Ageless Passions by Karen Putz

Tag: women’s barefoot week

  • Women’s Barefoot Week Featured in Waterski Magazine

    Back in November, 2010, I spent a week barefooting with gals from all over the U.S.  We gathered at the World Barefoot Center for a week of fun skimming on the water.  Waterski magazine joined us for a morning and took a snapshot of all of us barefooting off two booms, two boats (see below).   The article and short clip about my return to barefooting are in the March issue of Waterski magazine.

    Waterskier magazine included a blurb about Women’s week in their newsletter (reprinted below).  The World Barefoot Center will host another Women’s Barefoot Week in November and it promises to fill up fast, so reserve your spot!  This is your only chance to see Keith St. Onge, David Small and Swampy in a dress!

    WOMEN’S BAREFOOT WEEK

    Judy “Old Lady” Meyers, 67, is on a mission to prove that barefooting is not just a sport for the physically young, but is a sport that everyone, especially women of all ages, can safely enjoy.

    Judy organized the recent “Women’s Week” barefoot clinic at the World Barefoot Center, Nov. 1-6, in Winter Haven, Fla. Fifteen women’s barefooters – 12 over the age of 40, with four of those being over age 60 – enjoyed a week of barefooting and camaraderie.

    World Barefoot Center

    ‘Footers pictured above are (back row, left-to-right): Keith St. Onge and Lauren Lindeman, World Barefoot Center; Karen Putz, Chicago, Ill.; Claudia Landon, Post Falls, Idaho; Judy Myer, Alpine, Calif.; Coach Gary “Swampy” Bouchard, World Barefoot Center; Valerie Shinn, Redmond, Wash.; David Small, World Barefoot Center; Lorraine Piskura, New Fairfield, Conn; (Kneeling, left-to-right): Charlene Portman, Clearwater, Fla.; Joann O’Connor, Oshkosh, Wis.; Kay Wiser, Winter Haven, Fla.; and Lisa Browning, Winter Haven, Fla.

    For information about women’s barefooting and future events, contact Judy at oldbarefooter@mac.com.

  • 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.

  • Women’s Barefoot Week, Day 5 and 6

    Women’s Barefoot Week at the World Barefoot Center flew by way too fast.  Day Five dawned cloudy and a bit on the cool side in the morning.  We drew names out of a cup and this time, I joined David Small’s boat.  “It’ll be good for you to work with Dave, he’ll teach you in a different way,” Keith St. Onge said.   It was a blast with Dave– I managed to lipread him well despite his British accent.   He started me off with some one foots and then I wanted to try the back deep start without shoes.  No luck getting up, unless you count the two seconds my chest lifted off the water and I keeled over backward:

    “Turn your toes down at that point,” David explained.  I tried it a couple more times and then switched to shoes. I managed to get up on shoes and have a nice long backward ride and David cleaned up my form.

    By noon, it started to rain so we headed into the garage for a foot painting project.  The original plan was to stamp our feet on a square piece of canvas, but one of the gals is an artist and she cut out a foot.  It turned out amazing!  Even the dogs had their paws stamped too!

    We headed back out for an afternoon set where I worked on one foots again and the back deep without shoes.  Joann O’Connor and I ended the afternoon with some doubles on the boom, which brought back memories of our three days in Wisconsin this summer.

    By the end of the last set, I was p.o.o.p.e.d.   We headed back to the house and sat in the hot tub to nurse our aching muscles.  We kicked back with a glass of wine, courtesy of Barefoot Wines. Even when I was a teen, I don’t think I ever did so much barefooting!  Between the wine and the Motrin that Judy Myers passed out (no, we didn’t combine those!), we felt pretty good!

    We cleaned up and headed out to dinner at Longhorn where we all dug into the food with relish!  Vibram Five Fingers sponsored a pair of barefoot shoes for the “Most Improved Barefooter”, which was given to Joann for all of her hard work that week.   I received a cool World Barefoot Center t-shirt signed by everyone for accomplishing some new skills that week.

    Friday was the final morning for some of us and we woke up to some very cold weather.  A photographer and writer from Waterski magazine came out to do a photo shoot and story.  The photo shoot was an interesting challenge: not only was it cold and windy, but the water was rough.  The plan was to run two boats side by side with all of us barefooting off two booms.   During the first take, we all managed to get out on the booms, but one by one, we began dropping like flies as our feet skipped over the rough water.  The photographer wasn’t able to get a good shot.  On the second take, we nailed it.  David and Keith skillfully steered the boat close enough so that it looked like we had one long boom and the gals barefooting in a row.  Stay tuned to the March issue of Waterski magazine to see what it looks like.

    All too soon, it was time to head to say goodbye and head to the airport.  The first annual Women’s Barefoot Week flew by way too fast.  I could have stayed another week.  At least there’s next year to look forward to!

    To see photos of all the gals from Women’s Week, head to my Facebook page:  Karen Putz’s Facebook Page

  • 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, Day One and Two

    I headed to the airport to pick up Val Shinn and we arrived at the World Barefoot Center in the late afternoon on Sunday.  We quickly changed into our suits, grabbed our wetsuits and headed out for the boat to join the other gals–Sharon, Judy, Joann, Claudia and Lauren.  Swampy Bouchard, the center’s Elite Coach was our driver.  The plan was for each of the gals to take a ride on A. J. Porreca’s back– while he was barefooting backwards.

    What a way to start of Women’s Barefoot Week!  A. J. was a trouper!  There were seven ladies and a few false starts, but everyone got the chance to experience a backwards barefoot ride.  What a thrill!  A. J. had a smile on his face every time and he even did some one-foot barefooting with a gal on his back.   Judy Myers and A. J. attempted a forward ride and Judy ended up hanging on the rope upside down while A. J. barefooted.  The rest of us were laughing in the boat.

    We are staying at a beautiful house down the street from the World Barefoot Center complete with a pool and hot tub.  After skiing all day, the hot tub is a welcome blessing for the sore muscles.  Barefoot Wine sponsored the week with wine, t-shirts, bags and hats.  Vibram Barefoot Shoes sponsored shoes for the “Most Improved Barefooter” for the end of the week.

    Yesterday was day two and what a blast!  We did two sets in the morning, took a break for lunch and then back out again for two more sets.  I was in awe of these gals and what they can do on the water.   In one day, Keith St. Onge had me doing one-foot on the short line, slalom on the long line (yes, I got up on the deep-water start– the thing I had been battling all summer!) and I’m learning how to plant my feet for a backwards start.

    Joann O’Connor and Judy Myers are my volunteer interpreters for the week so I’m in the boat with one of them all the time.   During yesterday’s preparation for learning the backward start, Keith called me to the front of the boat to practice the start.  I laid down on the hull and Judy sat in front of me.  As Keith instructed me from behind and showed me what to do with my feet, Judy repeated everything so I could lipread her.   It worked out well, as I was able to do what Joann calls “cockroaching”– planting one foot at a time at 12 mph.

    I can’t wait to hit the water again today. We’ve got more ladies coming today, tomorrow and Thursday.  Off to don my suit!