Marcus Brown Article from the front page.

[Horton]

I am totally pumped the MB is letting BOS reprint stuff from his site. http://marcusbrown.

Source http://marcusbrown.net/

http://marcusbrown.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Cushin_Crossin-598x499.jpg

FreeSkier Trash

If you don’t ski, sorry…this piece is mostly skiing. If you do, Listen up:

I spent all winter skiing, but its not what you think. I wasn’t in Tahoe, where I usually am. I wasn’t in Chico, skiing buoys left and right. I was in Tennessee, working on new product at MasterCraft. And most of my time spent on the water wasn’t spent in a course. It got me thinking about the culture of water skiing, specifically competition water skiing. It reminded me of how wrapped up we all get in our own efforts to challenge ourselves and push limits. So that’s what I want to talk about today….a secondary (and maybe someday, accepted) approach to improving and making gains on the water.

Read the whole thing http://www.ballofspray.com/general-ski-news/1339-free-skier-trash-free-skier-trash#idc-container

[TylerR]

Amazing article!!

[Killer]

Another bang on editorial by MB!

 

unfortunately most of the private lakes don't really work well for free-skiing at all. nothing like carving what seems like an infinate (until your arms fall off) number of turns.

 

hit the public water and SHRED!

[Ham_Wallace]

Go to the rivers! There is always glass around some bend waiting to be enjoyed by a swerve Junkie. God made glass waters for this reason. Sounds good to me anyway. There is something about ripping some big turns and throwing a big spray on some obscure stretch of water with your buddies. Getting back to the "run what you brung" kind of thing ain't all so bad. May the force be with you!

[Ham_Wallace]

From the Old Freedom Slalom Site, Quite a while ago. Some things stay the same,

 

WHY WE SKI

 

 

People always ask us, “Where is the coolest place you’ve been?” or “What Pro Tournament is the most fun?”

 

The truth is, our best moments are on public lakes and rivers with some of our closest friends, whether we’re cranking out turns or just chillin. That is what skiing is meant to be, and that is why we still do it. I’m not gonna lie, rippin through a slalom course at 60 mph is sick. The accelerations and crushing forces are hard to find anywhere else. But we can never escape our roots, on the open water. Just like the 7,000,000 other people worldwide who hit the water yearly….

 

So, with such a huge number of water rats in the world, what is wrong with competitive water skiing?? Here’s one take:

 

Competitive water skiing relies heavily on rules and regulations. Obviously we need standards, to have records and ratings. However, I don't think fairness depends so heavily on such tight restrictions. The fact that we hold on to records and ratings so dearly in this sport IS the very reason we end up with such a thick rule book, and a large part of why the competitive side of the sport has not been growing. Competition is "the process by which one athlete interferes with or suppresses the activity of another athlete". The governing body in the United States, USA Water Ski, is not about competition. Its not about how you stack up to one another on "any given day", but rather how close you come to a number or “rating”. This means that tournaments have to be held on the best sites, with the best conditions if they expect people attend. That's not the spirit of water skiing. Water skiing needs to find its way back to its roots and back to competition. Skiers should have a reason to care about how they ski relative to those on the same starting dock. It should mean something. They should ski for placements, not ratings. And those placements should be their ticket to the next level. The current system is broken.

 

Last August, SkiWestCoast.com hosted an Elite Pro Slalom Event in conjunction with Boardstock, a wakeboarding event. Toyota’s Last Man Standing Slalom Shootout took place on Clear Lake California, directly in front of Konocti Harbor and Resort. 20 of the top Men Slalom skiers in the world attended, and battled it out in a new format and with a new vision. In the toughest water Professional Slalom skiing has ever seen, the event was run with 2 boats, 2 drivers and 2 judges….Nothing more was needed. The skier who could survive the longest, won. Period. No ratings, no records, and no BS. It was pure slalom and true competition, just as it should be. Points were awarded for placement, and overall rankings were based off those points. The site was challenging, but it was challenging for all skiers.

 

 

If we continue to stay the course and travel down the path of ratings, records and more rules, the dynamic growth of competitive water skiing may cease for good. On any given day, anything can happen…in true competition. We should harness the hope that lies in that statement, by getting back to competition based events, or we may have no chance of creating a better future for generations to follow. Either way, there will always be the open water, always one more sheet of glass to rip, somewhere in the world. If that’s good enough for you, it’ll be good enough for me.

 

Marcus Brown

 

MB Acapulco Sunset

are lost.

 

[Ham_Wallace]

Damn, I'm glad I found that!

[Ham_Wallace]

OB,

There could have been a true challenger out there somewhere that had horrible conditions at his/her events and didn't make it to the dance. Then, there are those that live in proximity of the primo slick water sites and never get to ski the s%*t. Competition is: that day, that site, those conditions. All equal.

[GregDavis]

Thus, the reason I started the Big Dawg.

[Wish]

I have to disagree with Marcus. Ya, I know - what do I know. I will say, I whole heatedly agree that free skiing is a lost opportunity for most of us and I resemble his comments 100%. I also agree that the slalom course can become a crutch. I get the chance to free ski back home in MN once a year on a big lake. And I suck at it. It’s like riding a horse without a saddle. Just a lot of unbalanced chaotic moving around during the ride. Marcus has opened my eyes as to why that happens (sucking) and how much the course plays a part in that. But to suggest that “no one drills functional” aspects of skiing….and is a path to nothing more than a useless waste of time is misleading IMHO.

 

In the article, Marcus sites basketball drills as positive vs only playing in games. The drills basketball players and most all other sports use are for teaching and maintaining fundamentals and important elements of the game and are not intended to teach all the skills needed at once. The only way to simulate the entire basketball game and all the pieces between the elements is to scrimmage. No reffs, no scores, no apposing competitors, and no audience for the most part. But the elements that were drilled over and over becomes part of what's needed in the scrimmage itself.

 

I agree you can't simulate all “tempos, rhythms, angles, forces, experienced during a typical run through the slalom course”. Such is the same with other sports. But some speeds, some forces, some timing and some rhthyms can be felt through drills. I would equate free skiing to a basketball scrimmage ( piecing fundamentals together ) and skiing drills as the reinforces or teachers of the fundamentals. Both can be invaluable tools. Both are used in most every sport (accept poker… will never understand why that’s on ESPN)

 

He sites golf in using the putting green and driving range for drills. He states this is "skill work, feasible within the sport of golf." He suggests skill work drills are not feasible in skiing but IMHO it can be accomplished in skiing.

 

The “pull out drill” he sites as not functional (one I actually suggest doing and have my daughter doing) is a drill that teaches a fundamental aspect of skiing. What does stacked feel like?? If you do the drill and your correctly stacked you will FEEL your ski moving faster, getting wider from the boat and climbing up on the boat. Not to mention you have lots of time to FEEL which muscles are engaged and to what degree. Lose the position and you lose line pressure, speed and width. It’s a simple drill that teaches a small, fundamental element. While the pull out drill is stagnant as he says, so are many of what he says are useful drills in other sports. Unless you’re somewhat of an accomplished skier, free skiing most likely won't teach this with consistency. Other threads have asked for ways to help long line skiers or beginning course skiers. Drills are one way. Free skiing is another.

 

Don’t take my word for it. Search “Gordon Rathbun waterski drills” or “Seth Stisher water ski drills” (help me out with vid here @Brent), you will find such video drills. I believe Gordon has 5 or so on Youtube (but there are 12). Seth has 2 or 3. All on YouTube. Gordan’s are older from what I remember and somewhat dated in terminology and video quality but what he is showing is non-buoy chasing drills that have merit in teaching fundamental aspects or chunks of the overall skills needed for the course. They show drills can be useful.

 

Myself and my daughter however will be doing tons of free skiing this summer in MN on the big lake thanks to Marcus. Still may slip over to the course on the south side though. Gotta feed the addiction.

My 2 cents.

 

[jipster43]

Free skiing is only useful if you can find good water. Ironically private water is much more accessible for me. I am looking forward to a week of free skiing in August though.

[Ham_Wallace]

Yes, Have skied with Lucky for 40+ years and Seth grew up skiing on Beautiful Lake Guntersville in Alabama where I learned to ski, have a cabin and still make a few turns. I still ski with Lucky when I make it to Central Fla.

[Skihack]

Free skiing is the best training, period. My thought process is if you can cross the wake six times go out wider than 37.5 feet out and turn each of those six times in less than 16 seconds, the course will not intimidate you. It's just there as a guide, you don't really ski at the buoys, which unfortunately alot of people do.

[Wish]

YouTube search -- g6balls -- and you will find a bunch of Gordons drill vids

 

This is that pull out drill I was referring to. Old termaninology but you can clearly see how this can teach what stacked feels like.