American Kitefliers Association

Steve Edeiken was a sport kite flier. So it seems appropriate to nominate for this award,

the most successful and visible sport kiter in our AKA community.

Lifetime Achievement awards are often presented to our older members. But some fliers

start earlier than others. Our nominee began competing in 1991 and was named the

American Kite Rising Star of 1992. Since then, he has gone on to win 14 first place

trophies in AKA Grand National Competition, flying solo, in pairs, in team, and in

multiline. No other competitor has won as many awards in as many disciplines. In 1997,

he was named the AKC Outstanding Masters Class Flier, making him the only pilot ever

to receive both the Rising Star and Masters awards.

Our nominee has also been a creative promoter of kiting online. In 2003 he became

publisher of KiteLife.com – the most popular and prolific internet site for kites. In

addition to profiling events and fliers, he has also completed the effort to digitize and post

all copies of KiteLines and Stunt Kite Quarterly Magazines bringing those historical

achieves to a new generation of kiters. He has also produced numerous commercial sites

and is webmaster for the Kite Trade Association International.

He has served on the Boards of both AKA and KTAI. He has judged at the World Sport

Kite Championships in France and the World Kite Competitions in China.

More recently, our nominee drew a group of multiline fliers together to create the IQuad

phenomenon. This dynamic performance group has inspired hundreds of fliers and

hundreds of thousands of spectators with their indoor and outdoor exhibitions. If there is

growth and charisma in the kiting movement today, IQuad is the driving force. And the

driving force behind IQuad is of course, John Barresi.

We are pleased to nominate him for AKA highest award.

David Gomberg

Susan Gomberg

David Hathaway