Attention State Coordinators and others from the AWSA South Central Region!
In an effort to inject some competition back into the sport of competitive waterskiing, TEAM skiing has been added to the Regionals and Nationals! The goal is to encourage participation and team spirit within the current tournament format. “State” teams will be competing for the title of South Central Regional Champion and will then go on to compete at the Nationals with the other four regions. Here’s how it’s going to work ---
Each Team will consist of 5 Juniors, 5 Men and 5 Women in each event. This can be three-event skiers, two-event skiers or single event skiers. The idea is to fill up as many slots as possible to complete the team. The best 4 scores in each category (juniors, men, women) in each event will count. Then, similar to how the collegiate team scoring works, each skier is worth 10 points. For example, if there are 44 skiers in an event, the top ranked place (based on NOPS) receives 440 points and each subsequent ranking is 10 points less with the last place skier receiving 10 points.
The only qualifications needed to participate is 1) be a full competing member of USA Waterski; 2) reside in the area/state of the team and 3) be selected for the team by the state coordinator! That it! Even skiers who are not otherwise eligible to ski at the Regionals or Nationals are welcome to be on a team. If the team wins, they’ll be able to ski at the Nationals too! Substitutions will be possible but they’re discouraged and should only be used for injuries and other emergencies.
See this document for some additional details.
I’ve volunteered to be “commissioner” and help out by generally being the lightning rod for questions, team rosters, etc. My contact information is below. We’re hoping that each of the state/area council members below will fill the role of Team Capitan’s/Co-Captain’s. Please reply to ne by February 20, 2016 if you agree to be Team Capitan.
To make things as even and fair as possible, we’ve decided to combine Arkansas and Oklahoma as well as Louisiana and Mississippi. Likewise, we’ll divide Texas up into three areas – North, Central and South. Using last year’s Regional attendance as a guide that sets the stage with five (5) teams which are fairly even in terms of participants. Each team will likely need to recruit some skiers (especially trick and jump) to fill out a full team. Think outside-the-box and look for skiers who haven’t skied Regionals in a while. Collegiate skiers are also a great place to recruit team members!
Arkansas: Scott Greenwood / Oklahoma: Patty Bray Louisiana: Joe Darwin / Mississippi: Bubba Powell Texas- South: John Giordano Texas - North: Linda Springs Texas - Central: Ron Ives
Please turn in your team roster to me as soon as possible no later than July 15, 2016.
With a little effort and enthusiasm this can be an added dimension which turns out to be a lot of fun while encouraging both new skiers and those who haven’t participated in a while! Feel free to ask any questions or share your concerns. This is the first year for this idea in this format and we’d like any and all feedback to improve in future years.
Thanks,
Keith Lindemulder