The sport of log rolling has been tethered to a short rope for more than a hundred years. Unless you grew up in an environment with a ready supply of lathe-turned, 500-pound western red cedar logs, you were unlikely to learn.
And if you were a roller who moved away from a region where the sport is practiced (mainly Wisconsin with a few places in Canada and the northwest), you most likely gave it up for other pursuits. Or you hauled your 500 pound logs with you, in search of a friendly pond or pool. But only the most committed ever did that.
Brothers Caiden (9) and Carson (15) Poupore, junior world champions from Oconomowoc, Wisconsin were committed when they moved to Texas a few years ago. They brought their wood logs to practice in their backyard pool, just like the kids in the new Orkin ad. But they left behind a community of log rollers and tournaments that supported their passion.
It’s not been easy for them, said their mom, Cerise Poupore. Log rollers in Texas are like fish out of water. Practice partners don’t exist, so training is a solitary endeavor. Still, both boys won their divisions at the annual 2017 World Log Rolling Championships in Hayward, Wisconsin.
The portable synthetic Key Log® is changing everything. With the addition of more than 500 new programs in 49 states and seven countries since 2012, log rolling is trending as a viable aquatic sport at colleges, camps, and community aquatics centers. And many of those colleges are in the Poupore’s new home state of Texas. Key Log Rolling's technological advancement is bringing thousands of people into the sport; people like Stephanie Duong, a student at the University of Texas, Dallas.
Stephanie was introduced to Key Log Rolling at her Campus Rec aquatics program. She received basic instruction from a director who had taken a Key Log Rolling clinic, and then quickly became the homegrown log rolling queen of Texas.
In April, Stephanie graduated in the first class of Key Log Rolling® Instructor Trainers where she received advanced coaching. Since then, she has been training to improve her skills in preparation for the first-ever Collegiate Regional Log Rolling Tournament at the University of Missouri in September.
Recently, the past and the future worlds of log rolling came together when the Poupore brothers visited the Log Roll Queen at UT-Dallas. They offered her some coaching and a glimpse of the skills she can develop, while she shared the portability of the Key Log® and the possibilities for log rolling in college.
Perhaps, the sport the brothers left behind in Wisconsin, isn’t so far away after all.
Want to bring Key Log Rolling® to your backyard pool, lake home or favorite aquatics facility? Contact Emily Ward, Director of National Sales. emily@keylogrolling.com