Barefoot skier from Southbridge wins 3 gold medals at world competition in Texas at 66
SOUTHBRIDGE — Kevin Keith can’t walk on water, but he can certainly barefoot water ski.
The 66-year-old Southbridge resident won three gold medals last month at the International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation Senior World Masters Barefoot Tournament in San Marcos, Texas.
Pretty good for someone who had trouble getting out of bed three years earlier.
“This is the only world competition I’ve ever entered. I went in with not a lot of expectation because, quite honestly, I didn’t even know how they were going to score it,” Keith said. “I just thought if I did the best I could, I would be giving points to the U.S. I didn’t know that they were going to have medals in each category. I had no clue.”
Keith, who owns Fall Prevention Alarms Inc. in Southbridge, won the men's trick, slalom and overall events in the senior 4 (65-plus) division, for ages 65 years old and older. He competed against 18 barefoot water skiers in his age division.
Originally planned as a relaxed road trip with several fellow barefoot water skiers going to the Pearl River in Louisiana, it became a full-fledge stiff competition in the Lone Star State.
“If you’re really trying to plan on winning the whole thing that messes with your head,” Keith said. “I knew that I could be a competitor. There are a couple guys that are certainly capable if they have a good day of winning it. But it depends on what you do under that kind of pressure on that day.”
Training key
A good month before the competition, Keith said he paid attention to what he ate as he tried to get as light as he could because he skis better the less he weighs.
“I probably didn’t have my first meal too, at least, until noontime. I only ate for a four-to-six hour window,” Keith said. “Some people call it intermittent fasting but fasting is fasting. It’s just lowering the window of time when you’re eating during the day.”
On top of that, he tried to get his bare feet on Lake Wickaboag in West Brookfield when the weather was just right and boats were available.
“I don’t even own my boat,” Keith added.
In addition to Keith’s achievement, two barefoot water skiers from Massachusetts came home with a silver medal in their respective division — Doug Cusson of Worcester for the senior 3 (55-plus) men tricks, and Glenn Kinnear of Groton for the senior 4 men tricks.
Overall, 23 U.S. athletes competed to earn 45 medals including 13 gold, 20 silver and 12 bronze.
More than 75 barefoot water-ski athletes from five countries competed in respective age divisions.
Just wasn't fun anymore
Although he has been water skiing since he was 8, Keith, who set a water-ski record with 2,650 points in the men’s 4 trick event at the 2006 National Barefoot Tournament, said he didn’t start seriously barefooting until he was in his late 30s.
After winning three nationals in a row, Keith took a 10-year hiatus (2007 to 2017) from barefoot water skiing because it just wasn’t fun anymore.
“I had a really good string in 2004, ’05 and ’06. I won tricks and slaloms at the nationals,” Keith said. “Then, everything seemed like work because I was fighting the age clock and, during those surface turns, there was a lot of fear that was entering my head about some of these tricks and the speed and the falls."
Keith said the falls are vicious, especially those back slalom runs.
“When you fall out backwards, your neck doesn’t go that way as well," he said. "You feel, at times, like your finger is stuck in a light socket. We call them zingers. You know, if you do enough, one is coming. There’s no question about it.”
Falling back in love
In 2017, Keith started skiing more while reducing the amount of tricks.
“I fell in love with it all over again,” he said. “My confidence came back.”
In 2019, Keith won the men's trick gold at the nationals. He was officially back. So he thought.
“I woke up the following morning and I, literally, had all I can do to get out of the bed,” Keith recalled. “I had to get out on my stomach and get my feet on the floor but I could barely walk or anything. I had such a hard time even getting my clothes on, especially pants or anything. My legs wouldn’t lift. It sucked.”
And that severity remained for three or four days before subsiding but still lingering today, he said,
“Now, it hasn’t seemed to have gotten any better or any worse,” Keith said. “So I deal with it. When I ski, I take Advil.”
Surprisingly, Keith said his back doesn’t hurt while he’s barefoot water skiing.
“If I do the toe holds, how you stick your foot in the rope and let go, yeah, that hurts,” he said. “But, luckily, in a tournament all you have to do is stick it in quick and show hands and grab a handle again and do the other side quick. I still practice them. But I’m limited to how many toe holds I can do frontwards and backwards.”
With seven national and three international gold medals to date, Keith said barefoot water skiing makes him feel a kinship with nature.
“Just the fact that you are out early in the morning in nature skiing on my feet,” he said. “I swear, walking on the beach barefoot connects you to the earth and you pick up that energy from the earth. I swear the barefooting does something like that.”
Keith said he plans on barefoot water skiing as long as he can and as long as he’s still having fun.
“I’m really surprised and I am grateful to God that he gave me the goods to do it,” he said. “For some strange reason, I do the stuff on the days that count. My friends say, 'What is it with you?' It seems the more important the competitions are, the better you do. I never skied well at some of these regional competitions.”
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Barefoot skier from Southbridge wins three gold medals in Texas at 66
