(Eastern Region tent at 2018 Nationals, Maize, KS)
–Nationals 2018-was extraordinary, Mystic lakes was a fantastic host site and the people of Mystic lakes could not have been more welcoming to our AWSA family. This was the largest # of competitors (728) since 2010 and pulls (1340) since 2004. 4 years ago Nationals was in bad shape and we couldn’t even find a host, so glad to see happy LOC’s and happy vendors and great competition again. We have bids, and our #’s are up 32% in 2 years.
–America’s Cup-Simply WOW as well. This was a huge addition to Nationals, we wanted to bring the US Open back for years and I think we have done so in the form of the America’s Cup. A true 3 event pro tournament that is aiding in nationals attendance. We went from our usual 10 open skiers to 64, so it was great to see the best show up for our Nationals. I think that any in attendance will not soon forget the show put on by our amazing trickers skiing at elite level under the lights. It was stunning! We learned a lot from hosting it the first time and we are excited to keep it going. Charlotte is already on board and we already have a sponsor that wants to make overall 2.5 times bigger cash prize. We could not have done this years event without the support of all boat companies so thank them for making this happen.
–2019 Nationals dates are officially August 6-10, 2019. Schedule is being worked out to try and accommodate the America’s Cup considering that elite worlds starts August 12th. Odds are kids and open will ski first 2 days with the Cup moving up 1-2 days from this past year. It’s not ideal but we don’t have much to work with. Chief officials for 2019 are CJ-Dave Vogt, CS-Lisa Derasaugh, TC- Gene Davis, CD-Matt Byrne, CA-Hank Longo, CSaf-George Levin, 2020 official will be CJ-from SC, CS-MW, CD-MW. We are working with Charlotte on the # of appointeds per region as well. Charlotte is also working on a possible prelim finals for some larger slalom divisions as an experiement.
–2019 AWSA Exec committee has been chosen, it is listed here, I do have one more AAC to add yet, exec will meet Dec 8th @ 8am at Lake Myrtle. Any items you would like to see discussed please let me know. http://www.usawaterski.org/pages/divisions/3event/AWSACommittees.pdf
–July Operational Scorecard is attached, still down YOY in active membership, this report does not show supporting. Op_Scorecard_7-31-2018
–The Virtual Slalom APP we sponsored is now live in the itunes APP store, we need to get everyone to download is and start playing for feedback, so far 400 downloads in the first week. http://www.usawaterski.org/default.asp?Display=2982
–Congrats to our 2018 nationals award winners. http://www.usawaterski.org/pages/Divisions/3Event/2017NationalsPerpetualAwardsSummary.pdf
–L10 in 2019 will only exist in OMS (2 @ 41), OWS (5.5@38), and MMS (2 @ 41). This was due to the board increasing the L10 ratings to a more elite level which then cancelled many of them out due to not having a minimum of 5 with that rating. The L10 cheat sheet has been updated online. http://www.usawaterski.org/pages/divisions/3event/Level10Cheatsheet.htm
–Bob Corson was re-elected by AWSA for another term as Pan Am TC representative for us. Nikki Lee was elected as an alternate. I have asked Bob to send us quarterly reports as well as attend our winter meeting going foward as a way to increase communication between AWSA and Pan am/IWWF. There is also a live discussion board on pending items for IWWF if anyone is interested http://www.iwsftournament.com/tcissues/issuelist.php
–The “ski with the elites” weekend for team fundraising is set for the first weekend in October. the first 20 people to donate $500 or more get to attend or send someone there. There is also a rally me campaign going on for the past Junior Worlds Team. https://usawaterski.rallyme.com/rallies/13220
-LAST BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST d3 AND RADAR HAVE LAUNCHED THEIR PRODUCT DISCOUNTS TO MEMBERS ONLY. REMEMBER EVEN THE $19,95 MEMBERSHIP GETS THESE DISCOUNTS, THIS SHOULD REALLY ADD TO OUR VALUE PACKAGE WE HAVE BEEN TRYING TO DEVELOP.
