-Sanctions are open, please read this article for full details, this does not mean everyone everywhere can host an event, but rather means USAWS will not be deciding who can and who can not host. We have provided extensive guidelines on how it works and AWSA has provided extensive guidelines for social distancing if your state or local country requires it. We hope everyone can get on the water soon but please make sure you are following your state guidelines.
-I encourage LOC's to be proactive in updating their sanctions online, many skiers have asked me how do they know which events are canceled or not, there are 2 ways to do this online. 1) the quickest and easiest is for the LOC to go in and just change the name of the event such as "CANCELLED Shortline Lake Summer Slalom" or 2) you can contact HQ to have the sanction removed from OLR
-Bids for 2020 Nationals are open until Sunday, I have one so far and expect 2 more
-All the EVP's and Regionals host met Tuesday night, so far all 5 regionals are going forth and want to host their events, but this will be dependent on 2 main factors 1) projected attendance and 2) if their state will allow gatherings of that size by end of July. We are keeping a close eye on this as things go along.
-Doug Robbins will be sending out a call for a board meeting via conf call, we have 3-4 items that need to be voted on it would be best to avoid email delays so keep an eye out for that.
-Drivers, J and S, and TC have all voted to give officials a full pass this year on credits. The proposal will look as such
Tournaments - Recommended tournament reductions for 2024 renewal (judges/scorers/drivers) and 2022 renewal (tech controllers):
AWSA Judges/Scorers – reduce from 8 to 6
AWSA Assistant Drivers – reduce from 8 to 6
AWSA Regular/Senior Drivers – reduce from 12 to 9
AWSA Tech Controllers – reduce from 4 to 3
Clinics – no change in requirement since they have three additional years to complete the clinic
- I have appointed a committee to relook at how we handle tournaments with suspect driving. We just went through another situation and the moral of the story is our protocol on how this gets handled needs a major revamping so these items can be handled quickly and correctly. Bob Harris is chairing this committee with a number of committee chairs.
-The survey for LOC is complete with tremendous feedback as 169 out of 203 tourney host filled it out. Here is a link to the result https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-N988RBRN7/ Some of the key data points are. 60% of LOC will have a full schedule, 10% some cutbacks, 4% no events this year with 29% still unsure. 20% of our host sites do not think they'll be allowed to have events until at least July. And right now it looks like based on state regulations we could see close to 100 canceled events.
-HQ is sending out a survey to members next, this one will gauge members' willingness to attend events, regionals, nationals, etc.
-Don't forget we are still looking for a scholarship sponsor for B2 and G2 for Nationals overall NOPS winners.
-We will be launching a cash-prize contest for NCWSA teams who attend AWSA events this summer. $300 for 1st, $200 for 2nd, and $100 for third. The Contest will be based on # of skiers on collegiate teams from the fall of 2019 who put up a score in an AWSA summer event this year.
-Lastly, practice scores are still coming in, this has been really exciting and is working. We've had a good mix of video submissions as well as judges just signing off on scores. Here is a link to how it works and it's a great time for encouraging this http://www.usawaterski.org/pages/divisions/3event/AboutPracticeScores.htm
Jeff Surdej
AWSA President