It’s Tuesday, and the sun hasn’t even set yet, but a backyard in Kitchener is packed with people. They cheer excitedly as riders fly higher than telephone wires, pulling off Christ airs and inward back flips.
Young men jump from trees and balconies, and swing on a rope that is suspended from a tree branch. They hold on to a wakeboard handle and stand on a skateboard that has no wheels. The set up allows them to do grinds and grabs at heights street skaters could only dream about.
In September 2003, a raccoon had been making a mess of the garbage at 65 Brock Street, the property that would soon become synonymous with ropeboarding. A trap was rigged to the backyard maple tree, but instead of catching raccoons, it caught the attention of the skateboarders who lived there.
The Toonders brothers and their friends saw the potential for adrenaline and they began to swing on the trap. After a series of modifications, the trap was replaced with a skateboard deck and a wakeboard handle.
The athletes soon found that anything from doghouses to swing sets could be used for variations of skateboarding, snowboarding, and wakeboarding moves. “The flying capability opens up a bigger window for more tricks and variations while you’re in the air," says Robert Nelson, one of the founding riders. Objects of any size, like lampposts and houses, could be used for tricks.
The young men would hold ropeboarding parties where up to 80 teenagers would pack into suburban backyards. Pockets of ropeboarding communities began to spring up in Kitchener and neighbouring cities. The versatility of the sport allowed riders to ropeboard from trees in backyards or parks, or from bridges or warehouse rafters.
Nelson estimates that setting up the ropeboard on a hill allows riders to reach heights of up to 35ft. At these heights, riders have the freedom to do difficult manoeuvres like the inward back flip or the 360 barrel roll.
The Toonders no longer live at 65 Brock Street, but the home of ropeboarding lives on through the company created by four of the original riders. Brock Ropeboards was established by Sam Toonders, Jonah Kay, Joey Hamilton, and Robert Nelson to distribute ropeboards and videos.
“There is a market for ropeboarding, so hopefully we would be the company to distribute the ropeboards and be on top of the business aspect," says Nelson.
Brock Ropeboards manufacture and sell ropeboarding gear on their website, ropeboard.com, which features an extensive library of photos and videos.
Both Much Adrenaline and MTV Canada have done segments on the new extreme sport, and their video, 'Learning to Fly', has been viewed more than 35,000 times on Youtube.
For all their successes, the ropeboarders have faced their share of hardships too. The high-risk nature of the sport has led to one rider breaking an arm, and another suffering a slipped disc.
Even though none of the ropeboarding injuries have been permanent, the Brock team has had difficulty getting insurance coverage for public demos. This forced them to reject an invitation to perform at Toronto’s Wakestock, the largest Wakeboarding event in the world.
According to Dr. Bob Barney, founding director of the International Centre for Olympic Studies, the ropeboarders will face many more challenges if they want to see their sport institutionalized.
He says that an organization or governing body is essential for ensuring the longevity of the ropeboarding. This would lead to the creation of rules or standards, which would allow officials to monitor annual organized events.
Though this sounds daunting for athletes who thrive on spontaneity, Dr. Barney thinks ropeboarding’s “attractiveness as a television entity" could bring the sport into mainstream culture in a matter of decades. Until then, the Brock team is working to overcome their financial struggles so they can afford to put on public events and patent their new flip boards.
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