Congratulations to Blaze Grubbs (B2), Rio Linda, CA and Garrett Reese (B3) Walnut Creek, CA, for being selected to the Can Am Under 14 team. The 9th Can Am Challenge will take place on August 26-27th at the Lake of Dreams in Jerseyville, Illinois. The event features athletes from the United States and Canada competing for team titles only. We wish our Western Region Skiers the best of luck in the competition and congratulations to their parents for all the hard work and effort to reach this level of skiing.

The Ranking list is now active for qualifications of skiers for the Western Regional Tournament. At the request of the LOC the ranking requirements for individual events has been revised with the approval of the Regional Council to Level 5 for all individual events and Level 4 overall. To see your age groups qualification requirement or to see your individual qualification go to USA Waterski, find the ranking list on the left side, add the filters to find your division, your event and set the qualification filter to 2017 Western Regional, then scroll to find your name in the list. Entries are still open and Wet Set is looking forward to welcoming all skiers to the site for a fabulous week of skiing.

AWSA would like to invite you to reach out to your friends, former ski partners and anyone else you know who has dropped their membership in the last 5 years. Many of them are still skiing recreationally, still have a boat or still love the sport of waterskiing but have been drawn away by other interests, injury or just got busy with something else. The supporting member qualifies for the 15% discount with Masterline on the first product purchase. So if you were going to buy a rope or handle, the $35 membership is effectively reduced to $16 with the discount at Masterline. So invite all your friends and wait for the next announcement of membership benefits coming soon.

It is now the beginning of the ski season and time to start thinking about our West Region Award of Merit, formerly the Rich Slingerland Memorial Award. The nominations are due July 15th and the presentation of the award will be made at the General Membership Meeting at Wet Set during the Western Regionals on July 25th.

Every year since 1975 the Western Region has recognized a member or an official who epitomized friendship, dedication with integrity. The first award was presented at the US National tournament and is now one of the Western Regions’ most prestigious honors. This award was established and is maintained for a deserving person who might otherwise go unnoticed. All Western Region members are welcome and encouraged to submit nominations for this award to the local councilperson or to Richelle Muhlitner or Larry Laughlin before July 15th. Prior award recipients can be found in the Regional Guide.

The updated 2017 AWSA Rule book is available online from the USAWS website. The following are some of the rule changes adopted for this year:

1.09C – 4 Rounds over 2 days

3.03 – Level 10 skiers established

10.01A – Slalom Zero Based Scoring (ZBS) for all age divisions

11.12D – Trick Front Flips allowed

15.06D1 – Slalom End Course Video

Special thanks to Richelle Muhlitner and Dave Vogt for serving as West Region Rules Committee representatives. Please check out the new rule book for a complete list of the changes for 2017. As an alternate you could attend an officials clinic in your local area or check out the online clinic modules available from USAWS Judges & Scorer Committee.