Take up logrolling

62. Take up logrolling

It was great, at first, to be the only pool in the area offering logrolling. That was until Swimstitute co-founder Scott Morris got mildly addicted to the sport and was involved in a rare logrolling accident.

“It’s supposed to be really safe … and I broke my tailbone doing it,” Morris admits.

The sport involves standing and balancing atop a 600-pound log which floats in a pool. (For safety reasons, the Swimstitute’s log is wrapped in carpet).

The Swimstitute offers lap swimming, water-exercise classes, and competitive swim training. Morris helped bring logrolling there after seeing the sport featured in a magazine. As far as he knows, the Swimstitute is currently the only place in California offering a log for people to practice on.

In a professional logrolling competition, two athletes stand on the log at the same time and roll it around, each attempting to knock the other off. Generally, the first to knock an opponent off twice (in a best-of-three format) or three times (in a best-of-five format) moves on to the next round. The competition rolls on until one person has won all his or her rounds.

“It is definitely both [physical and mental],” says Morris of logrolling. “The better you get at it, obviously, the more physical it is, because a lot of people get on it and last only two to four seconds.”

He adds that logrolling is a good summer sport because the Swimstitute is a covered pool, not exposed to the hot summer sun.

But one important question remains: After breaking his butt, is Morris willing to get in the pool and try logrolling again?

“I have wanted to get back on that horse and give it another go,” Morris says.

While there currently aren’t any logrolling classes, aspiring rollers can reserve the log for private use at the pool. Advance reservations cost $50 per hour during business hours, or $75 per hour after business hours.

Swimstitute, 11335 B Folsom Boulevard in Rancho Cordova; (916) 851-0840; www.swimstitute.com.

J.M.