misp

Looking for someone that might know someone or be able to pull a G3 and G4 girl for practice at Deep Creek Lake in MD or in the near vicinity during July 16-19? Any help with contacts would be appreciated.

Now is the time for our sport to package the Pro tournaments and allow ESPN to fill some open slots. Our sport naturally allows social distancing and it would be great to get some captured exposure.

Just waiting for the moderator to step in - in favor of spineofgoo - ....well said @A_B

This sounds like an excellent opportunity to try and create more “Varsity Teams”. What about rewarding the D1 6th-8th places with an “NBA type lottery pick”. The college club gets to compete the next couple of years like the “Varsity Teams” - scholarship money to recruit with, team lessons, a promo boat and coaching/counseling on how to maintain this level recruitment & competition after they move up in status. More “Varsity Teams” = “higher profile” = “more interest/skiers” = “more boats sold” = “more money” = “more Varsity Teams”.

School start times are very random even within states. However, what is consistent & has an even bigger impact on the future athletes of our sport is- the start date of HS sports. A check of multiple state athletic associations did not turn up a state that allows their high schools to have mandatory practices until after the last full week of July. I’m sure there are some exceptions. As a coach - team always comes first - missing the first week of practice/cuts to go skiing - sorry! As a young athlete - give up a 3 months of a sport that all my friends play & I enjoy - for 1 week of skiing - sorry! As a reasonable parent - how do I justify/counter to my family one extremely expensive week of skiing vs. life & time management skills taught throughout a fall sport season - sorry! As a “disillusioned parent” - I can spend thousands on AAU coaching & games & "dream" about my kid maybe getting a $2000/year token scholarship or I can spend tens of thousands on skiing/qualify for Nationals and my kid is guaranteed to pay full tuition - sorry! (Boat & equipment companies take note - “delusional parent ego stroking” is the #1 way to grow this sport and your bottom line. Money & ROI is not an issue to a parent that can "dream" about saying, “my boy got a "college scholarship" to water ski”. Bonus, all those kids of the “dreamers” eventually get a degree, make money, move to lakes, have families and buy equipment and boats to train the next "super star"! The “college scholarship” is the pipe dream that funds every AAU team, training facility, and everything in between, etc. in this country - we need to figure out a way to let that “delusion” help grow this sport.) By moving the Nationals to the last full week of July could help by making it much easier for our future generation to stay in this great family sport. I agree the best skiing always seems to be after Nationals maybe that would be a good time for the state tournaments.