FLOODING PREVENTS AQUA JAYS FROM
HOSTING NATIONAL TOURNAMENT

6/25/08
The Rock Aqua Jays Water Ski Club, Inc. announced today that due to unprecedented flooding of the Rock River in Janesville, Wisconsin, they will not be able to host the 2008 Division I National Water Ski Show Tournament slated for August 8-10 at Traxler Park. The Rock River is just now starting to slowly recede after having crested at an all-time high
on Saturday, June 21.

The National Show Ski Association
(NSSA) awarded the bid for this event in November 2006. This year would have been the 22nd time the team hosted the tournament in the 34 years since it
began here in Janesville.

Fourteen teams from around the country are eligible to compete in the two-and-a-half day event that draws 8,000 to 10,000 spectators, competitors, vendors, officials and water-ski dignitaries each day. “What would have been special
about the tournament this year is that plans were in the works to bring a delegation of skiers and leaders from the Peoples Republic of China to visit Janesville,” said Joel Shapiro, who has served as the club’s president for five years. “They were also planning to attend a Tommy Bartlett show,” added Shapiro.

Local businesses stand to lose out on approximately $2 million of tourism spending in the form of lodging, food,
fuel and entertainment, according to a 2001 article in The Janesville Gazette, which cited a Janesville Area Convention & Visitor Bureau estimate.

Selection of an alternate site will now be
in the hands of the NSSA, which is an affiliated sport division of USA Water Ski, the national governing body of water skiing. The next opportunity to be
awarded a bid to host the tournament
will be later this year when the team
plans to petition to host the event in 2010.

The Rock Aqua Jays have also canceled
all shows indefinitely. “This is the fourth flood event in the last 10 months that
has affected our performance schedule and operations in one way or another,” Shapiro noted. “We still have not fully recovered from flooding in 2004 that
kept us off the water for nearly seven weeks.”

Regardless of the lack of a show site and practice time, the team intends to compete at the Wisconsin State Water
Ski Show Tournament July 17-20 in Wisconsin Rapids. The team must do well at the state tournament in order to
qualify to compete in the national tournament.

The Rock Aqua Jays Water Ski Club is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching safe boating and water-skiing techniques to its members and the general public. The team
performs twice weekly ski shows from Memorial Day weekend through Labor
Day weekend and uses its shows as a platform for educating and entertaining.

The organization receives no public funding. None of its members are paid.
In fact, all members pay to belong to the organization. More than 80% of its revenue is derived from fund-raising and hosting events such as the national tournament. All of the proceeds go back into the organization for equipment, boats, motors, fuel, costumes, insurance, maintenance and upkeep at its show site in Traxler Park.

The team leases its site and clubhouse facility from the City of Janesville. The team purchased all of the bleachers, docks and sound tower. They have spent
a great deal of time and money upgrading and modernizing the interior of their clubhouse. Furthermore, countless hours and significant funds have gone into developing that portion of Traxler Park into a world-class water ski show site capable of accommodating an event of the magnitude of the national tournament.

As for the future of the Rock Aqua Jays, “we’re definitely in survival mode right now, but let me assure you that our organization will continue to exist and will continue to provide free, family entertainment in our community for many years to come thanks to the generous support of many area businesses and individuals,” noted Shapiro.