If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to become a barefoot water ski judge, scorer, driver, or homologator, now is the time to make it happen… all in the comfort of your home during this Pandemic!

It’s Stay-at-home FUN! And you can WIN STUFF! More on that later…

The ABC Officials Committee is offering some new opportunities and a quick primer on how to get started! Becoming an official will make you a better footer, help your region hold more tournaments, and allow you to give back to the sport we all love!

Yes… in order to Sanction a tournament with USA Water Ski & Wake Sports your tournament needs certain Chief Officials. Check out what it takes HERE.

And, remember to make sure your USA Water Ski & Wake Sports Membership is up to date!

It’s time to get involved!

New Scoring Program for 2020

We have a new scoring system we are using exclusively this season. It’s the IWWF Water Ski Scoring System that is used all over the world, not just for barefooting! Developed by

Emmanuel Lion for Europe, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas it has 2019 and 2020 real-time ranking lists and will soon be able to offer registration so you can run your entire tournament out of one database. Check it out HERE.

We are excited to offer you the opportunity to earn an Officials Clinic Credit while learning all about the IWWF/LION Barefoot Scoring Program! Tina McCauley did a wonderful job making several tutorial videos for you to view. She has been using the program since the 2018 World Championships and is quite an expert!

Once you watch the videos, please reach out to Tina McCauley, Mike Molepske, or Shannon Klahn and they will mark you down for attending an Officials Clinic!

LION SCORING PROGRAM TUTORIALS

LION SCORING MANUAL

What do I do first? Brand New Officials!

Sometimes it’s hard to know where to start, especially if you are new or renewing after several years away from officiating. The ABC Officials Committee is here to help and their contact info will be at the bottom of this article. But here goes… step by step.

You first have to WANT to do it… volunteer to help in the boat or scoring at a tournament. Then, get down to business.

1) Register on World Barefoot Council Website

Enter your info on World Officials Registry to become part of the Officials Directory
You will then be able to take online quizzes
You need to take four (4) quizzes and get a certain score on each. For example, if you want to be a judge… you need to take the event judge quiz four (4) times.
Then you get some “on the job training” at tournaments and ask a current official to help you through the process!
Attend an Officials Clinic (most are conference calls, there is always one the night before Nationals or you can do the new scoring program clinic above!)
Driving is a little different. After you take the quizzes, you need to work closely with a current rated driver and get a Motor Vehicle Review through USA Water Ski before you drive a tournament.
And Safety Officials are run exclusively through USA Water Ski & Wake Sports

2) How to be an L4, L3, L2, L1 Official (or maintain)

It seems like there is an “alphabet soup” of official levels and here is a simple description:

L4 – New Official
L3 – Regional Official
L2 – National Official
L1 – World Official

To be a certain level of official requires a certain amount of quizzes and on the job training at tournaments and mentorship from current officials:

3) Officials Trainee Program at 2020 Barefoot Nationals

2020 Nationals Chief Judge Lauren Ehlers will be conducting a officials trainee program at nationals this year to help new officials get up to speed. Email her to sign up!