HEATHER PHILLIPS, a 7 year old, from San Antonio, Texas was selected as the October 2001 Footer of the Month. If Heather's face in these pictures doesn't tell the story for you, here's a more detailed explanation:

Heather caught the footing bug from her mother and father who have been footing for about 2 years now.  Showing an uncommon level of determination for a seven year old, she has doggedly pursued learning to foot.  When Dad and Mom bought a Malibu Flightcraft, Heather jumped on the boom unconcerned about the consequences.  She quickly learned that footing is not for the feint-of-heart and has had her fair share of face-plants.

She doesn't even have the benefit of a proper fitting barefoot suit.  She starts by putting on her own shorty suit then putting her older sister's shorty suit on over that.  With two layers of neoprene to protect her, she has learned what is required to stand on her own two feet.

Dad and Mom, new footers themselves, preached to Heather the importance of a good three-point and were frankly surprised by her determination.  She worked for weeks to perfect her three-point and tried several times to stand but just couldn't seem to get up and stabilize herself.  Then just a couple of weeks ago, still starting from that all-important three-point position, she stood only to find that to everyone's astonishment, she remained on her feet.  As she looked to the boat where Dad and Mom were riding, the look of obvious surprise was apparent.

Since that time Heather has worked to raise each foot and is able to fall, perform a tumble turn, get back on her bottom and three-point her way to a standing position again.  She speaks often of skiing her first tournament and Dad and Mom are already thinking about scholarship money for college.  Heather's next goal is to learn on the short-line and imagines skiing long line with Dad and Mom. 

Congratulations Heather, on being selected the October 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: