Tales from the Foot

All Things Barefooting…

Posts Tagged kso

Worlds & Nats

Aug 18

Posted by wedge in events, press, recaps | Comments off

The main reason for a new post is my google alerts found a nice article on the Heller girls.  They recently competed at the World Games in Taiwan and did very well with Elaine taking the gold and Shannon the bronze. Quite an accomplishment for two sisters.  They also competed at the US Nationals a couple weeks later taking gold and silver.  (article)  One thing that helped a lot is Elaine is now using the inverted jumping style and is currently the only woman using that type of jump. Basically, you fly through the air like superman (or woman) and fly a hell of a lot farther.

I can’t find a source to back this up, but I remember seeing a USA Water Ski post go through my RSS reader about Keith St. Onge winning gold at Worlds and I know he also won gold at Nationals as well as set a pending trick record. (article)

Here’s a link with all of the Nationals results.

Finally… a little teaser. Keep an eye on here for a pretty sweat barefoot video (or two) coming soon. Camera work kinda sucks and the view point isn’t that great, but the trick is more than kick ass and makes up for the poor camera work and bad perspective.

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Eau Claire Goes Fearless

Feb 13

Posted by wedge in stunts | Comments off

A group of footers from around the world gathered in Eau Claire, Wisconsin this past summer to some serous footers.  The list of footer includes the De Villiers, Chris Morrison, and Keith St. Onge.  In addition to the names you’d know, the video also features Brady Guth, Kyle Erickson and Luke Dallagrana.

Enjoy…

Fearless Footers [video]

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Spring 2009 Wisconsin WaterSkier

Feb 5

Posted by wedge in instruction, press | Comments off

The new issue of the Wisconsin WaterSkier showed up in my mailbox today.  Flipping through the Official Publication of the Wisconsin Water Skiing Federation I was pleasently surprised to find several articles by barefooters for barefooters in it.  Typically you’re lucky to find one article about barefooting in a water skiing magazine.

The issue is primarily focus on the details of the Wisconsin Water Skiing Expo and Convention (previously called Think Tank) with details on all of the various sessions available.  But towards the back of the book there are three good barefooting articles.

The first barefooting article is by Jamie Kunlien.  He recently just competed at Worlds in New Zealand and in the summer is a member of the Janesville Rock Aqua Jays (a show ski team in Wisconsin).  His article went through many good things to think about when going to a barefooting school, or any type of water skiing instruction, and really any type of instruction in general.  He wrote about what you need to do be an Active Learner. There’s a lot there that seems obvious, but it is worth everyone’s time to read it. You can apply it to a lot more than just barefooting.

The second article is by Paul MacDonald, also a world class barefooter.  His article is about how to dryland train for barefooting. This is a good article for those of us in the frozen north because even if we do get out on the lake, we’re probably ice fishing right now.  He goes through several things to work on when you’re not on the water and how they’ll translate to making you better on the water.

The third and final article is by Dave Small, yet another world class barefooter. His article talks about how to do a tumble turn.  It’s a simple trick and his explanation is yet another rephrasing of every other explanation of how to do a tumble turn.  It wasn’t anything new, but hearing everyone give a consistent explanation means it must be the right way to explain it.

Finally, for those of you looking for something to do the weekend of February 27th thru March 1st, come to Wisconsin Dells for the Water Skiing Expo.  They’ll be several sessions about barefooting with topics about goals, driving, how to practice, stretching, figure-8 competition (by KSO), back deeps, 3-event (by KSO), and about what barefooting can teach you about life.

I know I’ll be attending some of these sessions, as well as many other sesssions about show skiing.  This year one of my goals for Think Tank is to do less 12-ounce curls on Friday night.  :)  I hope to meet some of you there.  Ask around for Wedge.  There are lots of people that know who I am.

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USA Water Ski Post On Barefoot World’s Results

Feb 1

Posted by wedge in recaps | Comments off

Here’s the USA Water Ski Post…

I’ve copied it below because theirs will disappear eventually.

The U.S. Elite Barefoot Water Ski Team and the U.S. Senior Barefoot Water Ski Team each won overall team gold medals, the U.S. Junior Barefoot Water Ski Team earned the overall team bronze medal, and 15 U.S. athletes combined to earn 37 individual medals in respective events as the Barefoot Water Ski World Championships concluded Sunday at Lake Inspiration and Forest Lakes in Otaki, New Zealand.

For the second time, the biennial Elite (Open) Barefoot Water Ski World Championships was held simultaneously with the biennial Junior and Senior Barefoot Water Ski World Championships. The seven-day event featured more than 130 athletes from 13 countries. The Elite Barefoot Worlds took place for the 16th time, while the Junior Barefoot Worlds was held for the eighth time and the Senior Barefoot Worlds commenced for the sixth time.

Athletes participating as members of the U.S. Elite Barefoot Water Ski Team were: Ryan Boyd (Orlando, Fla.), Billy Brzoza (Coventry, R.I.), William Farrell (West Sacramento, Calif.),Elaine Heller (Alma Center, Wis.), Keith St. Onge (Winter Haven, Fla.) and Laura Szwed (White Lake, Mich.). The U.S. Elite Barefoot Water Ski Team won its 12th consecutive world team title. South Africa earned the silver medal and Australia claimed the bronze medal. 

Keith St. OngeThe U.S. Elite Team was led by St. Onge, who won gold medals in men’s slalom and overall, the silver medal in jumping, and the bronze medal in tricks. Brzoza earned the silver medal in men’s slalom; Heller earned silver medals in women’s slalom, tricks, jumping and overall; and Szwed earned bronze medals in women’s slalom and tricks.

For complete results of the Elite Worlds, click here.

Athletes competing as members of the U.S. Senior Barefoot Water Ski Team were: Adin Daneker (Olympia, Wash.), Andrea Eggert (Smyrna, Ga.), Mike Salber (Clermont, Fla.), Heather Towers (Venetia, Pa.) and Kevin Towers (Venetia, Pa.). The U.S. Senior Team won the gold medal, followed by Australia and New Zealand.

Salber won gold medals in men’s tricks and overall, and silver medals in slalom and jumping; Kevin Towers won gold medals in men’s slalom and jumping, and silver medals in tricks and overall; Heather Towers won the gold medal in women’s slalom, silver medals in tricks and overall, and the bronze medal in jumping; and Eggert won the gold medal in women’s jumping.

A handful of U.S. independent competitors also earned medals in the Senior Worlds. Teri Jones (Tucker, Ga.) earned the silver medal in women’s jumping and bronze medals in tricks and overall;Tenley Cederstrand (Tacoma, Wash.) earned the bronze medal in women’s slalom; and Jerry Kanawyer (Byron, Calif.) earned bronze medals in men’s slalom and tricks.

For complete results from the Senior Worlds, click here.

Athletes participating as members of the U.S. Junior Barefoot Water Ski Team were: Shannon Heller (Alma Center, Wis.),Jacklyn Kumlien (Janesville, Wis.), Jamie Kumlien (Janesville, Wis.), A.J. Porecca (Willowbrook, Ill.) and Lisa Pressendo (Port St. Lucie, Fla.). The U.S. Junior Team earned the bronze medal. South Africa won the gold medal and Australia earned the silver medal.

Heller earned silver medals in junior women’s slalom, jumping and overall; and Jamie Kumlien earned bronze medals in junior men’s tricks and overall; Porreca earned the bronze medal in junior men’s jumping. John Pressendo (Port St. Lucie, Fla.), competing as a U.S. independent, earned the silver medal in junior men’s slalom.

For complete results from the Junior Worlds, click here.

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Congrats to KSO – Men’s Open Barefoot World Champion

Jan 31

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Keith St Onge – 2009 World Barefoot Open Champion 

The results of the Men’s Open Finals have been posted on the Australian Barefoot Water Ski Club’s website now and here are the final standings for Men’s Open:

  1. Keith St Onge (USA)
  2. Heinrich Sam (South Africa)
  3. Andre De Villiers (South Africa)
  4. David Small (Great Britain)

You can view the full results here.

The Women’s Open results are final as well and here are the standings:

  1. Ashleigh Stebbeings (Australia)
  2. Elaine Heller (USA)
  3. Emily Goldia (Great Britain)
  4. Laura Szwed (Great Britain)
  5. Shannon Heller (USA)

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KSO at the Moo

Jan 27

Posted by wedge in press, stunts | Comments off

I decided to check KSO’s site to see if there was anything new there and was pleasantly surprised to find a video he put together from a trip he took to the Blue Moo.  He put together a nice little video to the tune of Kick Start My Heart by Motely Crue featuring some jump and footing tricks.  He’s currently competing over in New Zealand at Barefoot Worlds and I wish him the best of luck.  He’s one of the favorites favored to win it all and would cap of an extraordinary 2008 for him.   He won the US Barefooting Title and Footstock.  World’s would make it a trifecta.  Without further ado, here’s the video…

KSO Foot’n Fun (aka Blue Moo Challenge) [video]

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Best Barefoot Video Ever?

Nov 13

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This self proclaimed best barefoot video ever falls a little short, but does feature some very good technical barefooting.  It features KSO, William Farrell and apparently someone else.  I’m not knocking the footing in anyway, just saying it may not be the best video ever.  I did like the background music… Dragula by Rob Zombie.

Best Barefoot Video Ever [video]

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And Now Something a Little More Recent

Nov 11

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I’ve put up some older KSO videos recently, older being early 2000’s.  Here’s one a bit more recent, probably the last year or so.  It features footing by Mike Salber and Dany Baumgartner in addition to KSO.  Once again, it features some sick “traditional” trick footing by KSO and ther others.

This video is the first one that I’ll say it has something in that you should try at home.  Given the number of videos that have been up here lately, and the wide variety of stuff that’s been in them that most sane people wouldn’t try, but this one features something that some people might thing is easy or safe.

I”m not sure which footer it is, but one of them steps off the ski platform and foots right behind the platform, to the point where his feet are nearly under the platform.  It looks cool as all hell, but IMO, it is crazy dangerous to foot this close to a boat.  Please don’t try that without EXPERT instruction and guidance.

But beyond that, enjoy the video.  Nothing really special, but it’s a good video with some good shots.  It also has a trick in that I want to try, the front flip, and it has some good shots of it.

Enjoy the video…

The Run Down [video from BFC]

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All My Life

Nov 7

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Can’t say I’ve been waiting all my life for this video.  This is an older KSO video again.  Nothing really special about other than some very clean tricks barefooting.  Not gonna say a whole lot more cause there isn’t much more to see…

You can find this video on BFC’s Video page here.  The video is titled “All My Life” and the link for it is near the bottom of the page (it is just a text link.)

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Did someone turn up the heat?

Nov 5

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One more classic video to share from KSO.  Circa 2003, this video originally appeared over on BFC. Besides some barefoot horseplay, it features someone wearing a great white bikini, better yet, it’s someone that should be wearing a bikini.  The kicker is she does a deep water start in it… and nothing else.

Sadly, here in the land of cheese (aka Wisconsin) we no longer experience the weather that encourages people to worship the sun in bikinis. We’re now in jeans, long sleeve shirts, sweatshirts and jackets.  We’re bundling up as winter approaches, so this video brings fond memory of summer days on the lake.

Beside the bikini clad female, you see KSO and someone else doing some tricks on the boom, that although now they seem almost common, I think they are probably some of the earliest people to try some of them.

Enjoy the footing, enjoy the tricks and enjoy the white bikini…

You can find the video on BFC’s video page here.  The video is titled “Hot in Here Video” and the link for it is near the bottom of the page (it is just a text link.)

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