Hot off the press…..the June 200 Club Draw. Our most entertaining draw yet thanks to Keith Jones.

The June winners are:

1st Claire James no 32 £451.75
2nd Sean Rose no 71 £338.81
3rd Team Bluebird no 83 £225.88
4th Bill Atkins no 74 £112.94

After prize money is paid out we are raising about £2,345 each month to add to our funds.

The lack of activity this year means that we have not spent any of our funds and we will go into 2021 in a very healthy £64,000 in the bank.

If competitions around the world resume we will have a busy year to support with the postponed World Youth Championships as well as an Open, U21, and University Worlds.

Let’s all hope that we will be back to some kind of normal.

Congratulations to this months winners and a big thank you to everyone that supports FoT.

June 2020 200 Club Draw

Covid-19 Update – Tournament Calendar Competitions and British Nationals.

All Licence Holders and Officials

Following the government announcements this week it is clear that the limited lifting of restrictions does not yet place us in a position where we can legally operate competitive skiing. The Tournament Committee therefore must announce that all of the suspended July competitions are now cancelled.

Further to discussions with Oxford WSC and Steve Glanfield, we regrettably have to also advise that the British Nationals scheduled for 12th to 16th August are also cancelled.

The Tournament Committee will meet again in mid July to review the possibility of running competitions in August, and also to discuss the proposal of running a ‘Youth Nationals’ late in the season.

It is positive to hear clubs generally are busy, ski safe everyone.

Mark Beard

Vice Chairman
Tournament Committee

The following communication has been received today from the E&A Bureau.

“It is with great regret that due to the COVID-19 crisis and the restrictions imposed by various countries and travel restrictions, the Admincom has decided to cancel or postpone to 2021 all 2020 E&A Titled Events.
All 2020 ‘Open’ and ‘Masters’ (35+, seniors, ..) Championships have been cancelled.

For the Youth Championships, the Admincom encourages the Divisional Councils to postpone their 2020 event to 2021.
If they accept this recommendation, the 2020 event would be held alongside the 2021 event.
This is in order that a youth athlete who is in the last year of his age category does not miss the chance to win a title, a medal or a spot in the finals.
Someone over age can however not set a record for his age category.
It is up to each Council to work out the specific rules for their combined 2020/2021 event.
The EC Bureau
19/06/2020”

Here is the May draw of the 200 Club. There were 139 balls in the bag this month and the winners are:

1st David Stevenson No. 61 £451.75
2nd Simon Poole No. 38 £338.81
3rd Jon Wilkinson No. 63 £225.88
4th Nick McGarry No. 26 £112.94

Congratulations to them and thank you to everyone who supports FoT.

Before Lottery prize money has been paid out FoT has now raised almost £118,000 and the lottery alone will pass £100,000 next month.

Including prize money £75,000 has been paid out to support development activities and to our elite skiers for world and European Championships.

With the Covid-19 restrictions we have not yet spent any money in 2020 but have ambitious plans, requiring a £55,000 budget for next year when we hope some sort of normality will be resumed.

200 Club May 2020 Prize Draw

The Tournament (Waterski) Committee met today via Zoom to discuss the ongoing situation in regard to our national competition calendar from July onwards and the position concerning E&A Championship events.

British Calendar Events
It remains clear that with the current restrictions no competitions of any kind can take place. However lockdown restrictions are subject to regular review with some changes taking place on a regular basis now. Consequently the Committee decided to suspend all July events that had not already been cancelled by the organisers so that should the situation change in the short term these could be reinstated. Decisions about competitions beyond July, including the British National Championships, will be taken as the lockdown restrictions evolve.

E&A Championships

35+ Championships
Although there does not seem to be an official announcement we understand that the 35+ Championships, due to take place in Italy from 26th to 30th August, have been cancelled.
E&A Youth and U21 Championships
These are scheduled to take place in Sesena, Spain from 3rd to 8th August. The E&A Waterski Council have said that under current conditions they cannot take place but a further review will be undertaken 45 days before the event is due to start, that is on 19th June.
E&A Open Championships
Now scheduled to take place in Recetto, Italy from 20th to 23rd August, we expect an update from E&A 60 days before the event, on 21st June.

In the event that either Competition is confirmed as going ahead BWSW will evaluate the possibility of participation by our skiers at that point in time. As you will appreciate there are many issues that will need to be understood and considered before we can contemplate sending our skiers. While we all want to resume competitions as soon as possible we also have a responsibility to ensure that all our skiers and officials can participate in a safe environment.

Steve Sopp
Chairman Tournament (Waterski) Committee
11th June 2020

The World Waterski Council has published an updated Rulebook which can be downloaded here:
World Waterski Rules 2020_V4

The Europe & Africa Waterski Under 14, Under 17 and Under 21 Championships

Botaski Sesena Waterski Complex, Spain 3rd to 9th August 2020
The organisers of these Championships have provided the European Confederation with the conditions under which the event can be held according to the current Spanish Government rules.
At this time the required distancing and social integration rules make the Championships impossible to hold.
The European Confederation is required to confirm the event can be held minimum 60 days before the date of the start of the Championships. The European Bureau together with the European Waterski Council has agreed that in these special circumstances this will be reduced to 45 days. This may give time for some relaxation of the Government rules applying in Spain.
The IWWF European Confederation will keep in contact with the Botaski Sesena Waterski Complex in the hope that the conditions required will change and will allow the Championships to be held on the original dates of 3rd to 9th August 2020.
Further information will be published latest 45 days before the due start date of the Championships.

The Europe & Africa Waterski Open Championships and the Europe & Africa Disabled Championships

Thanks to the Italian federation, we are pleased to announce that these two important Championships will be possibly held at Recetto, Italy from the 20th to 23rd August 2020.
Further information will be released shortly.

Patrice Martin
President
Sid Adriaensen
Secretary General

The Tournament (Waterski) Committee met yesterday and discussed the ongoing Covid-19 situation and its impact on this years waterski season.

The current position is that all sanctioned Tournament events in the UK have been cancelled up to the end of June. We said that a decision about the events scheduled in July would be made at the end of May but as Lockdown restrictions are slowly changing a decision about July and beyond will now be taken by the TC in a meeting scheduled for 11th June. This includes a decision about the August National Championships.

While the current restrictions on social distancing and group gatherings stay in place it is difficult to see how competitions can resume however we want to leave all options open as we move forward.

At the World level the U17 Championships have been postponed until 2021 with dates still to be announced. The 35+ Championships have been rescheduled for 13 – 19 September 2021 and a decision about the World University Championships is imminent.

In Europe the 35+ Championships have been cancelled and decisions about the Open, Youth and U21 events will be taken 60 days before the events are scheduled. If these events do ultimately take place the TC will consider the safety and well being of our skiers before deciding to enter individual or team skiers.

We remain hopeful that some part of the competitive season might well be salvaged but clearly we, like all competitive sports, will be guided by the government guidelines and advice from the Sports Councils.

? We are delighted to announce the 2020 GB Squad. The Tournament Committee has selected the top water ski athletes from across the United Kingdom, based on performances from the 2019 Tournament Season. ?

We would like to congratulate everyone who has been selected, your hard work and dedication to our sport does not go unnoticed despite these difficult times. We await decisions from IWWF and E&A with regard to future competitions. If events are to go ahead, the Tournament Committee will review the safety aspects surrounding this before any decisions are made to send a GB Team.

The April Draw of the 200 Club Lottery took place yesterday with Mark being socially distanced from the camera person. This month there were 141 balls in the bag generating a prize fund of £1,145.63. The lucky winners were:

1st £458.25 No 10 Stuart Scott-Ely
2nd £343.69 No 60 Colin Slater
3rd £229.13 No 85 Juliet Thompson
4th £114.56 No 125 Jo Kelly

Congratulations to them and a big thank you to everyone who continues to support the 200 Club.
Click on the link below to see the video.

Next year will be challenging with the World Open Championships and World U21 on the calendar as well as the postponed World U17 Championships. So while we may not spend all of our planned budget this year we will certainly do so in 2021 so building up our funding remains as important.

Since we started a total of £114,000 has been raised and £74,000 spent. The major areas of expense have been travel grants to our World and European Team member, Development Days and Youth Squad Training, as well as the lottery prizes of course.

So far 124 prizes have been won by 65 different ticket holders and £31,500 has been paid out in prizes since 2017.

LET’S KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK

200 Club April 2020 Prize Draw