Please see the 2014 AWSA Rules Committee Report for review at eastern region winter meeting. Contact Gary Noll with questions/comments.
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AWSA East
Eastern Region 3-Event Water Skiing
Update for the region – the east recommendations were reviewed during the AWSA Board of Directors meeting in Florida this past weekend (1/25/14) and the outcomes of that meeting will be made available through the Board of Director meeting minutes and the official posting of the 2014 rule changes on USA Water Ski. Keep your eyes out for those postings on the USA Water Ski website. Thank you so much to both Gary Noll and Lee Mershon for representing the East Region on the Rules Committee. Appreciate all that they do!
PROPOSAL 6:
Rule 6.03I
Judging for all events must be performed on the tournament site.
A great topic of discussion.
I agree we should keep the majority of the judges at the tournament site, but……
Technology has bluntly stifled the growth of new ski sites. It takes tens of thousands of dollars to get a new site up and record ready. The costs have driven the entry fees to the point where good skiers sit on shore and say “its not worth it” or “I am only here for the kids, I ski at home” Added to the installation costs are the certification cost, the upgrade and maintains costs and one can begin to see why the numbers are declining both in sites, events, and skiers.
It is not worth it.
Some of the rules have eliminated wonderful sites from any chance of a record site. One example is the cost of individual anchors for each buoy in water 60 feet deep held to tolerance of +/- 1 inch. Thousands of dollars and 100’s of man hours.
It is not worth it.
Add to the tournament fee an extra $1000 in plane tickets per judge and the cost per ski would climb another $25 to $50 just for the judge to sit and watch a video. The more it costs the fewer the skier there are to chip in and the more it costs per skier. It is a loose loose spiral.
Here is where technology could hold down the cost and maybe make judging a little more comfortable and there for desirable. If I could send the video to a judge off site and cut entry fees by 25%, it would be a win for the skier. By eliminating travel time for the judge, they win and more people may offer to judge if it required less time, a win for the sport.
I do think a judge off site is preferable to not running the event due to a lack of a Senior official. I would rather have the person on site, so they could get a chance to ski. That is the whole point, right???
The rules and requirements are making this sport a challenge to bring value to the skier. A couple three tanks of gas or a tournament with one shot at the event??? Which are more and more skiers choosing, the numbers speak for them self. I think off site judging is a way, not the best, but a tool to help keep the cost of a tournament with in reach of the average skier.
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