Amber Rangel, 16, from Caledonia, IL. joins Laura and Kyle Szwed as one of FF's sponsored skiers.
During the ski season, Amber spends most of her time in or on the water. Amber has skied for the Ski Broncs of Loves park for 8 years learning show ski acts - Swivel, ballet, jumping and BAREFOOTING - her favorite!. In 2008 she was voted MVP of the D2 show ski nationals. She was awarded the highest scoring barefoot act, performing a front toe hold.
Amber will be a junior at Belvidere H.S. in the fall. She has been on the varsity swim team for two years and has recently been " recruited" to the dive team.
We are excited to have Amber on board and look forward to the opportunity to guide her in her barefooting career..
Welcome Amber!!
KK
2010 US Nationals:
As I stated in my previous article, this years season has been compressed. Never in my 12 years of competing has there been a national tournament in July.... Hopefully it won't happen again. Almost every skier I have spoken with has felt pressed to get ready for the next event, never feeling comfortable with where their skiing is at.
At this years nationals, skiers were dually snake-bit. Not only did they have little time to prepare, but they also had to deal with harsh conditions. The winds for the first two days were gale force, blowing the boats and skiers around as they headed down the course.
One skier it did not affect was FF's team member, Brandon Books. Brandon came to us before nationals to work on his slalom and back deeps. In the short time we spent together we thought we had him headed in the right direction.... We were right. He beat his PB in slalom by 1 full cross and pb'd in tricks as well, winning gold in his division. Brandon had a great tournament and we are very happy for him. He is a great kid and a real good skier, as well. We look forward to working with him in the future.
Dan had a good tournament as well, taking silver in open mens tricks and jump.
Kyle took 3rd in open mens jump.. He just made the leap to the open division overall and has a FF's pass as he acclimates himself to the tougher competition. Both he and Laura just left after spending a week here and Kyle is making big improvements. He will be a force for season's to come.
Laura didn't ski the type of tournament she's used to skiing, but still did well considering the conditions. She's just added some difficult tricks and we expected some minor blips along the way as she gets used to her new runs. She's good to go for worlds. She's been hitting her runs in practice and may surprise in slalom... A great skier, who's only gonna' get better...
KK
Garrett Schmelling of Merrill Wisconsin and Sam Brunclik of Merton Wisconsin are the two newest backward barefooters in the state.
Garrett came to FF's for two days
with hopes of tumble turns and one foots. He left with basic and reverse tumbles on the 5 foot, basic and reverse one foots on the 5 foot, basic one foot on the Long Line, and a back deep on the 5 foot!!
Sam, barefooting for his 7th time ever, came away, after one day with a 5 foot tumble, a 5 foot basic one foot, windshield wipers and 3 back deeps on the 5 foot!!
2010 Worlds
The 2010 world barefoot tournament was held August 11 - 14 in Brandenburg Germany. Athletes from around the globe gather every two years to compete in barefootings most coveted event. For skiers from non-host countries, worlds provides a great opportunity to experience different cultures as well as ski in the biggest tournament of their lives.
The event started with decent weather and relatively good water conditions. The tournament was run on a large body of water that accomodated, both barefooters and other boaters, as well. The ski action was suspended periodically to let boat traffic thru (weird). If you had a chance to watch the live video stream you couldn't help but notice the constant rollers coming down the course, and it was definitely affecting the skiers - whether mentally or physically, it had an impact.. Alot of normally good tournament skiers were having problems on what seemed to be glass water..
Although the waves seemed to effect the trick event, this was not the case for jump, where more than one record was broken! The most notable record broken was that held by David Small. David's record was first broken by Heinrich Sam, of RSA, with a jump of 27.7 meters. That didn't last long tho, as David followed Heinrich's jump up with a leap of 29.8 meters!! That's nearly 100 feet, folks.. Insane!
The womans jump record, previously held by Nadine Deviller's, was broken, first by Ashley Stebbings of Australia with a jump of 20.7 meters But two days later, Wisconsin's own Elaine Heller broke that record with a BEAUTIFUL jump of 21 meters.
Slalom scores were down and from what I was hearing, they had some pretty ugly water to ski on..
The trickers, tho, I have no explanation for other than the fact that it was cold (60) and rainy near the end of the week, during the finals.. Most all the top skiers were going down on either one or both of their runs..
Laura finished third overall in the open womens division and received a bronze medal (her first overall) for her efforts. Her skiing was also a big contribution to the overall team gold, where they used her slalom and trick scores.
Even tho Laura should be happy with the outcome, I know she didn't ski as well as she wanted and really had a shot at gold in tricks - it just didn't work out that way. She still skied a solid tournament tho, and we are very proud of her.
A little inside info... Laura has a couple tricks that she is close to adding to her run and it will significantly boost her scores.. Also, I've been in contact with her brother, Kyle and he's informed me that he's got some new and exciting things to work on next season, as well... I can't wait!!
Until then.........................
KK
As the 2011 season approaches I feel it is important to keep all 3eventers up to date on the state of the region.
As a whole we are strong in numbers. We successfuly recruited several new skiers last season and had another solid tournament season. However, the way in which these events are run is in jeapordy if a few things don't change fast.
I'm hoping everyone is aware that in order to run an event, we currently rely on promo owners (both Sanger and Malibu) to provide boats for us at our events. We are extremely grateful to these owners, both past and present - as well as the manufacturers that set up these programs to provide us with the best boats available in the world today.
I would be remiss if I were not to inform everyone that business as usual is in serious jeapordy.
We currently have 2 Sanger promo owners (on the last year of their commitments) and no, as in 0 Malibu owners. What this means is that if nobody comes forward to take over an ownership we will be staring at using private ownership boats to pull our events.. This isn't necessarily a bad thing providing we have a sufficient pool of private owners willing to let us use their boats.
In the 2008 season, the ABC past into law the ability for all tournaments, except Nationals, to use any boat that has been previously approved for tournament use.This is turning out to be a bigger accomplishment then I had ever imagined.
If anyone is interested in buying a new boat at a steep discount, and becoming a promo owner, please contact me at tkaestner@charter.net or phone 920-674-4904. Feel free to contact me as well, if you are interested in letting the region use your boat at any of the up-coming events..
I hope everyone has a wonderful winter and I'm looking forward to seeing all of you this summer..
Sincerely
KK
2008 Coaches Of The Year Selected
· Posted by: usaws
· On:
· In: USA-WS
Brandi Hunt (
"I commend Brandi Hunt, Gary Bouchard and Ken Kaestner for displaying excellence in coaching and devoting countless hours to the sport," said Steve Locke, USA Water Ski’s executive director. "Water skiing could not be where it is today without the support and dedication of these fine coaches."
Hunt was the coach of the Under 13, Junior and 17 to 20 Water Ski Teams that participated in the 2008 Pan American Water Ski Championships in
Bouchard also has worked closely in the development of A.J. Porreca and Jamie Kumlien, who were both selected to the 2009 U.S. Junior Barefoot Water Ski Team.
Kaestner has had a hand in coaching some of the most successful skiers at the Barefoot Nationals, including U.S. Elite Barefoot team member Laura Szwed. Kaestner has proven to be a highly dedicated athlete and instructor with the ability to motivate his students. He has played a major role in many careers contributing a great amount of effort and time into the sport.
When I first met Alex at the 2008 midwest regionals she was 6 years old and had a passion for barefooting.Coming from a waterski family, and daughter of open tricker, Jim younblood, she was already ahead of the game.
While in Michigan last summer to ski their state tournament I had a chance to witness Alex do a dolphin start on the 1' extension.... perfectly! Needless to say, I was amazed. The funny thing was, she would drag on her stomach and do a dolphin start, but didn't want any part of a traditional deepwater.
After the tournament I stayed in Michigan to do a clinic at the Szwed's. I was told Alex would be attending and I was excited to have her come out. During her time on the water I had her do a few cable starts and a boat load of sit-down stand-ups to get her familiar with what she'd be feeling on a deep start. Near the end of the day I was successful in convincing her to at least let me power up and drag her in the deep position, on the 5'. Although unsuccessful on the start, I believe it was a breakthrough for Alex, in that , she now knew she could do it.
After the clinic, while at the Midwest regionals, I presented Alex with a challenge: Do a 5' deep start, film it and send it to me, and I'd give her a handle. By October, it was a done deal. Her new goal for 2010 is to do it Long Line. I say, it isn't a problem... In fact, I predict, she'll fully achieve her goal and set and pass new one's before the season is over.
Alex is just one of many young skiers I've had the pleasure to work with, and is a bright talented future to our sport. She's energetic, polite, confident, and just a joy to work with and be around. Keep it up Alex, we'll be watching!
Some of Alex's accomplishments are:
Skiing by age 3
She once skied for 45 minutes straight
Did 180, yes 180 wake crossings on 2 skis, in one run.
Loves wakeboarding and snow skiing
Favorite footer's are: Joe Knapp, Laura Szwed and MOi....
KK
