Excutive Director Report
July 28, 2008

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Pan American Water Ski Championships – Six U.S. water ski teams – Under 13, Elite, Veteran 1, Veteran 2, 17 to 20 and Junior – are competing this week in the 2008 Pan American Water Ski Championships in Medellin, Colombia, making it a record-size U.S. team delegation of 26 athletes and five staff members. As you can see from the article on the home page of the USA Water Ski Web site, the event began Monday and runs through Sunday. As is the case with most major events, results will be posted on the Web site as soon as they become available.

One thing that has often gone unrecognized in the past is the enormous effort made behind the scenes at USA Water Ski headquarters each time a U.S. team is dispatched internationally. I am simply amazed at the detail of work needed to prepare teams for international travel. While I certainly recognize the talent required to compete successfully at that level, the little recognized other end of the spectrum is the talent and dedication needed to provide teams a seamless opportunity to compete in an international arena. Sandy Hardee, USA Water Ski’s office manager, is the real driver in assembling the uniform needs for each team. It is not a simple operation. Getting sizes, coordinating with Speedo on sizing and delivery, and working with Team IP on embroidery and fulfillment are just a few of Sandy’s responsibilities. Beyond uniforms, there are the needs for visa acquisition (if needed), obtaining U.S. State Department security advisories (if there is an issue of security in the country being visited), hotel arrangements, airline arrival coordination, working with the local organizing committee on entry lists, and a whole assemblage of duties required of the principal administrator. In this case, as in many past events, team manager Jim Grew – with much-appreciated assistance from Sandy, Bobbie Razor (accounting manager) and assistant team manager Gus Johnson – is fulfilling this need.

One final item on this topic has to with Speedo, which has been USA Water Ski’s uniform supplier for the past several years. While some athletes may think that the cost of uniforms is virtually nothing to them, that is just not accurate. It is not an inexpensive venture, and Speedo does the provision by virtue of our sponsorship arrangement. We consume in the vicinity of $50,000 worth of uniforms each year for the total of our teams – at Speedo’s cost. Olympic years are always difficult, and this year has been particularly challenging as Speedo produced a controversial new swimsuit, the RZR, for its swimmers.

The swimsuit caused a number of competing manufacturers to sue Speedo, and that set of lawsuits consumed a lot of time and resources. As a result, team uniforms for a number of NGBs arrived a little late. The uniforms for our teams participating in the Pan American Water Ski Championships arrived late, however, due to the focus of Speedo, Team IP, Steve Upp (director of business development and partnerships) and Sandy, the uniforms all arrived on time and in the hands of team members.

Presentation to the Lakeland Rotary Club – Last week I was invited to speak at the monthly meeting of the Lakeland (Florida) Rotary Club. Every city has its preeminent service club, and for Lakeland it is the Rotary Club. The movers and shakers of Lakeland are all members, including the mayor, parks director, a collection of bankers and attorneys, and the rulers of the realm at Publix, a large grocery store conglomerate headquartered in Lakeland of which we are pursuing both grant funds and sponsorship relationships. For Tuesday’s meeting, there were around 200 business people gathered. My presentation dwelled on USA Water Ski, its sport disciplines, and the fact that we are located right down the street from Lakeland in Polk City – an unknown fact to almost everyone in the room. It seemed also a mystery that sports do have governing bodies, as most of the people in the room thought we spend our days water skiing. Without boring you with the details, it seemed to go well. They now generally think we do transcendent things like enhancing sport with young people.

I hope to do more of these presentations, as you never can tell if they will resonate with someone or some corporation to the extent of wanting to get involved in some manner. Sometime down the road we should consider creating a speakers’ bureau, as many service clubs have a difficult time finding speakers with topics of interest. Our topic is certainly interesting. If you have an interest and would like to help organize a speakers’ bureau, please drop me a line at slocke@usawaterski.org or a call (863) 324-4341, Ext. 134.

The AWSA Nationals - The deadline has come and gone insofar as initial qualifying is concerned and the entry forms are rolling in for the 66th GOODE Water Ski National Championships, presented by Speedo. Several weeks ago we were concerned that this year’s Nationals, slated for Aug. 12-16, might have less than desired attendance due to the economy and anticipated confusion resulting from the transition to the new qualifying system. As it turns out, the new qualifying system seems to be a component attracting more athletes. Mark Crone has been tracking the progress of entries over the past several weeks, and there is encouraging news. Some highlights include:

1. The Western Regionals had 399 registered participants this year compared to 338 in 2007, which represents an 18-percent increase.

2. The Southern Regionals had 367 skiers compared to 328 in 2007, which is nearly 12 percent more than last year. The total participation of juniors was an all-time high, representing more than 30 percent of the total.

3. With 35 percent of the expected entries in, the Nationals’ entry flow year to date is running well ahead of last year. Projections indicate that there may be as many as 200 more skiers attending this year’s tournament in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Charlotte Melchers and her crew at the Ski Club of the Palm Beaches are pulling out all of the stops to make this year’s event particularly memorable.

Webcasting of Show Ski Nationals - Steve Upp, director of USA Water Ski’s Business Development and Partnerships Department, reports: The team competition at the 2008 Indmar Marine Engines Division 1 Show Ski National Championships will be Webcast for the first time. USA Water Ski will be working with WebCast-TV as the Webcast partner for the 34th annual event, which will take place Aug. 8-10 at Lake Wazeecha in Wisconsin Rapids, Wis. The full one-hour presentation of all 14 teams competing will be Webcast live at no charge. Highlight videos from the top teams each day also will be replayed in the evenings to allow for prime-time viewing and greater exposure. WebCast-TV has an established track record for Webcasting water skiing competitions, including the 2006 and 2007 U.S. Open Water Ski Championships, as well as each stop of the 2008 MasterCraft Pro Water Ski Tour. Show skiing has a long history of being popular to broadcast audiences due to the spectacular water skiing acts executed by the teams as they perform their themed theatrical one-hour presentations. The essences of these performances are based on their entertainment value as well as the extreme degree of difficulty of the water skiing acts performed. Show skiing also is unique in that almost all of USA Water Ski sport disciplines, including tricks, jumping, kneeboarding, barefooting, wakeboarding, and hydofoiling, as well as specialized show skiing acts, will be showcased during these shows. The link for the Webcasting will be available at www.USAWATERSKI.org.

Interesting Instructions Provided to Those Traveling to Beijing -If you will indulge me with a little diversion from USA Water Ski; I am still in regular contact with many folks at the United States Olympic Committee and it is interesting to note instructions being provided to those going to Beijing. If you happen to be a USOC or NGB staff member going to Beijing, there is a fair amount of concern regarding (i) computers (try to take a “blank” computer with no proprietary information on it, and always keep it in your possession); (ii) do not travel alone (you can be held for up to 4 days by officials before they have to notify an embassy); and (iii) be aware that there is a possibility that your hotel room may be bugged. Hand-in-hand with security concerns, and pollution enveloping the venues, it sounds like a magical trip.

While those warnings seem ominous, many similar warnings were issued regarding Athens, and several other previous Olympic sites. Olympic Games are funny things. Right before the event takes place all things weird seem to circulate, but as they settle into a routine, they always seem to work out. I suspect it will be the same this time around as well.
Have a great weekend!

Steven M. Locke
Executive Director
slocke@usawaterski.org

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