• World Water Ski Championships in Medellin, Colombia were a tremendous success and was a tribute to the organizers and dedicated personnel who went out of their way to make sure everyone enjoyed the championships and activities of this special event. Many thanks to Andres Botero, Hernan Moreno, Sofia Aristizabal Duque and all the others who assisted in this endeavour. It was also the first senior classic championships where speed control was utilized - and, under difficult conditions at the near 2000 meter altitude, a number of tournament records were broken including the World Tournament Jump record - something that nobody, 2 weeks prior, thought could happen.
• University World Trophy Championships was again held in the United States and was a great success. More interest should be placed in these championships throughout the world as it brings our level to the University and school levels bringing our sport more to the forefront of mainstream sporting activity.
• World Cup Events were held in a great number of locations in the U.S. and Canada with prospects for more events in South America (specifically Colombia and Chile). The television coverage for these events are increasing at a tremendous rate and, more importantly, they are being broadcast at normal viewing hours.

• Latin American Championships were held in Bogota, Colombia. The tournament was a great success in that it was held in a public park in Bogota where a minimum of 50,000 people in the 4 days of the tournament viewed water skiing at it’s best in Latin America. This is the type of venue that we need to hold our tournaments - ease of access to the public and, they very much enjoyed the competition.
• Pan American Championships were held as a Pan Am Games test event at a new site in Winnipeg, Canada. A great deal of work by the local organizing committee contributed to the tremendous success of this championships. A large number of dignitaries from the Pan Am Games Society and as well, the US Olympic Committee commented on the excellent facilities and organization.

There were no changes to the Pan American Region administration. Mr. Vernon Oberg (CAN) remains as President, Jeffry Armstrong (US) remains as Tournament Council Chair and Dr. Jorge Renosto Sr. (ARG) remains as Secretary General. The President of COLAEN is still Waldo Miranda Domel (CHI). Additional Vice Presidents for the Region were elected including Frank Harrison (US) for North America and Arturo Torres (MEX) for Central America.

This remains a sore point in our organization but, a number of developments have and will ensure further participation in our Region. Peru and Brasil are approaching NOC status but what is more important, after the IWSF EB meeting, ODESUR (South American Sports Organization) may grant water skiing a berth in the South and Central American Games where, all NOC’s in South America will take notice. This is important as previously, our organization was ignored. However, with the successes of the Colombian, Argentine and Mexican skiers, many of these organizations are taking notice.

On a second front, we have been promoting Wakeboarding throughout the America’s with the assistance of Jimmy Redmon (US), Susan Heer (CAN), and Gonzalo Chalo Renosto from Argentina. This discipline has spread wildly throughout the Caribbean and South America countries and is an excellent boost to our Region.

Lastly, the COLAEN organization headed capably by Waldo Miranda of Chile, is actively and vigorously promoting the sport in South America. With assistance from the Olympic Development Fund, the Pan Am Region has injected over $SF 20,000 into a program to develop officials, train event organizers, provide training and, lobby Olympic Committees to ensure water skiing’s firm grip in the America’s.

We have all been under a great deal of stress in the past year working diligently for the Olympic Movement.. If we gain our berth, this would be a wonderful scenario. If not, we are still a very dedicated organization that has a lot to accomplish in the years to come and, we will be a sport to reckon with in the 21st Century.

In the Pan Am Region, I would like to thank Bob Corson for his vision and the newly appointed chair of the AWSA Board, Mark Crone both for his push to extend our sport around the world but also for his tremendous efforts with speed control.

But, there are a number of other international individuals who have, in my eyes, put in a tremendous effort that need to be recognized including of course, Andres Botero - the driving force behind our every endeavours. There are others including Graziano Tognala who has been the life blood of this drive and of course, Depi, who has been instrumental in keeping us within striking distance. Not to be forgotten is the efforts of Max Kirwan who, at the Asian Games ensured that Speed Control was implemented for this event and or course, Aubrey Sheena who is now spearheading our environmental handbook - a most important document that we will need for our sport.