An Okotoks athlete was ready to take a timeout after winning a national championship.
Rylan Slapman timed out at the Canadian Skipping championships in Olds in late May as he didn’t miss a beat for three minutes in winning the 13-14 year-old boys double-unders competition.
“I didn’t miss once,” said Slapman, a member of the Okotoks Da Feet competitive skipping team. “I had 333 jumps, that’s the best I have ever done.”
The competition has the competitors making the most consecutive double-unders they can in three minutes.
A double-under is having the rope complete two revolutions in one jump. Meaning the rope went under Slapman’s feet 666 times in three minutes.
In Slapman’s division they are allowed one miscue in the opening 30 seconds to get their bearings, after that, one slip, you’re gone.
The soon-to-be Grade 8 student at St. John Paul II Collegiate didn’t need the 30-second Mulligan. He was perfect the entire 180 seconds.
Slapman was too focused to realize his opponents were dropping like flies on a hot windowsill.
“I wasn’t really paying attention to the other skippers,” Slapman said. “I was looking up and looking at my spot to concentrate.”
The double-unders competition is a bit like running the 400m. It’s a sprint for a long distance.
“I started getting tired around two minutes, a little later than usual,” Slapman said. “But since it was nationals, I wanted to go as far as I could.”
When he timed out, he couldn’t believe it.
“It was like ‘Oh, my gosh I finished three minutes,’” he said. “The first thing I wanted to do was see my coach Ms. Adams.
“She said she was so proud of me.’”
The excitable Renee Adams, a teacher at St. John Paul II, was cool as a cucumber at nationals.
“At provincials, I held my breath and I nearly fainted,” Adams said with a laugh. “This time, I had so much confidence in him, I thought: ‘He’s got this.’
“I just cheered and when it was all over, I gave him a big hug.”
Rylan is fast, but the quickest feet in the family goes to younger brother Teagan.
He finished second in the speed competition in the 11-12 boys competition.
Teagan had 136 skips in 30 seconds.
Da Feet has three members and is the competitive aspect of the Okotoks Skipping Club.
There are 38 members in the club, which calls its recreational component The Happy Feet.
Adams went to nationals while growing up in Provost, where she skipped with the Provost Hot Peppers.
For information about the club go to adamsskipping.weebly.com
