Ageless Passions by Karen Putz

Tag: gliding soles

  • If You’re Deaf, How Can You Use the Phone?

    kso putz zvrs

     

    “If you’re deaf, how can you use the phone?”

    For most of my life, the phone was my enemy.  Even though I grew up hard of hearing, my brain couldn’t interpret sound into comprehensible English over the phone. My dad tried for years to get me to practice by calling him at work, but all I heard was a bunch of sounds that made no sense.  Every once in a while, I’d get lucky and understand a phrase or two. We came up with a system where I’d ask him questions and he’d respond with a “No, no.” or a “Yes.”

    As a teenager, my dad handled all the calls coming in, including the ones from guys.  You can just imagine how fun it was to deal with that.  “Yeah, Dad, tell John I’ll go ice skating with him. What time is he picking me up?”

    When I first became deaf after a fall while barefooting as a teen, I had no idea at the time it was going to turn out to be a blessing. After a few months of struggling in my classes at Northern Illinois University, I had an epiphany one morning: I could continue to be miserable about being deaf, or I could change my attitude and become the best possible deaf person I could be.  I chose the latter and began to learn American Sign Language.

    Little did I know, that decision would lead me to be able to access the phone in a whole new way.  In fact, most days, I’m on the phone interviewing someone for articles or an upcoming book. ‘

    So, how does a deaf person use the phone?

    For me, it requires a sign language interpreter on a videophone. I simply dial the person I want to call and the interpreter appears on the screen.  I use my voice to talk on the phone and an interpreter signs everything the other person says.  I use ZVRS for this service.  Keith St. Onge (2x World Barefoot Champion) and I spent two and half years on the phone while writing his book, Gliding Soles, Lessons from a Life on Water.   When we first started working together, Keith and I didn’t know each other at all.  We spent hours and hours on the phone crafting his life story with interpreters switching places to keep the conversation flowing.

    The ZVRS team came to the World Barefoot Center in Florida to capture how a deaf mom and a World Champ wrote a book together:

     

     

     

     

  • Gliding Soles: It’s Not About Barefooting, It’s About Life

    Gliding soles cover

    A first glance, you might think Gliding Soles, Lessons from a Life On Water is a book about barefoot water skiing. It certainly looks like that, with a cover shot of two-time World Barefoot Champion Keith St. Onge gliding on one foot. And two years ago, when I first started writing the book, I had a scary thought: “Who’s going to read a book about barefooting, except barefoot water skiers?”

    Gliding Soles turned out to be so much more.

    Do you know what it’s like to have a dream? To have a passion for something so deep it burns something fierce inside of you? To have a goal so big it seems impossible at times?

    Do you know what it’s like to stumble and fall? Yeah, we call that “faceplanting” in barefooting, but surely you’ve encountered times in life where nothing is going according to plan and you’re not sure if you’re even on the right plan in life. You’ve probably had times in your life when you’ve wondered if it was time to give up on your dreams and throw in the towel. Or maybe you’ve met with nothing but roadblocks on your life path.

    That’s what Gliding Soles is about. It’s about the lessons learned on the journey of life. To me, the most poignant lessons of life always come from the people you meet on your journey and in this book, there are many.  The most heart-touching is the story of Patrick Wehner, who gave Keith a quote card which changed his life and the lives of others in the book. I won’t give away any more– let’s just say you’ll need to pick up Gliding Soles to read the rest of the story.

    Dave Ramsey, Tom Ziglar, and Dan Miller have read the book and shared their enthusiasm for Gliding Soles:

     “I have been a barefoot water skier since age 16.  I never learned the right way to do things, so I got Keith St. Onge to spend a week with me, my son, and some guys to show us how it’s done and teach us some tricks. As my family and I spent time with Keith, getting to know him on and off the water, what really impressed me more than anything was this guy’s character, his integrity and his relentless determination to succeed. I learned a lot from him, and you will too. This book is must read for anyone who wants to win in life.”

     Dave Ramsey, New York Times best-selling author and nationally syndicated radio show host 

     

    “Too many people walk away from their passion with the negative belief that pursuing it would be unrealistic.  Keith skied right toward his passion and has a life of purpose and meaning as a result.  A great example for all doubters and small thinkers.”

    Dan Miller, Author and Life Coach (www.48Days.com)

     

    “Gliding Soles is a powerful book about life detailing the many steps, choices, and falls Keith St. Onge took on his way to becoming World Champion.  I highly recommend it for everyone.  Why?  Because Keith’s story is really your story.

    Life is tough and we all take some hard falls along the way.  The key is getting up, making a better choice, and getting back on your feet.  This book will encourage you to do just that no matter what your goals are in life.”

    Tom Ziglar, Proud son of Zig Ziglar, President of Ziglar Inc. 

    We were honored to have our first two reviews from Steve and Diane Brogan from Mom Pop Pow.  They had just moved into a new home and were still unpacking when they sat down to read Gliding Soles. Their wonderful words warmed my heart and made me cry.  Because you see, after two and half years of working on this book, we learned that writing a book is just 10% of the process, the other 90% is getting readers to crack open the book.

    So we wrote this book for everyone out there who has hopes, dreams and passions–no matter where you are on your life path. At the end of the book, we’ve included a piece in inspiration that we’d like you to include in your life and then pass it on to others. Grab a copy today (the PDF version is here), and let us know about the ripple of inspiration that begins with you– email us at: glidingsoles@gmail.com.

    The only shot we captured before I faceplanted

     

     

     

  • Even Champions Cry

    Karen Putz and Keith St. Onge

    Last year, I sat in the boat unloading my feelings of frustration on two young barefoot water skiers. I was struggling on the water trying to learn a new trick and it just wasn’t happening.  My first barefoot tournament was  a month away and I didn’t feel ready at all. I didn’t have a trick run put together.  Slaloming behind the boat was a hit or miss affair and I had no confidence in my skills.  It was like a domino effect: the lack of confidence translated to a poor performance on the water.  To top it off, Coach Swampy made me cry on the very first day of that week.  Nothing was working well for me.

    So when I unloaded on the two youngsters who were training me, I learned about their own struggles on the way to becoming experts in the sport.  I  learned they both also had moments when they, too, broke down in tears.  (And just for the record, both occasions occurred with Coach Swampy. Just saying.  Bahahahaha!)

    Not too long ago I received a message from a friend who said to me, “You make the barefooting look so easy.”  Then another message from a friend who said, “Wow, writing comes naturally for you.”  Yet another expressed surprise when I shared I was having a really down day. “You’re always so upbeat on your Facebook and Twitter page.”

    The thing is, I have my struggles.  We all do. They don’t call it a journey for nothing. And the other thing is, people often see the end results of success but are unaware of the hard stuff that comes before the outcome.

    Two and half years ago, I started writing a book with Keith St. Onge, the two-time World Barefoot Champion. When we started this book, we literally did not know each other at all. I had taken two half-day lessons from him at the World Barefoot Center in Florida. When we took on this project together it was a crazy gamble. I had no idea if his story was even worthy of a book. He had no clue if I could write.  I had not  published a book of my own.   Keith called his mother for advice; she was confident he should go ahead with the project.  Deep down, something propelled both of us to take a leap of faith and start writing together.

    We spent hours on the phone with an interpreter translating everything while I took notes.  We once spent nearly an entire day on the phone and my hands became numb from the typing. Many mornings, I woke up at five a.m. to write before beginning my sales job. There were evenings when Keith would come in from an eight-hour day of pulling students and we tackled the book.  We spent several hours at a time at the local Crispers restaurant where I once fell asleep on top of the laptop.  Our spouses began to grumble about the “other guy/other woman” who was taking so much time away.

    For two and half years, we wrote and we wrote until we ended up with a book that was nearly 400 pages long and had to cut it back. What unfolded was an incredible story of passion, goals, and dreams; and the ups and downs it took to succeed. And I learned, yes, even champions cry. In his book, Gliding Soles, Lessons from a Life on Water, Keith opens his soul and shares every lesson of triumph and failure.

    So after two and half years, Gliding Soles isnow a reality. Keith and I are thankful we had no idea what we were getting into  for had we known, we might have given up before we even began.   The long hours and toil were well worth it as Dave Ramsey, Dan Miller, Tom Ziglar and Glen Plake are some of the folks who’ve endorsed the book.

    While glancing through my notes recently, I came across a few paragraphs which we didn’t include in the book but the topic fits this blog post so well I had to share:

    “Passion can burn deep down inside. I remember falling while I was training on the water as a teen. I began to cry. I tried to stop myself from crying before the boat crew came back to pick me up but they asked why I was crying. I could not answer. I just knew the passion deep down inside of me was like a ball of fire. I had failed to do the trick and paid the price in a fall, but I would not give up until I mastered it.

    Passion is when you cry from failure and have no idea why, but you will do anything to figure it out and succeed. “

     

    Yes, even champions cry.

     

    Keith St. Onge

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