Slalom, Tricks & Jump Skiing - Junior Development
American Water Ski Association
The American Water Ski Association’s Junior Development Program is a nationwide program for water ski athletes of all levels under the age of 18. The goals of the program are to attract new junior skiers, promote junior skiers and provide junior skiers with opportunities for assistance in improving their skiing skills. These goals are accomplished through various clinics and activities. Some clinics are for the beginner skier who wants to become a competitive skier, while other clinics are designed for the skiers who want to perfect their skiing expertise to reach a higher level of competitive skiing. The program also provides awards to junior skiers for their participation, as well as news articles in The Water Skier, which promotes junior skiers’ accomplishments.
The Junior Development Program has different teams for the many levels of skiing. Each of the five regions supports a team and from these teams, an All-Star Team is chosen each year for competition at the Water Ski National Championships. There also is a National Junior Team, which is chosen through the skier’s placement on the National Rankings List.
To be eligible for the National Junior Ski Team, a skier must:
- be a U.S. Citizen,
- be a member of USA Water Ski & Wake Sports in good standing,
- competed in the Boys/Girls 3, Boys/Girls 4, or Boys/Girls 5 divisions in at least (3) separate Class “C” or higher tournaments in the previous ski year, excluding those skiers who have aged up into M1/W1.
- Juniors with an “open” rating in overall or in any single event will automatically be selected to the team.
- Using the AWSA National Rankings List, any skiers with “open” ratings who were automatically selected will be purged, and then the top 2 overall skiers for both the previous ski year and the last twelve months in each division listed above will be selected to the National Junior Team.
- If a skier sets a benchmark overall or single event score, regardless of the age division criteria above, and does not otherwise make the team, they will be selected.
- The National Junior Development Committee may choose up to two skiers for discretionary selection.
All-Star Teams will be chosen and announced at each Region's Regional Tournament. The team will consist of six members and one alternate. To be eligible for the Regional All-Star Team, an athlete must:
- Be a U.S. citizen
- Be a member of USA Water Ski & Wake Sports and in good standing
- Be a current skier in Boys 2, Boys 3, Boys 4, Boys 5, Girls 2, Girls 3, Girls 4 or Girls 5 divisions be committed to attending and skiing in the Nationals
The skiers NOPS points will be used for the selection process. Skiers will be chosen based on their regional seeding* as 60 percent and their regional performances as 40 percent. The strongest three-event athletes will be chosen first, followed by two-event athletes and then single event athletes. Each team will be comprised of Boys and Girls 2, 3, 4 and 5. The six-member team may have no more than two team members from the same division. The gender distribution of the six-member team shall be either 3/3 or 4/2. The alternate can be from any of the eligible divisions.
| Co-Chair/Southern Region | Allison Blair |
| Co-Chair/South Central Region | Lauren Malitz |
| Eastern Region | Becky Bartlett |
| Midwest Region | Shane Bucher |
| Southern Region | Shannon Waters |
| Western Region | Mike Maxson |
| Athlete | Dane Mechler |
| Athlete | Garrett Reese |
2024 National Junior Team #
| Name | City | State | Region |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | City | State | Region |
| Alexia Abelson | Holderness | NH | E |
| Jake Abelson | Holderness | NH | E |
| Aaron Bartlett | Wolfeboro | NH | E |
| BG Bickley | Macon | GA | S |
| Wesley Blair | Mooresville | NC | S |
| Giovanni Bloyer | Lake Elmo | MN | MW |
| Vittorio Bloyer | Vail | CO | MW |
| Bode Bulfer | Northfield | MN | MW |
| George Bulfer | Northfield | MN | MW |
| Ally Custer | Lake Lotawana | MO | MW |
| Cameron Davis | Milford | VA | E |
| Emma Davis | Milford | VA | E |
| Freddy Davis | Milford | VA | |
| Payton Deming | Round Rock | TX | SC |
| Damien Eade | Clermont | FL | S |
| Jaeden Eade | Clermont | FL | |
| Ella Gay | Winter Garden | FL | S |
| Matthew Greenwood | Scott | AR | SC |
| Natalie Gustafson | Cleveland | TN | SC |
| Eva Henderson | Gardner | IL | MW |
| Gage Kacprowicz | San Antonio | TX | SC |
| Kamryn Massey | Lakeland | FL | S |
| Maya Maxson | Mill Valley | CA | W |
| Reid Meinhardt | Alpena | MI | MW |
| Ty Robbins | Wexford | PA | E |
| Chase Sparks | Dallas | GA | S |
| Jayden Stabel | Chico | CA | W |
| Camryn Waters | Groveland | FL | S |