EVP's FORUM
"WHERE DO WE DRAW THE LINE ?"
by Roger Hammel EVP Eastern Region AWSA
Eastern Region Skiers,
Lately there has been considerable discussion, mostly via E-Mail at the Regional and National level, regarding Rule 1.12 on Tolerances. We have Hot lists, records denied, letter of reprimand for a driver etc. and etc. and plenty of E-Mails on the subject.
As we know, Rule 1.12 states: "All tolerances are to allow for human error and the intentional use of tolerances by officials to improve skier performance will not be tolerated. In any activity involving the performance of an official where a tolerance is involved, it is the official's responsibility to be as close as possible to the actual specification." But now what does that really mean ? Is the first part different than the last part ? How do we enforce it, and ensure that all conditions are fair, skier to skier, site to site, event to event, tournament to tournament, without unduly restricting our drivers from attending to the myriad subtle details that makeup a quality slalom pull. We can't control wind, water and weather, but we can and must control our officials performances.
Rule 1.12 means drive as close to actual as you can, as close to down the center of the course as you are able, while giving a quality pull. Don't deliberately shuffle, waggle or slow side the times. Even if you don't intentionally run slow or waggle the boat, the second sentence of 1.12 demands that we be as close to actual as we can. What this sentence means is that times shouldn't be predominantly slow and the mean be substantially to the slow side. They should be scattered about an average (mean) time, and that average should be very close to actual.
How do we achieve this ? Drivers practice & feedback, and include the goal of achieving actual times. Seek feedback from end course video and statistical analysis of your driving times to see whether you run slow or fast, with path down the middle. Talk to the skiers & get their inputs to correlate with your own analysis of your times and path. We all know drivers who pull actuals and with some pulls slightly to the hot side, yet skiers claim the pulls felt slow. It can be done.
Over the past couple of years, analysis of data (slalom times) indicates that there sometimes is a tendency to drive well to the slow side of the tolerance. Really excellent drivers under good conditions can obtain times within a spread of plus or minus .02 sec for each segment, time after time. Very tight groups. Problem is that some of those groups have average times that are well slow of actual times. The skillful driver demonstrates that he/she is capable of nearly identical repeated performances by the tight grouping, but also displays a flouting of rule 1.12 when the tightly grouped times have an average that is well below actual speeds. In those cases, one has to think that rule 1.12 is being abused, bent, or broken. This is especially true when such a pattern exists for a driver in several events, numerous boats, and over several tournaments.
So what do we as the National Governing Body of Water Skiing do about it ? Can and should the slalom skiers tell drivers to put it down the middle, actual times, but still get the soft slalom pull, and demand that type of pull ? Is it in the skier's interest to assist in solving the problem, and not accepting or tolerating slow times ? I think so, because an imposed solution may have worse consequences than giving up the "slow" times some of us have come to enjoy.
For example, some drivers (fortunately not the majority) are saying that as long as the tolerance allows for a slow time, rule 1.12 be hanged, they are going to drive to the slow side but "in tolerance" without rerides. Those drivers invite an imposed solution, for the rule to be changed, making the low end of the new tolerance very close to desired actual. Say that instead of 36 mph range being from about 35.5 - 36.5 mph on the slow and fast side respectively, that we "adjust" the times to yield speeds from say 35.95 to 36.95 mph slow and fast respectively. Thus, a driver running slow still would be pulling the skier close to 36 mph, and everyone is happy - right ? Perhaps not, when less skillful drivers or adverse boat/speedometer/wind/lake or other conditions come into play, and we see times toward the middle or even to the fast side of tolerance. Those resulting speeds would be 36.5 mph and greater, and I don't know too many slalom skiers that WANT to be pulled that fast on a regular basis. But this could be the unfortunate result some of the time.
A different approach is to leave the timing charts alone, but disallow scores from tournament events where the average times were well below actual times. Scores where average times exceeded a statistical 99.9% confidence limit that the slow times were not the result of random events, but were most likely intentional, would be disallowed. Again, this type of approach hurts the skiers, who were not in control of the speeds. However, proponents of this approach hope that the affected skiers would pressure the drivers not to drive slow. Problem solved in the long run, with some bumpy road in the interim.
Yet another possible approach involves changing how we qualify for Nationals. Much of the incentive for slow times goes away if emphasis on ratings goes away. Today's situation - No real competition = no losers, Nationals EP qualifiers = winners. Many winners, no losers, on the surface, it sounds good to me. But it has led to fudging the rules to qualify for the Nationals via EP's. And that's the problem. Maybe using an AWSA standings list but maintaining a large size Nationals is a better way, if it means that indirectly there are winners AND losers, skiers who make the cut and skiers who don't. And that therefore YOU CARE if I got a slow time advantage and YOU didn't, and I make the cut and you don't !! But standings list has a lot of drawbacks too. It doesn't solve region to region variances, if say the some regions clean up their act, but other regions don't..., the honest regions are penalized. Further, I don't see how we can move totally away from Ratings and only embrace competition via standings list, and still keep our nationals large & strong. (And yes, I think if we greatly reduce size our Nationals we sort of kill the goose that lays the golden egg...) Plenty of gray in this decision.
So what must we do ? I propose that the average skier has a choice - a) - Recognize that there IS a problem, help us solve it by asking your driver to achieve actual times and discouraging slow times, or b) - keep quiet now and also in the future when the problem is solved FOR you. We have a chance now to be vocal, be active and be fair. Or be silent and stand on the sidelines. I invite constructive comments on how we can fix the problem discussed above with the least undesirable consequences. I assure you, many folks within AWSA perceive it as a problem, and ultimately WILL fix it. But they won't have to if we do it first.
The Western Region is taking a step by writing all its drivers. I have included a draft of their letter so you can see their direction.
I am not proposing any concrete action at this time. Just some fodder for discussion, agreement and concensus, hopefully assisted via AWSAEAST and our newsletter. Thanks for listening. And stay tuned....
RE: Draft Letter to Western Region Drivers
TO ALL BOAT DRIVERS
It has become apparent some drivers do not, or choose not, to understand rule 1.12. Rule 1.12 states that the official shall aim for the center of the range--for the "actual specification" and that intentional use of tolerances to enhance skier performances will not be tolerated.
If you were target shooting, would you aim for the outer circle of the bullseye? I doubt it! The time has come to strive for the bullseye--actual times and straight path!
The AWSA Board of Directors in now considering a program to discipline officials not following rules. The initial proposal is a three strikes and you're out program.
The enclosed time sheets show:
- A good centered pattern
- A good spread but appears to be intentionally slow
- A wide centered pattern indicating poor driving and/or poor conditions such as bad speedos.
