Imagine having to vault with a pole over a water body and avoid landing in the drink so to speak. Well, in the Netherlands, there is such a sport. In local tongue it is known as Fierljeppen or polsstokverspringen. For those of us not familiar with the language, it is simply called canal jumping.
As the name suggests, one has to propel oneself on a pole and launch one's body over the canal and land on the other side. Sounds different right? Well, for the Dutch, it is a popular sport.
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So how is it done? Simple, a long pole and a water body are involved. The pole is no more than 43 feet and has a plate to prevent it from sinking in the mud when used to vault forward. The participant has to run forward, grab the pole, ensure it does not fall over and vault onto the other side and land without touching the water. In a nutshell, jump over the canal.
The origin of this sport was out of necessity. Netherlands has many waterways and this technique was the best way to get over them safely. Soon it became a competition and while the first official match was in 1771, the sport became well managed only in 1957. The farmers who used poles to leap over small water drainage channels. Now, it is mainly to entertain the tourists.?
The sport is fun to watch, and as a layman you would not know that there is so much history behind it. Interested in trying it out? What's stopping you? Go for it.