Family Getaways 2008 - (Page 36) FROM LEGEND TO MAINSTREAM Like so many others, Bowers, an Illinois native, has come to Florida for year-round watersports. Today, more than a dozen water-skiing and wakeboarding champions operate ski schools in Florida, teaching newbies alongside international competitive skiers. Tyler Pray, 24, learned to water-ski at one such school when he was 11. “I saw it on the cover of Boy’s Life magazine and wanted to do it. We’ve been coming back ever since,” says Pray, a Michigan native who now works at Ron Scarpa Watersports school in Winter Haven. “It kind of burns your feet a little bit at the beginning of a run, but that’s part of learning, and it’s such a rush, it’s addictive,” Pray says of barefoot skiing. “It’s definitely worth trying even if you just want to do it for fun.” The pros have taught even the most uncoordinated beginners how to slalom, barefoot or wakeboard. “We aren’t looking for talented people,” says Bowers, who specializes in barefoot skiing and is an evangelist for the sport. “We are looking for ordinary people.” Bowers has taught lots of folks to barefoot, including a 4-year-old and a one-legged man. He uses a swing that hangs beside the boat. “It’s no longer the brutal sport that everybody has heard that it is,” he said. “You can learn to barefoot without ever taking a fall, without getting your hair wet.” Technology certainly has made learning the sport a lot easier. It has also enabled pros to reach greater heights and take new directions such as wakeboarding and knee-boarding. In Winter Haven, Keith St. Onge’s Barefoot Ski School, run by national champion Keith St. Onge, uses wireless communications through skiers’ helmets, which means no more relying on hand signals to let coaches know you’re ready to start or stop, and being able to hear “lean back!” so you won’t fall on your face. Clockwise from top left: barefooting with Walkin’ on Water Ski School. Top right, child water-skier at the Lucky Lowe Ski School. Bottom right, children tubing on a lake. “I have never met a photographer who could leave his camera in its case when water skiing was within range.” – Dick Pope Sr. 36 VISITFLORIDA.com/family http://VISITFLORIDA.com/family
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