I. W. S. F. Worlds Doha Qatar

[Nickel]

Yeah. The WWA Worlds. It was held in Reno,Nevada in August. The one in Qatar is sanctioned by the IWSF. The WWA is American. Well run, excellent commentators and really good obstacles. Oh, and prize money for the pros. Men and women.

[Nick.C.]

The uk riders are only about 50% funded on this trip, so it has cost a fair bit especially as we have to travel with the younger riders, we have given up on the idea of having proper holidays any more and our money is spent travelling to wakeboard events. The difference between this and the wwa worlds (i think ) is that this is the only team event, because there is no money prizes with the iwsf worlds it does mean some riders will not show, but i do like the idea that the younger riders are just as important in picking up points as the open classes. I dont really know but i assume the wwa would be a pro only event, with maybe a junior men/women group. competition experience is needed for the juniors from an early age.
In their defence, this was a very well run competition, and i have been to quite a few, so iknow what a really bad one is like! good hotel (bit expensive) good transport to and from the site, comp run on time, which it needed to as its dark here at 4.30 good water condition ,bar the odd bit of wind, biggest problem was that virtually nobody turned up to watch, there were probably twice as many riders as spectators and i think most of them were just inquisitive.
it is not a popular sport in this part of the world. The arab Nationals were held before the world cup stop yesterday an there was 5 riders.
Soven won this
dan nott and marc rossiter got int the final of 8 riders. head to head.
dan was drawn against soven and marc was drawn against adkison..
not the best of draws both went out..

[Nick.C.]

i wrote that badly. it looks like soven won the arab nationals.. he didn,t he won the world cup stop.

[northernmonkey]

the iwsf worlds were created by the international WATERSKI federation to jump on the wakeboard bandwagon. it was originally said that the bwsf wouldn't send a team to the states because it wasn't a ski fed sanctioned event. then it was said that it was unfair to keep having the world champs(wwa) in the same country-the US. we were told that it wasn't really fair as it was not accessable to many countries far from the US. so the iwsf brought out their own version. i guess this is ok like the different boxing world champs but the prob is that the best riders in the world don't attend and have no real interest in doing so. if someone wants to hold a world title knowing that the best in the world weren't there then sadly thats up to them but its not much to be proud of is it? if the events weren't held in such stupid places-as with the world cup events- maybe more people would be interested. at least the wwa ones in the US are all reasonably cost effective to attend for europeans.
also the wwa does have divisons accross the same spectrum as the iwsf-the iwsf categories originally were modelled on the wwa ones.

the team title is a joke really, i mean why should a country get more points because they or the parents of their team can afford to send a full squad rather than 4 riders, to say nothing of the fact that if you send your best riders in the most exciting divisions to throw down and make the sport look good then somebody elses best riders may beat you and damage your chances of a team win, but if you send some grommits that do grabs and 180's then you may get great points because no else sent kids or you could send out one 10 year old with a backroll knowing that the other 10 year olds find it a challenge to clear an x star wake? its actually detrimental to the kids wakeboarding career progress because they believe at the their young age that they "are somebody" because they are in the british team, they think they are actually there for their skills and not because of their potential to blag some points, so we breed some more big headed and deluded riders demanding sponsors in our tiny marketplace who fully think they are the real deal because someone who wasn't thinking of their development at an early age told them they could be tiny tots world champ and they believed it meant something.
at the end of the day our country should be sending its 8 best riders to give them the chance to shine on the world stage and b*ll*x to whether we win a team gold. wakeboarding isn't a team event in case no one noticed and for the groms there are plenty of other contests to ride in with the aim in mind to one day beone of the best 8 and go to the worlds, whether that be the the wwa version in the states or the iwsf version on the moon or wherever else the fed fancy.
sorry this was so long but one last thing. if the european countries had bothered to send their best to the wwa events for the last 10 years and they had made a mark then the wwa would have had to move the worlds around the way they used to when they ran the original world cup back in the day, but no the wwa isn't linked to waterskiing so never mind the good of wakeboarding in the UK. it's sickening. Riders like Dan Nott have made significant placings at US events for years when they could afford it self funded and now with the likes of Nick, Dan, Rossi, Jonty, Ben and Nicola or whoever we could make the yanks lose the attitude of "oh the Brits, can any of them ollie into a backlip yet?" dissappear.

[sim]

Originally Posted by northernmonkey

wakeboarding isn't a team event in case no one noticed

i agree completely with what NM said about building 'little johnny's' hopes up in when they really aren't ready in order to boost team standings. thats wrong

[Nickel]

Hey NM. Cannot fault anything you say. It is absolutely spot on. The IWSF puts up enormous money for the World Cup and then doesn't invite the best riders??(Go back and look at the women at the Singapore stop) I have been told by them that Nicola will not be considered for any World Cup stops in '08 or '09 because she didn't go Qatar. Who do you think is going to be the loser there? Surely in any sport you want the best competitors available? Why else would anybody come watch.But no, after going to both Seville and Moscow(completely at my own expense) she has now been blacklisted because I could not afford to go to Qatar
The WWA is TOTALLY about wakeboarding. (USA Waterski is also a disaster- They did not have one women pro at their Nationals and only one in the mens)??? Waterskiers whose sole purpose seems to be to discredit the WWA.
The WWA has,as you say, every division at their Worlds They just do not have team scores.The riding there is top class and the VERY BEST riders in the world are normally there. In every division.
I have said this before and I am going to say it again- the Iwsf seem to be running a gigantic wakeboard club and if you don't have tons of money or "know someone" your opinion or input is irrelevant.They keep flip flopping on their criteria and the emails I have from them and to others that I have been copied in on bear this out. I know this will not endear me to them but its the truth. (what they gonna do? Ban Nicola from the World Cup?)
By the way Nick Davies needs to spend as much time here with Mike Ferraro as possible. He is really impressed with him and will make him into a world beater. Somebody needs to make that happen.
Nicola has made an impression here as a UK rider and Dan is well respected but that's about it. That needs to change. For the sake of UK Wakeboarding.