Ski Team Competition

At the American Water Ski Association’s mid-winter board meeting last January, the board approved team skiing, an idea created out of the organization’s Special Interest Group Committee. "This is very exciting stuff and we look forward to how this format might spark interest at all levels of skiing and spark attendance at regionals and Nationals," says Jeff Surdej, AWSA president. "Team skiing has proven to be a format that attracts new skiers and retains current skiers, both show skiing and collegiate water skiing are the only sport divisions with growth over the last five years, which is quite an accomplish considering the water ski recession we seem to be in."

Thirty-eight teams from across the nation will compete at regionals for five spots at the 74th GOODE Water Ski National Championships, Aug. 8-13, at Broadside Harbor in Caldwell, Idaho.

* The Midwest Region will have one team per state, except that Iowa/Nebraska will be combined into one.

* Each team will be made up of five juniors (B/G 1-3), five men (M1-12) and five women (W1-W12) in each of the three events. For example, if one team had all single eventers, the team would have 45 members, the maximum number possible while, if there were only 3-eventers, the team size would be at its minimum of 15.  The size of most teams will fall somewhere in between.

"A key goal of this exciting new program is to encourage skiers to participate in tournaments in which they would normally not be interested in participating in an effort to make a team, thereby fostering enthusiasm and renewed interest among our members," Surdej says. "Team skiing and competition succeeds in promoting excitement among both competitors and spectators as seen in collegiate tournaments and other team events."

If you or anyone you know might be interested in skiing for Indiana, please contact Jim Beck  jdbeck1@embarqmail.com. 

For more on the subject you may read here> http://www.usawaterski.org/pages/divisions/3event/AWSATeamSkiingOverview.pdf.