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 WILLIE
FARRELL, from Sacramento,
California, was selected as the March Footer of
the Month
I have many reasons for selecting Willie this
month. Though I don't know Willie personally, I have found myself
keeping close tabs on his accomplishments lately.
I watch ESPN regularly, and every time a broadcaster
starts talking about an athlete over the age of 30, they start saying
things like, "they aren't as fast as they used to be",
"they've lost a step or two", or "they're getting close to
retirement". When you're 37 like I am, I hear all that get mad,
but still question whether I might be getting too old, or maybe I've lost
a step as well. If athletes peak at 30, then I'm 7 years into the
down side.
I had never met Willie before the 2001 Nationals in
Fergus Falls, MN. To this day, I don't think I've spoken more than 5
words to Willie. But I have had the opportunity to see him
ski. When I saw Willie at the 2001 Nationals, he was trickn like a
mad man. I'd never seen anyone since Rick Powel do turns so quick
and clean. I had always heard of Willie as "West Coast
Willie", or "One Way Willie". "One Way"
because he always used to do his turns only one way making it very hard to
judge him. Everyone talked about him as if he had retired 10 years
ago and no longer competed at a "Pro" level.
When I first say him sky by, I thought he was Jason
Lee. He was doing multiple turns like they were nothing. Like
a walk in the park. When I found out it was Willie, I couldn't
believe it. This guy was supposed to be in the retirement village
and here he was tricking 5000 plus trick runs. Then when I found out
he was 46 I couldn't believe it. This guy was out there giving
Scarpa, St. Onge, and Jason Lee a run for their money.
Then I start thinking, if Willie can ski that good at 46, maybe I'm not on
the downhill side of life after all. And that's how Willie Farrell
unknowingly became my inspiration for learning more and trying
harder.
Willie is always laughing and making jokes. You'll
find that he's usually the center of attention anywhere he goes. You
can really tell he enjoys his life with family and friends all
around. The only time I saw Willie with his game face on was when he
was on the dock getting ready for his trick and slalom runs.
Willie was standing a bit away from everyone else doing
dry land practice. Everyone just knew to leave him alone while he
walking through his run. You could tell he had been working hard and
nothing was going to distract him the moment he walked on the dock.
Then as soon as he was done skiing, it was back to joking
around and playing the clown.
All that aside, the real reason I picked him is for
having the guts to wear this speedo on the dock at Nationals. If you
walk around like that in public, you have to be secure in your
manhood. Keep kick'n butt and taking names Willie!!! You've
become an inspiration to a lot of skiers around the world, and for that,
we're making you the March 2002 Footer of the Month.
If you've never seen Willie ski, we have
a treat for you. Click on the link below and check out one of
Willie's trick runs from the 2001 US Nationals. Also,
Paul Stokes had an opportunity to interview Willie recently. You can
read Paul's interveiw in our One-on-One Foot Talk
section.
Click
Here to launch video of Willie (860K
file size)
If you don't have RealPlayer, download it for free.
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