I guess you can call it serendipity, because it’s not often that I find a sport I love so much. I love yoga and I am also great at napping (see, now you get a sense of my overall athletic abilities), but other than that I am out.
But one day this summer as I was going to meet my friend Sarah in Maçka Park, I came across a group of slackliners. What can I say? I was smitten. I couldn’t take my eyes off them. I wanted to try it because it looked like so much fun. Someone from the group called me over and invited me to walk the slackline. I had to hold someone’s hand to get across the nylon line stretched across two trees, but I made it slowly and steadily.
Now, the trick is to do it by myself (no hand holding) – and I am still learning, but I love the feel of the webbing beneath my feet and the challenge of balancing myself on the slackline itself. For someone like me who likes to try new things, but doesn’t like competitive sports, I had found a great new activity and a great new tribe as well.
Once you get more advanced, there are a whole bunch of tricks you can learn bouncing on the line like a trampoline. I know, just getting across the line is more than enough trick for me, but I can tell you the more expert of the group can jump and flip and basically, do amazing things that require balance, timing and that athletic ability of which I am so in awe. That’s called tricklining and there are a series of variations of slacklining like waterlining (slacklining over water) and highlining (which is slacklining at a considerable height and involves harnessing, just in case.)
The group usually meets in Maçka Park and is organized through Facebook. If you join the group you can follow that page for monthly events or the one-offs by people who set up rigs in the park on an impromptu basis. Everyone I met was incredibly welcoming and friendly. The group itself is made up of a loose knit group of young Turkish people (most of whom speak some English) and ex-pats (from Erasmus students to non-athletic former New Yorkers. Yeah, that would be me.)
Cihan, Bulut and Nuri admin the group and act as informal hosts. Cihan always offers helpful tips for newbies and encourages everyone to try something new. The beginners usually hang out together at the slackline set up at a lower height – and the expert slackliners are nearby perfecting their tricks on a slackline that tends to be a few feet higher off the ground. Usually, there are three or four lines set up for people to try. People chat and juggle (or learn to juggle) as they wait for their turn. If you feel inspired, come join us and bring your friends for a great day in the park. You’ll have fun, learn something new and maybe even find yourself saying it’s serendipity too.
There’s an event scheduled this coming weekend from 12pm – 6pm on Saturday, 7 December. The group will be meeting in Küçük Çamlıca Park in Üsküdar. There will be a highline as well as regular slacklines. So come and check it out and see if you have what it takes to walk the (slack)line.
Slackline İstanbul: https://www.facebook.com/groups/slackist/
Highline Event, Saturday, 7 December: https://www.facebook.com/events/431618316964058/431852286940661/?notif_t=plan_mall_activity
Alba Brunetti is a contributor to Yabangee, she blogs about life in Istanbul at The Bluest I –http://thebluesti.blogspot.
