Ageless Passions by Karen Putz

Tag: barefooting

  • From Waterskiing to Barefooting

    Ann C wanted to know, how does one go from water skiing to learning how to barefoot:

    As a kid, I’ve water-skiied and slalomed on water to the point I could do a quick turn-’round and jump the wakes, also slalom with eight other ppl on ski’s, weaving in and out under and over the ropes. The latter stunt required a boat with a lotta horsepower. Also powder skiied on slopes for several years. I’ve had my share of flat-facing both on water and snow, heh.

    Gotta ask ya, how does one start at a barefoot, off a dock or pulling outta the water literally? Hey, pulling outta water on slalom ain’t easy, takes a lot of balance and knowing if the boat has got enough horsepower. If one were to go from skiing to barefooting, how’d one start?

    I gotta tell ya, Ann, the easiest way to learn barefoot water skiing is off a boom, from an experienced teacher.  When I went down to the World Barefoot Center this spring, I used a boom for the first time and my first thought was, “Wow, this is a lot easier than behind the boat!”

    You can move from the boom to learning a deep water start off the five-foot rope extension strapped to the boom.  To do a deep water start, you grip the handle near your hips, place your feet on the rope and lie back in the water.  As the boat picks up speed, you sit up on the water, place your heels gently and stand up. Once you master the extension, you can move the deep water start to the long line behind the boat. Take a look at Joann O’Connor (61-years-young!) doing the start:

    To learn to barefoot behind the boat with a 75- or 100–foot-rope, you can either start off on a wakeboard/kneeboard or by kicking off a ski.  I learned with a kneeboard and I never really mastered barefooting off a ski– I face planted half of the time!

    I highly recommend the World Barefoot Center if you’d like to try barefooting for the first time.  The WBC team is great to work with and they even have a swing to sit in off the boom for first-timers.

  • When Fear Holds You Back

    “You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

    This quote by Eleanor Roosevelt is something that I remind myself of every now and then.  Fear is often the emotion behind the reason we hold back.  “What if…”

    One of the hardest things for me to do with my boys was to let them play football.  It wasn’t that I detested the sport (slamming others to the ground, ugh!), it was the idea that they could lose more hearing by butting their heads into someone else’s.  We have a family history of people losing their hearing from knocking around our heads:

    For many years, my family was unique when it came to stories about hearing loss. Everyone in my family, for five generations, was born with hearing in the normal range. My Mom started losing her hearing as a teen. She became deaf at the age of 27.

    “I was at a family BBQ and all of a sudden, I realized I couldn’t hear anything,” Mom shared. “I could see that lips were moving, but no sound was coming out.” Just like that, my Mom became deaf. Her five siblings also were deaf or hard of hearing.

    I have four older siblings. My sister, Linda, was almost three years old when she fell off of a chair and hit her head on the corner of a baseboard. Later that week, my Mom noticed that she wasn’t responding to people. She began to stop talking. She was diagnosed with a profound hearing loss. My brother, Dennis, grew up with normal hearing and at the age of 36, he was hit on the head by a wooden beam at work and woke up in the hospital with severe hearing loss. My sister, Jeanie, grew up with a unilateral hearing loss and around the same age as my mom, began losing more hearing. In her mid-forties, she slipped on a rug and became profoundly deaf. My brother, Kenny, developed a moderate hearing loss in his late 30’s.

    I became very sick with a high fever as a child and my parents believe it was that illness which triggered my hearing loss when I was in elementary school. My first hearing aid was given to me when I was nine– but I only wore when at school. I found that it caused headaches and tinnitus and I often took it off after school and never touched it during the summer. When I was 19, I was water skiing on my bare feet at a high speed and fell sideways into the water. For weeks, I thought I just couldn’t get the water out of my ear. I had become profoundly deaf. From that point on, hearing aids were a constant thing in my life. Years later, my brother Kenny also lost some hearing from barefooting.

    Whenever I would share my family’s story about how we all became deaf and hard of hearing, people would be incredulous at the events that lead to hearing loss. “Y’all need to stop banging your heads,” one person remarked.

    Joe and I had long, deep discussions about whether or not to let the boys play football.   We both agreed that we didn’t want this gene to hold our family back– after all, my Mom went deaf in the middle of a conversation–she had done nothing to provoke the hearing loss.   My sister did not agree with our decision, she felt we were taking too much of a risk in allowing the boys to play a contact sport.  The kids have always known they could lose more hearing at any time, but I didn’t want them tiptoeing through life.

    Last week, I found myself facing a little bit of fear that surprised the heck out of me.  I was up in Wisconsin spending three days barefooting with Joann O’Connor. We were kicking back after a great day of footin and had just finished dinner.  Joann casually suggested that I try some wake crossing the next day.  All of a sudden, I felt like the wind was knocked out of me.  “I don’t know about that,” I said.  “After all, that’s how I ended up falling and going deaf.”

    Like I said, it surprised the heck out of me.  I had long ago accepted the transition from hard of hearing to deaf and was quite comfortable with my life.  There was a little tiny piece inside of me that wanted to hang on to the little bit of hearing that I had left with hearing aids.  I already knew what it was like to be stone deaf once the hearing aids hit the nightstand.  Was I ok with being stone deaf if I whacked my head again and all of it went poof?

    Joann and I discussed it and I told her if I lost the bit of hearing that was left, I’d be ok with it.  I still wasn’t sure if I was going to tackle any wake crossing though.  Heck, I spent the entire summer trying to conquer a deep water start and I just wanted to learn to get back up on the water.  I had spent the afternoon trying one deep water start after another with no success.

    It was 6:30 a.m. when Joann and I reached for the wetsuits and headed for the boat.  “Here, try the shoe skis,” Joann suggested.   No sooner did I stand up on the shoe skis then my feet went off in two different directions and I face planted.

    “Hey, you stood up too fast!” Joann explained.  I gritted my teeth and leaned back in the water for a second try.  This time, I patiently planted my feet and got up slowly.  I could see Joann grinning from the boat.

    I looked at the wake and all of a sudden I said to myself, “What the heck!”  I went for it.  I crossed over once, crossed over twice and by the third time… I was grinning back at Joann.

    “You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

    Good ole Eleanor was right.

  • Turning 45 and Celebrating

     

    Last year’s birthday and this year’s birthday– quite a difference!  Last year, I sat in the pontoon and had a moment of looking back on my teen years and crying.  At the age of 44, I figured the best years were over with.  No one was barefoot water skiing on the lake anymore and even the younger generation wasn’t taking up the sport.

    Then the hubby sent me a fateful link to Judy Myers, the “Old Lady” who is now 67-years-old and competes in barefoot water ski tournaments.  In fact, she’s in Germany right now, competing in the World Barefoot Tournament.   Earlier this year, I went down to the World Barefoot Center and met Judy and Keith St. Onge and as soon as I put my feet on the water, I was bitten by the barefoot bug again.

    I have been working up in Michigan this week and every day, I’ve been barefooting.  I accomplished one successful deep water start this week, my fourth one this summer (one step forward, twenty steps back, but I’m getting there!) Yesterday, I managed to pull a muscle in my back on my second run– I lost my balance on the kneeboard just as David hit the throttle and silly me, I pulled back trying to salvage the start. Ouch.

    The best part of getting back into barefooting has been a surprising one.  My older friends are starting to rethink the process of getting older and changing some choices– they’re looking ahead with hope and inspiration– instead of the same resignation that I experienced last year.   I tell them stories about the 61-, 67-, 75-, 82- year olds that are out on the water.  And about Banana George who barefooted at the age of 94.  Inspiration is like a ripple: start one and the ripple goes on.   The stories aren’t about barefooting, they’re about challenging the “I-can’t-do-that-because-I’m-too-old” mentality.

    Next week, I will be barefooting with 61-year-old Joann O’Conner, who learned to barefoot backwards just a year ago!  How’s that for inspiration?  And to top it off, she has a fused ankle!

    So this year, I won’t be crying in the boat.  Instead, I’m going to calculate how many Motrin it’ll take to hit the water again.

  • Grabbing the Last Bit of Summer

    It’s that time of the year again.  The “winding down” days of summer.  Summers at the lake are measured by the number of days that the pier stays in the water and as my family gets older, it seems like we take the pier out earlier each year.

    But we’re not there just yet.  This week is family week– my cousins are up from Missouri and it’s a week of making memories.  My cousin Cheri and I have grown closer over the years.  We didn’t know each other much growing up, but we’ve fostered a friendship as we’ve gotten older.  I love her like a sister now.

    As most of you know, my Dad is working on kicking cancer in the rear end.  He kicked it in the corner for a while, but we just learned that it has spread toward the lungs.  The doctor has suggested starting chemo again in a month.  Dad is going for a second opinion on my birthday and I’m hoping the new doctor will come up with some better ways to kick it back in the corner.

    Speaking of my upcoming birthday, I won’t be crying in the boat like last year.  I’ll be celebrating on the water instead, barefooting and wakeboarding.   I took up wakeboarding for the first time a few weeks ago.  When I announced that I was going to try it, David raised his eyebrow.  “Are you sure you can handle that, Mom?”

    Ooo, the kid rankled me up inside.  “Watch me!” I said.  I strapped myself to the board and got ready for a dock start.  David gunned the jet ski and I took off.

    I faceplanted right into the water.

    Uh oh, I thought to myself.  What have I gotten myself into?

    Back on the dock, it took two more tries before I found myself balancing on top of the water.  I felt like a 12-month-old toddler who had just learned to walk.  I wobbled back and forth, trying to get used to the rocking board.  I didn’t get too far before I found myself embracing the water again, face first.

    David circled around, expecting to pick me up and take me back for another dock start.  “I’m going to get up here,” I said.  I thought I saw David’s eyebrow raise again, but he caught himself in time.  He gave me some pointers on how to get up.

    I popped right out of the water on the first try and had nice run.

    Take that, son!

    “I’m going to do a 180 tomorrow!” I announced.  David laughed.  This time, he definitely raised his eyebrow again.  “All right, Mom, I’d like to see you do a 180.”

    I did the 180 on my first try and attempted a second one, but fell.  The dang kid missed the whole thing.  “I didn’t see it!” David said as he circled around.

    “What do you mean you didn’t see it!  I did it!”

    “You gotta do it again.  I want to see it,” he insisted.

    I got up again and I made sure David was looking back when I swung the wakeboard around the water.  I did it a second time for good measure.  Then I promptly lost my balance and fell on my rear.

    “Never doubt your Mother,” I told him.

  • Barefooting, I Mean, Butt Riding

    I spent most of the July 4th weekend on my butt instead of my feet.  It was frustrating challenging.

    Andy, my nephew, brought his boat up Saturday so I decided to try some deep water starts behind his boat.  Andy had never pulled before so I knew I was gambling with inexperience, but I figured he would get the hang of it quickly.  During the first start, he went s.l.o.w.  I kept hanging on, thinking he would pick up the speed.  He kept it going, figuring he’d up the speed when I sat up.

    I finally let go.

    Round two was better, I sat up and moved over the wake and Andy picked up speed.  I had Judy Myer’s, Keith St. Onge’s and Joann O’Conner’s advice running through my head as I placed my feet on the water.

    Three point!

    Heels toward your butt!

    Feet on the water like you’re dropping an egg!

    This is how I spent the rest of the evening:

    On one start, it was the perfect storm.  I sat up and hit the stern roller just as Andy added more speed.  I popped up and lost the handle.  It snapped into my foot.  Can you say, “Ouch?”

    I took a break and pulled Andy water skiing back to shore and I decided that it was time to hit the kneeboard so that I could actually get some footin in:

    Being the stubborn gal I am, I decided to try the deep start a couple more times while the sun was setting.  Bad move.  As soon as I put my feet on the water and attempted to stand up, I felt my hamstring go “Pop!” and then:

    The next day, my old footin buddy, Marty and his sister Michele picked me up.  Marty purchased a new, 100-foot Barefoot International rope and I decided to take Joann’s advice to stay behind the boat and plant my feet there.  After another gazillion tries, I knew I had to embrace the kneeboard again if I was going to see any barefooting time.

    After that run, I gave Michele the kneeboard and said, “I gotta try one more time with the deep start to see if I can end this on a successful run.”

    Let’s just say that if there was a butt-riding contest– I’d win.

  • ZVRS and Barefooting, Crammed in Two Days

    I arrived at the World Barefoot Center on Sunday evening in time to have dinner with Swampy, Lauren Lindeman and a great group of younger skiers from all over the world, including A. J. Porreca, a 17-year-old barefooter from Willowbrook, Il who is featured on the cover of Water Skier magazine.  After a great dinner, I headed back to the Z Team home that I was staying at.

    At the ZVRS headquarters, we filmed a VCO Plus video all day.  Because Ann Marie Mickelson and I are no actresses, we ended up with a lot of shots for the blooper file.  Hollywood will not be calling us soon.  Nonetheless, we had a blast and after the first half hour of filming, we kicked off our shoes.  Roger Vass put me on a cardboard platform so that Ann Marie wouldn’t tower over me.  I begged Roger to airbrush 30 pounds off of me but no amount of money could convince him.

    Joined the Z Team for dinner:

    Then I went for a walk on the beach at dusk and stayed out until it was pitch black.  Just a sliver of the moon and a bright star shone in the sky.  Turned off the hearing aids and walked in dead silence– every now and then it’s nice to tune out and just enjoy the visual stuff.  The house I was staying at was a few steps from the beach.

    Yesterday morning, we finished up some filming and I had this awful urge to go barefooting.  I paged A. J. Albrecht, who also works for ZVRS as a Z Specialist and asked him if he was available for the afternoon.  I’m working the HLAA conference the next four days and Texas the weekend after, so I figured I could play hooky for the afternoon. The only catch– he was two hours away.  Did I really want to drive four hours in one afternoon?

    Heck yeah.

    And I’m glad I did.  A. J. and I had an amazing afternoon on the water.  I started off on the boom, back to the basics.  Get up, sit back down on the water, get up again.  Over and over.  Here’s A. J. showing me what to do:

    I asked A. J. to teach me how to barefoot on one foot — something that eluded me as a teen.  Every time I would lift a foot, I’d end up face first in the water.  Kicking off a ski was tough for me.

    My first attempt ended in a face plant.

    Here we go again, I thought.

    My second attempt ended in success– I shifted my weight and lifted my foot up!  Did a couple more of those and rode a little longer to make sure it wasn’t a fluke.  That felt good!  The last several weeks at the gym, I practiced  balancing on one foot and I guess that paid off.

    I switched places with A. J. and drove while he showed me his stuff.  He jumped out of the boat on to the boom while I drove– take a look:

    The next trick– a backwards deep water start and then he got up barefooting backwards, then flipped around from a back-to-front:

    A. J. is a master on the chair ski/hydrofoil, I was in awe of all the flips he can do.   Take a look:

    I worked on the deep water start on the five-foot extension off the boom and had no problem getting up each time.  I moved to the back of the boat on the long line and out of five attempts, I got up once for a short run and promptly landed face first again.  The long line continues to be a battling beast for me.  A. J. turned around to take a picture and of course, I crashed at that moment:

    When we finished, a storm was brewing so I went back to the boom and practiced skiing in rough water back to the landing.  We pulled the boat out and covered it just as it began to pour.

    I hit the road back to Tampa and sat in the airport until ten p.m.  Needless to say, I conked out on the plane.  I sure hope my snoring didn’t bother anyone.

  • Start the Ripple and Inspire Someone Today!

    For all those who think they’re “too old” or that the “best years are over with,” this one is for you:

    Keith St. Onge:
    “Here we are at the World Barefoot Center with Judy Myers and Karen Putz. Very unique story we have here today. Today we have Karen Putz, she is deaf. It has been over 25 years since she has barefooted and we got her back on her feet skiing along today! Some more of the unique story is that Karen was introduced back into barefooting by seeing Judy Myers 67 years old skiing. Want to tell us a little bit more about that Karen?”

    Karen: “Sure! It was my 44th birthday and I was sitting at my parents’ lake, just sitting there thinking that the best years were over with. It had been ten years since I touched the water barefooting. So I’m sitting there thinking, “Gosh, I wish I could barefoot again.” I didn’t think I could. I mean I was 44 years old and I thought if I barefoot again I might break something.

    Keith St. Onge:
    “Right… A lot of people think that they might break something and they are to old to barefoot, but that is not the case.”

    Karen: So in October of that year, my husband sent me a link to Judy from the Today Show. At first, I didn’t open it but when I was cleaning out emails that one popped up. So I clicked on the link and I’m watching Judy and she’s barefooting on the water. I’m like, wait a minute! She’s 66 years old and she’s barefooting on the water. If she’s 66, well then, what’s my excuse? I’m 44– I can get back on the water again!

    So I contacted Judy and she said, “Come on down to Florida!” So that’s exactly what I did two, three weeks ago. On my first try, I got back to barefooting again.

    Keith St. Onge: One of the big questions is how we communicate with Karen. We can talk but she can not hear us, Karen can read lips. She reads lips perfectly! As long as Karen is making eye contact it works well.
    Karen:
    Keith is easy to lipread!

    Keith: The unique cool thing here is that Judy Myers 67 the oldest female barefooter in the world still competing . She has been bringing a lot of people down to the ski school, people have seen her Fit to Boom video, Subway commercial, all this type of stuff and things have been really cool. It has been AWESOME!

    Karen: If Judy can do it, then ANYONE can do it!

    Judy Myers:
    “That’s Right! That is exactly right”

    More:  The Best Years of Life Are Still Ahead

  • On Being Deaf

    On Being Deaf

    Someone asked me recently, “Do you wish you could hear?”

    I had to stop and ponder that one.

    If you asked me that question when I was nineteen, shortly after I became deaf from a fall while barefooting, I would have said, “Hell, yes.”  No pause.  No reflection there.  The answer would have been simple: give me full-fledged hearing and I will dance a jig until the end of time.

    I was born with hearing in the normal range.  I can remember my Dad telling me stories about a dog named Scamp.  My Dad worked double shifts, so I would crawl into bed when he arrived home and lie there while he told me stories.  I was about five or six when the warning signs began showing– I’d misunderstand a sentence or would ask him to repeat the words.  I grew up hard of hearing and had developed lipreading skills since I was young — I was firmly entrenched in the “hearing” world and knew no sign language.

    I was miserable being hard of hearing. The struggle to lipread and understand people in group conversations was next to impossible at times. So I found my solace in books and in my small circles of friends who knew me inside out. Those friends accepted me so well and knew what to do to make communication happen.

    The last shred of what I could hear without hearing aids was gone the moment I climbed into the boat after cartwheeling on the water.  I didn’t realize it that day– I just figured I had water in my ears and it would subside.  It wasn’t until the day that I left for college that I realized that “being deaf” was here to stay.   I spent my college nights lying there in the dark and…  crying.  Grief was a heavy cloak that wrapped around me in the darkness.  I cursed the piece of electronic equipment that I stuffed into my ear each day which did nothing more than bring environmental sounds to life and made lipreading a tad easier.  I had already spent most of my life lipreading, but I could at least hear the sounds around me and turn when spoken to without the hearing aid.  After that fall, there was nothing but silence without hearing aids.  A blessing at night, indeed, when the roar of tinnitus eventually stopped.  But it wasn’t a real blessing until I was deep into the journey.

    College life was filled with deaf and hard of hearing friends; some who had arrived into the Deaf Community like me– with no knowledge of American Sign Language.  I spent my days learning to lipread the interpreters and match their lip movements to their rapid hand movements.  I took several ASL classes and slowly incorporated the language into everyday life.  Before I knew it, life had become a happy journey down this new road. I met Joe–also deaf–who later became my husband. We spent twelve years traveling with a deaf volleyball team and playing in tournaments.

    And then one day, I realized that I no longer grieved. Instead, I celebrated.  There was much to enjoy from this new life path– an amazing language, a wonderful community and a blessed acceptance that a deaf life was indeed full and beautiful. And…three deaf and hard of hearing kids.

    So, you can see why today, I pause and ponder the answer to the question, “Do you wish you could hear?”

    The answer is a complicated one.  On one hand, yes.  I close my eyes and imagine being able to hear what others are saying when I hang out in groups.  I imagine the sweet bliss of being able to go anywhere, anytime and have access to the audio jungle out there.  But there is the sweet bliss of being content with how my life has unfolded on this journey; because you see, becoming deaf didn’t rob me of life, instead, it gave me a whole, new, beautiful life.

     

    Karen Putz is known as The Passion Mentor.  Want to learn how you can live a PASSIONATE life? Schedule your 30-minute Passion Consult here:

    Schedule Your Passion Session

  • Barefooting– Accomplished!

    Monday, March 29– definitely a fun day that I’ll always remember.  But before I explain, let me back up a bit here.

    Last fall, the hubby sent me a link to the TODAY show featuring Judy Myers, a 66-year-old gal who took up barefooting on a dare at the age of 53.   This was not long after my 44th birthday when I was feeling a little down and discouraged.  As I watched the video, I started feeling that old excitement about barefooting, a feeling that I had long ago given up on.  It had been ten years or so since the last time I barefooted.  It had been 25 years since I became deaf from a fall while barefooting. Heck, if a 53 year old gal could take up barefooting for the first time and compete at the age of 66, why couldn’t I get back on my feet in the water again?

    I got in touch with Judy and before I knew it, the plans were falling into place.  The hubby and I arranged a spring break vacation and I set up plans to join Judy at the World Barefoot Center run by Keith St. Onge and David Small in Winter Haven.

    I was pretty excited when I arrived and right off the bat, I spotted Judy.  What a great gal, I felt as if I had known her for years.  Keith welcomed me with a big smile and then introduced me to the three other skiers, Rick Meskers and his son Brody and another kid, ten-year-old Devin.  Rick is a show skier up in Wisconsin and nine-year-old Brody is a competitive skier who has won the Nationals three years in a row and going for his fourth this summer.

    Brody and Devin went first– I was in awe of what these kids could do at their young age.  Rick went next, and he worked on a backwards deep water start and after about his fourth start, he was nailing it.  Judy practiced some tumble turns– take a look:

    And then it was my turn.  Gulp.  Keith and I had gone over some pointers on the dock and I was reminding myself of those tips as I slipped into the water.  I had never used a boom before and the grip felt thick.  I wrapped my legs on the cable and looked at Keith and said, “Ready.”

    And 25 years after becoming deaf from barefooting, there I was barefooting again.  And it felt so good!

    More on Judy Myers:  Judy Myers Inspires Deaf Mom

    Brody Meskers in the news: Meskers Joins World Barefoot Center Team

    More on barefooting and why The Best Years of Life are Still Ahead

    I hang around old people: Barefooting with a Senior Citizen

    Numerous deep water starts:  Barefooting, I Mean, Butt-Riding

    Inspire someone, the way Judy inspired me:  Start a Ripple, Inspire Someone Today

    Face your fears:  When Fear Holds You Back

  • Judy Myers Inspires Deaf Mom

    Judy Myers is my new idol.  This “Old Lady” is my new inspiration each day, because she’s got me all fired up about barefooting again.  Here I was last year, all sad and feeling like my best years were behind me– and then I learned about this 66-year-old gal who was skimming along the water like a spring chicken.  So I’m heading down to Florida in the spring to meet Judy and try my hand at barefooting again.

    Judy took a little time out of her busy schedule to answer some questions and share some photos of her barefooting.  Enjoy!

    Judy with her biggest fan and supporter, husband Casey

    You started waterskiing at the age of 53 – tell me what it was like.

    Actually I was 48 when I started waterskiing. We had gotten out of Dune Buggies and decided to buy a boat (A big boat with a giant wake). We invited friends to come out for the day and they use to water ski when they were younger so decided to bring along their old (wooden) skis. We had a ball but the next day we were so sore even our hair hurt!! I was hooked. I have always been around or on the water and really liked sports so this was perfect for me. I attend clinics, ski schools and skied a lot. I became a good recreational slalom skier and really enjoyed it.

    How did you get into barefooting? How old were you? What was that first experience like?

    I was 53 and went with a group of girls to “The River” (meaning the Colorado River in Yuma AZ). One of the girls (much younger than I) barefooted and decided we should all try it. The first gal scooted out on the boom and immediately flew off ripping off her barefoot suit and losing her bathing suit top in the process, the second girl did pretty much the same thing but first managed to hang on long enough to almost beat herself to death. It was my turn and after watching what went on before me I almost changed my mind thinking I was much too old for this. I told them they had one chance and that was it. I scooted out, put my feet on the water and again was hooked on a new sport – BAREFOOTING! What a rush to be actually walking on water! That moment literally changed my life!!

    How did your barefooting evolve over the years? How did you get into competing? What was your first competition like?

    My barefooting started out as just being a recreational sport and has gone from that to I now work at World Barefoot Center with Keith St. Onge and David Small each spring. While there I do the office work and lunches but the reward is I get to ski every day with two of the nicest and best in barefooting in addition to “Swampy” Keith’s coach.

    When I first started skiing I went to FL for lessons as being an “old” Physical Education teacher I wanted to learn the proper way and save myself injury. I went to Ron Scarpa’s and it was Ron who convinced me to compete because of my age. It was here I also picked up the name “Old Lady”. Women tend to leave barefooting for various reasons and we felt it may help women realize they could stay in the sport, compete and have fun. After all that is what life is about – having fun and enjoying it to the fullest.

    My first competition was in 1999 at the Western Regional’s at Cheyenne Lake in New Berry Springs CA. I did not have a clue about skiing a tournament and what one even had to do. When I arrived the skiers took me under their wing and went out of their way to get me ready!! They realized I needed to score a specific number of points in order to go to Nationals so while waiting for my turn were teaching me things I could try. Dawn Farrell was awesome as was Gina McKee and then my slalom mentor Theresa Hoffman. I had never even attempted to cross the wake before then and Theresa made sure I was going to succeed!

    Needless to say with their support I managed to do what I needed to do in order to move on.

    Since putting my feet on the water for the first time and falling in love with the sport, I have skied all over the country, made friends all over the world, skied as an independent in the 2003 Worlds, been honored with the Western Region Barefooter of the Year award, had various magazine articles published about me, was in the MSNBC “Fit TO Boom” video, been on the “Today” show and the highest honor of them all was to win the 2009 “Banana George Blair Award for Barefooter of the Year. What an honor! I was speechless and those that know me know that is next to impossible!

    What is a typical day of training like?

    Usually we get up very early, do some stretching and go out and ski a couple of sets in the morning and again in the afternoon along with dryland practice. When I am at the World Barefoot Center with KSO and Swampy they work with me trying to improve my abilities (I tell KSO I am his project). I will say age has a little drawback here as it does take me longer to “get it” but I am willing to try and give it my all. I have had a few set backs this past couple of years – torn hamstring and then knee surgery but I am working hard in the off season to get in shape and am getting ready for the up and coming “Spring Training”.

    How has barefooting changed your life?

    Barefooting has made me realize that I can accomplish anything I set my mind to. It has helped keep this 66 year old woman – soon to be 67 – young in heart and spirit and has made me keep myself in good shape and strong. I cannot imagine my life without this!

    Can you see why I’m fired up and inspired?

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