Russ and Xylo First tournament

The above photo is of Russ Fuller and Xylo. Russ is a visually impaired skier from Florida and Xylo is the Guide Dog of Texas puppy-in-training that Wendy is currently raising. On Saturday, July 18, at the PWR Memorial tournament in Crosby, Texas, they both experienced waterski tournament firsts. Russ competed in his first tournament, while Xylo simply attended.

Prior to traveling to Texas on Wednesday, July 15, to ski with Wendy and Mike, Russ had reviewed the post in the Tricks Learn to Compete category to get familiar with the qualification requirements.  His gold for the week was to first get qualified in tricks and second to work on audio slalom. By Thursday afternoon, Russ had learned enough tricks to score the minimum 100 points to qualify. Adding a tournament to the week’s agenda was a late-night Thursday decision.

Friday was spent practicing tricks and going over what to expect at the tournament.

On Saturday, Russ scored enough points in all three rounds to qualify. His scores were 160, 120, and 160 respectively.

Luckily, Russ still had Sunday and Monday for audio slalom practice as qualifying in tricks will also allow him to enter the Audio Slalom event at the 28th Bolding Grew Adaptive Water Ski Nationals (August 13-16).

Good Luck Russ and safe travels to Minnesota!