By Chuck Gleason
Back in August 2009, I was approached by the President of our
neighborhood Waterski Club here at Lakes of Katy (Kelvin Kelm) asking me
if I'd support hosting a Big Dawg Slalom event on our lakes in 2010.
Kelvin new that I sponsored the national Big Dawg Series (www.skibigdawg.com)
and thought that I'd be a good resource to helping him put together a
proposal to convince the Big Dawg Series coordinators to select the
Lakes of Katy (www.skilakesofkaty.com)
as a site for a Big Dawg event.
What began as a simple phone call
reviewing some ideas turned into a full-time mission to put on an event
that would hopefully impress the Big Dawg Series coordinators, but more
importantly, impress the competitors and spectators that came out to
watch the event.
Having been to a couple of the events
that Jay Bennett hosts each year (www.lanightjam.com)
I had already determined that if we wanted to attract the public to come
out and watch, we needed to put on a show for them. We knew the
serious slalom fans would come out, but to expect the general public to
sit outside in the 100 degree Texas sun for 8-10 hours wasn't practical.
But to attract sponsors, we needed to put on an event that would attract
families to spend 2-3 hours of their time and a few bucks to watch a
show.
After many meetings with people in the
Lakes of Katy Home Owners Association, the city of Katy Town Council,
and professional event coordinator Jennifer Lassida, we decided we would
put on a Waterski Exhibition that included as many waterski disciplines
as we could showcase with barefoot waterskiing as the highlight.
Our goal was to show the public how much fun you can have on the water
as a famil and to inspire others to try it. We would call it the
Katy Ski Jam. It would have it's own website (www.katyskijam.com).
 The
Big Dawg Slalom Series pits 50 of the top slalom skiers that have not
competed in a pro event in 3 years against each other. These guys
are the heart and sole of the slalom ski market. They start with
50 skiers early Saturday morning and ski all day to determine the top 16
that will carry over into a final round on Sunday. We broadcast
the entire tournament LIVE on both KatySkiJam.com and
BarefootCentral.com. We average over 75 people on-line at all
times with a peak of around 120.
We decided to have the KatySkiJam
waterski exhibition on Saturday evening. To tie in the Big Dawg
skiers and give the crowd a taste of what competitive level slalom was
all about, we decided to put on an 8 man head-to-head slalom shootout
under the lights. Dave Goode, of Goode Waterskis, agreed to allow
us to use his new lighted buoys. This made for an amazing
atmosphere for skiers and spectators alike. The 8 skiers would be
determined by silent auction. All 50 skiers would be able to bid
on the 8 spots. There were two ways to look at it. If you
were a skier that didn't make the top 16, you could bid on a chance to
ski more and win a substantial prize pot which was to be split 75/25
between 1st and 2nd. If you were a skier that had qualified for
the Sunday finals, you could opt to ski more and win more. So the
talk all day among the skiers was who would bid the pot up to ski in
front of the crowd. Jerry Goodson won
Night Shootout and Mike Dehlinger was runner
up.
|
Lighted buoy
balls thanks to Dave Goode |
The Saturday qualifying round was
scheduled to end around 6pm. The Big Dawg Skiers would then be
treated to a lakeside barbeque banquet. While at the banquet, they
would run the silent auction. At 6:30pm the gates would open to
the public and the KatySkiJam Waterski Exhibition would begin.
From 6:30 til 9:00pm, it would be up to Eagle Sports and
BarefootCentral.com to entertain the crowd.
Lucky for me, I have an amazing team
of skiers, neighbors and friends that are all willing show off for a
crowd. Freestyle Barefoot World Champion Andre De Villiers and
Hydrofoil World Champion, Geno Yauchler, would be the main acts.
Geno is a one-man show team. He hydrofoils, wakeboards, and
freestyle jumps at a world class level. He wowed the crowd with
aerial acrobats.
|
Colt Mahan and
Nolan Lough |
We had a big crew of Freestyle
Barefooters. Andre was joined by Nolan Lough, Colt Mahan, Landen
Ehlers, Blake Ehlers, Pat Scippa, Kyle & Brendan Diffly, Michele
Gleason, Kathryn Gleason and myself. We did every crowd pleasing
trick we knew and showcased some Freestyle moves never been seen before.
The skiers all had a great time. While off the water, we all
lounged by the pool and watched the Big Dawg Tournament and Fireworks
display at the end.
We couldn't have done the
KatySkiJam without the support of local Katy businesses and the Lakes of
Katy home owners. I'd like
to personally thank all the business owners that took a chance on us in
our first year doing the KatySkiJam. We hope to make this event an
annual one. I'd like to thank all my neighbors that came out to
help during the event (Shane Diffley, Gary Honc, Mike Swartout, Curtis
Blount, Richy Robin, Doug Brooks, Shelton Craig, Robert Fling, the
Berrys and all the Lakes of Katy Junior volunteers), and for those that
helped organize the event in the months leading up to it (Mark Petrie,
Kelvin & Lisa Kelm, Woody Lyles, & Michele Gleason), I'd also like to thank all the great athletes of the
Big Dawg Slalom Series for making the weekend so enjoyable. I've
met so many great skiers and friendly people through the Big Dawg
Series. I hope to see you all again in our backyard at the Lakes of
Katy.
Chuck Gleason
President
Eagle Sports, Inc
BarefootCentral.com
Click Here
To see ALL the PICTURES From Saturday |
Click Here
To see ALL the PICTURES From Sunday Finals |
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