Ageless Passions by Karen Putz

Tag: judy myers

  • Getting Into a Wetsuit

    karen in wetsuit

    From:

    Your SENIOR Magazine:

    Overheard at the doctor’s office:  “I feel like my body has gotten totally out of shape, so I got my doctor’s permission to join a fitness club and start exercising.  I decided to take an aerobics class for seniors.  I bent, twisted, gyrated, jumped up and down, and perspired for an hour. But, by the time I got my leotards on, the class was over.”

    This cracked me up!  Then I thought back to the second time that I went to the World Barefoot Center back in April.  I had to buy a wetsuit and I went into the pro shop to buy one.   Judy Myers took a women’s size 14 off the rack.  “Here, try this on,” she said.

    I looked at the wetsuit and shook my head. “I haven’t been in a size 14 since I had kids,” I told her.

    “Try it on,” she insisted.  “Wetsuits are always very tight when you try them on dry.  When you get in the water, they stretch out.”

    I tried on the wetsuit and couldn’t get it over my shoulders.  It went back on the rack.  “I’ll need a men’s size,” I said.

    Judy pulled off a men’s size medium.   I looked at it and shook my head again.  “That’s not going to fit.  I know my body and I can’t get in that one!”

    “You gotta try it on,” Judy said.  And hey, when Judy tells you to do something, you do it.  She’s a former gym teacher –and I was afraid she would make me drop down and give her ten pushups if I didn’t obey.  I dutifully stepped into the wetsuit and slipped one arm in.  I had to “bend, twist, gyrate and jump up and down” to get the other arm in.  Judy remained positive throughout the ordeal.  “We can zip this up!”   Keith St.Onge was standing in the corner, trying not to laugh.

    I looked at the half-donned wetsuit.  The zipper was a long way down and the two halves of the wetsuit were parked near my shoulders.  I didn’t see how it was possible to get the female parts of me into a too-small, men’s wetsuit.

    “This ain’t going to happen,” I told Judy.  “Let’s go up a size.”  She pulled a bigger size off the rack.

    “We can zip this up!  I promise you, once you get this in the water it will loosen up!”

    So there we were– Judy trying to zip up the wetsuit while I tried to minimize my upper chest.   The zipper only went up a few inches.  “Here, you zip it up while I pull the suit together,” Judy suggested.   We wrestled with the suit for a few more minutes, inching the zipper up a bit more.  Finally, out of desperation– or perhaps it was the eagerness to get on the water–Judy stuffed the puppies in while I managed to zip it up.

    “Um, I can’t breathe,” I said.

    When I look back at my year of getting back to barefooting again, I realize that the hardest part wasn’t learning to put my feet back on the water– the hardest part was getting into the wetsuit.

  • Barefooting with Karen Putz, by Judy Myers

    Judy Myers, my mentor and inspiration who got me back on the water, asked me if she could do a guest post for the blog. This post made me cry. Thank you, Judy. You’re awesome and you ROCK!
    Karen Putz first contacted me last spring when she saw a video of me barefoot waterskiing on MSNBC’s Fit To Boom series.She explained that she had barefoot waterskied years before and had taken a fall, which caused her to lose her hearing. This is not the usual result of a barefoot fall, but rather the result of a deaf gene that runs in her family and causes deafness from a hard hit.On her 44th birthday, she was feeling very down about the fact she had given up barefooting after becoming deaf and felt just maybe she could try it again.She told me that I was somewhat of an inspiration if I could barefoot at 67 then she certainly could try again.

    I convinced Karen to come down to the World Barefoot Center, in Winter Haven, Florida to ski with me and be instructed by Keith St. Onge, the current barefoot waterski World Champion at that time.She agreed and we arranged for her to come down in March.I must admit that Keith and I were a bit apprehensive about trying to teach a deaf woman how to barefoot.How would we communicate? What if she could not understand us?What if she fell and hurt herself what were we to do?

    Karen arrived, and what a positive, delightful person she was to work with.She made us feel completely at ease and “listened” well with her skill at lip reading.

    From this first moment, we developed a relationship that has turned into a great friendship. After skiing together with some other “older” barefooting gals, we decided to all head to the World Barefoot Center and hold a Women’s Week for “older” female barefooters.This past week we had fifteen women skiers—twelve of them were over the age of 40,and four of us over the age of 60.What fun we had!

    My purpose for asking Karen to let me write this for her blog was to tell you what Karen has taught me.

    She always holds me up as a mentor, but let me tell you, this fantastic woman is my mentor.She has taught me more about overcoming obstacles and facing life head on than anyone I know.Her ability to laugh at herself and make light of her deafness puts everyone around her at ease. She is straightforward and explains to us what we need to do to help her. She has taught me not only how to converse with others while looking at her so she can be included in the conversations (and trust me she does not miss much) but more than that, she has taught me that I was the “handicapped” one. In the begining I saw her as a person with a disability, rather than a person who can’t hear, but she can accomplish anything she puts her mind to. She is driven to succeed and she does.She has a great outlook on life and brings so much to those she comes in contact with.What an inspiration and role model she is.This is a lesson I can and have brought into my own life.

    What a remarkable woman, friend and barefooter!!

    Karen you are AWESOME and you ROCK.Thank you for all that you have given me!!

    Judy Myers, aka “Old Lady”
    67-year-old Barefooter

  • An Entire Week of Lipreading

    At the ZVRS booth on Saturday, the Z Team showcased a water ski video that had some clips of me barefoot water skiing in it.   One by one, customers began coming up to me and asking questions about barefooting and my trip to Florida for the Women’s Barefoot Week at the World Barefoot Center.  One of the questions that came up over and over was a question related to communication:  what was it like to be the only deaf person among fourteen gals for a whole week?  How did we communicate?

    Quite simply, I lipread my way through the week.  One hundred percent of my understanding of speech comes from lipreading.  I can’t understand anything that is spoken to me without some kind of visual input– whether via sign, written English or lipreading.  I can handle most one-one-conversations with relative ease, that is, most of the time.  There are some folks that I have a tough time lipreading and it requires an adjustment on their part for a conversation to take place.   There are probably times when I think I’ve lipread correctly, but later discover that my information processing was totally off.

    Group conversations are a literal nightmare at times.  As soon as I finish lipreading the first person and then ping-pong my eyes to the next person, by then a third person has already chimed in.   Lipreading becomes useless at that point.  The only way to handle group conversations is for folks to take turns talking and making eye contact with me before speaking or to have someone summarize a conversation.  Fortunately for me, the group did both by the second day.   Judy Myers and Joann O’Connor became my interpreters for the week.  We got to the point where I’d just have to look at them and they’d summarize what was going on or the conversations that I missed. I still missed out on huge chunks of conversations, but that’s the nature of being deaf among a group.   By the end of each day, I knew when my exhausted mind had enough– the lips would move but nothing was making sense.  It was time to call it a night at that point.

    Getting instruction from Keith St. Onge was a piece of cake, as I could lipread him easily.  In some cases, I had an advantage, as I could lipread him on the water over the roar of the boat.  He definitely didn’t have to shout to communicate while I was barefooting.   When it came time to instruct me on the basics of backward barefooting, Keith called me up to the hull of the boat and had me lie down on my stomach.  Judy sat in front of me and repeated everything Keith said as he positioned my feet through the steps.  This instruction method worked well, as I was barefooting backwards by the third day.

    What really touched my heart was watching everyone in the boat signing “awesome” and exploding in deaf applause after my first backward run– that’s a sight that will forever be etched in my mind.

  • World Barefoot Center Day Three and Four

    I’m blown away.  The gals who are at Women’s Barefoot Week at the World Barefoot Center are nothing but phenomenal.  A breast cancer survivor/dentist who does a front-to-back effortlessly.  A gal with a broken neck who’s back on the water after a two-year hiatis.  67, 66, 61, 60 and 58 and 50 year olds, all doing toe-holds, backward barefooting, tumble turns and more.  A bunch of younger gals– some relatively new to barefooting and others who are pros.  What a great mix of women!

    Swampy, Keith and David gamely joined the fun.  They got in touch with their feminine side this week.

    As they came out of the house one by one in their pretty, pink “Handle Boy” t-shirts and skirts, the laughter roared on and on.  At first, it was clear they weren’t too comfortable in their dainty wear, but they soon loosened up and pranced around.   Take a look at the sexy legs on these guys:

    On Day Three and Four, I focused on learning the backward deep water start.  I had this start on my vision board at home– a picture of Judy Myers skiing backwards.   Yesterday morning, I got up on shoe skis for a very short time and fell.  In the afternoon, I tried again.  On my second try, I found myself staring down at the water and thinking, “Wow, the water’s quite a ways down there…” and I realized I was up and skiing backwards!

    What an amazing feeling!  As the boat idled back, the whole gang was standing up waving some deaf applause and signing “awesome!”  I’ll treasure this day forever!

    I finished off the set doing doubles with Judy Myers.  Most of you know the story– I was inspired to get back on the water after seeing Judy  on the Today show.  So it was a great honor and pleasure to ski with the gal who helped me unwrap a passion that was buried long ago! Thank you, Judy– you’re awesome and you ROCK!

  • Women’s Barefoot Week at the World Barefoot Center

    Way back in March, when I first met Judy Myers, she casually mentioned that she was going to organize a Women’s Barefoot Week at the World Barefoot Center this fall.  “We never do anything for the ladies in barefooting, so we’re going to have a whole week devoted to us!” she said.

    Women’s Barefoot Week is set for November 1-6 and coming up quick!  I still haven’t found my ugly hat for the Ugly Hat contest but I know that Joann O’Connor has been madly scouring the flea markets and intends to win.

    I’m looking forward to seeing Judy and Joann again and meeting lots of new gals from all over the U.S.  Back when I was a teen, I only had the guys to barefoot with on Christie Lake (not that it was a bad thing!) but there’s something about having another gal role model that just does wonders for the soul!

    Speaking of guys, we’re going to teach Swampy, Keith St. Onge and David Small how to tap into their female sides all week. They’ll learn to embrace pink nail polish and some lovely women’s wear.  Yes, we’ll be sure to get photos.

    It won’t just be a week of fluff, we’ll be out on the water working on deep starts, tumble turns, toe holds, backwards– the goal is for every gal to learn something new and have a blast on the water.  My goal is to conquer the darn long-line deep start beast that I battled all summer.   My other goal is to learn to barefoot with my heels leading the way– that is… if the Master (KSO) determines that I’m ready for it.  Judy and Joann, my cheerleading team, have over-ridden KSO’s expertise and have signed me up for some backwards barefooting–starting off on shoes, of course.

    The World Barefoot Center is discounting their pro shop items just for the ladies that week.  After a day of skiing, we’ll be kicking back with some Barefoot Wine and fun activities.  At the end of the week, the gal who is the “Most Improved Barefooter” gets to go home with a pair of Vibram Five Fingers Barefoot Shoes. A big thank you to our sponsors!

    We have a few spots left for Women’s Barefoot Week so if you want to join us, come on out!  It can be for a day or two or the entire week.  Call the World Barefoot Center at 863-877-0039 to reserve your spot on the boat.  After all, it will be the only time of the year that Swampy gives out foot massages.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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

  • 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?

    The Best Years of Life Are Still Ahead

    Start a Ripple, Inspire Someone Today