Spray It Forward In honor of Amanda Hoffman

[Horton]

Spray It Forward is an initiative designed to put used water ski equipment in the hands of college ski teams which are in need of more or better equipment than what their team members are currently using.

 

The concept for Spray It Forward came about after taking Jodi's Ski Skool on the road with my On Location Tour in 2010 and 2011. After attending several collegiate water ski tournaments along my route, it became very clear to me that there is huge sense of team spirit and enthusiasm among the students and the schools. Being part of a team in such a sport as ours is an amazing experience and will not only impact their collegiate careers, but will also create memories that last a lifetime.

 

At the same time, it became very apparent to me that the quality of the ski equipment being used was not up to standard, some were even "old school," and there was very little equipment to go around among the team members. I was actually dumbfounded by the fact that teams as large as twenty skiers were sharing one or two skis among them. This seemed crazy to me, not only from a performance standpoint, but also from a safety standpoint. Athletes should be on the right sized equipment and on solid, safe equipment with bindings that are not torn, perished or held together with duct tape. While at one of the Midwest collegiate events, we decided to donate a new 67" ski with bindings that could be tightened to accommodate different sized skiers. Indiana State University, with a team of close to twenty skiers who were sharing only a few skis, was the lucky team to win the random drawing. They were so excited and pleased to be chosen as the team that would be presented with a brand new ski with bindings that they could use and share.

 

This got us to thinking that we need to do more to help these students to have access to more quality ski equipment to train and compete on while in college. We are asking you to "spray it forward" by donating your used ski equipment to this program for distribution to college teams across the country. We truly believe this program will help the sport in the long term. We all know that once you have been bitten by the water skiing bug, it will always stay with you. We think your participation in this program will help our sport continue to grow with the younger generation.

 

In time, we hope to attract industry sponsorship as well as private donations with some graphic blem's and bindings. This funding will help Spray It Forward to gain the recognition and momentum to grow our sport and support the future enthusiasts and champions of water skiing. The NCWSA will administrate the redistribution of the equipment to the teams and colleges in need of slalom, trick and jump skis as it becomes available from donation and ready for distribution.

 

We would like to launch Spray It Forward officially at the US National Championships in West Palm Beach on August 13-17. The championship venue will act as a collection point to get this program underway. We hope that any of you skiers who have equipment to donate will bring it to this event. If you are unable to bring your used equipment to the Spray It Forward booth at Nationals, you can leave us your name and address, and we will make arrangements to have the equipment collected from your home and brought to a central collection warehouse where we can inspect the products for safety and assemble them with new bindings, if needed. Thanks for helping us to Spray It Forward!

 

We feel it is also fitting to Honor Amanda Hoffman the collegiate skier who sadly lost her life traveling to a collegiate water ski event this past May. Amanda was an amazing person who would do anything to help her fellow water ski friends no matter what team you were competing for and with this same spirit in mind, we are honored to have her family be part of this initiative to Spray it Forwards in Amanda's memory and spirit to have fun everyday and share it with all your friends and family. Can't make it to Nationals but still have equipment to donate? Please email

 

jodi@jodifisher.com

Founding Sponsors and supporters of Spray It Forwards, with additional supporting sponsorship welcome to join this initiative.

 

Jodi's Ski Skool • 69 Slam Beach & Underwear • Mapple Skis • Connecticut Underwriters • USA Waterski • NCWSA • BallOfSpray • Waterski Magazine

 

[Skoot1123]

@horton - can I promote this? This is awesome.

[Horton]

@Skoot1123 PLEASE! Yes Everyone!

[MattP]

As a collegiate skier, a team founder and president I can't wait to see the support from the skiing community.

 

I worked with Jodi on his summer tour and I have seen this idea progress and finally come to life. It is awesome!

 

Help the future skiers of our sport!

[Rpc29]

It's not just skis that teams need. It's jump suits, helmets, and other safety gear. I know I went over the ramp In college in some questionable equipment.

 

 

 

 

[chris_logan]

@Rpc29 is right. I was (and am still-kinda) a big part of collegiate skiing in the SAC and see teams with minimal amounts of equipment (and sometimes borrowing equipment from other teams), but continually show up to every tournament for the love of it. 80% of collegiate teams receive no school or outside funding and literally have to beg for money to buy equipment and most collegiate skiers have to fund their own way to tournaments. This would be an awesome program if it really gets rolling so that collegiate skiing has a chance to take off with smaller, non- funded schools.

 

@MattP, I applaud what you have done thus far with your collegiate team and I hope this program can help you guys out as well.

[webbdawg99]

This is an awesome idea. When I was the president of the UGA Waterski Team, we got VERY little funding from the University. The collegiate tournament scene is what introduced me to waterskiing.....and now I'm an addict. Investing in the collegiate skiers is investing in the future of our sport.

[MaryTee]

A couple of questions...

1. How high end/new should the equipment be? We have a couple of HO System 8 that are in really good condition, but I don't know if they are too old/ not high end enough.

2. Is there an address to ship stuff to?

3. Can we just send a donation to be used to buy them new stuff?

[webbdawg99]

@MaryTee I ran many 35 offs on a System 8. I think a lot of people would be very thankful to have a ski like that!

[ForrestGump]

@MaryTee If you saw some of the equipment that some teams use, you'd be shocked. Those System 8s are far better than some.

[rawly]

2010 67" Elite and 2012 66" Razor on the way.Is Horton the Bakersfield area collection point?UPS knows where you live and you probably have the boxes.

[E_T]

@marytee As long as it is decent equipment and in good condition it can be used. Most of the kids are not running into shortline skiing. I will check on the money donation and get back With a update. You can email Jodi Fisher at jodi@jodifisher.com and I'm sure myself @E_T and @mattp can answer any other questions on the topic

[Deke]

Could someone please give an idea of what's acceptable? I have a couple of HO CDX's in great shape though they are from 2000. It would be great if they got used for skiing rather than becoming part of a lawn chair!

[Horton]

yes yes all those skis. whatever

 

[MikeDunlap]

As a point of reference as to the value of your old equipment - after attending probably 20 college tournaments over the last 4 years..........my guess is 70% of the college athletes do not have any equipment so they all share skis, vests, helmets, jump suits, handles, etc. Your old "trash" becomes a "treasure" for these kids. Things commonly needed are short jumpers, trick skis (doubles and single), binders, slalom skis, vests, ropes, handles, etc.

 

A creative college team will present a starting lineup that includes kids entering the slalom course on jumpers or wake boards (easier to learn to run an opening pass). Trick passes will include wake boarders. In many cases, a kids first attempt at jumping is when they show up at their first tournament. Team scoring is uniquely different than what we all see at our weekend events.

 

From a money standpoint, I have seen kids with great potential not participate in a college event because they could not afford the entry fee or cost to join ASWA. Amazingly teams seem to cobble together enough money to buy a team boat (usually without ZO) and secure a location to practice. Often practice sites requires a fair amount of driving distance. When they travel to tournaments they pack 8 to 10 kids into a single hotel room, and God bless the hotel that offers a free breakfast!!!

 

My suggestion - go to a fall college tournament next month, I promise you will be entertained beyond words, and you will get a great feel of the importance of collegiate skiing. In many cases its the introduction of our sport to the next generation. Hopefully you will also get a better feel of the challenges that some kids and teams have to overcome to become tournament water skiers.

[Beans]

Being currently on a collegiate team, this could be a great thing for a lot of skiers. Our team alone only has 3 jump suits for 30+ skiers and 2 of them are starting to rip at the seams due to so many crashes. We also have 2 trick skis, a ski set up for RFF and a ski without a toe plate on it. And we have 2 slalom ropes, one has knots in it because it got hit with the prop and the other one I've never seen used, probably because it's so frayed.

 

This program could help a lot of skiers not only access to better equipment to improve their skills, but also keep them much safer.

[MattP]

@Beans 30+ skiers?? THATS AWESOME! I take it you are in the MW?

It was seeing teams like yours that sparked this idea.

[Skoot1123]

I have an 08 Monza - and I can include some HO Animal Bindings with it.

[Beans]

@MattP Midwest all the way. We took ~35 to the first two tournaments and then ~25 to the rest of them. We even took 22 people to nationals and it was our first year ever going.

 

[crashman]

What's the liability like in giving pulls to the local collegiate waterski team ( slalom and trick- we don't have a jump) I'm not currently a member of USA waterski but the ski team is, and I carry insurance on my boat as well as a blanket liability policy. It seems like giving pulls to the local team behind a solid slalom boat would really help them out.

[Brady]

Okay, I have an 12 senateC and and 09 senate. I also have 3 older vests as well as 3 ropes. I was going to keep the skis and hang them on my garage wall, but after reading this post, it seems far more important to keep them in the water instead of collecting dust on my wall! Where is the drop-off point for Utah? Do we have a collegiate team around here?

 

I will also be forwarding this to many of my ski friends.

[E_T]

@crashman pull away!! Just get the kids on the water

[MattP]

@crashman I don't see a problem with it. It depends on how their club sports is organized. We have a local skier that pulls us from time to time at his lake. Contact the team!

 

 

I know @webdawg99 knows how this is but my mindset is if you are not helping your local college team because it would cut into your skiing time or you think having college kids around is a bad thing you are mistaken and only doing a disservice to our sport in the long run.

[cwillygood]

if there is a drop off point in the east, i know my family has plenty of slalom skis, maybe even a pair of jump skis and probably some ropes/ handles that still have plenty of life left in them

[MikeDunlap]

Crashman - great idea on giving pulls to the kids and teams. I pulled a college ski team weekly as my site was fortunate enough to have plenty of water. Not only do they benefit from the pulls and a good boat, most likely you can offer coaching tips, its all good for them. At our ski site, it is required that every guest sign a waiver and I always did. I also maintained high levels of boat coverage and general liability, so I felt protected. I didn't expect much from my USA Water Ski membership because these activities were not sanctioned events.

 

Bottom line - if you have resources, a ski site, equipment, time - offer it as the teams will most likely benefit. My common response to those who offered to pay for gas was, "thanks for the offer, you keep it, get a good education, get a good job and when you raise your own kids, pass on the sport to them."

[Ali]

Shameless bump for this, just about to ship a X5 Rose and a HO A1 to Jodi.

 

cheers

Ali

[MattP]

Awesome @Ali!! Thank you for your donation it will be put to great use!

[MaryTee]

I wish I has more equipment to give, but we gave Jodi everything we had last summer. I think Jodi gave me an address to send cash donations, but I can't find it. Does anyone have that address? I know they were working on getting not for profit status so donations could be tax deductible. I think they would get a lot more in monetary donations if it were tax deductible.

[Skoot1123]

@mattp - you guys interested in a drysuit? The seals need replaced though. If interested in it, where do I send it?