Riders needed for Nationals July 30 -Aug 2

We have some medals that are not going to be awarded. We need more riders. Now is your chance!!!!!

http://usawakeboard.com/index.php/component/content/article/58-registration-open-for-usa-wakeboard-nationals.html

Then maybe USA Wakeboard should really consider combining some divisions then? How can you truely claim you are a "National Champion" when you are the only one in the division? Where is the credibility in that?

The only weekend all summer I am going to be out of town!!!!!

If I lived closer, I would totally be in it.

Same weekend as the Heber wakefeast in AK, $17,000 payday for Pro men, where do you think all the riders are going?

so this is open registration???

rexin

this is kind of weird...

JimT - Do not discount this event. Austin Hair and Cory Dyer was chosen for Team USA because of last year performance. Why do you always make

jr - yes registration is open for this event on line or on site before 8am http://usawakeboard.com/index.php/component/content/article/58-registration-open-for-usa-wakeboard-nationals.html

Jhill - Rexin is a big supporter of IWSF Cable. USA Wakeboard has never sent a team to the IWSF Cable World Championship but we be looking at results all divisions on this event to help pick a 2010 Cable USA Team.

It's Rixen Chris

A-Dub - Thanks. My bad - must have been driving the short bus that day.

Good Luck. I had only 20 riders show up this year. Last year was 40. I can no longer afford to put on a wakeboard tournament. www.wlwake.com

chris walker, i know what Rixen is, maybe that's what you're talking about... i thought rexin was some kind of fake leather.

i meant it's weird that a national championship needs riders

Would you like to see who you have to ride against?

Think you could out ride them?

Pick one of the three championships and click "entry status"

http://www.usawaterski.org/rankings/view-tournamentsHQ.asp?wb=on&ws=on&wu=on&process=viewre g&rid=509380519390

I'm going to preface this question by saying that I realize I might come off as a hater or a jerk who's trying to rile people up on the internet, but I'm honestly just trying to figure this out and this thread seems like as good a place as any to ask.

What is the point of a USA Wakeboard National Championship?

Nationals have already happened; they were in Oklahoma City earlier this month. What is the point of having 2 contests proclaiming to be the same thing? I understand the whole WWA vs USA Water Ski thing, but I absolutely do not understand the need to hold a contest and call it the US National Championships when the contest that has been widely regarded for years as the "real" Nationals has already been in the books for two weeks. The WWA Nationals were around long before the AWSA ever wanted anything to do with wakeboarding; then when the powers that be at AWSA realized we weren't going anywhere they decided to get their act together and get in the game.

I realize that the WWA is far from perfect, and I'll be the first to point out that World Pub has what I consider to be an unhealthy amount of power and influence in the sport. However, they established and governed what we now know as competitive wakeboarding and it seems completely pointless, at least to me, for a feuding governing body to come in and say "Hey guys, we're holding the US Nationals and you should come out." The level of competition isn't there, the rider participation (obviously) isn't there, the exposure and promotion isn't there. It would be like if I decided to hold a tournament for a bunch of different sports and invited a bunch of athletes to compete and called it the "Brad Olympics." It would be a joke; we already have an Olympics.

Granted, all this is based one guy's opinion of what he's seen in years past; this year the whole thing might blow up and USA Wakeboard might become the new governing body of wakeboarding, but I have my doubts.

So, honest question: why do we have two "US National Championships?"

I love cable, I love to compete, and I'm all for the advancement of the discipline and it's future. I've been riding cable since '97 and I have been fascinated with it's history as well as the recent progression by riders like Fooshee and Davies. I've even met Mr. Bruno Rixen himself and had a nice conversation about cable with him.

I hear nice things about the Ohio cable, I've seen pictures of the place and I would love to go there sometime. But how do you think I feel about this contest when the promo poster has "Rexin" on it? You're gonna have to do better that that. A whole lot better.

And it is not true that USA Wakeboard has not sent a team to the IWSF cable world championships. I was with them in Hungary 2005.

Anthemwake

Please understand that Im not trying to put down the WWA. I am glad that they started the whole thing.

Here in the US you may see it as WWA vs USA because we both have national championships. But what about the other 100 countries around the world that have a National Governing Body responsible for watersports. Do you really think that WWA holds Nationals in these countries? Of course not but im sure there are few exceptions. Most countries around the world are with the IWSF. Many of these National Governing Bodies are government sponsored and were already members of IWSF.

It is for this reason that a few day ago USA Wakeboard sent a team of 3 to the World Games in Taiwan where Andrew, Dallas, and Raimi returned with 2 gold and 1 silver. It is also the same reason that globally, wakeboarding in the Pan American Games, are governed by the IWSF. Finally, The United States Olympic Committee will grant cash awards to Open Men and Woman from USA Wakeboard who place in the IWSF World Championship in Korea. Its not alot now but 4x if we were to ever get to the Olympic Games. This is something that WWA does not want us to do. The reason is obvious.

Now to answer your question. The purpose of USA Wakeboard Nationals is to grow the sport.

Josh

You are so right! Thank you for saying something. I would like to make you an offer to set the record straight. I would like you to accept my offer in honor of Mr Bruno Rixen Please attend Nationals as my guest.

I wish you success in your event. Here are a couple of the issues that I see:

I have been researching this event for quite some time and www.usawakeboard.com has had no details surrounding the event and if the information is there, is not easily accessible. The rules, class listings etc. This is also an issue for the WWA as well in my opinion. I still don't need see much information there this morning.

I understand the membership fees are what help support the organization. But again, which membership I need is not really clear, which range in price, and why can't I buy a temporary membership for the day? If I am riding in only one event a year, why do I need to purchase a full membership. For example, if I have to buy $70 USAWS membership and then another then say another $70 plus late fees for the comp, I could have almost $200 invested plus travel to possibly only ride 2 laps on the cable. Need to figure out how to make it more affordable. I can drive to KCW from St. Louis, ride all day and drive back in the same day for about $100.

I had a few more thoughts, but they seem to have escaped me. Must not have been important. Regardless, please note that I am not hating, flaming or whatever you want to call it. This is just my .02 and how I view it from my perception.

chris, that's really cool you can get on there and see who's signed up.

i guess anthemwake's statements reflect the basic feeling of a lot of people. seems like if USAW wasn't ran by all skiers, wakeboarders would have more respect for it. i just think it scares wakeboarders that a the organization is all skiers, and (i hope not, but) they're just trying to make money off of wakeboarding bc they know if they stay skiing only they won't be around too much longer.

i still don't see how IWSF is a good thing. The need for a world championship like that doesn't make sense for wakeboarding to me. The best wakeboarders in the world all go to Orlando, that's understood. It's not like soccer or something where talent is spread out all over the world.

jhill pretty much nailed it, although I never meant to give the impression that I was questioning USA Wakeboarding's motives or intentions. I think that they're good people trying to do good things for wakeboarding, but it seems like they're trying to fill a void that just isn't there.

My big question is still "why?" And the whole "to grow the sport" answer kind of seems like a cop-out; growth is obviously a good thing, but it eventually comes down to quantity vs quality; more events don't necessarily equal positive growth.

The whole IWSF thing is just kind of useless to me, at least as far as wakeboarding goes. I absolutely don't think that wakeboarding should be in the Olympics(which is a whole other thread entirely); if that's what it's all about, then fair enough, but I definitely feel like at the end of the day, it ends up being a "World Championship" that doesn't include more than a handful of the world's best riders. And that not only makes the event itself look less legit, it makes wakeboarding look less legit on a worldwide stage.

Hope this helps.

WakeboardSTL - You must hold a USA Water Ski Membership to hold a title for National Championship.

RULES - 4th click on the above link brings you to the info page about rules. http://www.cablewakeboard.net/userfiles/file/pdf/CWWC_Rules_2009.pdf

Within that doc are the divisions

4.4 Age Categories 2009
Mini Boys & Mini Girls: 1998 or later
Boys & Girls: 1994 or later
Junior Men & Junior Ladies: 1990 or later
Open Men & Open Ladies: No age restriction
Masters Men & Masters Ladies: 1978 or before
Veterans Men & Veterans Ladies: 1968 or before
To clarify: a rider born in 1998 can compete in Minis, Boys, Junior or Open categories, or
a rider born in 1991 can compete in Juniors or Open, same for Master and Veterans – a
rider born in 1968 can choose to compete in Veterans, Masters or Open.

J Hill - Here is an idea - we all know that today there are more riders than skiers. How about we all join USA Wakeboard and rule the nest That my goal. It would only take about 6000 more members.

chris, I'm already a member and you are too! but that could be good. i don't know enough about either sanctioning body to have an opinion on which would be better. sounds like they both could be better and maybe chris is trying to make usaw better.

every rider probably isn't going to join usaw. seems like there is a much higher percentage of skiers that join than wakeboarders because they all have the same goal. where wakeboarders can all have different goals. a skier wants to get as many bouys as he can on the shortest rope. a wakeboarder might want to be a good contest rider, or he might only like rails, or winching, or just learning every different 360. that's only a few directions to take your riding and only one of those would benefit from a membership in a sanctioning body. (actually, i take that back. to ride in our weekly winch jam at wild wings in knoxville, you have to be a member of usaw)

Chris- Here are some issues that have developed even before you became involved.*
I was in Miami a few years ago when*USAW*posted a schedule of daily events. On that day of the event*USAW*decided to cancel the semi's and run finals in one day of almost all the younger divisions. If*USAW*is about GROWING the sport how by cutting the younger divisions down to finals only is this growing the sport? Can you imagine the school by these kids that was missed and wasted $$$s by parents to show up for a 1 minute run?*

The next year the*USAW*Nationals were held in a COW PASTURE full of cow sh$t & fire ants. What a great location. Plus this event was held no more than 30*min*outside the wakeboarding capital of the US (Orlando) and still could not fill all the field of divisions.*

Then lets move on to the best year yet.*USAW*decides to hold their Nationals in one of the US's MOST POLLUTED LAKES!!!!!!! Excellent advertising for our sport. Any call to the Syracuse area asking "Would you let your kid in that water" resulted in*burting*out laughter acting like you were from a foreign planet. How much money was wasted on this STUPID move byUSAW? I have heard rumors of $30,000.*

Last year was*ok*but still*didnt*have the numbers.*

This year as mentioned above*USAW*can't even get their spelling on the advertising poster correct.*

This is just a few of the reasons*USAW*has absolutely no credibility.*

Chris I know you have the very best intentions in mind but you are fighting a very uphill battle that was started long before you came into power.
*

Jim T - Thank you about very best intentions.

The way I see it - the only way is up. I came on the board of directors just when we found out that the NY site was a problem. It was real stupid. It did cost 30K. So I stepped up and ran 2007 Nationals in Dayton with Grassroots Nationals with just 2 weeks notice.

Last year was better in KY. Mike Brown ran a great event. This year will be better yet. We have added Wakesurf and Cable all the same weekend. We have done this with $0 sponsorship dollars and in a year that INT just canceled their Nationals. I think we are doing pretty good. I just hope I can get some help and get the Mr Rixen's name spelled right.

Chris - Just checking in to see how it went yesterday. Do you have any qualifying results that can be posted?