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“I
want to start by saying thanks to everyone I knew growing up in the
sport of water skiing and barefooting, my best wishes to all of you.
That was my life for fourteen years; the great lessons and
memories will never be forgotten.”
....Rick
We
found Rick living in Atlanta, Georgia. He's been living there for
the past ten years. These
days, his main focus is on family and his career. He met his beautiful wife, Amy in Atlanta and they were
married in July of 1997. During
the past six years of marriage they have been blessed with three
beautiful children, Ansley (4), Jake (2) and Sarah (1).
Rick says, “Our children are so much fun and they are
growing up so fast.”
For
the past four years, Rick has been working in sales as a Business
Development Manager for GE Information Technology Solutions.
Focused on providing IT services to Fortune 500 Companies. He enjoys his work and in his spare time, he likes to ride
his Harley Davidson 2003 100th Anniversary Fat Boy. As for getting out on the water, in the past 10 years he has
only averaged a few times per year.
We
interviewed Rick, and here’s how our conversation went:
BFC:
What do you
miss about the sport?
Rick:
I really miss water as smooth as glass in the early morning on the lake
when the sun starts coming up, and just before sunset.
I didn’t run a very large ski school, around 4-5 students per
week. I would also ski with the students to give them a break and to
train myself. I didn’t mind if the students pulled out the video camera,
so I’m sure there’s a lot of footage out there just like the one I
saw from Waco. I do miss the life style, sunrise to sunset every day; it
was a good time in life.
BFC:
When you
think back, what accomplishment sticks out the most?
Rick:
Out of all my titles, there are two accomplishments that I remember the
most, my 1988 and 1990 World Overall Championships. I was 18 and 20
years old at that time. In 1980 my dad told my sister (Lori) and I that
we would train to be the World Overall champion and in 1988 we both
accomplished that goal. I
continued training and also retained the title at the 1990 World
Championships held in Jacksonville, Florida.
BFC:
What was
your favorite event and why?
Rick:
I didn’t really have a favorite event. I enjoyed all 3 events and
believed it helped me be successful in the sport of Barefooting.
I spent 50% of my time training for tricks, 30% on slalom and 20%
on jump. Plus,
I trained on
the boom 60% of the time for the trick event and when a tournament was
close I would adjust a few weeks out and move everything to the long
line.
My
style at the time was very different.
Trained by my father we developed a style we believed was less
complicated and had more physics involved in performing the different
tricks. When you stand on
dry land your feet are shoulder width apart and your knees are only
slightly bent. We adopted this knowledge with a slight lean/resistance
from the pull of the boat. This
was the foundation that I built all my tricks on including multiple
turns. I also did a lot of
boom training for tricks even though everyone said it’s different
behind the boat. I personally felt there was very little difference if
you were physically conditioned.
Another
key to Lori and my success was we always trained as if we were skiing in
a tournament. So
we set up buoys and would drive as if we are in a tournament.
I would ask for and give my students different pulls because you
are never guaranteed to get the exact pull you want in a tournament.
We would always finish our passes, and if we fell, we would have
the boat continue down the course towards the second buoy, just like a
tournament. We would then
come back to the skier as they do in a tournament.
The goal was to make tournament conditions feel just like your
training routine.
BFC:
What was
your favorite trick and why?
Rick:
I do not
have a favorite competition trick.
Most of my tricks were multiple turns.
Though I do have a favorite stunt or show off trick. I started
backwards on the boom, and did a back one-foot with my right foot in the
air. I would then let go
with my left hand, with my right foot still up in the air but not
touching the rope. Most
people get pulled to the front since this is the way you do a 1-foot
back to front. I, on the
other hand, could turn ¾ way around to the front, with my chest and
head facing forwards, while my foot in the water was still backwards.
I would be completely out of the spray, and could hold that
position as long as needed. I
have never met anyone else who could pull off that pose.
BFC:
Who would be
your biggest competitor if you were competing today?
Rick:
I haven’t
kept up with the sport to know today who would be my biggest competitor;
however, my biggest competitor for the overall titles back in the day
was Ron Scarpa. Ron was always consistent in all events and if I made
any error he was right there to take the win.
BFC:
Do you ever
think about getting back in the sport?
Rick:
It would be really difficult to get back in the sport with 3 young
children. I wouldn’t want to take time away from them.
We have been blessed to have Amy stay at home with our children.
BFC:
Are your
children interested in Barefooting?
Rick:
My children are too young right now and they haven’t grown up on the
water. In fact they haven’t even seen me ski. We do not own a boat at
this time, but I plan on buying one in the next few years when my kids
are older.
BFC:
What made
you get out of the sport?
Rick:
I had great
experiences traveling the nation and world.
I got to meet many great people and was paid well for my efforts. But I decided I needed to start a career. I also wanted to be
able to offer my kids the same opportunities I had growing up and more.
I never even had a real job, having to where shoes and walk thru
and office until I moved to Atlanta.
So I sold everything including my Jeep and moved to Atlanta in
1994.
BFC:
Since
you’ve been out of touch for a while, whom would you like to catch up
with? Maybe we’ll have
them in our next "Where
are they now?"
Rick:
It would be
great to know how previous team members, 1988 &1990 world barefoot
team members, coaches, judges are doing these days that have not been in
the sport.
BFC:
What are
some of the your titles or accomplishments that stick out in your mind?
Rick:
As I
mentioned previously my two biggest titles were my 1988 and 1990 World
Overall Championships. Another
accomplishment I remember was a winning every tournament I entered for
about three years, except for one, the Nationals before the 1990 worlds.
This allowed me to refocus that fall and helped me win the 1990
World Overall Championship.
My
wife always gets a kick out of people we run into from my barefooting
past when they say; “Wow you were so great, I remember when you
did…”
I
would love to hear from everyone including people that I trained
throughout the years. Look forward to catching up with all my fellow
footers.
a.powell@charter.net
Rick
Powell
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