Thanks must go to the Bay of Plenty Region, and in particular to Grant Plummer for being instrumental in organising barefoot coaching camps with Aussie skier/coach, Peter O'Neill, in New Zealand. 

All those who skied with Peter agree that he is a superb coach, with a knack of noticing and requesting change of small things in a skier's technique that are ultimately impacting negatively on that person's performance.  He's professional but has such a relaxed and positive coaching manner that everyone really enjoyed his company!  Peter's quick-witted, and we all enjoyed his sense of humour.

Grant organised coaching for skiers at Atiamuri (8 & 9 May) and Piarere (13 & 14 May).  In between these dates Peter travelled to Otaki to catch up with friends and skiers in that part of the country.  Peter and Teresa Old were then kind enough to provide their home, boat, and hospitality to 10 skiers on 15 & 16 May.  What an awesome weekend!!  Thanks so much!!

Here is some feedback from the skiers who took part....

Grant Plummer: "Overall we had some great results and sound technical knowledge for skiers to takeaway.  Pete's focus was to install the correct technique e.g. "I would rather you miss a good one than get a bad one." was a typical statement from him.

"Highlights for me included Sarah Linton, Matt Forsyth and Kelly O'Donnell perfecting their surface turns with some mint front to backs, and back to fronts; Tom Mathis - working on a mixture of toe holds, back ones and slalom; Michael McGiven - ripping off some sensational back one foot slalom and an undie run for collecting 5 points, every dumb ass mistake was counted as a point, e.g. putting your drysuit on back to front. When you get to 5 points you have to perform a nudie run... we said it was ok if he left his undies on (Good move Grant!!) and me achieving feet to feet line step and front to back."

Jarna Old: "For me it was all about slalom - forward 1 ft slalom and backwards slalom. Backwards slalom - After doing some boom work and Pete looking at my position and getting my body in the right position - I achieved crossing the wake backwards - my best run - 3 crossings - what an awesome feeling! Forward 1 ft slalom -Pete looked at my forwards wake slalom - then showed me the right position to achieve 1ft slalom and how to lift a foot - achieved going across the wake with foot off water but tapping down as going across - but understand what I have to do and can see 1 ft crossings in my near future!  Had an excellent weekend - great location, neat group of footers and thank you Grant and BOP Region for the opportunity to ski with such a top coach in Pete O'Neill.

Kelly O'Donnell: "I was working on consolidating basic back ones, back toes and line ones, turns, and toe ups.  I achieved feet to feet back to fronts on my feet, improved back toes and back line ones. Pete is an awesome coach - really enjoyed what he did. Thanks so much." 

Sarah Linton: "With Pete I was working on my back 1 foots and then learned how to do back to front and front to back on the shoes and got a back to front on my feet and he also helped me out with my forwards and back slalom."

Jazz Hickling: "I learned how to toe hold on the short rope, getting my foot up onto the sling and balancing there. Also I was able to get up backwards on the short rope for the first time and that was really exciting. I learned the basics and developed on those at the May camp at Karapiro the next week, by getting my toes properly on the short rope, as well as my backwards. Thanks Pete."

Kathy Duxfield: "I loved skiing with Peter.  He's such a great coach - I felt as though I was improving rapidly under his instruction.  Much appreciated!  Must admit, it was nice to go and lounge in the natural hotpools on Lake Ohakuri after a big day on the water at Atiamuri.  Great work, Grant - this coaching couldn't have happened without you!  I was working on one foot stand-ups and toe holds on a short rope (with varying success rates - but getting much closer).  Under Peter's instruction I did my best ever forward one foot slalom (yay!), and started working on back one foot slalom (using my lead foot as a "training wheel").  Felt great!  I was lucky enough to ski with Peter for one day at Atiamuri, and then the weekend at Peter and Teresa Old's lake (which was just fantastic, thanks).  It was neat to be in the boat when Peter O'Neill had a ski, too - his surface turns are great!"

During the weekend it was great to see both Neil and Todd Foster working on their surface turns, as was Bevan Kelly.  We were upset to see Bevan injure himself in his last set on the weekend.  Here's hoping he repairs quickly - it looked like an extremely painful injury to his rib area.  Peter and Teresa also had a couple of their young friends learning how to barefoot - Bevan Scott and Shaun Blyde, from Auckland.  Both young men improved hugely under Peter O'Neill's instruction.  We enjoyed the company of Ryan and Mitch Groen over the weekend, too - both of whom are skiing well.