Many of you already know Chris Morrison from Team BFC and Team Eagle.  You've seen him in many of our videos. You've seen him every year at our Camp Grady Spruce days. He's a top 3-Event competitor; and you've seen him at Footstock the last 2 years hamming it up with everyone and proudly wearing his pink shirt when he lost to Elaine. 

You'll always find Chris right in the middle of the action at any event.  He's always around cracking jokes and pestering guys like me, Keith St. Onge, Bill Brzoza, Van Zeeland, Mike Salber, Dave Mueller, and any other footer that comes into his sights.  He's a kid that's never afraid to speak his mind and is always ready to crack a joke.  The down side to his wit is he's found himself in some pretty precarious situations as a result of saying a liitle too much to the wrong skier.  Like when Keith St. Onge hog tied him and left him that way all day when Chris goofed off and joked around too much at Keith's ski school.  Or when Bill Brzoza forced him to stand on a jump in the middle of a cold lake after Chris told him he had been text messaging his daughter.

For years, Chris has been walking in the shadow of his bigger brother Al and big sister Amy.  Al and Amy are both in college and have both received athletic scholarships (Al for diving and Amy for Track).  They have both won many barefoot waterski medals, and have always been looked at by most as the more talented skiers in the family.  But Chris never let that get him down.  He's been nipping at their heels his whole life and has always been there to raise his hand and say "Hey, don't forget about me!"

What most people don't know about Chris is how he came to be a member of our team.  In 2004, while we were covering the US Nationals for the first time in Sacramento, CA, this little kid walks right up to me, grabbed my hand an gave it a good firm handshake and said; "Hi, my name is Chris Morrison, what can I do for you?  I don't care what it is, I just want to be a part of Barefoot Central".  From that day on, he's been a part of our family. 

What impressed me the most about Chris was his confidence and ability to talk to anyone, no matter how young or old.  When you talk to Chris, you forget all about his age.  He's got a great sense for seeing the big picture and seeing things for how they really are.  A perfect example of this is a conversation I happened to be videoing between Chris and Andre De Villiers during our last team get together.  Chris just has a way of putting everything into there simplest terms.

As the years have passed, Chris has continued to hone all of his athletic skills which include barefoot waterskiing, hydrofoil, motocross, pole vault, snow mobiling, and diving.  He's always had to work just a little harder at things than his brother did, but the results are the same.  In 2006, at age 15, Chris won the US Nationals Open Mens Overall title by beating out top men's skiers twice his age.  Skiers that included names like Salber, Towers, Kaestner, Baumgartner, and more.  All of the sudden, Chris was no longer that little kid on the water, he was officially big time in the game.  But the thing is, he's never gotten a big head about it like some others have.  He showed up at the next team shoot and asked "What can I do for you today Mr. Gleason?"  He just continued being Chris.  The kid that just wants to have fun skiing.  That's why he loves Footstock so much.  It's all about the fun.

In my position with BFC and Eagle Sports, I get a chance to meet a lot of kids.  And I always find myself looking at potential team skiers from a parenting point of view.  Questions like: Is this kid going to be driven enough to stick with it?  Is this kid going to get along with everyone else on the team?  Does this kid have a plan for where he/she wants to go?  Are they a team player.  Do they understand what it takes to be a sponsored skier?  Well in Chris' case, we've never doubted an of that.  The kid GETS IT!  Most of us see the results on the water, but the thing that proves Chris is going to be OK in life is all the work he does off the water.  He sees beyond his own self interests.

Today, Chris is a senior in High School and is an A student.  His #1 focus right now is into college.  He's taken the SAT and ACT and is working hard on his diving team to get the attention of college recruiters.  What most don't know is that Chris is a gifted diver.  He's got schools like University of Michigan looking at him and talking scholarship.  That's bigger than anything he's ever done in barefooting.  That's LIFE CHANGING!

I've always known Chris would be OK in life based of the questions he asks me.  He's always been eager to know how I do things on BarefootCentral.com and asks why I made the decisions I did and how that's going to affect things going forward.  He's always willing to give input when asked and isn't wishy-washy about it.  He's a natural born businessman.  He's always negotiating something. 

Last year, Chris called me up to ask my advice on whether or not he should buy a ski school that had come up for sale in his area.  He wanted to know what questions he should ask and how he should approach marinas in his area for support.  The goal was for him, his brother and sister to run a school and raise money for college expenses.  Being the youngest of the 3, I'm sure none of them expected Chris to take charge.  But that's what happened.  Chris took charge of the website and negotiated the deal with the local pro shop and marina to sponsor them with a boat.  And he worked with his mom to develop email lists from previous customers and get the schools name out there.  The result was a summer packed with students learning everything from wakeboard, hydrofoil, getting up on two-skis, kneeboard and even barefoot waterski. 

I could go on about Chris, but I think you get the picture.  The kid's figured it out!  I'm looking forward to seeing him get through college and come out with a degree in Business or Marketing.  And assuming he keeps his eye on the ball and not the girls for the next 4-5 years, he's on to great things in life.  Then we'll have him out with the team again and put him right back in his place, being the kid we all love to pick on.