Anthony Hawes
Anthony came from a family who were competitive waterskiers. Although water skiing was not a school sport, his family and others attended Year 9 (Form 3) Camp every year to teach kids how to ski. It was always one of the highlights of camp.
Anthony started skiing at the age of 10 years and started barefooting around the age of 17. He started competitive barefoot at 20 and was first selected in the New Zealand Open Team in 1991 at 23.
Training generally involved skiing once midweek and in the weekends, with a lot of gym work in between. He also travelled to USA for coaching and used many coaching videos to perfect his technique. The teams skied right through the winter and used drysuits to keep warm!
Over the years, Anthony has competed at Regional, National and World level in Australia, USA and Europe. His best achievements at National level have been 2nd in Tricks and 3rd in Jump in the Open Men’s Division (Top division). Later in his career he was Senior Men’s (over 35) Overall National Champion. At the Senior World Champs held here in New Zealand in 2009 he was placed 4th overall, which he says is his best achievement on the world stage. He continued skiing for a couple of years after the Worlds but has since retired from competition.
Now his three boys aged 10, 10 (twins) and 9 can all barefoot – more champions in the making I assume!