Lake City Skiers Host Central Regional Show over Weekend
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
The Backwater Gamblers, a show ski team from Illinois, won the tournament, with Warsaw’s team, the LCS, coming in sixth out of the eight teams.
Hayes, who also is the LCS show director this year, said he heard many positive comments about the tournament from the other teams, including the bigger teams who prefer bigger sites.
“On Saturday, the crowd was tremendous,” Hayes added. “It was packed. It was packed here Sunday, too, but more people came out in the afternoon Saturday.”
He said the audience wasn’t just the ski team, but also a lot of spectators who just wanted to see the free tournament and shows.
As for Backwater Gamblers winning, Hayes said, “They had an awesome show. They were right on. They won all the box scores. That’s not to say they put on a perfect show, but they were fantastic.”
Tagen Tipton and Scott Allender are the co-show directors for the Backwater Gamblers. After winning first place in the tournament, Allender said he was “feeling great. And a little surprised that we won all that.”
The Illinois team’s show title this year is “Science for Dummies.”
Allender said the team had to fight through a lot of adversity this year. It had unexpectedly lost a team member in the spring, who also had family members on the Backwater Gamblers. Their home site also had high waters because of all the rain.
However, Allender said, the team keeps “doing what we can do, and control what we can control.”
For nationals, Tipton said they will try to fix the things that didn’t go well in the Central Region Tournament, and build on the things that did go well.
“We’ll build bigger and better,” she said.
Allender noted the LCS hosted a good tournament.
“It went well. They did a nice job for a small team hosting. It went well,” he said.
Backwater Gamblers won in every box score category. Earning a total of 1,713.27 points, they scored first in dock and equipment personnel (56 points), pick-up boat crews (150), tow boat driving (468), showmanship (595), sound crew (598) and overall show (1,223). Additionally, they won high individual club act with 240 points.
Other teams’ grand total scores included 1,661.37 for Wonder Lake, Illinois, second place; 1,495.17 for Arch Rivals, Illinois, third place; 1,294.27 for Chippewa Lake, Ohio, fourth place; 1,146.69 for Silver Lake, Michigan, fifth place; 1,143.23 for Lake City Skiers, Warsaw, sixth place; 1,069.29 for Ski Broncs, Illinois, seventh place; and 1,032.5 for Spray Masters, Michigan, eighth place.
As for the home team’s show in the tournament, LCS Assistant Show Director and script co-writer Caleb Patrick said, “It was a vast improvement from our previous home show. It was good with the limited amount of time we had on the water. Overall, I was pretty happy with it.”
LCS’s show this year is based on “Footloose.”
“As the season is going on, it’s getting better and better. The show is coming along,” said Ben Rankin, co-script writer and assistant show director.
He said the other teams in the competition really brought their A-game to the tournament. There were a few unfortunate falls for many teams, but that happens, he said.
Rankin said it was really nice to have all eight teams come out to the Central Region. The tournament helps the LCS, a non-profit organization, make money through things like concessions and the weather was really nice.
“It’s been a good weekend,” Rankin concluded.
Hayes agreed that the Warsaw team’s performance Saturday was 100 percent better than Tuesday’s home show performance. The team members are improving the show and getting it together, he said.
The box scores for the Lake City Skiers included 41 points for dock and equipment personnel, sixth place; 134 points for pick-up boat crew, third place; 285 points for tow boat driving, fifth place; 387 points for showmanship, sixth place; 396 points for sound crew, sixth place; 845 points for overall show, sixth place; and 153 points for high individual club act, seventh place.
Division II Nationals will be Aug. 3-4 in Tomahawk, Wis. To get ready for nationals, Hayes said the LCS will “beef up each act.”
“We’re going to nail the script down,” Patrick added.
“We just all need to step up our ski acts and our stage act and we’ll be on top. Anything can happen. That’s the goal. We just need to beef it up,” Hayes interjected.
For more information about the Lake City Skiers, visit the team’s website at www.lakecityskiers.org[[In-content Ad]]
The Backwater Gamblers, a show ski team from Illinois, won the tournament, with Warsaw’s team, the LCS, coming in sixth out of the eight teams.
Hayes, who also is the LCS show director this year, said he heard many positive comments about the tournament from the other teams, including the bigger teams who prefer bigger sites.
“On Saturday, the crowd was tremendous,” Hayes added. “It was packed. It was packed here Sunday, too, but more people came out in the afternoon Saturday.”
He said the audience wasn’t just the ski team, but also a lot of spectators who just wanted to see the free tournament and shows.
As for Backwater Gamblers winning, Hayes said, “They had an awesome show. They were right on. They won all the box scores. That’s not to say they put on a perfect show, but they were fantastic.”
Tagen Tipton and Scott Allender are the co-show directors for the Backwater Gamblers. After winning first place in the tournament, Allender said he was “feeling great. And a little surprised that we won all that.”
The Illinois team’s show title this year is “Science for Dummies.”
Allender said the team had to fight through a lot of adversity this year. It had unexpectedly lost a team member in the spring, who also had family members on the Backwater Gamblers. Their home site also had high waters because of all the rain.
However, Allender said, the team keeps “doing what we can do, and control what we can control.”
For nationals, Tipton said they will try to fix the things that didn’t go well in the Central Region Tournament, and build on the things that did go well.
“We’ll build bigger and better,” she said.
Allender noted the LCS hosted a good tournament.
“It went well. They did a nice job for a small team hosting. It went well,” he said.
Backwater Gamblers won in every box score category. Earning a total of 1,713.27 points, they scored first in dock and equipment personnel (56 points), pick-up boat crews (150), tow boat driving (468), showmanship (595), sound crew (598) and overall show (1,223). Additionally, they won high individual club act with 240 points.
Other teams’ grand total scores included 1,661.37 for Wonder Lake, Illinois, second place; 1,495.17 for Arch Rivals, Illinois, third place; 1,294.27 for Chippewa Lake, Ohio, fourth place; 1,146.69 for Silver Lake, Michigan, fifth place; 1,143.23 for Lake City Skiers, Warsaw, sixth place; 1,069.29 for Ski Broncs, Illinois, seventh place; and 1,032.5 for Spray Masters, Michigan, eighth place.
As for the home team’s show in the tournament, LCS Assistant Show Director and script co-writer Caleb Patrick said, “It was a vast improvement from our previous home show. It was good with the limited amount of time we had on the water. Overall, I was pretty happy with it.”
LCS’s show this year is based on “Footloose.”
“As the season is going on, it’s getting better and better. The show is coming along,” said Ben Rankin, co-script writer and assistant show director.
He said the other teams in the competition really brought their A-game to the tournament. There were a few unfortunate falls for many teams, but that happens, he said.
Rankin said it was really nice to have all eight teams come out to the Central Region. The tournament helps the LCS, a non-profit organization, make money through things like concessions and the weather was really nice.
“It’s been a good weekend,” Rankin concluded.
Hayes agreed that the Warsaw team’s performance Saturday was 100 percent better than Tuesday’s home show performance. The team members are improving the show and getting it together, he said.
The box scores for the Lake City Skiers included 41 points for dock and equipment personnel, sixth place; 134 points for pick-up boat crew, third place; 285 points for tow boat driving, fifth place; 387 points for showmanship, sixth place; 396 points for sound crew, sixth place; 845 points for overall show, sixth place; and 153 points for high individual club act, seventh place.
Division II Nationals will be Aug. 3-4 in Tomahawk, Wis. To get ready for nationals, Hayes said the LCS will “beef up each act.”
“We’re going to nail the script down,” Patrick added.
“We just all need to step up our ski acts and our stage act and we’ll be on top. Anything can happen. That’s the goal. We just need to beef it up,” Hayes interjected.
For more information about the Lake City Skiers, visit the team’s website at www.lakecityskiers.org[[In-content Ad]]
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