“he was on a full-ride waterskiing scholarship”
While nobody ever wants this kind of thing to happen, I’m surprised at how there is such a thing as a full-ride waterskiing scholarship in the first place.
“I’m surprised at how there is such a thing as a full-ride waterskiing scholarship in the first place.”
The only thing that is surprising to me is that they would support a sport that requires a motor vehicle. They must use electric boats to tow these guys.
Although an avid slalom skier and barefooter, at 67 years old I might add, I am also surprised scholarships are offered in the sport. The reason for my surprise is the cost required to participate in the sport at a high level.
A new tournament inboard such as a Mastercraft ProStar or Malibu TXI will now set you back over $120,000. Also, you are going to pay something between $1,800 dollars to $2,500 for a high-end slolam ski. Lastly, if you are a three event skier (jumping, slalom, and tricks) you’ll probably have to invest somewhere in the neighborhood of $4,000 to $5,000 in equipment to compete in all three of those events.
Given the cost of the boats, the equipment and the fuel, there’s no way the sport begins to pay for itself. I haven’t researched it but there has to be a lot of money coming from corporate sponsors such as boat and water ski manufacturers to justify running a program. There just isn’t that much fan interest and only a tiny fraction of the people that would show up for even a women’s basketball game attend water ski tournaments.
In closing, I am blown away by the cost of new tournament inboards. I don’t know of any vehicle, whether it operates on land, air or sea, that has experienced such cost inflation over the last 35 years. I bought my first tournament inboard in 1987, a brand new and very beautiful Malibu Skier which cost me a grand total of $15,123 off the showroom floor. 4 years later I bought a brand new Malibu Euro f3, which replaced the Skier, for $22,210. That means during the last 32 years the cost of a new tournament water ski boat has increased by almost 600%. Now that’s freaking inflation!