Lake St. Louis Water Ski Club
Newsletter - January/February 2015
Thanks to all who joined us for the ice cream social!
Noltkamper
Stephans
Molitor
Corley
Ensor
Newman
Also, welcome back to the Stein family who were a part of the ski club years ago and have returned to join the fun!
If you still need to sign your family up for the 2015 season, the new membership forms will be posted soon on the website. The membership fees will increase by $25.00 on April 1, 2015 so hurry and get your forms in!
If you have friends who are interested, feel free to pass on this newsletter to them and invite them to join us for any of our upcoming activities.
Ellary and Julia
Angie and Megan
Emmy, Sophie, Kyle, and Reed
Don't miss the Casino Night Fundraiser
Saturday, Feb 21, 2015, 07:00 PM
Lake St Louis Community Association, Cognac Court, Lake Saint Louis, MO, United States
Fun Games for all!
Bring food, friends, and luck!
Bring shoes & purses for Gateway2Give & Clean Water Mission!
Our LSL Water ski Club President: Jim Mondl
Jim Mondl is the 2015 president for the LSL waterski club. Jim and his family joined the ski club the first week they arrived at Lake St. Louis in 2011. They have skied with the club for three seasons. Jim, his wife, Loralee, and their two sons, Nick and Cam, started as Home Show skiers. Jim and Nick later joined the Arch Rivals competition team and last year, Jim and Nick coached barefoot skiing.
The Mondl's moved to Lake St. Louis in large part because of the ski team. Jim reported that once they showed up at Jefferson Point to ski, the families took them in, and getting involved was easy; very easy.
Jim has skied since he was 9 years old. His wife began skiing after they were married. Their two sons have skied since they could walk. Jim said "Lake St. Louis has been a great fit for us, because skiing has been part of our summers since the kids can remember. Now we can ski every morning and evening. The ski team challenges the kids every day to try new skills and improve their old ones. All of us have learned so many new skiing skills that we never would have tried, or even considered, before coming to LSL."
Jim spends his winters teaching scuba diving and leading underwater tours for scuba divers in Bonne Terre Mine. He read books, sometimes two or three at a time, and plays music really loud. During the weekday, he practices maritime law, handling boating and barge accidents throughout the Midwest.
When asked what he enjoys most about the ski club, he replied "Two things:
First, I love that this is a family activity. As much as I enjoy watching our kids play sports, I love even more joining them in ski club practices and shows. I participate in this sport alongside our kids, and we are teammates. When we are not practicing with the ski club, we practice what we learned from the club on our own. Last summer, we began skiing backwards, and we have a never-ending list of barefoot skiing tricks to practice.
Second, the friends we met through the ski club have made Lake St. Louis home to us. The first day that I showed up for ski practice, Tim Knoerzer said, “Welcome home”. That was cool. Our family counts the friends we made through the ski club as some of the best friends of our lives."
Jim has had many great memories, but by far the most memorable event was barefoot skiing with his son in the Grand Basin at Forest Park before 5,000 spectators during Fair St. Louis. He stated "That was a total adrenaline rush. I still have people tell me they saw us perform there."
Jim's vision as president is to make the LSL waterski club more visible to the community. He wants to put on weekly ski shows on Friday nights for families to watch from shore or boat.
Spotlight on our 3-Event team and the new 3-Event coach: Rachel Brown
Rachel believes 3-Event Skiing is a fun way to challenge your self and compete in skiing – either in tournaments or to work towards individual goals recreationally. 3-Event is about reaching the next level one step at a time: getting around all 6 buoys on the slalom course at faster speeds and eventually shorter rope lengths, learning more advanced tricks for your 20-second trick ski run, and jumping progressively farther on the ski jump. She commented, "It takes a lot of dedication and practice, but the kids and adults who love it are addicted and have a blast supporting each other for their next PB (Personal Best)! " The Ski Team offers ways to try out and enter the sport through Junior Slalom Sessions, Beginner Trick and Beginner Jump.
Rachel looks at her role as more coordinator than coach. Rachel related that in this sport, without question, many of the competitive kids have far surpassed the skills of their coaches/parents. She views her role as coach is to give them opportunities for practice on the water, peer coaching (we have some of the best 3-Event skiers in the state) and outside clinicians. Rachel feels that the biggest challenge on our lake is finding enough good water time, as slalom requires near perfect conditions to practice.
When asked what influenced her decision to become a coach, she replied, "I have seen these young 3-Event athletes, including my oldest daughter, turn into dedicated athletes. These kids love the sport so much that they choose to get up and run the slalom course at 6am during their summer break. They celebrate each other, even when their friend has a better run, and they comfort each other when a run didn’t live up to their ability. The role opened up and I accepted because I am so inspired by these kids and such a supporter of the power of this sport."
The Brown Family has been involved in the ski team since their daughter, Hannah, (now almost 14) was 8 and on Junior Line. All 5 members of their family have skied with the team at some point. Her husband, Mark, is on the Ski Team board as well, has driven kneeboard practices and is on Men’s Line and Handles with their 7-year old Aubrey. All 3 of their children, including Aubrey and our 10-year-old Ethan, slalom ski and Rachel is looking forward to them getting move involved in 3-Event this year.
The Browns love LSL! They are looking forward to not just living here, but also working here. Mark is launching the Law Office of Mark Brown LLC in LSL this spring, and Rachel is transitioning from an in-house Director of Marketing position in Chesterfield to a marketing consulting practice through the Synergy Group, which is based in the area. She is looking forward to spending those former commuting hours on the lake!
When asked what she enjoys most about the ski club she replied, "Family bonding, amazing ski families, memories on the water!" Her greatest memories with the ski club are many, but she did comment, "Nothing beats that first time your child makes it off the doc in Junior Line. Thank you Coach Mary and the late Coach Dan for sparking this love of skiing way back then."
Rachel's goal to achieve this year as a coach for the LSL ski club is "to help the competitive kids all reach their goals and celebrate every PB (Personal Best) with them. I want to support our junior slalom and beginner jump coaches, who are awesome, so that we can help some more young skiers find a passion for 3-Event."
Meet one of our LSL Waterski club families: The Bryants
Some of you may know Paul as the man behind the camera at the July 4th ski shows. But this year he will be one of the newest members of the men's line (sshhh, he might not know this yet, but he is signed up!) Others may know Lindsey as a dock mom, member of the Ladies Line, or like most of us moms are known she is the mother of Courtney, Tyler, and Aly.
The Bryant family has participated in the ski club for the past four years. The kids have participated in Kneeboard, Wakeboard, Junior Line, and Junior Slalom. This year Tyler wants to try Trick Ski, Jump, and Junior Men’s Line. Courtney wants to try Junior Swivel and Trick Ski. Aly wants to continue with Kneeboard, Wakeboard, and Junior Line, but she really wants to learn to Slalom too. Lindsey will be back on the Ladies Line and may even be willing to try swivel this year! Paul has been signed up for Men’s Line, but not certain he knows this yet (but his wife and kids are excited about it!) His youngest daughter, Aly, wants him to do Doubles with her too. He may need to start lifting some weights soon!!
When the Bryant children are not participating in ski club activities, they can be found playing soccer, tennis, golf or swimming. Tyler is also planning to try flag football this year. They also find time to fit in some learning at Green Tree Elementary where Courtney is in 5th grade, Tyler in 4th, and Aly in 2nd. All 3 love hanging out with their friends and being active. Lindsey teaches Kindergarten at Discovery Ridge. She attended Iowa State University and Paul attended Mizzou. Paul owns STL Digital Photography. Both Paul and Lindsey enjoy hanging out with family and friends when they are not working and running children to their activities.
What the Bryants love most about the ski club is all the friends that they have made. They also like the confidence that their children have now from being in the water and their willingness to try new things. They are not afraid to fail because there are so many people cheering them on and telling them how proud they are of them! Lindsey likes that when she joined the ladies line everyone was so encouraging and helpful. Many people even brought her out to practice extra on their own time to help her learn how to ski! The Bryants feel like the ski club is one big happy family!
When asked what their greatest memories were with the ski club, the kids said "that they loved having Mr. Dan and Mrs. Mary teach them to ski." Tyler also remembers a snake swimming by at kneeboard practice and his dad screamed, ran the other way, and Mr. Scott saved the day by grabbing it and throwing it far away! Courtney reported that she loved learning how to Slalom with her friend, Riley Robertson. She also said "Mr. Rob was a great coach, but that she hated waking up that early!" Aly loved getting up on wakeboard last year with her friend, Kayla Robertson! Lindsey's best memory was when Joe Dattilo told her not to listen to everyone’s advice about holding a dollar bill in between your butt cheeks. Instead he told her to just to keep her knees bent, look up and just let the boat pull her. He was very stern, but she got up!! Paul related that he loves taking pictures of everyone and catching bloopers to blow up for everyone to see!
The Bryants are hoping to make more memories this year with ski club. They love every minute of learning and trying new things and are always up for a challenge so they have found the right club!
2015 LSL Waterski Club Board Members
- President: Jim Mondl
- Vice President: Laura Gramolino
- Secretary: Angie Hopping
- Treasurer: Joe Dattilo
- Membership: Megan Southern
- Past President: Brad McLaughlin
- Activities: John Barnard
- Equipment: Rob Stevenson
- Lakes and Parks: Mark Brown
- Safety: Mary Piper
- Newsletter and Publicity: Beth Treadway
- Show-Me Skiers: Terry Knowlton
- Arch Rivals: Ted Woods