AGENDA AWSA – MIDWEST REGION 2009 SUMMER MEETING

July 30, Waters Edge, 2009 1pm

 

  1. Call to Order  The meeting was called to order by EVP Jeff Surdej at 1:18

 

  1. Introductions  present were Jeff Surdej, Cory Piercy, Kate Knafla, Hannah Shirkey, Jeff Lindsey, Dean Chappell, Jeff Smith, Dennis Downes, Kurt Mechler, Jim Babcock, Jim Beck, Don Bucher, Abby Lorenz, Darr Leutz, Janice Prociw, Delaina Downes, Janet Piercy, Bud Piercy, Troy Zoellner, Dave Clark, Tom Danford, Chris Kosek, George Lindy

 

  1. Appointment of Parliamentarian Don Bucher was appointed Parliamentarian

 

  1. Review / Approval of Agenda – approved by universal consent

 

  1. Approval – Winter 2009 Board Meeting Minutes-Cory Piercy – approved by universal consent

 

  1. EVP report – Jeff mentioned that the region continues to run great, keep up the email list.  Next meeting we will require the reports due 1 week before so Jeff can put together an electronic packet so we don’t have to have so much paper.

 

  1. Treasures Report-Tom Danford – nothing to add or change

 

  1. Secretary’s Report-Cory Piercy – get your email or phone number changes to me so I can have Jeff update the web site

 

  1. State Council Reports
    1. Illinois-Darr Leutz – 16 tournaments, last chance qualifier was added this year plus Regionals.  Clinics were well attended.  We donated $300 to Jr Development.  Still working with “Splash Eye” to calculate jump distances.  It’s a new video measuring system.

 

    1. Indiana-Jim Beck – 115 skiers at state, our numbers are way up, especially Grass Roots.  Sold 140 tickets for the State banquet. Our web site continues to get good reviews.  Ski leagues and Grass Roots have added to our numbers.  We had 16 teams battling for state team title.  Discussed out of state skiers but no full consensus among the group.  Residence should be an important factor but not the main factor.

 

    1. Iowa-Pat Cook -  presented by Janice Prociw – numbers are up in our collegiate skiers but our youth clinic only had 10 kids.  We are dealing with a promo problem with only 2 boats and both are Mastercraft.

 

    1. Kansas-Dennis Downes – Schedule was about the same this year, there was no Super Lake tournament for the first time in a long time.  We did pick up a new site claimed by Kansas right now, MO address.  Safety clinic went well but we still need a judge’s clinic.  Maybe this fall.  Delaina has been working hard to get officials’ paperwork completed.  She’s got a working file and brings it to every tournament.  Jr Dev is still very strong.

 

    1. Michigan-Doug Rooker – presented by Jeff Smith – Michigan is still maintaining themselves OK.  We do have a new 3-lake site.

 

    1. Minn/ND-Kate Knafla – Hannah stepped down as Secretary to take over Kate’s spot.  Some sights have been hurting.  We had a lot of OOS skiers for our state but had no problems scoring.  We have a new 2-lake (possibly a 3-lake site).  21 Jr Development skiers with rainy and cold weather.  Program is still strong and we used local coaches this year.  No inductees into the HOF this year.

 

    1. Missouri-Jeff Lindsey – New council person will be coming to the winter meeting, Cole Cochbruner (sp).  3 tournaments so far.  Very good numbers 1st week, bad the 2nd week.  Had MO Jr. Dev at Lake Freddie, parents were very involved. Had a blast at the state tournament not even involving skiing.  Raised good money for Jr’s.

 

 

 

    1. Nebraska-Cory Piercy – We are developing our own website finally.  Hope to have it up after Nationals.  It will be nebraskawaterski.org.  I’ll send the link to Jeff when complete.  We still have our core 20 skiers with very good judges, just not a lot of skiers.  We had a very successful Handicapped “Learn to Ski” clinic where we taught 26 paralyzed or otherwise handicapped individuals to ski on the sit ski and it was very successful.  Can’t wait to do it again.

 

    1. Ohio-Kurt Mechler – Struggling with officials and we need a drivers clinic.  Great Jr Dev program.  We have also doubled our membership in the last two years from 90 to 180 of which 36 were direct result of our Junior Development Clinic we held this year.  The Buckeye Buoy tour is very exciting and drumming up interest in hitting the tournament circuit.  Ohio had 2 Jr. US Open skiers represented and we have formed a collegiate Committee to get the college kids more involved.

 

    1. Wisconsin-Jim Babcock – State went well with the exact same number of skiers as last year.  We held clinics before state.  Good collegiate turnout.  Weather has been cold this year for tournaments.  We even had snow at one of our collegiate tournaments.  You can ski state in Wisconsin if you do 51% of your skiing in state.  Website is currently being re-worked.  Jim’s wife stepped down from the WI BOD after 19-years of service.  13 Jr. Development skiers and if it was their first clinic they got to ski state for free.

 

  1. National Directors Reports-Dean Chappell, Jeff Smith, Tom Danford – Steve Loecke has done an extremely good job at HQ especially with communication.  Make sure you say thanks when you see him.  National teams are draining our funds and we as a MW Board need to look at the AWSA budget.  Bid for 2010 Nationals submitted by Waters Edge is the only one so far.  Let’s get behind them to make it a great event if they get it.  There has been a lot of discussion on membership renewals.

 

  1. USA Waterski Directors Report-Don Bucher – Steve’s reports are really covering everything.  Don asked if anyone was using Grass Roots memberships.  They can be signed up on line now.  If they do 1 guest, next time bump them up to Grass Roots as long as they don’t ski Class C.  They would be good for a year.  Kurt Mechler asked how the states can see a complete list of members for their state.  Ohio has 700 USA Waterski members but only 180 are OWSA members.  If each state could get a list we could possibly try to get them more involved. It’s a privacy issue right now but Don would look into it further.

 

  1. Committee Reports:

A.  Executive Committee– Don Bucher/Jeff Surdej – nothing else new to discuss right now.

                       

B.  Judges & Scorers – Jeff Smith – no new news.  Dave Clark mentioned there is Officials information on the website if you are a member.  Aspiring judges are looking for other ways to keep track of what they worked without losing their signed sheet.  At present that would take some kind of new computer program and there just isn’t time to develop.  Keep encouraging them to hang on to those forms.

     

C.  Rules – Dean & Dave – Fairly quiet.  New trick course was what we wanted but it came through the Board.  3 segment timing in jump has brought some confusion but it is working.  WPB requested exemptions from Regionals to work Nationals.  There was extensive discussion on the 30/45 seconds between passes used for rest times.  It seems to be really a short amount of time.  It was the recommendation from the Council to see if 45 seconds could be allowed between passes and discuss the possibility of 60 seconds.  Also the dimensions of a rope release are confusing and tough to hold on to if using the 24” that the dimensions call for.  Kurt Mechler suggested 30” as a more realistic allowable length and that it be measured as it extends from the pylon.  It was agreed that this issue be brought forward to the Committee to discuss further.

             

D.  Skiers Qualifications – Jeff Surdej -  Jeff is stepping down as chairman but will still be on the committee.  Need someone to step up.

      

E.  Technical – Peter Dahl – No report

                

F.  Tow Boats and Speed Control – George Lindy – 3 years testing instead of 2 years has been discussed therefore we may have the option of using the 2 previous years models/speed controls as long as they are unchanged.  Many  promo boats are still available for sale and it could get worse next year.  There has been some dis-satisfaction with retro-fitting new speed control on older boats but don’t blame AWSA, it’s the manufacturers. 

 

 

        

G.     International Activities – Jeff Smith, Larry Downes – No report

 

H.     Junior Development – Abby Lorenz – Great year for Jr Development.  Jr Elite had 17 members.  We had 3 move to the National Jr Development team.  The MW supports this team by donating $150 for awards plus $100 for raffle prizes.  We had a blast at Bennetts this year (again) fabulous coaching.  Any information you can send me about your Jr Development clinics at the state level is greatly appreciated.  $7,851 was raised last year.  We are trying to find new sponsors.  It’s getting tougher for everybody.  There is some more information about our Jr. skiers on the website.

 

I.        Coaches – Chris Kosek – Nothing new to report, Dennis mentioned it would be good to be able to see a list of qualified coaches to choose from.

 

J.       Safety – Jim Babcock – nothing new on the Regional level.  Need info on safety clinics if you are having them.  Jef f would like to talk to anyone off line about handle issues.

 

K.     Awards – Janice Prociw – rankings certificates cost $165.25 and the Tommy Dorwin and MJP awards had expenses of $42.

 

L.      Drivers – Troy Zoellner – not much to talk about, don’t wait until the last second if you want to put on a driver’s clinic.  There was some discussion about a Trained Driver’s clinic but not a lot of activity.

                      

M.    Seeding – Dave Clark – you will notice that you get a report on items missing, etc. right away after you send your file in.  This helps the LOC a lot in getting everything in.

 

N.     Bylaws – Jimmy Tranchita – No report

 

O.     Nominating –Janet Piercy – Nothing to report

 

P.      Announcers-Jerry Hosner – No report

 

Q.     Tellers-Cale Burdick – No report

  

  1. Other Reports:
    1. AWSEF – Dick Nock – No report

 

    1. Regional Tournament – Jeff Surdej – same as in years past.  Banquet will be at the same place, boat draw may not match exactly as Nationals since our split is different than Nationals.  The council felt the changes were necessary for the time factor involved in switching for so few skiers.  Next year it will be put in the Guide that the LOC will try to match the National Boat Draw as closely as possible but some changes may be necessary.

 

    1. Regional Guide – Jim Babcock – Darr moved 2nd by Cory Piercy to go paperless, the motion was denied on a 6-8 vote.  We will continue to print Guides until it is no longer an option by HQ.

 

    1. Regional Records – Jerry Hosner – No report

 

    1. Regional Website –Jeff Surdej – make sure you send me info and links etc. so we can update the news.

 

    1. NSL / NWL Leagues – Don Bucher – Brandi Hunt has learned what works and what doesn’t.  Keep combining tournaments and include the new skiers in your tournaments when possible.

 

    1. NCWSA-Cris Kodiak – No report

 

 

 

 

  1. Old Business-

 

            We are planning on utilizing video gates for this year’s Regionals.  The LOC has set up the ability to view both gates but the process still needs work.

 

Regions and Districts were discussed, breaking up Regions or changing Regions around.  It appeared more discussion was needed at the state level so we can bring this up again at our Winter meeting.

 

  1. New Business:

 

Roy Surdej talked about their National’s bid and that they will really need the states to come together to make this happen.  This bid was contingent with them hosting the Regionals to get a test run.  Roy mentioned that they would like to have some input on officials but Jeff Smith informed him the Chiefs are determined by AWSA but if Roy would talk to him off line he would try to mention it when down at Nationals this year.

 

  1. Executive Session

 

Dennis Downes will be next year’s Chief Judge and Delaina Downes will be next year’s Chief Scorer. 

 

A vote was taken on where we would hold the winter meeting and Jeff needed to get a few votes from people that were missing.  He would send out more information when available.

 

  1. Adjourn

 

It was again moved by Dean Chappell and 2nd by Darr Leutz to adjourn.  Motion carried.

 

Respectfully submitted

 

Cory L Piercy

MW Regional Council, Secretary