Peter Fleck's Corner

What is the best method for teaching a first timer how to barefoot?

A good coach must first evauate there student to determine the best method to use. As a rule of thumb, I find the following to be true.

Children do best in the swing (handle wrapped up on the boom so that they can sit on it )

Women and men that are not very strong do better holding directly on the bar with there feet on the cables so they can lift there bodies out of the water during the start. They then proceed to stand up by lifting there feet onto the water slowly.

Atheletic people do well with a tumble up holding directly on the boom. If the student is not successful within a few trys. Evaluate the problem and comunicate it to them so they don't get discouraged.

Question #2:

I have a 5 year old child that I would like to get interested in the sport. My wife thinks he’s too young to start skiing. Can you give me some general guidelines to follow regarding teaching my children and guiding them in the right directions so they have the best opportunities to excel in the sport. Basically, what are the does and don’ts of raising a world class footer?

My daughters Aly and Sammy both could barefoot at 4. The way I taught them was to put them in the cradle or swing with the intention of letting them have fun. They would sit in the handle and just kick there feet in the water at idle speed.  I would try to encourage them to use proper barefoot position at idle speed, but mostly let them have fun. Soon they could maintain a good barefoot stance at idle speed and I sped the boat up to allow them to experince some pressure under there feet. After a while they were able to support there weight on there feet but were still in the swing. When I felt they were ready, we tried a tumble up on the boom and they were successful in a few trys. One word of advice, kids progress at different speeds, usually determined by there fear level. They will be more agressive if they are able to try this with other kids there age and are able to watch each other learn at the same time.

Peter Fleck

Peter does not have a web site at this time.  If you would like to email him, his email is PKFleck@aol.com.