This months Footer of the Month is a guy that eat's and sleeps barefoot waterskiing.  I have known Mike Schneider for about 3 years now.  I first met him through our Locate a Footer section when I was driving to Crandon, WI on our way to Footstock our first year.  We needed a place to stop and ski along the way, so I gave him a call out of the blue.  He took us out on the Mississippi River and showed us all around the Lake St. Louis area. 

Mike runs a barefoot waterski school on the Mississippi river during the summers called MVS Barefoot.  That stands for Mike V Schneider Barefoot.  For years, he has focused on supporting their local Lake St. Louis area skiers.  He's been a show skier, an instructor, or whatever was needed to get the job done.

During our visit 3 years back, we challenged Mike and his ski buddies to a little impromptu endurance challenge.  That sparked an interest that led Mike to founding Team MVS Barefoot Waterski Race Team.  He is the unofficial leader of the ragtag crew consisting of Anthony Gramolino, Dave Sommer, Tim Knoezer, Doug Winters, and driver Ben Ernst.  These guys have a bond that is founded in show skiing and figure-8.  Mike founded the race team and has been instrumental behind the scenes getting the team organized (or as organized as they can be), motivated to train, and whatever it takes financially to get them to the top levels of the sport.  The team has made consistent improvements year over year and have become a staple in the BFC Racing Cup Series.

Mike is a tireless promoter of barefoot waterskiing, whether it be show ski, F8, or racing.  He talks to anybody who'll listen about how great the sport is.  His efforts resulted in the team attracting sponsors like McDonalds, Eagle Sports, and even BarefootCentral.com ourselves.  He also helped gat a a new team (Team Pavestone) into the Cup Series this year.  He's a guy that just won't take no as an answer.  During Team MVS' annual hosting of the Mississippi River Challenge, Mike is on the phone constantly making calls to invite Teams to come and making sure they have places to stay while in St. Louis.

When you meet Mike the first time, he seems very quiet.  He's a soft spoken kind of guy.  But his excitement and dedication to the sport of barefoot waterskiing is hard to match.  When's he's not building custom homes around Lake St. Louis, you'll find him out on the water barefooting or teaching someone else how to foot, step off a ski, figure-8, or just show off.  And if he's not at either of those places, it's because he's getting scolded by his wife for spending too much time skiing and fixing the boat and not enough time in the office balancing the books.  Mike's day job consists of building custom homes.  Check out his website at http://www.schneidercustomhomes.com

Congratulations Mike!  Keep up the great work.  Keep on footing, and start your vote campaign now.  You're up against some great nominees for the 2006 Footer of the Year.  Voting will be in January, so you have plenty of time to get the word out.

Check out the other Footer's Of the Month