"AlPo" - Mens 4 Competitor

My family lived in the Bay Area of San Francisco when I was young and I learned to waterski at Lake Tahoe in 1962 while camping every summer with family and friends.


We moved to Vero Beach, Florida where we were surrounded by water. I loved surfing, sailing and all watersports and met the now famous Canadian barefooter, Jim Drown. Learned to slalom with my wife, Eileen, and friends around 1973 on the beautiful Indian River.


I moved to Georgia with Eileen and our kids, Monica and Mauricio, in 1984 and discovered Lake Lanier and barefooting. I reconnected with Jim Drown and we skied Lake Lanier every weekend. Jim and I were fanatical slalom skiers and one morning a barefooter dared to come in our cove. Mike and Mickey Adams came over and asked us if they could share the cove. We were impressed with their barefooting skills and threw out our skis and landed on our feet. I really enjoyed barefooting with Jim Drown, Scott Grave. I taught (forced) my son, Mauricio, to learn and he did ski camps with Rick and Laurie Powell – did tumbles, back wakes and one foots years before I mastered them. Mauricio was a natural but till this day, he prefers a ski or a wakeboard



After I was completely addicted, Chris Wakefield (Cumming’s own Wakeboy –founder and president of Team Cumming on Up) moved into our neighborhood and the competition began. We loved to ski on the Chestatee at the north end of the lake. If you find a good spot, don’t tell Wakeboy (ie. Little Big Mouth) as it won’t be your favorite place anymore because it will everybody else’s.



I entered regionals in July 2001 and skied in my first tournament. I was hooked and wanted to improve. I met Betsy Colmant and Eric Coryer in Rome at the Elite Tournament and found that we all live in the same area on Lake Lanier. We’ve been skiing together ever since.



As I continued in the sport, I grew more enthusiastic asking Dennis Kelly with Malibu Boats to give me the opportunity to become the Georgia promo representative for Malibu. He introduced me to Brian Posner, owner of Atlanta Inboard. I truly enjoy being part of the Malibu family and am always ready to share how great the MALIBU LXI BAREFOOTER is with anybody that will listen.



I really enjoy the camaraderie in the barefooting world. Everybody volunteers out of the love of barefooting and gives 100% and there certainly is no pay involved! Its always great to go to tournaments in other areas and see that all the clubs have that same enthusiasm.



My family is always excited to see me compete and have taken time out of their schedules to travel to California and Texas to see the old man have fun. My daughter and her husband (Monica and Chet Blackstock) are expecting our first grandchild in July so I guess I’ll now be called Gramps. My son and his wife (Bess and Mauricio Posada) are living in Corpus Christi, Texas where Mauricio serves as a Lieutenant and pilot in the U.S. Coast Guard.



Barefoot Heroes: Chris, Betsy and Eric (my motivators on a daily basis)



Favorite Coach: Keith St. Onge (listens well, he tunes in to each student personally, makes you think your problems out – brings great balance to his coaching



Goal for 2006 – win Mens 4 jumping!