Brett Sands in action. He is in Texas training for the world barefoot waterskiing championships, which start in Florida on October 17.
Photo by
JORDAN TOWNROW
The world barefoot skiing championships start in Florida on October 17 and Echuca-Moama has the veteran Brett Sands and rising star Fletcher Ball there. Andrew Mole spoke to them at their training camp in Texas.
In the barefoot business there are old hands — and then there’s Brett Sands.
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Once upon a time he was the baby of the world barefoot skiing championships, way back in 1986 when he was just 16.
Now at 56 he’s not just hanging on as an international competitor by the skin of his teeth, he admits he’ll be pretty happy just to keep his teeth.
But dental disasters aside, the veteran campaigner is today in Texas, in the good old US of A, getting ready for his 12th worlds in the open men’s — not just a dozen of the best but establishing his very own club, because he’s the only one who’s reached that amazing milestone.
An achievement even more astonishing when you recall at the end of 2004 he ‘retired’ for 14 years before catapulting himself back to the top of the podium with gold in the over-35 worlds in 2018.
If Sands needs any reminder of his competitive mortality, it’s standing there right next to him — he has Echuca’s Fletcher Ball on the team with him and the current world slalom champion is turning 21 on this trip.
Sands said the team was also hoping for kinder weather as it heads into the 2026 championships.
“We are in Texas now with the Australian team for a three-week training camp on the Pedernales River, which is about 40km northwest of Austin,” Sands said.
“We did the same thing in 2024, before heading down to Florida for the championships — trouble being, Hurricane Milton was headed there at the same time.
“The championships, and Florida, ended up being hit by a category five event and we were cancelled after three days of competition because of weather conditions and power outages.”
However, organisers did award individual placement medals for the events that safely registered verified preliminary scores.
Sands said he was expecting Ball to have another solid competition — when he won the 2024 slalom title Sands finished third behind him.
“Fletcher was only narrowly beaten in the overall championship and is gunning to win that one this year,” he said.
“Another local here is Brad Shearer, our team manager.
“I’ll be skiing in the open men’s slalom again for the team and no pressure, but Australia is the defending teams champs in the open division.”
With more than 120 international skiers competing across three divisions for men and women — juniors (under 17) under 23 and the elite open division — Sands said competition was definitely getting tougher.
But said at 56 he got a real kick out of inspiring the younger generation both home in Australia and at the world events.
Echuca’s Fletcher Ball hams it up for the camera. The reigning world slalom champion is looking for more gold in Florida later this month.
“As long as I can contribute to team scoring at the worlds I’ll hang in there — my focus has always been about our team success,” Sands said.
“When I made my first worlds, I was the youngest male to ever make the team, and I was fortunate to collect my first gold in 1990 – now I am back here and far and away the oldest in the team.”
Sands then added more gold in 1996 and 2004 before taking out a golden double in 2018 — in the over 35-year-old worlds (with the ageist writing on the wall).
After his comeback from 14 years out of competition, he has been part of the past three world championship-winning teams despite evolving from the team’s youngest member to its most ancient.
“We have mixed bag of successful skiers on the team, but far and away the most successful is Ashleigh Groen,” he said.
She holds a historic legacy in the sport, having secured 15 open women’s world championship titles and holding all three major open women’s world records.
“Ash is not just the GOAT of women’s barefooting, potentially she is the GOAT of everyone,” Sands said.
As a stamp of his success and longevity, earlier this year Sands was inducted into the Australian Wakeboard and Waterski Hall of Fame and at the worlds, which start on October 17, will also be inducted into the International Waterski Wakeboard Federation Hall of Fame.
Making him only the third Australian barefooter inducted, something he said he had found quite humbling.
The competition runs until October 24 at the same Auburndale, Florida venue as 2024 — hurricanes notwithstanding.
