Reprinted from the Oct. 10, 2005 edition of The Nashua Telegraph, Nashua, New Hampshire.
Abby Hoeschler makes log rolling look easy.
For her, it is. She has been using her feet and balance to keep herself up while running on logs since she was 4 years old.
Hoeschler, 18, is from La Crosse, Wis., and has competed in many world
championship log rolling events. She is now using her skills to teach
others the sport at YMCAs in Manchester and Concord.
During one of her classes in Manchester on Sunday, she taught several
children, ages 6 to 18, how to keep their arms out for balance while
attempting to use quick, steps to stay on top of a wet, 400-pound cedar
log that spun beneath their feet.
"Pick your feet up really fast," she said to one of the students. "Bend
your knees. Bend your knees. Little steps. Little steps. Try again."
Their time on the log lasted only about five seconds each before they tumbled into the pool water below. It was their
third class and, although five seconds may seem like a short time, it was a big improvement for the students, who
averaged about one second each during their first class.
Hoeschler tapped her hands on the log while it rolled to give students
a sense of how fast they should be stepping. Students stepped on one of
two carpeted areas of the log to give them traction. During a segment
of the class, they competed to see who could stay on the longest.
Olivia Gamelin, 17, is a lifeguard at the Manchester YMCA and a student in Hoeschler's class.
"It's a lot harder than it looks," she said.
Gamelin said she has enjoyed the class despite some minor rug burns
she received from tumbling against the log. There is an adrenaline
rush, she added, that makes her want to try again and again to stay on
the log as long as she can. She hopes to continue log rolling and
become certified to teach the sport soon.
"It's just awesome," she said. "When else are you ever going to get the chance to log roll?"
Nathan and Cody Marchand, 13, of Manchester signed up for the class
together. The twins are a perfect match for one another because
logrolling competitors should be about the same size to balance out the
log.
Cody likes the challenge and newness of the activity, he said. Both
boys are active in the aquatics program at the YMCA and participate in
other sports.
Nathan likes to compete and said he hopes to stay on the log for about
30 seconds by the end of the last class. At the beginning of their
class Sunday, Hoeschler, demonstrated running on the log for about five
minutes straight and was able to stay up on the type of log used by
students for hours because it is wider and spins slower than logs used
by more experienced log rollers.
She is a senior at St. Paul's School in Concord and is teaching the
classes at the YMCA as part of an independent study course. She will
continue to teach the classes until December and she also teaches the
sport in Wisconsin when she returns home for the summer, she said.
The local classes are going well so far, she said. Students in the
class are doing well, despite the fact that running on a log is a
completely new experience for them. The hardest thing for students to
learn is to step fast enough, she said.
Log rolling is a popular sport where Hoeschler comes from and she grew
up participating in the activity with her two older sisters and younger
brother. She learned the sport from her mother, Judy Scheer-Hoeschler,
a seven-time world champion log roller.
"It's hard because it's so natural to me," she said. "I learned so
young. I don't really ever remember learning." Laura "Pools" Leary, on
the other hand, has just started learning and is glad to be mentored by
Hoeschler.
"Abby definitely has a passion for it," she said. "She is doing an admirable job."
Leary has been the aquatic director at the Manchester YMCA for 10 years
and when Hoeschler approached her with the idea, she was all for it.
Leary, who had only seen the sport on TV, was excited to bring a new
type of program to
Manchester.
She hopes to continue the classes after Hoeschler is finished teaching,
by learning the sport herself. However, she has a lot of work to do
before she can reach that point.
"I'm a three-seconder," she said.
Other staff members have expressed interest in being instructors, and
according to Leary, the classes will be offered to both children and
adults.
Adults were able to sign up for classes being taught by Hoeschler now,
Leary said, but only children signed up. A second round of classes
taught by Hoeschler will begin the first week in November and are
offered to both adults and children 6 years old and older. The classes
last six weeks and are offered to members and nonmembers for $35.
At the end of the log rolling sessions, students from the Manchester
and Concord YMCAs will participate in a log rolling tournament.
Manchester students will be there wearing flannel lumberjack shirts to
show their spirit, Leary said.
