In 2018, Mindy entered her first barefoot competition. “I’m really not that good. I’m a novice, but I have to try everything once,” she says. “I went to regionals in Florida and placed first in my division. I was the only one in my division, but hey, I get credit for showing up!”
Mindy then went to the U.S. Barefoot Nationals in Polk City, Florida, that same year and placed second in her division for slalom and trick. “Only three were in my division there, but it was an honor to compete at the national level,” she says.
Mindy’s try-anything attitude, especially when it comes to water, has spurred her along in this adventure, which now has her focused on slalom skiing with a water ski. She spent a week at Coble Water Ski & Wakeboard Camp in Lillington, North Carolina, in September 2018. She skied her first slalom tournament the following September and set a personal best by completing the mini course at 15 off at 26 mph.
“I was the only female above the age of 17, so of course, I won first place in my division,” she says. “For me, the competition is not about winning. It’s about getting better at what we do and who we are becoming on the journey.”
Mindy did not grow up on a lake, but she has found the water to be her “solace,” her special place. She’s thankful for friends like Bud, who is there ready to give her a pull any time of the year, even on a February day when the water is 51 degrees.
“You can call him up any time, and say, ‘Hey Bud, do you have the boat in the water?’ And he’ll say, ‘Yeah, I just finished a set. Come on down.’”
In the early 1990s, the Columbia Water Ski Club would host a state tournament on a small lake near the Columbia Metropolitan Airport. The lake had a ski course and a jump that belonged to the University of South Carolina’s Water Ski Club. Jim Parr was in his late 20s during this time, and like many others, fell in love with the challenge of running a slalom course. He started competing in tournaments and worked his way deep into short line, meaning the rope kept getting shorter and shorter.
Jim was skiing into 39 1/2 off at 34 mph before he took a bad fall and snapped the bone in his lower leg. “I came around a ball and hit a wave. I saw it. I knew it was there. I should have backed off,” he says. “I just fell the wrong way.”
His fall is a testament to the dangers of the sport, but the plate and 13 screws in his leg have not deterred him. Jim lives on Lake Murray, so water skiing is part of his family’s daily life. “I love boating, and I love the water. Skiing is fun, and it keeps me in shape. It’s my exercise,” he says. “We basically ski year-round.”
Jim has passed his love for the sport onto his 13-year-old son, Aaron, who has been skiing since he was 3 years old. Aaron is now the competition skier in the family, and they travel to tournaments all over the Southeast. He is skiing at 28 off at 34 mph.
Jim keeps up a ski course on Lake Murray and enjoys the social element that comes with it. “It’s a small community. We’re all tied together and supporting each other,” he says.
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How Low Can You Go? - Columbiametro
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