Brett Sands and Fletcher Ball in downtown Forth Worth, Texas, having a break from training camp.
Echuca-Moama’s assault on the world barefoot waterskiing championships is about to hit top gear.
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Brett Sands and Fletcher Ball have moved from their Texas training camp to the competition site in Auburndale, Florida and unlike the hurricane ravaged 2024 championships, conditions there are perfect.
Speaking from the US, Sands said the forecast was all clear for the championships, which start Sunday, October 18 our time.
“Conditions so far when testing on the competition site for us have been really good,” he said.
“Training has been great here in Florida since we arrived on Saturday and the camp in Texas was outstanding, and we have everyone hitting their straps at the right time.”
Brett Sands taking the Australian coaching team for a spin at Florida.
While the whole team is injury free, Sands admitted it had bigger fish to fry.
He said the US v Australia rivalry had been boiling along for the past 50 years, and 2026 will be no different.
But this time around, he is approaching the whole thing with a bit more caution.
“The Americans have a really mature team this year and have been working very hard for the past two years,” he said.
“I think they will really challenge us in every event and it will come down to who can lay it down on the day.”
For Sands any step onto a podium would be a sporting benchmark – he has gone from being the youngest in the team in 1986 to now far and away the oldest at 56.
Which hasn’t stopped him becoming the first, and only, competitor to appear in 12 world championships.
Skiing with him is a local young enough to be his son – Ball celebrating his 21st birthday on the road with the team.
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.”
Ball said he had been on the water almost every day and been able to get in some good rest in between.
“I’ve been lucky enough to have good mates around the sport from America who are kind enough to lend us boats and accommodation at times,” he said.
“My goals for this worlds is to obviously take home as much gold as possible, but at the end of the day I’m just honoured to be here.
“I have been lucky enough to meet some great lads along the way and able to make such a unique sport so much fun.”
Ball said his body “is feeling great” and the early arrival was a big plus.
“Being able to have a few weeks in America before the worlds start has definitely made things a lot easier with jet lag and training,” he said.
“I did have a minor knee problem, but it has been taken care of and I’m ready for the week to start.”
Earlier this year Sands was inducted into the Australian Wakeboard and Waterski Hall of Fame and at these world championships will also be inducted into the International Waterski Wakeboard Federation Hall of Fame – making him only the third Australian barefooter to achieve that honour.
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