Cypress Gardens and the All-American Ski Tournament

Cypress Gardens hosted the third annual All-American Show Ski Tournament over the weekend of March 29-30. The reason I was there was a girl from our team was skiing in the 14 and under 180 class. Well, if that weekend did not make you proud to be a show skier, I don't think you have a pulse. The small crowd of parents and friends watched and cheered from the stands for all the skiers. Whether you were doing 1080, like Cheryl Orloff , with no effort, or just doing a toe hold as your big trick, this was a great opportunity for all swivel skiers to get in front of a crowd and perform. What seemed to appeal to the judges was showmanship. If your act was neat, and you appealed to the crowd, that really was a winning factor to the judges.

Visiting Cypress is always a lot of fun. There is so much history to show skiing. We watched the ski show on and off through-out the weekend. What struck me while watching their show was the few skiers they have to put on the show. Every person is in at least 2 to 3 acts. They do all the standard acts without a lot of hoopla. The acts are clean and the show moves at a great pace. I'm sure many show ski teams are challenged with getting enough skiers. Our team has always struggled with guys. We have plenty of wonderful swivelers, but we need guys for so many of the acts. Cypress is a great inspiration. Small teams can pull off a great show and you don't need a lot of skiers. I think you just need to make it clean, simple and entertaining, if you are a small team. Showmanship goes a long way.

Congratulations to all skiers! What a great weekend!!!

Freestyle Jumping

• Erik Berglund

• Andrew Proses

• Pete Kuhlman

Open Doubles

• Lindsey Schmidt/Andrew Proses

• Lauren Henry/Nick Vickers

• Rebecca Rembert/Mike Tenda

Regular Doubles

• Samantha Hanabass/Dalton Blantin

• Darien Le Blanc/Brad Satterlee

• Michelle Mark/Clint Gordon

Open Swivel

• Cheryl Orloff

• Rebecca Rembert

• Anne Phillip

360 Swivel

• Katrina Sawaska

• Jacklyn Kumlien

• Erica Johnston

Swivel – 15 & over

• Christina Maglione

Swivel 14 & under

• Stephanie Peters

• Kristin Hannabass

• Tori Johnston