 We
had such a good time at Camp Grady Spruce last year, we decided to do it
again in 2005. My good buddy Mike Bateman, better known as Marv to
all the campers, informed us that when the campers heard we were coming
again, the barefoot classes booked up immediately.
Since
Phillip Damuth had headed off to the Navy earlier this year, I needed to
find another assistant, and figuring that the classes would grow, I
decided to invite two fellow footers to go with me this
year.
I
thought it would be a good idea to invite one of our youngest footers to
accompany me so the kids could see how much someone could accomplish at
a young age, so I called up Nolan Lough. He and his parents were
excited to be a part and made arrangements to get Nolan to Dallas even
though the family was scheduled to be on vacation that weekend. So
thanks to the Loughs (pronounced Lowe).
My second victim, or assistant,
happened by circumstance. Eric Freidle happened to be in Dallas
for a couple weeks helping us out at Barefoot Central, so I asked him to
come along. Eric has been around barefooting and show skiing for
years and was good with kids. I knew the kids would take to him
and he was happy to oblige.
Eric and Nolan spent the weekend at
the Brazos River doing some footing with Michele and I. We
typically go back to Dallas Sunday evening, but instead, we met up with
Mike Bateman and drove about an hour and a half farther west to the camp
on Possum Kingdom Lake. Mike thought we would have a good time
actually camping out with the kids. The kids sleep outdoors on
cots that are set up in bungalows. It's basically a building with
a roof and no side walls.
Mike knew I had no intention of
sleeping outside without air conditioning. I'll admit that my
definition of camping is pulling into the campsite in a 40 ft RV with
self contained A/C, kitchen, TV, queen size bed and toilet.
Mike had everything on that list accept the kitchen, TV, queen size bed,
and 40 ft RV. He put us up in cooks cabin with a window A/C unit
and wooden bunk beds. Nolan was cool with it and immediately
called for the top bunk. I on the other hand surveyed the room,
noticed the A/C unit was running wide open and the room was still about
85 degrees, and the mattresses were the kind that have the plastic
coating so if you spill something, it won't ruin the mattress. I
turned and gave Mike one of those looks like you've got to be kidding
right? Before I could say anything he says; "Come on Gleason,
it's better than being outside with the chiggers, snakes, scorpions, and
the possibility of waking up in the middle of the night nose to nose
with a raccoon." I couldn't disagree with that logic and made
a bee line to the bottom bunk. Then about 15 minutes later, we
were all back outside after Friedle decided to cut wind without
notice. We were so close to kicking him out.
As we went to sleep, we could here
the tree branches brushing up against the side of the cabin. The
wind was blowing about 25mph. "Don't worry Gleason";
Mike said. "The winds will be calm in the morning, they tell
me they've been calm all week".
We woke up at 5:45 am to find the
winds weren't as bad, but there was a slight breeze. A slight
breeze at 6am in Texas usually equates to a 30 mph wind by mid morning
as the temperatures quickly rise. "Come on Gleason, have some
faith", Mike kept repeating to me.
My worry was centered around the
barefoot ski show we were scheduled to put on for the campers later that
morning. The plan was to take the camp counselors out early in the
morning between 6:30 and 7:30am for some one-on-one instruction.
Then we would come back and join the campers for breakfast between 7:30
and 8:30. Then the kids would go off to Chapel then meet on the
beach at 9am for the ski show.
Flag is raised every
morning before breakfast |
Heading into
breakfast |
Mike Bateman, Eric
and Nolan talking to the Camp Director |
View from the dining
hall. |
Camp Councelers |
Nolan checks out the
surroundings |
 While
the kids were off at Chapel, we took the boat out on the water to do
some practice starts and check the conditions. We had planned on
having Nolan get up on my lap, and ski by waiving at the crowd as an
opening. Then we'd do a triple long-line run and then some doubles
with plenty of tumble turns, toe-hold, turns, etc.. We'd finish with
Eric doing a flying dock start from the 2 story dock. But during
practice, the water was so rough we could hardly get up even on shoe
skis. "Come on Gleason, this is the only time some of these
kids will see you guys ski, the show must go on". Mike saw
the concern in my face and was now resorting to guilt. Of course,
we wouldn't let them down, I just wanted Marv to own me one.
By the time the show started, the
water was white-capping in front of the beach. Eric and I skied by
on shoe-skis and I almost went out the front several times. I came
back by skiing right behind the boat and threw the craziest
front-to-back I've done in a long time. The kids all
cheered. We then pulled Eric as he did the 2-story flyer, but with
shoe skis on. The crowd went crazy. As Eric got back in the
boat, I looked at Nolan. He looked as though he was trying to stay
invisible. "Come on Nolan, get your shoe skis on and jump in,
you can't let your fans down"; I said. He procrastinated as long as
possible and quietly slid off the back deck. It was a lot of
pressure for an 11 year old, but Nolan skied like a champ. We
pulled him a hot 22mph. The wake was bigger than he was at that
speed, but as he passed the beach the crowd erupted. You could
hear all the girls yelling, "He's so cute". Nolan was
the star, and all he had to do was waive at the girls. At that
moment, he was more popular than Keith St. Onge.
As I helped Nolan back in the boat,
Mike was saying; "I can't believe you guys pulled that off, that
was the roughest water I've seen anyone ski on in quite some
time". He was thrilled with Nolan's performance.
We idled over to the boat dock and
waited for the barefoot students to show up. We had about 12
skiers in the morning set and another 10-12 in the afternoon set.
Before each set, Eric and Nolan took the students through a stretching
and warm up routine, then walked through some basic start positions on
dry-land. Then we were off to the water.
The winds were high during the day,
but we were able to find a shore-line or two with some footable
water. Some of the students had tried it before and some were out
for the first time. Each year the camp buys a few new suits that
the kids share during the training. Depending on the size of the
student, the suit can either fit perfectly, or it can be way too big,
but the kids don't seem to mind. As each student takes to the
water, everyone in the boat is hoping they get up, but also know that
they'll get some good entertainment as they watch their friends fall in
ways they never imagined. There's a lot of laughing and cheering
in the boat. Some kids get up easy and some take a few runs.
But almost every student gets up and gets a taste of what barefooting is
all about. I love seeing the expressions on their faces as they
surprise themselves with their abilities.
Teaching the boom
start |
Trying it on the
feet. |
First time up and
right into great position |
Don't pull in on
your arms. |
Another first
timer. Practicing that rough water stance. |
Several girls
participated and did very well. Up on the 5ft line. |
Mike and I were in one boat
instructing, while Nolan and Eric were in the second boat. After
all the students had taken a turn, Nolan and I skied for the
group. Seeing it all up close on the boom was a thrill for the
students. They loved watching Nolan do big surface hops. In
the afternoon sessions, Nolan went with Mike and Eric took on of the
camp ski instructors with him so they could observe some of the training
techniques.
 The
morning session lasted until noon, and then we all met for lunch in the
main hall. Just like last year, we were treated like
royalty. Everyone we passed thanked us for coming out to the
camp. Mike Bateman announced us to the camp and gave us each a
Camp Grady Spruce T-shirt to take home with us. All the camp
counselors remembered us and still had the BarefootCentral.com stickers
on their water bottles. I found out that at camp, it's all about
how many stickers you have. Luckily I brought some new Footstock
and Racing Cup Series stickers with me. So Footstock is now a part
of Camp Grady Spruce way down in Texas. We left a Footstock
sticker inside the equipment shed for all to see. Who knows, one
day the next Footstock Champion may come from Camp Grady Spruce.
The
Board of Directors of the Camp Grady Spruce are serious in their desire
to build the camp into a world class waterski and outdoor adventure
camp. The idea of coming to a camp that offers waterski,
wake-board, barefoot, hiking, archery, climbing, horse back riding,
sailing, swimming, and many other outdoor activities can't sound all
bad. It's a great atmosphere. There goal is to attract more
young skiers that can grow into future counselors, ski instructors, and
mentors to others. For more information on Camp Grady Spruce, please
visit their website at http://www.campgradyspruce.org.
If you have a son or daughter that like to barefoot and do outdoor
activities, sign them up now for next Summer's camp. We'll be back
next year, and the spots will fill up fast.
Chuck
Gleason
Team BarefootCentral.com
Special
thanks to:
Mike Bateman, Nolan Lough, Eric Freidle, and all the kind
folks at YMCA Camp Grady Spruce.
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