Yet another success!  The Wichita Water Ski Club put on a great tournament.  It was the 28^th annual Wichita tournament.  It’s the longest running tournament in the nation.  And if this weekend is anything to go by, the tournament is sure to be a hit for many years to come. Haley and I had been scheming on ways to get together and ski, so I decided to fly to Witicha and ski at the sight where Haley lives and traines.  We both decided to share our thoughts on this article:  

Haley: .  It worked out perfectly that Marissa was able to come to the Hotfoot tournament and stay at my house, which is on the ski site.  She told me that I had pretty sweet setup.  And I have to admit that I definitely do. 

Marissa: Are you kidding me Haley? A pretty sweet setup? No no no…. I want all the footers to know that this girl has the ULTIMATE HOOK UP!  A house on a private lake. Oh what I’d give for that. I am waking up before the crack of dawn to hit the water to avoid the jet skis. Haley can ski any time and get good water.

Haley: .  Marissa and I sat out on the deck of my house and watched the skiers.  It was a great view and you could see really well. On Friday the tournament directors, Chris Rinke and Gary Flint, held a junior/novice clinic before the site familiarization started.  The clinic proved to be very helpful to all of the juniors. I learned a 180 tumble to one and was able to score it in the tournament, which helped me earn my PB.

Marissa: Chris Rinke helped me with front ones and Brad Pegg helped me with my back deep long line. The tournament was well organized and ran smoothly but still had a fun atmosphere. One of the Ski Club Members volunteered to spend the day videoing runs and the excitement on shore.  So she just happened to catch some very funny moments and some very brutal crashes on tape.  Then at the banquet on Saturday night, they showed the tape on the big screen TV while everyone ate dinner.  It’s always fun to hear everyone go “ooooo” and “aawww” and watch them cringe when a fellow footer takes a bad fall or has an awesome run.  And it’s a hilarious bonus to see the judges make bloopers like Dan Cummings hooking a ski handle to another ski handle instead of to the ski rope.  Or to see Brad Pegg on his backwards pass call WFO and then see the handle break in half.  (If you're interested in a copy of the 2005 Hotfoot Tournament tape, please send an email to: camilleraven@hotmail.com)

Haley: Since we were able to finish the tournament on Saturday, there was kind of an open-to-ideas fun deal, you just kind of went out there and messed around, or had someone teach you a new trick.  Everyone enjoyed getting to get in one more quick run before they started their long drive home. 

Marissa: I woke Haley up 2 times and could not get her to budge to go down to the lake so…I took Haley's shoe skis and hoped to be able to practice back toes. Brad Pegg helped me with those!

Haley: Tournaments can wear you out! Anyways, I know from experience since I make quite a few trips from Kansas to the Texas tournaments, that the boring drive can be excruciatingly long with all that adrenaline still pumping from the tournament.

Marissa: By the way… Nolan and I had a competition going on since we went down to Chuck and Michele’s for the Barefoot Central Kick-Off Party. I had been trying to figure out something that Nolan could not beat me at. I decided that it was skipping rocks. I practiced all day by the lake, and then came Nolan. He skips the rock like 5 times! I guess that was not my talent. Now let the record stand… I schooled Nolan in Air Hockey!

Next Stop Regionals!

Hope to see everyone at Nationals!

Marissa and Haley

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