When:         June 11-16, 2003
Where:       Grand Rapids, Michigan - Grand River
Organizer:  Action Water Sports (MasterCraft Dealership)

With the team of Rob Maskill, Chris Wilson and Jerry Brouwer (owner) of Action Water Sports, dealer for MasterCraft, it was a well organized clinic. On June 11^th we had extremely rainy and cloudy weather. Because of the weather, two students dropped out of the clinic. That only left me with two students for the morning. Ryan Stoddard and Jeff Weima skied for the morning sets. We started to foot on an old gravel pit just off of the Grand River. It’s a beautiful cove deep behind the river where not many people navigate. If you don’t know the correct route to get back there then you’ll most likely run your prop into bottom. We skied on glass water with low cloud cover and the chance of rain. I started to get my rain gear out and umbrella in place of a bimini. Sure enough just after the first sets it didn’t just start raining it started to thunder and lightning. So, we headed back to the boat ramp and waited it out. After about an hour of hard rain it cleared slightly with very little rain falling. I decided to go back out and ski while we waited for Tim Bruer to show up for his afternoon sets. It surprisingly cleared up and with the 20mph winds we actually had glass.

June 12^th I had a great bunch of guys that all foot with each other every weekend in the gravel pit. The skiers were Paul Bolt, Eric Widner, Nate Vandemale and Dale Diebert. This day started great because most of these footers were all beginners. Eric and Nate started with their one foots. Next, I through them on the Footer Extremes and they began doing awesome toe holds. I got Paul started on his three point stance that he didn’t like or adapt to very well but it builds on a smooth start. I hate for people to be frustrated with the three-point stance but it is an essential for becoming a smooth footer. It also helps for tumble turns and riding over rough water.

June 13^th was another group of foot’n fever boys! Jason Sosnowski, Mark Wybenga, Jeff Kloostra and Bruce Top. These guys had energy in the water and in the boat. Mark had done his homework and visited my website before attending the clinic which was extremely nice for me. He knew my current and past accomplishments, and even asked some interesting questions regarding my website and my thoughts of the sport. They really wanted to learn and be able to bring back everything from the clinic they could. The morning was great with rain clouds lurking above except for some rollers that were made from the one and only Jeff! This guy stood 6’4" and was just huge! His legs were the size of my waist and arms the size of my legs! If there’s one thing you don’t need in this sport its too much strength. He had to fall every other run throughout the day! I tried to get him to calm down and take his time but he just kept saying, "Those falls don’t hurt?" Well, all I can say is that I tried, so it ended up being a great show for us in he boat. Jason had the talent of the day. He learned everything extremely fast and was a ball of energy just progressing as fast as he could. He learned a toe-hold and many other tricks in one set.

June 14^th was with Tony Paul, Thor Thordarson and Mark Andrews. Again we had a 15mph West wind but with glass water! Everything was going great until an airboat came out and started to spray weed killer in the water. He screwed us up for a little while as he sprayed some funky looking blue chemicals in the water. The rest of the day went great until we saw the Marine Patrol. I was foot’n up and down our pass we had until we realized that we had to go counter clock wise around the lake. So, I was done and decided to go on an endurance run through some choppy water going counter clock wise around he lake. We wanted to show the Marine Patrol that we obey the law. As I make my loop around the small lake the patrol comes up to us. First thing he says is, "You guys weren’t going counter clock wise around the lake!" I bowed my head and let Tony do the talking. Tony said, "We just were going the correct way?" The Patrol comes back and says, "How are you doing Tony?" Tony didn’t recognize him with his glassed on but thank god it was someone Tony new. He skied on a show team with Jerry a couple years ago. So, I had to get him with a serious face on and ticket book out. That finalized the day and a good laugh!

Sat. and Sun the 15^th and 16^th was with Scott Lockwood, John "Hoops" Coretti and Karrie Vanderdyke. They all wanted to work on jumping but weather didn’t permit us to do that. We ended up freezing our tails off and skiing in dry suits in the morning. Everyone skied great and learned enough to keep them busy throughout the summer. Scott lives on a sweet spot on the Grand River which is basically private because it has no public access anywhere on the water. Nice tall trees and all wind directions covered.

This trip was pretty long since I did a seven day clinic and went from Sun. to Mon on the road. Not only was is long but I flew directly to Philli. on that Mon. Stayed for a four day clinic and skied the Port Indian tournament that Sat. That will be he next article on the Philli. trip but I’d like to thank the team at Action Watersports, Tony Paul, Scott Lockwood and everyone else who participated in the clinic. It was fun, wet and a cold trip but I’d do it all over again and I hope to see ya’ll next year!!

Thanks,

KSO

For more information on Keith St Onge and Gliding Soles Barefoot Camp, be sure to visit
www.GlidingSoles.com