In the extreme sport of barefoot water-skiing, one of the world’s top-ranked juniors can regularly be seen perfecting his craft on the steady waters of East Lake Padgett.
Twelve-year-old Brett Swanbom is a Land O’ Lakes resident and seventh-grader at Pine View Middle School. He also happens to be a two-time national junior champion and the world’s ninth-ranked junior barefoot water skier, according to the World Barefoot Council’s latest published rankings.
Since he took up the craft three years ago, Swanbom has collected countless trophies, individual medals and other honors for his assortment of tricks, jumps and slaloms on the water.
His latest career highlight is his greatest.
That’s when he was one of just six youths selected to the 2018 U.S. Junior Barefoot Water Ski Team. In August, the group topped 11 other countries to win overall gold at the 2018 Barefoot Water Ski World Championships, at Dream Lake in Napanee, Ontario, Canada.
Until recently, Swanbom’s biggest goal was to make the 2020 U.S. junior team. So, when he was selected to the national team two years earlier than expected, it came as a very pleasant — and shocking — surprise.
“When (my dad) first said it to me, I didn’t believe it. I thought it was a joke,” Swanbom said, with a chuckle.
In addition to Team USA’s gold medal against the likes of New Zealand, Australia and others, Swanbom finished ninth overall as an individual boys junior at the World Games; other Americans also dominated the leaderboards.
“I was happy,” Swanbom said, of the performance. “It was kind of funny, too, because there were so many (Team USA) people that we kept falling off the podium.”
And, the overall trip to Canada proved special.
Though he acknowledged it felt strange to spend a week away from family, the elite barefooter enjoyed soaking up time with his fellow Team USA teammates. He also made new friends from other nations, swapping articles of country-themed World Games gear with one another.
Swanbom also remembers plenty of playful nationalism throughout the trip.
He recalled one such comical experience of first arriving to the team’s hotel in Ontario: “So, we had a minivan, and we just pulled into the hotel and we blasted ‘Proud to be an American,’ and everyone’s looking at us because they’re from Canada.”
The World Games wasn’t the only major success for Swanbom this season.
He also claimed a national title at the 41st annual Footin.com Barefoot Water Ski National Championship, held in July at Lake Grew in Polk City. In the boys B division (12 & under), Swanbom swept titles in slalom (12.00 points), tricks (2,580 points), jumping (32 feet) and overall (3,000.0 points).
His next task: Build upon those numbers in time for the 2020 World Games in Sydney, Australia. By then, Swanbom said he’d like to tally somewhere around 16 points in slalom, 4,000 to 5,000 points in tricks, and around 50 feet in jumps.
To achieve those marks, Swanbom is working to refine high-scoring maneuvers like toe holds, reverse turns and more. He practices many of his new moves on dry land before hitting the lake several times per week. “We try to go out every day,” he said.
The elite barefooter also plays other sports, such as flag football and basketball.
But, he’s more drawn to barefooting because he likes “always having a new challenge and learning a new thing.” He explained: “Like a lot of kids want to play (sports like) baseball and master everything, and it’s easy for them, but this one takes until like you’re 20 (years old) to get everything done.”
Barefooting is evidently challenging, as it requires a combination of balance, technique and strength.
It also requires a rare brand of toughness — bracing for water falls at high rates of speed.
“You gotta be tough to take the falls,” Swanbom said. “A lot of the falls hurt, and I’ve seen some people, they quit because of the falls, they just can’t take ‘em.”
Swanbom’s affinity for the sport can be traced to his father, Bob Swanbom, a former professional show skier on the Wisconsin-based Tommy Bartlett water-ski team back in the 1970s and 1980s.
Nowadays, the elder Swanbom will post videos of his son’s barefooting skills on Facebook, where some of his old ski friends will remark that Brett may someday surpass him.
The father proudly pointed out it’s already happened.
“He’s way better than I ever was. He’s way excelled past me,” Bob Swanbom said.
The father added, “I was pretty good in my time, but everything’s advanced so much. …Seeing him come up, he’s more of a natural at it.”
Interestingly, Brett Swanbom isn’t the first big name in the sport to come from Land O’ Lakes. The Lake Padgett community is also home to Don Mixon Sr., and Don Mixon Jr. — both regarded as pioneers in the sport. Mixon Sr., is the past president of the American Barefoot Waterskiing Association and a former coach of the United States Barefoot Team. Mixon Jr., is a former barefoot professional, winning the 1994 World Barefoot Championship in Sydney, Australia.
What is barefoot water-skiing?
Barefoot skiing, also referred to as “barefooting,” is water-skiing behind a motorboat without the use of water skis. It requires skiers to travel at higher speeds than conventional water-skiing (30 mph to 45 mph); the necessary speed required to keep the skier upright varies by the weight of the barefooter.
There are three events in traditional barefooting:
- Tricks: The skier has two passes of 15 seconds to complete as many different tricks as possible. All tricks have specific point values depending on difficulty. The skier also is awarded points for the start trick they performed to get up.
- Slalom: The skier has two passes of 15 seconds to cross the wake as many times as possible. The skier can cross the wake forward or backward, and on two feet or one foot.
- Jump: The skier travels over a small, fiberglass jump ramp. They have three jumps, and the longest one successfully landed counts.
Published November 28, 2018
