2003 Winter Haven, Florida Junior and Senior Worlds a Huge Success

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Winter Haven, Florida October 7-12, 2003

The best barefooters in the world started their invasion on Winter Haven, Florida and the town will never be the same! I enjoyed having the juniors from New Zealand train with me and was very proud of their performances. Outstanding performances were also turned in by Australia, South Africa, Canada, France, Germany, Sweden, Great Britain, and the one man wonder team of John Mylle from Belgium!

The biggest shock of the tournament had to be the Junior U.S. Team which was thought to be a third place team on paper before the tournament started. By the time the dust had settled the Junior Team finished number one led by strong performances by Al Morrison, Michael Suarez, Stephanie Sternagle, and Laura Szwed. Stephanie Sternagle showed she was made of rebar by refusing to give in to the pain of a broken tooth from the jump event. She finished an incredible personal performance winning the Silver in the Overall, silver in slalom, and a silver in tricks!

The biggest talk of the tournament was the anticipation of a fantastic South African Team led by Andre De Villiers, Sam Heinrich, Zane De Villiers, and Leandrie Dittmar. Andre showed his tremendous skills in the trick event and jump event with performances that could only be admired and applauded by all the competitors! This team was led by the great Nadine De Villers who represented South Africa and her family well. The outstanding way in which this young team behaved did not go unnoticed. Anyone who knows the difficult two years that the De Villiers faced had to take a hat off in recognition for the integrity and poise that the team brought to the tournament.

That being said, the first real shocker was when Andre took two unexpected falls in the slalom event which took him out of the finals (I feel for you Andre...been there.... done that!). This did not although have any effect on the individual overall which was won with great authority by Andre!

All this talk about the South Africans might lead you to believe that they finished second to the Americans, but that was not the case. The team that first dominated barefooting for so many of the early years did not come to Winter Haven to take a back seat to anyone!

AUSSIE...AUSSIE...AUSSIE...OUI..OUI..OUI!!!!!!!!!!! Came in loud and clear as the Australians represented well! Brendon Wright and Leigh Sloot had something to say about the jump event in which their coach, Brett New, holds the current world record. They finished with the silver and bronze medals in that event which bested some fantastic jumping early on by U.S. skiers Al Morrison and Royal Wiseman!

But the Aussie boys performances were eclipsed by the the Aussie women who absolutely threw down the competition on the junior girls side with outstanding performances by Nerissa Wright who won the Overall, a gold in slalom, silver in jump, and a bronze in the tricks event. The team received additional help from Ashley Stebbings who finished third overall and won the tricks event!

It is my personal feeling after coaching teams from all over the world, that there are simply no tougher individuals than there are in New Zealand! Why do I say this? I taught Fred Groen of New Zealand to jump inverted many years ago and have never seen such determination to this day. Fred took no less than 50 jumps per day (if you have done this, then you know how brutal that is on your body. I prefer no more than six per WEEK!). Fred did this day in and day out for two weeks until he was able to shed his old habits and later go on to hold his countries highest medals in this event. Fred showed up at this worlds with a broken arm in a cast made to allow him to compete! Fred took a silver in the event! Fred's wife took the bronze in the jump event on the women's side!

Stephanie Hamblyn thought it might be best to keep the gold medal in jump in New Zealand where they believe all medals belong! Cathy Bourke put in solid performances all around to finish just short of the medals. Ryan Groen also was helpful in supporting New Zealand's fourth place finish for the juniors. The Senior team placed fourth also.

On the senior side the United States team was looking for revenge after finishing second as a team in the overall race in New Zealand two years ago. The U.S. Team dominated all teams with an insurmountable 1,216 point overall lead which allowed the individual skiers to concentrate on their individual performances. Sherri Morse gave her strongest competitive performance by doing what it took to become the new Woman's Overall Champion! What did she do to celebrate? Go to Disney? NO! Sherri graced The Footer's Edge Training Center with her presence (actually, my crazy Canadian students talked her into missing her flight and staying in Winter Haven....what happened in Winter Haven ...stays in Winter Haven..no more said). The Canadians have promised to keep the footage out of circulation!

On the Men's side Lane "Dawg" Bowers took the Overall and the jump gold medals while Willie Farrell took the gold medals in tricks and slalom.

One of the biggest stories had to be the incredibly strong performances hammered out by the U.S. independents led by Billy Nichols (bronze medal in slalom), Jerry Kanawyer (bronze medal in tricks), and Mike Salber (bronze medal in jump). A huge special thanks to Billy Nichols for his financial aid to the United States Team Members! Billy has unselfishly supported the team without asking for any recognition. Billy's generosity and skiing prowess will live on in infamy!

But before I go, the story cannot be close to being finished without mentioning the incredible best time showing by the Canadians. An incredibly strong team of seniors led by none other than Gordie Croteau and Karen Scarpa finished second to the Americans. This is the best performance ever by the Canadians. Gordie finished third in the overall! Karen Scarpa came out of a complete retirement to help the Canadians with an incredible gutsy performance. I have skied with alot of skiers both young and old, but Karen has not skied and has definitely not jumped barefoot since she put her barefooting on hold to raise her family. With only tow total practice jumps, Karen stormed onto the scene to take a remarkable third place overall and a gold medal in the jump event. Karen is one tough cookie and I will be looking into her past to see if she has any Kiwi in her blood!

A serene barefoot jump finals occurred as the organizers decided to use two boats. One would pull a junior skier and one would pull a senior skier. On the last two skiers, Lane "Dawg" Bowers and Andre DeVilliers found themselves in identical places. Both needed to land a reasonable jump to win the event and both did so with their very first jump which left for a jump-off of sorts to see who would have the best jump of the tournament. With an almost deja vu performance mirroring the US Nationals (Lane beat Billy Brazoza by a mere 0.1 meters to win), Andre and Lane Aired out their frustrations to cost to an amazing finish in which both won the gold and the overall at similar moments!

And to our always incredible South African hosts, we solute your generosity in hosting our next Junior Senior Worlds in 2005!

Also, Thor Thordarson and I have teamed up to sponsor the World Championships by bringing these videos to you free of charge. I hope you all enjoy them!

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