Click the banner above to be linked to my VuVox collage of collegiate events.

Reading through the pages of comments on SkiFly, it would be easy to get the impression that water skiing is a dying sport.  This website is one of the primary resources available to skiers across the world as means of direct communication, but the anonymity allowed on its message boards results in a measure of unreliability in a number of the posts.  I see the sport in a different light than some of that which is portrayed, and I think competitive water skiing is on the verge of a comeback in a big way.

To clarify, I don’t think the recreational aspect of the sport ever saw a major decline in participation.  Now more than ever I see slalom skiers on the water cutting mellow arcs back and forth through morning glass.  Sure, people wakeboard as well, but the two sports work together in getting people involved with water sports and enjoying their time at the lake.  Most of these skiers are in the dark, however, when it comes to competitive water skiing, especially that of the professional level.

I wasn’t around in the glory days when water skiing was on ESPN, but I think that the same level of professionalism can be reached in the immediate future.  Webcasting is a great way to promote events to an audience around the world, but in itself, this will not gain new viewers.  The tournaments themselves have to do this in their own local region, and they’ll have to be innovative to do so.

Successful examples are the Louisiana Night Jump and the Big Dawg Series.  From what I’ve seen online after these events, they have both taken new angles in order to amp up the level of excitement.  Without a doubt the most exciting water ski events I’ve been to, however, have been collegiate tournaments.  Whether it is a standard weekend tourney or Collegiate Nationals or All-Stars, these events are a blast for spectators and competitors alike.  The team spirit has something to do with it, but it’s also simply bringing so many people together in the anticipation of having a good time.  The collegiate division is a window that can be learned from by the other disciplines, and used to grow the sport as a whole.  How can collegiate events benefit professional water skiing?  By having collegiate skiers volunteer to host Pro Stops themselves.  Not tied down by full time careers, collegiate skiers are in the perfect position to be effective tournament organizers.  The following Google map will include the locations, websites, images, and videos of all 80 or so collegiate water ski teams.  Currently it is limited to a portion of the Western Region, but looking at the extensive reach of the collegiate water ski network when the map is complete, will give you an idea of how easy events could be spread throughout the US.

Keep an eye out for Part 2 of this post, in which I’ll detail exactly how a collegiate team can host a Pro Tourney.

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Caty Tsu's shot of Nacimiento captures the calm, serene nature of the lake that can be seen regularly on early Fall mornings.

The assignment was to create a 60-90 second video about a place pertaining to my blog.  Not bad, right?  Well it wasn’t, but not for the reasons you would probably expect.

As the video will illustrate, Lake Nacimiento is the single most important body of water for the Cal Poly Water Ski Team.  I have been going there for the last five years I’ve been on the team, often times several days a week.  This is a place I associate purely with water skiing.  Many of my friends have been out a fraction of the hundreds of times I have been on that water, and they are astounded to hear I have only been out past the slalom course and back into the narrows a handful of outings.  My first problem then, was to create a balanced picture of the lake itself and the culture around it in its entirety, not just as I generally see it.  Well to be honest, I don’t think I did too great of a job on this point.  Had I more time to film, I probably could have convinced a practice crew or two to abandon slalom skiing for the day and to explore the lake.  If I could have convinced myself, that is.

My overwhelming desire to ski became another issue in itself.  Between the time this project was assigned and today’s deadline, I went out to the lake five times.  Yet I only managed about 45 minutes of footage, and most of this was simply shots from the boat of pass after pass that was more useful to the skier than to anyone looking on.  Finally, on Veteran’s Day, we took out a large group and both the primary practice boat, and a second boat that was donated to the team and is equipped with a tower.  For once I was actually more enthusiastic about filming than skiing or driving, as it gave us all a chance to watch our sport from a perspective we rarely get to see.  Although I did not get to make a short surf- or snowboard-style water ski flick, as I would have liked to with this footage, I believe this video captures what Lake Nacimiento is all about, and why we all love it so much.

My Flickr Photostream can now be seen at VUVOX.com. I'm working on embedding the slideshow in my blog (and uploading some decent pictures), but for now just click on the picture above to check it out.

Wordle is an artistic tool that allows you to upload text (or your blog feed) and see what words are most used. The larger the word, the more the usage.

]]> http://sloskier.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/top-used-blog-words/feed/ 0 colinmgibbs Wordle Output for Collegiate Water Skiing Feed http://sloskier.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/behind-the-scenes-at-2009-collegiate-nationals/ http://sloskier.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/behind-the-scenes-at-2009-collegiate-nationals/#comments Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:48:42 +0000 colinmgibbs http://sloskier.wordpress.com/?p=120 ]]> STORY HIGHLIGHTS:

At the 2009 Collegiate Water Ski National Championships, Kyle Desautels proves that for the audience on shore, it's about more than simply distance in the jump event.

• This is NOT a nationals recap
• A new scoring program available for download
• WSTIMS is effective, but unwieldy

Although it would be appropriate, even expected, for me to give a recap of the 2009 Collegiate Water Ski Nationals, there are several websites and blogs that have already done so in a more timely manner than my own.  If you have not yet read about the event, check out the CRB, Ball of Spray, and of course watch the videos posted on the NCWSA main site, courtesy of Troy Crivello.  Instead of offering my own account of the National Championships, I would like to share a piece of software that made its debut at this same tournament, however discreetly.

Initially, the concept started with my attempt to create a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that would allow a person to enter live tournament scores as they happened, resulting in an output of updated team standings after each skier.  The idea was not to replace the current scoring program, but instead to supplement it and give our announcers another source of material.  The spreadsheet turned out to be more complicated than I thought, but a friend of mine, who happens to be a computer programmer, overheard the idea and put his skills to the task.

Bryan Clevenger is not a skier, but after a brief explanation of team scoring and two days of programming in JAVA, he produced a first draft that can be downloaded here.  Two available files at the linked download site include the scoring program itself, and the registration template that is necessary for it to run.  Once the JAVA program begins, opening the registration file starts a new tournament.  For this rough version, one cannot save the tournament part way through, so the program must remain open throughout the event.

Bryan’s program is far from perfect, and in no way a complete scoring program, but it offers an example of what alternatives could be developed in place of the current standard in tournament scoring, WSTIMS.  If you have ever used this MS-DOS based program, you know it too has its flaws.  Although the software has proven itself over time and is functionally more than sufficient, it’s antiquated user interface provides a steep learning curve for those interested in helping out with scoring.  A more simple program would allow more to get involved, and consequently, tournament organizers would have an easier time finding volunteer officials.  Please, take a few minutes to play around with Bryan’s experimental software, and provide your feedback in the comment field below.  Think about what improvements on WSTIMS or new features you would like to see in tournament scoring software.  Ideally, the online ski community will be able to put together a well-rounded list of expectations and requirements.

Kyle Desautels gives his thoughts on collegiate water skiing and The Cal Poly Water Ski Team. To check out the podcast, click here.

Cal Poly team Vice President, Micah Kuiper, and Fundraising Chair, Kristina Huhn, model the 2009 Collegiate Water Ski Nationals T-shirts. These American Apparel T's will be available for purchase on-site beginning Thursday morning.

Hosting Collegiate Nationals, like any other big tournament, is an endeavour full of challenges.  One thing Cal Poly did not have to worry about this year, however, was merchandise for skiers.  Rather than going the usual route of contacting our local printer and providing them with a design of our own creation, the team chose a much easier way to handle the task by contacting SDSU Water Ski Team alumni, Chris Clark.

Chris Clark graduated from San Deigo State University in 2007, and after a college experience heavily defined by his involvement with water sports on the lake and the ocean, he started a company that would allow him to continue with his passions beyond school.

Chris created SIMR and its motto is “Live to love, love to live,” according to its Facebook page.  In addition to producing custom surfboards, Chris’s outfit also creates high quality apparel and has full graphic design capabilities to suit your needs.  Working with Chris for this event was especially easy.  I sent him a rough sketch of what I wanted, and in no time he had a design better than I could have ever hoped for.  I guess this is the advantage of working with an artist who is also a skier.  The comfortable American Apparel shirts created by SIMR will be sold throughout the tournament in the vendor area between Lakes 1 and 2.  In addition, a small run of hats and sweatshirts will also be available to guests on-site, and images of these can be seen by clicking on my Flickr stream to the right of the page.  Thanks Chris for making the creative process so easy for myself and the team, and we’re looking forward to seeing you out at the tournament this week.

Prior to site set up, Ironwood Lakes 1 & 2, Cal Poly's host location for Collegiate Water Ski Nationals 2009.