Why now is the best time to indulge in these offbeat sports in Mumbai

"There has been an explosion," says city-based skateboarder Russell Lopez, just before starting his weekend session with other enthusiasts at the Nerul skatepark in Navi Mumbai. He is talking about the increase in the number of skateboarders in Mumbai since March 2020. There are roughly around 500 new skateboarders in the city, reckons a happy Lopez, which means both the skateparks are packed with patrons all the time. However, he informs that it is not just downtime in the pandemic that has led to this spurt in interest but also the fact that a new skatepark opened up on Carter Road in Bandra West just a few months before the lockdown in 2020.

"While there is a big skatepark in Nerul, the one in Bandra manages to get the eyeballs," says Lopez, who makes it a point to visit both of them during the weekend. The suburban skatepark certainly managed to attract attention because many skaters who hadn't had a chance to practice their skills during restricted periods began going whenever the lockdown lifted. Also, many college-goers who did not have to attend college were seen at the skateparks more often. The energy in the skateboarding community is palpable now and is being seen among surfers and slackliners in the city too.

It has been many months since the Covid-19 pandemic wreaked havoc around the world and as the city is getting back to normalcy, the shouts of joy from sports enthusiasts on weekends are slowly returning too. In a city that lives and breathes cricket and football, there are now a large number of teenagers and youth who are embracing offbeat sports like skateboarding and slacklining on land, and even surfing the waves at the beach. Now, these sports have been there for a while and in different parts of the city but with the ongoing pandemic, it also seems like the right time for just anybody to take them up, enthusiasts say because it does not particularly need large groups.

The skateboarding community in the city has seen as many as 500 new people join them since the Covid-19 pandemic first struck in 2020. Photo: Russell Lopez

Jump, flip and swerve
Lopez is one of many skaters in the city for whom skating is a part of their lifestyle. The 36-year-old is a Dadar-based advertising agency professional during the week but turns into an active skater on the weekend. His passion is evident in the fact that he has been swerving on the skateboard for the last 28 years. Being a member of the Skateboarders United Association, he has been instrumental not only in organising meetups but also in helping promote the sport with the help of fellow skater Altamash Sayed, by talking to politicians and builders in the city to construct more skateparks for skaters. The community, he says, roughly has over 3,000 regular skaters, with 17 to 21-year-olds being the major chunk of enthusiasts.

Apart from the new skatepark in Bandra, he gives credit to social media and the community going online since 2011 for the increasing interest. While the sport has existed even before that, the last nine years have seen a steady rise in the number of youngsters taking it up in the city. The skateboarders have come a long way - from skating in an abandoned school in Nepeansea Road to now having six parks. However, currently, only the two at Nerul and Bandra are usable.

While the third one has been built in Thane, it isn't still accessible because the skatepark is a part of a bigger project including other sports activities and will be usable only after the completion of their construction. The previously known Khar Social skatepark is unavailable due to a pandemic-induced effect on the hospitality industry, which has made the restaurant consider accommodating more diners instead. Lopez says two others - one inside the NRI complex in Seawoods and another within the Lodha Towers in Lower Parel-- aren't open to the public too. However, they aren't worried because the current space and numbers tell a better story about the sport in the city.

Russell Lopez (right) has been skateboarding in the city for over 28 years and regularly visits the parks over the weekend. Photo Courtesy: Russell Lopez

With the Covid-19 restrictions and the increasing number of skateparks, ask Lopez if he thinks it is ideal time for more people to try it out and he says, "It is the right time to take it up, yes, as you have to only get the hang of the board and learn how to balance on it." However, he warns that it is important to have a good board for the activity, unlike what many people say. The boom in the number of skateboarders has seen this translate into sporting goods retailer Decathlon going out of stock due to the constant demand, says Lopez, based on what he has heard. However, the unavailability shouldn't deter anybody and to start with, one can simply ask another skateboarder and they will likely oblige by lending a board if they aren't too protective of them. The sport also has a different kind of vibrancy and that is evident when he says, "It is even more fun when you skate in groups and get an outside person's perspective to get a particular move right on the board".

Surfing the waves
There is an equal amount of interest developing for surfing and surfers are travelling all the way to Virar towards Rajodi beach. The community has been slowly building over time, but it is still unknown to many because it is situated in the interiors. Started by Dr Suyash Rawat and his team in 2018, the Mumbai Surf Club has a number of patrons that is slowly but steadily rising, and while 2020 dampened spirits, the community has been getting back in action since the lockdown was lifted. "Ahead of the surfing lessons which actively starts in March, we got at least 70-80 new surfers every month and the enquiries are at least four times that, so you know people are interested and the community is growing," says Rawat, who is currently pursuing his post-graduate degree in Germany.


A surfing trying her hand at Surf-Up Paddling (SUP) at Rajodi Beach in Virar, where people gather to surf with the help of the Mumbai Surf Club. Photo: Suyash Rawat

The surfing club, registered with the Surfing Federation of India (SFI), is currently being handled by his wife Preeti Rawat and their team. The surfing season lasts from September to June and the waves are at their best in the summers . The classes are conducted daily for 90 minutes. "In the ongoing season, we have been receiving at least 100 calls per month, which is more than earlier. However, it is hard to tell if it is due to the pandemic or simply more people getting to know about us," she says. Since the waves aren't at their best during this time of the year, Preeti says they conduct classes only during high tide, which differs daily and will come later by approximately 45 minutes as the winter progresses. When they can't conduct the classes, they are busy teaching the art of Surf-Up Paddling (SUP), she adds.

Just like the scope Lopez sees with skateboarding, Germany-based Rawat is positive about surfing in a post-Covid-19 world. "Even with the Covid-19 restrictions, surfing is encouraging because it is only you on your surfboard and with the waves, you end up keeping at least a 100 metres distance between you and the other surfers," he informs.

Walk the line
If skateboarding and surfing has been picking up, slacklining is not far behind, especially in parks across the city. Similar to tightrope walking, slacklining is achieved by balancing oneself along a flat piece of webbing secured between two anchors. City-based slackliner Samar Farooqi has a full-time schedule, being India's only professional slackliner for over eight years now, and managing SlackLifeInc, a sport and recreation company. The 29-year-old observes that the slacklining community has been growing and there are now easily over 250-300 slackliners walking around in the city, with 50-100 of them having taken up the sport during the pandemic. He explains, "A whole new generation of slackliners were born during the Covid era and they are really good. While some of them were doing it in their building parks, most of them were doing it in their living rooms."

Earlier in August, the community met up at a cliff in Manori to walk the first highline in the city. The fact that slackline classes are now being held in Kandivali is also a sign of the activity's popularity, Farooqi adds that the ecosystem being created around the sport isn't limited to going out but is also kept alive by sharing relevant content with each other about what they were and are doing at home or in their parks.

Samar Farooqi (right) attempts walking the highline, a step above slacklining, at a cliff in Manori in August. Farooqi says there have been at least 50 - 100 people who took up slacklining during the pandemic and practiced within their homes as parks were shut. Photo: Pritheesh Nama

"The beauty of slacklining is that it can be done anywhere - in your local park or on a beach, and it is all about meditation and balance," he explains. To keep up with his schedule, Farooqi had also moved to a friend's place in Delhi earlier this year but is now back in the city. While living in the capital, he was able to use a big indoor space to train and practice walking on a highline, which he has progressed to from slacklining, over the years. It is no surprise then when Farooqi also reveals that he broke his own 27-metre record in India by walking the highline at 32 metres around the same time. With slacklining communities meeting every weekend in Girgaum Chowpatty, Bombay Port Trust Park in Colaba, Karkare Park in Jogeshwari, Wadala, Pushpa Narsee Park and Juhu beach in Juhu and Vasai, all aspiring slackliners need to do is get in touch and join them, and more often than not, it will be taught for free by the enthusiasts. "The most important aspect for beginners who are taking up slacklining is that they need to make sure they are doing it on flat ground," he says, adding, "practising to balance on each leg for three seconds is the next step and then they are on their own".

Farooqi's words are definitely encouraging, especially now as many people are hesitant to enter crowded areas, even to just relax: "It is the best time to pick up the sport because you don't really need a lot of people to practice and it can be done alone." He adds that while the sport does have a community aspect to it, they are keeping the groups small due to Covid-19.

If there is one thing that is evident about these off-beat sports, it is that age is only a number and if picked up early, these can be continued for as long as one wants to, unlike many other sports. And, if the pandemic has taught us anything, it is to be positive and find joy in the smallest of things -like getting on a skateboard, balancing on a slackline or stepping on a surfboard to have a good time.

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