We introduced Freestyle Barefooting in 2009 with the release of the TNT Video.  TNT showcased the talents of Andre De Villiers and introduced the ADV (Air De Villiers) to the world.  Chuck Gleason came up with the idea for jumping over the boat and doing wakeboard moves at barefoot speeds.  Andre was the first skier he had ever met that not only had the barefoot skills to pull it off, but was also a talented wake boarder who understood what it would take to do all the moves at barefoot speeds.  In 2011, we released the video Progression that showed how many tricks Andre had invented in just 2 years after learning the ADV just 2 years prior.

To this day, 15 years later, the sport has still not caught up with Freestyle and incorporated it into world competitions. Freestyle challenged footers to be unique, showing their unique skiing styles.  The technical perfectionists of the judges around the world have a hard time understanding how to judge style, personality and creativity.  Until they figure it out, we will continue to enjoy the videos of the many extremely talented skiers that participated in the BFC Freestyle Challenge between 2009 - 2014 becoming known as the Founders of Freestyle.
 

The Rules:

- Entries can be of a single or partner set of skiers.  For instance: Ron Scarpa and Paul Macdonald can enter as a team.  Andre & Zane can enter as a team or as individuals.  Prize money is awarded for the entry, and is paid to the person who submits the video, not per person in the video.  If a team wins, they will have to split the prizes. If you enter as a team in the Qualifying Round, you must also enter as a team in the Finals.

   PRO LEVEL ENTRIES: We recommend that each video be approximately 3-5 minutes in length. The goal is to entertain, not to be so long that the viewers loose interest.  But that's only a guideline.  You do what you feel shows off your talents and entertains the audience the best.

   NON PRO LEVEL ENTRIES: Entries need to be NO LONGER than 3 mins in length.  Anything beyond 3 min will be cropped. 

- The videos need to be submitted to BarefootCentral.com in their final edited version in either WMV, MPEG, or AVI formats.

- Skiers can ski on their feet, on shoe skis, on the boom, long-line, behind a plane, seadoo, helicopter, jetboat, etc...  You are only limited by your imagination.  Skiers can incorporate whatever aspect of barefooting in their videos that they want to including (skiing on the boom, long-line, jump, wake, trick, hand ski, knee ski, butt slides, cool start, or whatever you prefer).  The goal is to edit a video that is very entertaining, keeps the audiences attention, and showcases creativity both on and off the water.  More can be done in a video than can be done in a live competition due to the ability to run several passes to get it just right.  Videos can be submitted from footage shot at any time (past or present). 

We'll be voting after each round so we can all follow the process.  Voting will be a simple scoring system of 1 to 10.  1 = poor, 5=Average up to 10=Fantastic  after each round, scores will be totaled.  In order to ski in the Final Round, you must first ski in the Qualifier.  Each round is scored independently. Winner of the FINAL round will be crowned the World Champion.

There will be cash prizes awarded after each individual round, and then a final Overall Trophy.  Competitors will have the ability to win prizes at each phase of the competition.  Prize breakdowns will be as follows:

Bonus Points
2014 Bonus Pt Sponsors: Sanger Boats, Eagle Sports, BFC, Masterline, Barefoot International
(get 0.10 bonus points for each of the above sponsor logos you include in your videos)

Entry Forms & Waivers
- All participants are required to fill out an entry form and waiver.  NO Exceptions.  Videos will not be posted on BFC without completed forms. 

CLICK HERE FOR ENTRY FORMS & UPLOAD INSTRUCTIONS

Entry Fees & Very Important NOTICE:
- There are NO Entry Fees.  In lieu of an entry fee, we will require each competitor to submit an entry form that is a Liability and Hold Harmless Waiver.  We will be posting the waiver on-line by April 15, and will require a signed copy faxed to us by May 1, along with the first video.  Competitors are entering the competition at their own risk and will take responsibly for their own actions while shooting their videos.  Videos will become the property of BarefootCentral.com, and will only be released on BarefootCentral.com during the contest.  If a video is released anywhere else (i.e. YouTube) during the contest, the contestant will forfeit all prize money and that video removed from that round of competition.  Any videos released on YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, or any other web based media outlet prior to the contest are not eligible to be submitted in any upcoming BFC Freestyle contest.  We are looking for 1st time release videos.  A video may contain older video footage as long as that footage has not been previously released.  The contest is all about originality, not just drumming up old footage and making it look different.  BFC reserves the right to disqualify any video if we feel it doesn't show original content, creativity, and new footage. 

Who Can Enter?
- Anyone can enter the competition. 

Warning:
- BarefootCentral.com, and any other supporting sponsors warn all competitors that barefoot waterskiing is an extreme and dangerous sport.  We do not promote in any way that skiers attempt tricks or stunts that put themselves into extreme risk of injury, or that are beyond their capabilities.  Know your limitation, and practice safe boating and safe skiing.