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JAMIE KUMLEIN, from Wisconsin, 
has been selected as the 

February 2005 

Here's why:

Chuck, 

I'd like to nominate a young guy from my show team as footer of the month. Jamie Kumlein, 9 years old, has come a long way in a very short time. I have skied with him for the past two summers now and have seen a ton of progress. Must be nice to be young and heal fast. I asked his Dad, Jim Kumlein for a short version of what he has accomplished and this is what I got. I believe that he is more than worthy of Footer of the Month.

Jamie first started waterskiing in June of 2002 at the age of 9. He started out just like anybody else, on two skis. We went to our first show as team members and Jamie said "Do you think I will be able to barefoot and jump by the end of the year?" I said sure Jamie if that is what you want to do, not thinking he would be able to do it. He worked hard and by the end of the year he reached his goal of stepping off and barefooting away, he also completed his first ride over in the team jump.

The next year Jamie wanted to be able to barefoot in the ski show. He worked on his step off's, deep water, flying docks, and beach starts. By the time July came around he had successfully accomplished those starts and wanted more. Jamie stated that he wanted to back barefoot, because that looked real cool. Jamie was told that this is what separated the men from the boys. He worked hard and with a lot of help from his coach, Marty Walsh, was able to consistently back foot on the boom.

During the winter Jamie went to all of the barefoot tanks at Think Tank. He came home with a new goal of competing in 3 event barefoot tournaments. He saved his money, and worked cutting lawns in order to pay for some the lessons from Marty. Jamie's progress was incredible first getting his back deeps then moving on to front one foots, toe holds, tumble turns, and back beaches. He was working on front toe ups by the end of the year. He competed in the Wisconsin State Barefoot Championships skiing a personal best in slalom of 4.4, and tricking for 380. He increased his tricks personal best at the Midwest regional to 410. Jamie also decided that he wanted to compete in FootStock 2004. With the assistance of Aaron Schoelzel, Jamie learned a lot, and had even more fun vowing to be back next year.

I look forward to watching him progress more this year and see him be more of a competitor at Footstock and the other figure 8's as well as the three event circuit.

Sincerely,
Aaron Schoelzel