ANGELA BANKS, from Wichita, Kansas was selected as the September 2001 Footer of the Month.  Here's why:

Angela took to the task of learning to barefoot more than 10 years ago. Training devices not being as sophisticated as they are today, the learning did not come easily. After sustaining a serious fall which resulted in a severe neck injury and chronic neck and back problems, Angela put barefooting on the back burner.  Angelašs husband, Steve, continued his barefooting progress, and she was surrounded by the sport through friends and family. An avid water enthusiast, Angela continued to kneeboard, wakeboard and participate in show skiing.

It was only after she and her sister, Annette, were introduced to the Easy Footer from Barefoot International, "one of the best training devices to come along in years", they jointly note, that she decided to give barefooting another try. 

While initially they were content to stay in the swing or rely on the boom, both progressed within a few weeks to the five-foot shortline.  With summer coming to an end, the girls traveled with their husbands to Austin for the 2000 Dam to Dam barefoot endurance competition.  There, they met pro footer Ron Scarpa, and took a half-day lesson with the water-skiing legend.  It was Scarpa that encouraged Angela to give backwards a try.

While continuing to perfect her front form, she also began working backwards.  In less than a years time, Angela was footing backwards on the 5 foot extension.  A major turning point was after a second set of lessons in July 2001. With only a few pointers, Angela began coming up consistently in her backwards.  She soon began giving her husband, a relative newcomer to backwards barefooting himself, some serious competition.

Angela is married to long-time footer Steve Banks.  She is a registered nurse, and currently administers the continuing education at a major medical center in Wichita, Kansas. Angela and Steve have two sons: Andrew (age 6), a diehard footer, wakeboarder, and all-around boat hog; and Nicolaus (age 2-1/2), an adorable toddler who barely talks, but loves to swim, ski and kneeboard.  The Banks are co-owners (with sister Annette and brother-in-law Tom Lough) of a 2000 Barefoot Sanger, and ski three or four times a week on Go Lake, a private sandpit in Wichita, Kansas, with the likes of Brad Pegg, Bob Garlick and Tom Olden .

Angela was nominated by her sister, Annette, at the urging of her very proud husband of nine years, Steve.  Coincidentally, Angela and Steve met while members of the ElDorado Water Ski Club (a club dedicated to show-skiing) which eventually merged with the Wichita Water Ski Club. 

Congratulations Angela, on being selected the September 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: