BRANDON PYE, from West Palm Beach, Florida was selected as the July 2001 Footer of the Month.  Here's why:

While I was at the South Central Regionals back in July, I was doing what I typically do at a tournament.  I was walking around talking to friends and half paying attention to what was happening on in the water.  It was about 100 degrees in Dallas that day, and we were more interested in locating the next cold drink than watching someone ski that we didn't even know. 

I was standing talking to Paul Stokes when out of the corner of my eye I see a kid foot by doing the cleanest surface turns I'd seen all day.  I'm always on the lookout for cool trick runs, and this kid was footin as good as any pro I'd seen.  I asked Paul who it was and he told me it was Brandon Pye.  "Where in the world did he come from?" I asked.

Paul began to explain to me that Brandon was the top Boys II skier in the world a few years back, then all of the sudden, he decided to stop footing.  Paul told me that he hadn't even heard Brandon's name for at least 2 or 3 years.  I then said "Well he's coming back with a bang!, he's out there doing 180s and 360s like they're nothing".  He tricked 3300 points and made it look effortless, then went out and waked 13.7 and jumped 16.6 meters.

I did a little more research, by talking to Brandon's father (Chris Pye).  This is what I found out.

Brandon holds the Boys 2 trick record with a score of 2820 and the Boys 2 Jump record with 45.3 feet. Prior to the Regionals in Texas,  the last tournament Brandon skied was the Junior Worlds in LeMede France in 1997, where he finished 4th.  Brandon went out skiing with Mikey Caruso 2 weeks before the Regional tournament and caught the barefoot bug again.  ,He decided 3 days before the tournament that he wanted to compete again this year, so he went out and practiced for 3 days before getting into the family car and driving 18 straight hours to Texas.

For sking so well, and for driving 18 hours to the Dallas tournament, Paul & I selected Brandon as the July 2001 Footer of the Month.

Congratulations Brando, on being selected the July 2001 BarefootCentral.com Footer of the Month.   You are now eligible to win the "Mack Daddy" of all prizes.  Next January, you could be voted by your peers to be the 2001 Barefoot Central Footer of the Year.

Want to see each 2001 Footer of the Month?  Just click on each month below: