Ben Groen, 30, is originally from New Zealand but now lives in Florida. He is a professional barefoot waterskier and coach. These videos were shot over the last six months in Winter Haven, Florida at the World Barefoot Center.

"It started off as a fun way to get more exposure for the sport of Barefooting, and developed into an outlet for me to offer some instruction and help others hopefully learn to do it!" said Ben

"A lot of my videos are shot to be humorous, but then those close to me also saw it as a really neat way to bring barefooting into the spotlight a little more" said Ben.

"In the video, simply put, I'm being towed across the lake at 42mph-44mph on my bare feet, using both the boat speed and technique to stay on top of the water and glide" said Ben.

"I actually learned at a fairly young age - my father was a competitive barefooter in New Zealand, so I grew up watching him compete at tournaments and always knew it was something I wanted to do. I got the hang of the basic/intermediate stuff fairly early on, but wasn't until I moved to Florida and started to take it seriously that I learned the advanced tricks!" said Ben.

"You're never too old to learn! We teach people how to do this everyday at my ski school, the World Barefoot Center, and we have taught all shapes, sizes, and ages! The youngest I have taught was 4 years old, and the oldest was 80!" said Ben.

Cumbiac by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/6428-cumbiac
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license