TUMUT’S Will Hamilton is heading off to the World Barefoot Championships in Florida after qualifying at the National Championships in Perth earlier this year.
“I got a letter from Barefoot Australia after competing in the National Titles in Perth and I qualified to compete as an independent (not part of the official Australian team),” he said.
Hamilton, 21, has only been competing in barefoot waterskiing for two years, previously having done social waterskiing since he was 10 .
He grew up in Cootamundra but has lived in Tumut for the past three years.
He said barefoot skiing was much harder due to the surface area, and also faster.
“It requires balance and a lot of core strength and the main thing upper body strength to hang on,” he said.
“I think it’s more fun (than waterskiing), more of a challenge; you never really get to the top, there’s always a new challenge with it.”
The reach this level in this sport requires commitment and Hamilton travels every week to Sydney to train, and does plenty of his own fitness training.
“Time on the water is the main thing,” he said.
In Florida, he’ll be competing in three events.
“There’s tricks, slalom and jump,” he said.
“Your tricks; obviously your different start methods, and tricks you complete in your run, and your slalom is how many times you can cross the wake. Your also gain points obviously crossing it on one foot and also doing it backwards.”
Hamilton trains with the NSW Barefoot Waterskiing team on the Georges River at Moorebank, on the freshwater side of the weir.
He is going to the World Championships with his Dad. He has a small amount of sponsorship from the NSW Barefoot Waterskiing team but other than that he is self-funded.
The World Championships are in Auburndale in Florida.
“There’s two lakes and the main one is called Championship Lake and that is a man-made lake they recently made for waterskiing,” Hamilton said.
The IWWF World Barefoot Championships will run from October 5 to 12.
