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Peter Fleck's Corner
Question #1:
With winter coming on fast, most footers store their boats and gear until their lakes defrost next spring. What would you recommend doing during the off-season to stay in shape and be prepared to go back on the water in the Spring?
To stay in shape a good strength training regimen and a little aerobics to
stay lean works great. I did squats, chin-ups, military presses, dead lifts and
hanging leg lifts in my work out routines. I also believe that the off season
can be just as productive as the training season by increasing your level of
fitness which will greatly improve your footing.
Question #2:
There have been a lot of rumors flying around about Waterski magazine thinking about dropping Barefoot articles from the magazine. Their one paragraph review of the 2000 Worlds was a slap in the face for all footers. What are your opinions about why this sport can't seem to grow and what things do you think need to change to help it?
This question is based on a false premises, that the Magazine wants to drop coverage of the sport. Waterski Magazine is changing the format in which they cover barefooting. They will drop the current column and replace it with pieces of more variety, for example event coverage, personality pieces etc... I don't know if it gets more or less coverage than it has now versus years ago, but based on conversations with Todd Ristocelli (the new editor), I think it depends on what's happening that's worthy of coverage in the barefoot world. Now that that is cleared up, here are my thoughts on "the state of the sport.":
Barefooting is a great sport to participate in, and follow in the magazines
and televised events. However it is very difficult for the industry to make
money in it. Barefooting does not sell a lot of equipment compared to other
sports. As a result of this there are not a lot of televised events that expose
it to the masses to fuel the growth. Television coverage is what I feel is
essential to starting a significant growth in the sport. If we had these events
you would see more sponsorship money for the athletes, which would reduce
attrition and draw in athletes from other sports like wakeboarding to the pro
levels. Other things come into play however. Consistent TV coverage is
essential to get the Ball Rolling. This answer could go on to a short novel but
basically to change this, the pro level guys need to work together as athletes
and businessmen to get pro events and get them on TV.
Peter Fleck
Peter does not have a web site at this time. If you would like to email
him, his email is PKFleck@aol.com.
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