping the rewards.

I think the key is providing more public access to try the course out and continue to participate in the sport. Then you will eventually see more spectators at events, skiers in tournaments, companies willing to spend money on advertising, tv spots, etc....

snow1122 · #11 Tue, Aug 25, 2009 8:28 PM

http://www.waterskimag.com/article.jsp?ID=36319

My husband was one of those pioneers that brought a slalom course in one of our local lakes here in S. Cali.
A lot of red tape, but it can be done.........he did it and he ran a water ski school at the site as well.