World Cup Skier Ryan Green and MasterCraft today

With March 16/18 approaching quickly, the final countdown to our 33rd World Cup Stop has already begun. As part of the EYRES Action Sports Games, thousands of spectators are expected for this spectacular event. Just a few hours ago, a major Press Conference  was launched by Tourism Minister Kim Hames and Mandurah’s Mayor, Paddi Creevey OAM. The typical glorious sunshine of Western Australia set the perfect tone for what also promises to be the perfect start to World Cup 2012 season.

WA State Champion Marcey Wallstead

We are now also approaching the cut off point for our World Cup Athletes Entry List. Full details will be announced shortly. Here is the full Press Release issued by our friends in Mandurah

State Tourism Minister Dr Kim Hames addresses the Media

Kuno Ritschard, Alan Morton and Des Burke-Kennedy

In January every year, we meet Alan Morton in London, Chief Executive of ProActive TV, to agree plans for both the production and global distribution of our World Cup TV series. Having now completed together a total of 32 edited TV shows with ProActive, the process has been streamlined to ensure that no matter where the World Cup Stops take us, the same tight deadlines are met.

IWWF President Kuno Ritschard and Marketing Chairman Des Burke-Kennedy are now working with ProActive to expand the global distribution of the 26 minute edited World Cup show. It is also hoped to obtain more advance broadcast listings for our hosts and sponsors and to capitalize on some of the current changes taking place within the Broadcast industry. Formats for the World Cup Show are also being reviewed to strengthen the branding to help raise its international profile. Watch out for developments here shortly.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

HAPPY NEW YEAR from all our World Cup Team and especially to all our Athletes, Officials and our very much appreciated Sponsors and Hosts. With 32 World Cup Stops now successfully completed, we have a lot to be very grateful for.

Already we know that 2012 will be another exciting World Cup season and calendar details will be announced shortly. Mandurah in Western Australia will welcome World Cup Stop number 33 – the first of 2012 – so watch out for further details here ……

With our recent World Cup Stops each attracting between 80,000 and 100,000 happy spectators at Kuching in Malaysia and Linyi in China, it is now time to take a break and enjoy some quality time with our friends and family.

As we approach the end of 2011, we can all look back on 32 successful World Cup Stops to date. Final preparations are already being made for our first World Cup Stop of 2012. Mandurah, just south of Perth in Western Australia will be the location. Full details will be highlighted here in the weeks ahead – and also some great news on our Webcast programme for all our many fans around the World. MasterCraft have confirmed their provision of the World Cup boats and support yet again and now we can relax with some great past memories and big expectations for the World Cup in the years ahead !

Thank you all for your greatly valued support over these past World Cup years

HAVE A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS

Magnificent Mandurah to launch 2012 World Cup Season

The 32nd successful World Cup Stop last September in Linyi, China, attracted over 80,000 spectators. The next Waterski & Wakeboard World Cup Stop scheduled for the coming March 16/18 is expected to see this increase to over 100,000 spectators. With 3,000 hours of annual sunshine and a Mediterranean climate, the venue will be the spectacular setting of Mandurah in Western Australia. Facing the Indian Ocean, it is located just 70km south of Perth. Mandurah’s magnificent waterways and Marinas make this the perfect location for the first World Cup Stop of the 2012 season.

Renowned for its perfect beaches and boating facilities, dolphins, pelicans, and blue manna crabs, daytime temperatures expected for the World Cup Stop will be close to 27C with sunny skies.

Voted as Western Australia’s Top Tourism Town, the International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation (IWWF) has just concluded a four-year World Cup agreement with the City, helping to expand further the Tourism potential of this thriving venue and especially in the area of Watersports.

Eventscorp is the events division of Tourism Western Australia. At their recent 2012 Calendar Launch, Minister for Regional Development Brendon Grylls and Tourism Minister Kim Hames announced the Government’s support of a new major Western Australia event, the Action Sports Games Mandurah. The Waterski & Wakeboard World Cup will play a vital role in these Games. Minister Hames is the driving force behind the expansion of major events designed to boost visitor numbers.

“ With over 30 million active participants in our sport, we are absolutely delighted to have such a perfect stage in Mandurah to introduce our very best Waterski and Wakeboard athletes to this superb location,” said Kuno Ritschard, IWWF President.

In addition to Waterski and Wakeboard, the Action Sports Games Mandurah will also include BMX, Skateboarding and an international Freestyle Motocross Shootout between Australia and New Zealand.

Adding further to the festivities, the highly successful Channel Seven Mandurah Crab Fest, a regular fixture on Western Australia’s annual events calendar for the past fourteen years, will also take place at this time.  “The City of Mandurah is delighted to be given this fabulous opportunity to host such a prestigious event alongside our annual Channel Seven Mandurah Crab Fest, ” said Mandurah Mayor Paddi Creevey OAM.

Early in the New Year, the IWWF will release the Mandurah World Cup Timetable plus details of the international athletes invited to take part in this 33^rd Waterski & Wakeboard World Cup Stop. Skiers and Riders from over 20 countries will compete. MasterCraft will again sponsor the World Cup boats and will also provide the full technical backup required. They have been the boat sponsors for all 32 World Cup Stops to date. Full TV coverage and Webcast details will also be confirmed shortly. These details will be available here in the coming weeks – and also on Western Australia Events on this Link :

NATALIA AND CLEMENTINE AND REGINA

What an extraordinary achievement – all FOUR World Waterski Records broken by three of our greatest World Cup athletes of all time. This brings our 2011 season to a perfect conclusion. Who would have guessed the levels reached officially today by Natalia Berdnikova BLR, Clementine Lucine FRA and Regina Jaquess USA. In fact, double congratulations to Natalia who broke TWO World Records which have now been approved.

NATALIA BERDNIKOVA - JUMP & OVERALL WORLD RECORDS

CLEMENTINE LUCINE - TRICKS / SHORTBOARD WORLD RECORD

REGINA JAQUESS - WORLD SLALOM RECORD

Here are the details of these new WORLD RECORDS :

SLALOM

2011-10-02 Regina Jaquess USA 2@10.25 Eddie Greene Budweiser Octoberfest, Lake Louis, Santa Rosa Beach, FL USA

TRICKS /SHORTBOARD

2011-09-18 Clementine Lucine FRA 10040 points Alexis Pickos Open, Santa Rosa Beach, FL USA

JUMP

2011-10-26 Natalia Berdnikava BLR 57.4m Pooch and Tays Jumpaween, USA Water Ski Headquarters, Lake Grew USA

OVERALL

2011-10-01 Natallia Berdnikava BLR slalom – 1.5@11.25 tricks – 9240 jump – 56.7m overall points – 2994.56 Sunset Lakes Fall Classic, Sunset Lakes USA

The Super Events World Convention was staged this week in Abu Dhabi – not too far  south of Qatar in the Arabian Golf where we have staged a series of World Cup Stops over the years. IWWF Media and Marketing Chairman, Des Burke-Kennedy, was invited to make a presentation to the Delegates on “Establishing a Sound Identity”, based on our 32 successful World Cup Stop experiences.

Simone Seefreid / Munich 2018, Colin Gibson / International Cricket Council and Des Burke-Kennedy

For our World Cup, this was a valuable platform to share with representatives of Formula One, Golf, International Cricket Council, UAE Rugby Assoc , Singapore Youth Olympics, Oman Sail and the Munich 2018 Olympics City Bid.  All shared their experiences on a wide range of topics including :  Trends in International Events,  Sponsorship Strategies,  New Media, City Partnerships, Legacy, etc.

Our World Cup presentation was based on our experiences gained from completing 32  Stops around the World and also a view on the New Media challenges which lie ahead for all sports.

Des Burke-Kennedy presents at the IF Forum

The annual IF Forum in Lausanne, Switzerland, is an invitation-only event. It is organised by SportAccord Convention on the doorstep of the International Olympic Committee HQ in Lausanne every year. This time, over 200 senior Sports Federation members were invited – including Des Burke-Kennedy, IWWF World Cup Media and Marketing Chairman. Jacques Rogge, IOC President was also present and made the opening address.

The first day of the Forum included an intensive training seminar entitled Mastering the Media, presented by ITV/ITN Star, Sharon Thomas. This involved on-camera training and critical appraisal. Other presentations covered building Event Awareness, Multi-Year Agreements, Bums-on-Seats, Betting Threats, Governance, Transparency, etc.

Training with ITN's Sharon Thomas

Highlighting the World Cup where possible, Des made presentations during the “Media On-Camera”  session and “Finding The Right City” Seminars. With a great deal of focus on London 2012 and also on the nail-biting process of selecting an new sport for the 2020 Olympic Games, this was an action packed Lausanne event and very useful for the 200+ Federation representatives. With our IWWF sights firmly fixed on preparing Cable Wakeboard for the Olympics in 2020, this was a stark reminder that seven other sports also have the exact same ambition !

One of our very first major WORLD CUP ambitions was to make sure that our legacy would be to kick-start the ambition of youngsters all around the World once they were given that opportunity to see and enjoy the skills of our World Cup Stars up close. If this inspired them to raise their standards, get out on the water and share in the thrills of our sport, our investment in time, money and energy would be worth it.

After completing no less than 32 successful WORLD CUP Stops in Sarawak and Linyi recently, the impact is now showing clearly. Here is a great example straight from Indonesia today where the South-East Asian Games have just taken place.

IS THIS A WORLD’S FIRST ? Take a look at this item from the London Times today – young 8 year old Malaysian Skier Aaliyah Yoong, sister of F1 Driver Alex Yoong and daughter of World Cup Super Stop organiser Hanifah Yoong, taking a GOLD MEDAL in Women’s Tricks at the South-East Asian Games. The Silver Medalist was 26 years older ! It all happened in Palembang in Indonesia – and The Times confirmed that this is definitely real news ! Congratulations Aaliyah – and we hope to see you in our World Cup series some day soon.

Linyi TV Cameras capture the action for us

All 32 World Cup Stops to date are now 26 minutes of exciting edited TV shows. Usually completed within days of the Podium presentations, they are then issued globally to Broadcasters which have a combined audience of over 500 million viewers. In some respects, that is the easy part of the marketing mix !

Kuching cameras on Rider Harley Clifford AUS

Once distributed, finding out exactly when each Broadcaster actually airs our World Cup TV shows is a challenge which is just too big for many sports. For our World Cup Stops, we are provided with some Broadcast schedules in advance – usually in Europe, the popular SKYSPORTS schedules. As ever, the reason why all schedules are not available in advance is usually a cost one. Major sports have the resources to purchase both the schedules in advance -  and later the final broadcast certificates.

Here are the very latest World Cup Broadcast schedules – for both our recent Linyi China and Kuching Sarawak Malaysia World Cup Stops covering Wakeboard and Jump in Linyi and Wakeboard in Kuching.  The good news is that ll are also available in short clips on our special World Cup YouTube TV Channel.

WORLD CUP YOUTUBE CHANNEL

SKYSPORTS & HOT WATER TV SCHEDULES – LINYI CHINA

KUCHING SARAWAK MALAYSIA TV SCHEDULES