Hello everyone, busy week for the sport and I wanted to update everyone on what's going on.
1) You will hear from USA Waterski early this week about sanctions opening for events past May 18th. I'm working on social distancing best practices for AWSA events, please see the attached and help me make sure I'm not missing any ideas. USA waterski is working on all other guidelines and procedures but the moral of the story is it will be up to LOC's to follow state guidelines
2) This morning I sent a survey to the 139 LOC's that have events sanctioned in 2020 trying to gather intent on hosting events this year, we just need to get a picture of what the season may look like from their standpoint and their states standpoint. If you know of a LOC who has not sanctioned yet but normally does please send them this link.
3) The 5 EVP's and current regionals host are meeting Tuesday night to discuss hosting plans and concerns for Regionals and Nationals.
4) I will be opening up bids for Nationals today, the deadline will be next Sunday so that we can move forward quickly with a site. I actually have 4 sites that have expressed some interest. I will be asking for what we will call "light bids". We don't need all the details on hotels and banquet etc, we mainly want to know when, where, how, # of lakes, # of skiers and any other changes to the normal routine they would like to do. This is an opportunity for something different.
5) I'm also starting to work on a survey to all AWSA members, once again to gauge participation intent for the season. I know many may not know yet but we need to get an idea of what the season may look like as states open, these answers may affect our decisions about regionals, nationals, and promo participation.
6) Attached are Aprils membership #'s, we saw and obvious decline, but not too bad at 3% for AWSA, we need to encourage members to renew even if they are unsure of the tournament scene, somehow we need to encourage and market the importance of supporting the organization. COVID-19 is going to have a real impact on our sponsors and our bottom line for USA Waterski and AWSA.
Jeff Surdej (j_surdej@yahoo.com)