WINTER CONFERENCE XIII

Winter Conference XIII proved itself strong confirming things only get better with age. THE Ohio State University did an amazing job of hosting. Huge thanks to the Ohio State team for everything they contributed to make the conference a huge success.

The day started off with the captains meeting to discuss a wide range of items beginning with a few rule changes.  

° To accommodate each region for Winter Conference, it was decided that teams interested in hosting WC must submit a bid by April 1^st. If no bids are received by this deadline or the board deems the bids unacceptable the deadline will be extended by 1 month and this sequence will continue until a successful bid and vote is reached. By May 1^st each conference (Great Lake and Great Plains) will vote via email ballot on the top two bids from their conference, respectively. The region will then vote from the four bids (two from each conference) and determine the hosting school.

° Do No Harm Rule was also added into the bylaws. This meaning, if you have only one score for All-Star qualifications you get a 25% penalty on that one score. If you have two scores and the average of those two scores is lower than a 25% penalty on your highest score - then the 25% penalty on one score will be used as your All-Stars average. Therefore-do no harm by skiing another tournament.

Elections were next. Congratulations to: Christy Kingsmill, newly voted Regional Vice Chairman, Shelly Tranchita, newly voted Board Secretary, Jim Grabowski, newly voted Great Plains Chairman, Gretchen Storm, newly voted Team Recruitment Chair, Andy Hipskind, newly voted Team Development Chair, Tom Stelzer newly voted Alumni Liaison, and Stephanie Elfhoffer, newly voted Officials Chairman.  Cris Kodiak remains Regional Chairman, Jon Bice remains Board Treasurer, and Dan Pabst remains Great Lakes Chairman.

Following elections were the clinic sessions given by professional water skiers Scot Ellis (website), Thomas T-Mo Moore (website), Billy Susi (website), and Ryan Dodd (website). Thanks to all of professionals for leaving their sunny locations to make the trip to deliver great advice.

                                               The theme of the evening was Fallen Favorites and the Lord (Jim Grabowski) knows that Team Midwest did not disappoint. It was the only place where you could have had Bob Ross paint you a picture, witness the birth of Jesus, and have Billy Mays sell you some Oxyclean! What a night. Thanks to everyone who came out and made the conference a memorable experience! Looking forward to WC XIV!

ALL STARS

Gear up Team Midwest, All Stars is a few short months before us! We are the defending champions; lets bring home another victory!

Congrats to the Team Midwest All Star Team:

Men Slalom: 

Women Slalom: 

Men Trick:

Women Trick:

Men Jump:

Women Jump:

All Stars will take place in Elk Grove, CA at Shortline Lake hosted by the St. Marys College of California on May 21-23, 2010. Refer to ncwsa.com for more information.

SKI AMMYS

And now for everyone’s favorite awards….THE SKI AMMYS!

Male Rookie of the Year: Michael Bullock, Purdue University

Female Rookie of the Year: Devin Cassidy, University of Illinois

Most Improved Skier: Kevin Klingbeil, Iowa State University 

Best Team Captain: Tom Stelzer, University of Iowa 

Most Valuable Male Skier: Tyler Lorenz, University of Wisconsin, Madison 

Most Valuable Female Skier: Maggie Tierney, Iowa State University 

Most Outstanding Senior Male: Mark Cassidy, University of Illinois 

Most Outstanding Senior Female: Kayla McClure, Ball State University 

Most Likely to Go Pro: Tyler Lorenz, University of Wisconsin, Madison 

Most Likely to Hit the Sidecurtain: Austin Voss, Missouri State University 

Most Consistent Skier: Matt Knafla, Iowa State University 

Happy Award (Most Supportive Alumnus): Jim Grabowski, Marquette University 

Hardest Worker Award: Adam Koehler, Marquette University 

Anne Kiedrowski Award (Most Supportive Skier): Heather Donen, University of Wisconsin, Madison 

Jeff Surgej Award: Jim Grabowski, Marquette University 

Thanks to everyone for nominating and voting & congratulations to all the winners!

THIS & THAT

For updates on Kyle Eade, please visit http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/kyleeade, to make a donation or purchase merchandise with proceeds going to Kyle, go to www.skifly.com.

Join NCWSA on Facebook!

http://www.ncwsa.com/index.php/latest-news/519-ncwsa-facebook-fan-page-join

Jim Grabowski defeats the Dagwood at The Ohio Deli!

 Jim ate 3.5 lbs of a deli sandwich and 1.5 lbs of fries in a half hour! 

On the eight hour ride home from Winter Conference, your Midwest Board wrote down a few memorable quotes:

1)  Winter Conference is like a game and I just wanna beat it!! – Billy Susi

2)  I was awesome last night. – Everyone

Look out for the next newsletter in April 2010! Be sure to check back to MCWSA for more updates.