Excutive Director Report
March 11, 2008
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Dear USA Water Ski board of directors, board members of the sport disciplines, principals of the sport,
and the USA Water Ski staff:
Normally I write these reports each week, however, last week’s report was missed as I was on the floor
with this year’s version of the flu, something I would never wish on anyone. Glad to be back and out of
bed finally.
Think Tank. The weekend prior to my flu-ness was spent in Wisconsin at the Dells for my first ever
participation in the Wisconsin Water Ski Federation’s Think Tank. Oh My Gosh; what a great experience
that was. I have been around sports for a long time, and it was such a different experience to be around
nearly 2,000 people from 25 different states who were mostly families. Their prime interest was to do
something together (like water sports) and be with other families. It is just what our country needs.
Normally I have observed sports sort of tearing away at the fabric of family by encouraging one family
member or another to spend vast amounts of time away training and competing. Not in this environment.
It was a 180 turn away from self absorption. Water skiing forces people to be together and operate as a
team. It was just perfect. Speaking of perfect, the organization of the Think Tank hit the mark in every
way. Long time event organizer Cathy Luiting, with assists from Kay Babcock and Wisconsin Water Ski
Federation President Chris Coupland, was on top of every detail throughout the weekend. The agenda
included comprehensive seminars on all subjects, including judging, driving, competing, risk management
and every other topic imaginable. Top-level competition and many other forms of entertainment also took
place. I can’t wait for next year in Wisconsin for the 31stThink Tank.
It was interesting throughout the weekend all questions directed toward me revolved around insurance. It
is evident that this is a mature crowd definitely interested in protecting the assets of water skiing. That
also includes protecting their continuing right to ski and ride in as many venues as possible. Due to the
number of inquiries, I thought it might be helpful to provide short explanations of what our insurance
products are so everyone is clear on the protections being offered through USA Water Ski. So, here oes
with a thumbnail of each type of insurance protection:
A. USA Water Ski General Liability Policy This is our major policy designed to protect a
whole array of people as well as property owners, municipalities and other governmental
entities so we can conduct events throughout the USA. It is the backbone of this
organization with a $1,000,000 per occurrence limit (per event), and a $2,000,000
aggregate limit per event. It is top level insurance that allows our sport to continue robust
operations throughout this country.
B. USA Water Ski Participant Accident Policy This insurance product is excess medical
insurance. It serves assecondary medical insurance if an accident victim does have
primary healthcare insurance. It becomes primary if the person has no health insurance.
It has a variety of lines of coverage.
Both of the insurance products above are purchased through individual membership fees. Each
member of USA Water Ski buys a portion of the entire package protecting USA Water Ski
sanctioned events, its athletes, volunteers, spectators, venue owners, and potential governmental
entities. That is why it is necessary to be an active competitive member to compete in USA Water
Ski events.
Other insurance products available to USA Water Ski members include boat insurance and club
insurance through the H2O Ski Plus Insurance program by Global Marine Insurance Agency. We will
soon introduce an additional club liability policy. It is:
The USA Water Ski Club General Liability Program (for non-sanctioned club exposures/activities)
- The program will be voluntary and available exclusively to USA Water Ski affiliated clubs.
- USA Water Ski Club General Liability Insurance will roll out in mid-April 2008.
- The program will provide coverage for non-sanctioned events and practices, 24-hour coverage
for common lake activities and exposures (i.e. ski jumps, ski courses, docks, other equipment, etc.),
and common club activities such as dinner functions award ceremonies, fund-raisers, etc.
We are evaluating a number of different pricing models in an effort to generate maximum participation
among the 600 to 650 USA Water Ski affiliated clubs. Once this program is available, an E-Blast will be
sent to all clubs describing the policy.
During Think Tank, Wisconsin’s Scott Coley asked why USA Water Ski was charging a $5.00 per child
fee for our Learn to Ski programs. As I still can claim to be relatively new, I wasn’t sure of the answer.
Actually, I was pretty sure, but wanted to investigate it further. Turns out that the insurance cost is around
$3.00 per child per session for skiing (and, by the way, insurance for children is always expensive; more
so than adult insurance under similar circumstances). Administrative costs add another two dollars or so
for handling, data entry, etc. Apparently the thought in the past was to mail Learn to Ski participants a
solicitation to seek full-time memberships. I am not sure how productive that would be as typically they
are children. This is a program we need to review, and perhaps as we become better financially
positioned that we absorb this expense in the hope of preparing children to enter our sport. Thanks, Scott,
for your question.
Hope everyone has a great weekend as spring slowly approaches.
Steve Locke
Executive Director
USA Water Ski
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