AWSA – MIDWEST REGION

2008 SUMMER MEETING

Mystic Lakes, KS

July 31, 2008

The meeting was called to order by EVP Jeff Surdej at 1:04 at the Mystics Lake Ski Site

Present were, Dean Chappell, Tom Danford, Kate Knafla, Jeff Lindsey, Janice Prociw, Cory Piercy, Jeff Surdej, Janet Piercy, Bud Piercy, Dave Clark, Steve Prociw, Dennis Downes, Jim Beebe, Barb Lindy, Chris Kosek, Don Bucher, Darr Leutz, Scott Mize, Jeff Smith, Abbey Lorenz, Kurt Mechler, Mark Kemp, George Lindy

Don Bucher was duly appointed Parliamentarian

After review the Agenda was approved motion by Tom Danford moved seconded by Abbey Lorenz to accept. Motion carried

After review the Winter 2008 Board Meeting Minutes Tom Danford moved, seconded by Darr Leutz to approve the minutes.

Jeff Surdej presented his EVP report. It’s been a great year and he wanted to thank everyone for their work. The numbers are up this year, possible 611 pulls. Sanctioning has been somewhat of a problem and we really need to get them put online. Tom would like to see maybe an email to the tournament director 2 weeks out and Jeff said AWSA is working on that. If you don’t get your stuff in, the scores could be withheld from the rankings list. Janice reiterated that state presidents should help oversee their state’s tournaments.

Another point Jeff wanted to bring up was to use approved officials at your Class C tournaments. Dennis said it is still very confusing for what AWSA is looking at as to what is getting the officials credit for working. There was a lot of discussion on this topic

Tom Danford presented the Treasurer’s Report. Numbers at mid-year were showing revenues of $16,661 and expenditures of $20,153. These represented income and expenses as of July 31, 2008 and are considered comparable to previous years. Revenues pick up with donations to the Jr. Fund at Regionals.

State Council Reports

Missouri – Jeff Lindsey – Our State tournament was held at a new site and we had 87 pulls. We also held our auction there and it was very successful. We played a “Survivor” type game at the tournament and it had as much drama and intrigue as our skiing did. We really had fun and it brought everybody together. Junior development has been about the same with some very strong skiers. Our collegiate skiers are also still improving. We had two new ski sites host tournaments this year.

Illinois – Darr Leutz – We have had about 14 tournaments this year, 5 were 5 star, 1 record, and 2 were collegiate. Running 2 tournaments at the same site worked really well. Our numbers were up. Aug 23 we are having a fun class tourney. We had 90 pulls for state and 11 records were broken. Several pros came to the state throughout the year for different training opportunities. Darr was curious as to what other states are charging at their state championships to raise funds. Iowa and Kansas charge $25/team. Some states charged an out of state fee of $2. Indiana charges annual dues and Ohio and Missouri hold raffles to raise funds. Iowa also did this.

Nebraska - Cory Piercy – We had about 37 skiers for our state tournament with about the same number of NSL skiers as the previous year, about 14. We continue to be challenged with skier numbers but have a solid core of 25 or so that are involved on more than just a skiing level. We also have judges, scorers and drivers.

Wisconsin – Abbey Lorenz for Jim Babcock (absent)– Think Tank at the Wisconsin Dells was another huge success. We are considering having our state tournament coincide with the Wisconsin State Games. Our Junior Development was flooded out and we held a collegiate tournament in about 50 degree weather. They had a great time. Our state tournament was successful again this year with 1 more skier than last year.

Ohio - Greg Chapman– Introduced Kurt Mechler as their new state council representative and Greg Kuenning moved up to president. He really does a lot for our state. Ohio hosted the Jr. US Open in Cincinnati and it was just a great place to have a tournament. We also had an ability based slalom tourney called Top Cat and was again successful.

Indiana – Don Bucher for Jim Beck– Tourney numbers are about the same and we had 90 skiers for state. Lots of records falling. We really had fun. Spring Fling was another success and we had our 3 lake site development fall through.

Iowa –Janice Prociw for Pat Cook – We have had 4 tournaments so far but we have really had a problem with flooding. We continue to have 2 Mastercraft promo boats from our state.

Kansas – Dennis Downes – Dennis introduced Scot Mize as the new council representative. We had about 10 tournaments and clinics this year. Our Junior program had 29 in Level 7 or higher. 23 for next year already. Good fund raiser at our state tournament. We are really trying to push for judges. We really feel like the state placement qualifier has added a good number of skiers to our Regional Championships.

Michigan – Jeff Smith for Doug Rooker – Our state has integrated the collegiate skiers and that has really sparked interest and camaraderie.

Minnesota – Kate Knafla – We have 12 tournaments scheduled for the year, but there were only 88 skiers for state which is down from last year. Our Jr Development clinic was held June 6-8 on 4 lakes. We had 41 participants of which 20 were at the clinic for the first time. We are looking at reorganizing in our state combining forces with the show skiers and barefooters to better represent water sports as a whole.

National Directors Reports

Jeff Smith, Dave Clark, Dean Chappell, and Tom Danford – Success for our growth will be judged by getting our numbers up and magazine sales. Dave Clark also talked about the affinity program that is being studied.

Committee Reports:

USAWS – Don Bucher – Don wanted to reiterate that we have the right people in the right spots at headquarters. There was nothing really new to report for E&F.

Judges and Scorers – Jeff Smith noted that the primary function of this committee is testing. Senior judges and scorers clinics are a great opportunity to learn and think through situations. We need your feedback. Jeff said if anyone is interested in getting a copy of their DVD’s to let him know, send him your email. It was expressed by several council members that boat judging for tricks is not as technical as calling tricks and we should look at options there.

Rules – Tom Danford – Speed Control and Rankings List has been on the agenda almost all year with all the changes. There was a request asking for M8 slalom to be able to go 32. This was brought to the skiers last year but there definitely wasn’t a majority for it. The exception for Class C after the cutoff date could be used as a last chance qualifier. R versus C talk was extensive but not really a consensus other than an R tournament requires so much more technical work that there should be something to be gained by putting one on. There was also talk about MM Jump.

Skiers Qualification – Jeff Surdej- We are waiting to see how Nationals turns out. Dave Clark brought up something to think about in talking about the philosophy of what we are trying to accomplish. Are we trying to come up with a number of skiers or a percentage of skiers in a certain division? There was a handout provided but the main thing is we just don’t know how everything will unfold until we get through Nationals. We will take a hard look at things again after that.

Technical – Peter Dahl – Not a lot of new stuff.

Tow Boats and Speed Control – George Lindy – Zero Off will be handling all the new boats in 2009 that use the drive by wire ECM’s. Perfect Pass will handle all the older boats and the older drive by wire. They are working on simulating Zero Off. Zero Off will work harder on working with skiers and their requests such as a better feel and make them feel the same between boats (Malibu vs. MC etc., etc.)

Junior Development –Abbey Lorenz – Our 16 member Junior Elite team is very strong this year. The National Jr Development Team has 8 from the Midwest. We continue to look for sponsors for our teams and state donations continue to be very much appreciated. Bennett’s hosted our skiers for the Jr. Development camp. Our Juniors continue to raise money and will be selling tickets all over the site this weekend.

Coaches – Chris Kosek – We are still looking for nominations for coach and volunteer of the year. There are some very good skiers out there and they have to be getting trained by someone. Take the time to get them nominated.

Safety – Jim Babcock – No Report

Awards – Janice Prociw – Turn in your votes by the end of the day on Saturday so we can announce the winners of the Mary Jo Powers award and Tommy Dorwin award at the banquet. 2007 winners of the CC Ski Nautique trophy was Keri McClure and the Jeff McCoullough Scholarship award went to Mason Mechler. Cory Piercy won the Mary Jo Power award and Dennis Downes won the Tommy Dorwin award. Expenses for Awards and Certificates only totaled $200.76 for the year.

Drivers – Jim Beebe – Nothing really new to report.

Seeding – Dave Clark – Staying on top of the rankings list has kept this in order. Nothing to really report but the weighting issue (R vs. C) is still out there. Please bring your ideas. We would like to see 1^st round be the scoring round for state.

Bylaws – Jeff Surdej (for now) – We need someone to step up and take this spot. It’s a great way to get involved and be an important part of our sport.

Nominating – Janet Piercy – Don’t forget to vote please.

Announcers – Mark Kemp – We really need to expand our announcers in the Midwest.

Teller – Cale and Sarah are handling the votes at Regionals. The ballot box for voting will be located by the Jr. Development tent on the site.

International – Jeff Smith and Larry Downs – Not a lot of news but we need volunteers to help with team trails. Kurt mentioned it’s hard for B2-G2 skiers to qualify for Team Trials the year they move up a division. Jeff Smith would look into this further.

Other Reports:

AWSEF – Dick Nock- No activity

Regional Tournament – Dennis Downes –Weather is going to be HOT. Things are set up pretty well. Numbers are really great. We plan on having the officials dinner at 6:30. There are some scheduling changes that were necessary because of the increase in numbers. We will still be able to run two trick courses.

Regional Guide – Jim Babcock – Jim wasn’t here but expressed his interest in doing the Guide again. There has been some requests to make it all electronic but Jim suggests to keep it hard copy. That was the feeling amongst the committee members as well. Jim continues to do an awesome job!

Regional Records – Jerry Hosner – Send the information to Jeff Surdej right away and you have to let Jerry know you broke a record.

Regional Website – Jeff Surdej – Keep getting the information to me. The pictures and stories are great reading for everyone.

NSL / NWL Leagues – Don Bucher – Nothing new to report.

Collegiate – Jeff Surdej for Chris Kodiak – Midwest continues to kick butt. The biggest thing we need are officials for these collegiate tournaments.

Other old business

New Business: Trick boat judging, increasing M8 slalom speed to 32, Team Trials qualification for the B2-G2 skiers and State placement for Regionals were the main topics that need further discussion.

Regional Tournament Officials – 2009 – After voting on chief officials, it was made known that Cory Piercy will be the Chief Judge, Troy Zoellner will be Chief Driver, and Peter Dahl will be the Chief Scorer.

Winter Meeting – 2009 – After some discussion it was voted to have the 2009 Winter Meeting in Chicago with the weekend being the 10^th and 11^th of January.

It was also made known that we will be accepting bids for the 2010 Midwest Regionals at the Winter Meeting in Chicago.

With no other business Dean Chappell moved seconded by Tom Danford to Adjourn. Motion carried.

Respectfully submitted,

Cory L Piercy

Midwest Council Secretary