In October 2006, I had the opportunity to skied the 2006 Senior Barefoot Water-Ski World Championships in Washington USA as an independent skier (meaning that I was not on the Official USA Team) in the Trick event only (I didn't qualify for jump or slalom event).
Barefooting at the World Championships was a magical experience to be with the World’s greatest barefooters. There were so many different cultures to get to know, Italians, Belgium, Swedes, Dutch, NZ, Aussies, French, Fins, and others.
On the first day at the Worlds I started making friends from around the world and it was just to amazing to be with others individuals that have trained as hard and many who have trained harder than me to become the best of the best.
At a World Championship, there are three different divisions, which are divided into men and women: Juniors (Under 16), Seniors (35 and over), and those between 16 and 34. Since I was 56, I skied in the Senior division.
What does it take to ski in the Senior Division? You have to be ranked in the top twenty of all skiers in the world for that given event. In my case, for 2006 I was ranked No. 20, but only in the Trick event. No easy feat for someone who was the oldest skier to ski the World Championship. My daughter Belynda is older than some of my competitors.
So how did the 2006 Worlds go for me? I skied well enough in the preliminaries to ski the semi-finals (top 50%), and I ended up finishing up 9th out of 20 skiers. If I hadn’t fallen on my second pass in the semi-finals, I would have ended up in 7th place. I was happy with my performance, especially since I preformed a 'flying back-tumble-deep-to-one start' (see http://www.mikeholt.com/img/other/wsmovie.wmv), which is the most difficult start in all of Barefooting and I was the only skier to even attempt the start.
What’s next in Barefooting? Well I left the 2006 World Barefoot Championships a different man and I’ll never be the same. I can’t explain it, there is something inside me that feels that I experienced something special and part of it was because of hard work and God’s blessings.
Yea, but what’s next? I left the 2006 Championships committed to qualify for the 2008 Championships in New Zealand, but by then I’ll be 58 years young competing against men almost ½ my age. Remember, to qualify for the Worlds I need to be ranked in the 20 of all skiers in the world over 35 years young.
So for the past 1½ I’ve had a personal trainer, I’ve watched my diet, and I've worked harder to improve my skiing skills. I skied a Personal Best (PB) in every event in 2007, secured a Gold metal (1st place) in all three events at the 2007 USA National Championships for my age division, and was the No. 1 ranked age division skier at the USA National Championships of all age divisions!
In March of 2008 I started skiing with the two time World Champion (2002 and 2004) David Small who is the current record holder in the jump event. David work with me on the Slalom event to see if I could get a World qualifying score of 14.1. At the first tournament of the season after training with David Small for six weeks, I skied a PB 14.2 points and I qualified to go to the Worlds in the Slalom event! I can’t believe that I qualified for the Worlds at the first tournament of the season, especially in an event that I didn't qualify in the previous Worlds.
Now that I’ve qualified for the Worlds in Slalom event, I've redirected my efforts to qualify in my weakest event, and that is the jump event. My average jump distance is about 8 meters with a PB of 10.1 meters. To qualify for the Words (top 20 ranking) I need a jump of 12.7 meters, which is about 50% greater than my average and almost 30% more than my PB.
David Small (remember he's the world record holder in this event) my ski partner, has been helping me gain the confidence to ski safely in a manner that will get the qualifying score of 12.7 meters. David will be leaving to return home (England across the pond) the first week in June and I won't see him again until late September. My first attempt to qualify in the Jump event is June 14, in Atlanta. I hope I make David proud of my accomplishments in Atlanta...
If I don’t get a qualifying jump score in Atlanta, I’ll need to let Jumping go and start training to get a qualifying score in the Trick event at the June 28 tournament in Port St. Lucie Florida. But that’s another story.
Barefooting at the World Championships was a magical experience to be with the World’s greatest barefooters. There were so many different cultures to get to know, Italians, Belgium, Swedes, Dutch, NZ, Aussies, French, Fins, and others.
On the first day at the Worlds I started making friends from around the world and it was just to amazing to be with others individuals that have trained as hard and many who have trained harder than me to become the best of the best.
At a World Championship, there are three different divisions, which are divided into men and women: Juniors (Under 16), Seniors (35 and over), and those between 16 and 34. Since I was 56, I skied in the Senior division.
What does it take to ski in the Senior Division? You have to be ranked in the top twenty of all skiers in the world for that given event. In my case, for 2006 I was ranked No. 20, but only in the Trick event. No easy feat for someone who was the oldest skier to ski the World Championship. My daughter Belynda is older than some of my competitors.
So how did the 2006 Worlds go for me? I skied well enough in the preliminaries to ski the semi-finals (top 50%), and I ended up finishing up 9th out of 20 skiers. If I hadn’t fallen on my second pass in the semi-finals, I would have ended up in 7th place. I was happy with my performance, especially since I preformed a 'flying back-tumble-deep-to-one start' (see http://www.mikeholt.com/img/other/wsmovie.wmv), which is the most difficult start in all of Barefooting and I was the only skier to even attempt the start.
What’s next in Barefooting? Well I left the 2006 World Barefoot Championships a different man and I’ll never be the same. I can’t explain it, there is something inside me that feels that I experienced something special and part of it was because of hard work and God’s blessings.
Yea, but what’s next? I left the 2006 Championships committed to qualify for the 2008 Championships in New Zealand, but by then I’ll be 58 years young competing against men almost ½ my age. Remember, to qualify for the Worlds I need to be ranked in the 20 of all skiers in the world over 35 years young.
So for the past 1½ I’ve had a personal trainer, I’ve watched my diet, and I've worked harder to improve my skiing skills. I skied a Personal Best (PB) in every event in 2007, secured a Gold metal (1st place) in all three events at the 2007 USA National Championships for my age division, and was the No. 1 ranked age division skier at the USA National Championships of all age divisions!
In March of 2008 I started skiing with the two time World Champion (2002 and 2004) David Small who is the current record holder in the jump event. David work with me on the Slalom event to see if I could get a World qualifying score of 14.1. At the first tournament of the season after training with David Small for six weeks, I skied a PB 14.2 points and I qualified to go to the Worlds in the Slalom event! I can’t believe that I qualified for the Worlds at the first tournament of the season, especially in an event that I didn't qualify in the previous Worlds.
Now that I’ve qualified for the Worlds in Slalom event, I've redirected my efforts to qualify in my weakest event, and that is the jump event. My average jump distance is about 8 meters with a PB of 10.1 meters. To qualify for the Words (top 20 ranking) I need a jump of 12.7 meters, which is about 50% greater than my average and almost 30% more than my PB.
David Small (remember he's the world record holder in this event) my ski partner, has been helping me gain the confidence to ski safely in a manner that will get the qualifying score of 12.7 meters. David will be leaving to return home (England across the pond) the first week in June and I won't see him again until late September. My first attempt to qualify in the Jump event is June 14, in Atlanta. I hope I make David proud of my accomplishments in Atlanta...
If I don’t get a qualifying jump score in Atlanta, I’ll need to let Jumping go and start training to get a qualifying score in the Trick event at the June 28 tournament in Port St. Lucie Florida. But that’s another story.
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