What to do With the Kids? – Keeping Them Entertained this Summer!

Aaron    Experience Guides     4x4 Driving, experiences, extreme sports, helicopter flights, High Ropes, Jet Skiing, kayaking, land-boarding, motocross, mountain boarding, quad biking, skydiving, Snow Experiences, track driving, wake boarding, water sports, zorbing sphereing

Keeping them Entertained is as easy as A, T, B…

This guide displays some of the great activities we have for taking the kids out for the day, be it to join in or get rid; you’ll find a great selection of best sellers, best enjoyed and best priced activities for the young’uns!

The summer holidays provide a challenging conundrum for parents and children alike, with the exhausting strain of six weeks worth of entertainment hitting the stress levels and purse strings hard.

Kids are also encapsulated in the utter joy of being off school for nearly 2 months, combined with a new found boredom for their inactive minds.

Well, how does one keep them entertained and busy for 6 weeks without breaking the bank? Send them to bootcamp? Send them out to earn themselves a few extra pennies?

Well one tried and tested method of keeping them entertained is to ignite a passion or a new hobby. The enthralling nature of spending all day perfecting a trick or learning a new technique – be it on wheels or their backside; is guaranteed to keep them occupied and happy this summer.

However, the allowance of such activities is a precarious situation for any parent; too much encouragement and they won’t do it – too little and they may resort to moping around all summer draining your resources!

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Bungee Jumping – The Ultimate Thrill

Aaron    Experience Guides     Bridge Bungee UK, Bungee Jump UK, Bungee Jumping, Extreme Bungee, Highest Bungee UK, Highest Bungee World, Indoor Bungee, Worlds Best Bungee, Worlds Highest Bungee

0-60mph – 1.9 seconds
G Force – 2G Vertical

Bungee Jumping is without a drop of doubt the UK’s most popular venture into the world of adrenaline, as people of all shapes, sizes and sanity leap every weekend on their first or fiftieth leap.

Who would’ve imagined 24 years on since the first commercial jump that Bungee Jumping would be so popular?

Bungee – English word for ‘Anything thick and squat’ incorporated in 1930’s for rubber

Bungy – Kiwi slang word for ‘Elastic Strap’

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British White Water Rafting Team – Interview

Aaron    The Professional's Arena     Best White Water Rafting UK, British White Water Rafting Team, Guide to White Water Rafting, White water Rafting, White Water Rafting Guide

Hi there, thanks for talking to us today. So, what has 2010 been like for you guys in the Rafting world?

Hi Extreme Element. 2010 has been good so far, we’ve been busy promoting rafting in the UK and getting our teams ready for a summer of races around the world.

We have some great races coming up with our Youth Teams making their first entrance into a World Rafting Championships and our Senior Teams heading to Holland, Italy and China.

So what do these competitions consist of?

The International Rafting Federation are the Governing body for Raft Racing and they set out the race rules and format. There are four current types, which are: read more

To Zorb or Not to Zorb?

Aaron    Experience Guides     Air Sphereing, Aqua Sphereing, Harness Sphereing, Hill Rolling, Sphere, Sphereing, Zorb, Zorbing

Whether you call it Sphereing, Zorbing, Orbing or just plain madness; Hill Rolling has lasted over a decade now and is showing no signs of losing momentum just yet.

Descending from the giant playground of New Zealand – ‘Zorbing’ was invented by Andrew Akers & Dwane van der Sluis back in 1994 when they bravely hit the slopes of Auckland for the first ever Zorb roll. By 1997 the crazy concept had developed into a fully fledged and publicly accessible activity, and so began the phenomenon. read more

Callum Bowran – Interview – Freestyle Skateboarding

Aaron    The Professional's Arena     Best Freestyle Skateboard, Callum Bowran, Freestyle Skateboarding, Professional Freestyle, Skateboarding, Skateboarding Champion, Skateboarding Lessons, UK Skateboarding

Callum Bowran

Hi Callum, thanks for talking to us today. So what exactly is Freestyle Skateboarding and what do the competitions consist of?

Freestyle skateboarding is just you and the board. You don’t need any obstacles or skate parks, just a skateboard and some flat ground – there is an ‘accepted’ view of what freestyle is, but the essence is do what you want. It’s one of the earliest forms of Skateboarding, and paved the foundations for modern street skating.

The competitions generally consist of two x 2 minute runs and getting judged against certain categories, such as style, technicality, consistency… but there are quite a few new formats being tried out lately.

What have you been up to in the Skateboarding world lately?

I was filming with Andy Evans fairly recently for Heel Toe Magic, but other than that just doing a few demos and getting ready for the events I hope to go to over summer.

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Katie Summerhayes – Interview – Freestyle Skiing

Aaron    The Professional's Arena     bristish freeski tour, experiences, extreme sports, freestyle skiing, grom games, junioe skiing, katie summerhayes, skier, skiing, Snow Experiences

We managed to catch up with this year’s Grom Games champion Katie Summerhayes for a quick chat, and to discuss how budding young skiers can get into the Skiing and Freestyle Skiing from a young age.

If you are interested in learning to ski or perfecting some tricks with Katie; make an enquiry with us and check our ‘Packages’ as we will be running some exclusive sessions with her in the future!

Hi Katie, thanks for speaking to us today. So, how long have you been Skiing for now?

Hey, no worries! I’ve been skiing for around 8 years now.

What exactly is Freestyle Skiing?

Well, Freestyle is a type of skiing that involves skiing off jumps, rails and on half pipes – performing as many ticks as possible! Skiing on rails and kickers takes good balance and a lot of practice, but is well worth it when you perfect a trick!

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Dan Nott – Interview – Wakeboarding

Aaron    The Professional's Arena     Dan Nott, extreme sports, Monster Eneregy Drinks, Surrey, wake boarding, wakeboard, Wakeboarder

Hi Dan, thanks for taking the time to talk to us today. So, what have you been up to this year?

Dan Nott, Professional Wakeboarder

At the beginning of 2010 I headed out to Argentina for the off-season as I have done for the last 4 years. It’s great to get out there as it is their summer during our winter. My girlfriend (also a pro rider) is Argentinean, so I stay out there with her and ride with all the locals on their boats.

Cool, sounds like fun! So what will the rest of 2010 hold for you?

Well it’s going to be a busy one for me. There are a lot of contests this year, including the rebirth of the UK tour which I am really looking forward to. My next contest is the FISE (Federazione Italiana Sport Equestri) in May, which is a rail-only event and is always fun. I will also be traveling around the world quite a bit, going to Spain, Russia, Sweden, Korea, China and many more countries hopefully!

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Dan Stanbridge – Interview – Downhill Mountain Biking

Aaron    The Professional's Arena    

Dan Stanbridge in Washington

Hi Dan, thanks for talking to us today. So how long have you been Mountain Biking for?

I have been riding bikes of some sort ever since I can remember really, and not just downhill. I started riding cross country and now I also like to ride road bikes, motocross, BMX – you name it, if it has 2 wheels then it works for me! But right now Downhill is my favourite and the one I have chosen to focus on and compete in.

What honours and achievements have you got under your belt?

In terms of titles and results, I have had a fair share of regional, national and international podium finishes and a few race wins dropped into the mix. However, the bottom line is that last year my best finish at a World Cup round was 13^th place, so this year my goal is to better that.

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Extreme Sports Guide to Buckinghamshire

Aaron    Destination Guides     4x4 Driving, experiences, extreme sports, gliding, Jet Skiing, motocross, skydiving, Snow Experiences, wake boarding, water skiing, water sports, zorbing sphereing

The county of Buckinghamshire is enriched with many claims to fame inside the UK, stretching across the first ‘real’ snow slope, the first Indoor Skydiving centre and the most successful Olympian to ever walk Blighty’s soil; Sir Steve Redgrave.

Wakeboarding in Buckinghamshire

The South East County is similar to its bordering county of Berkshire and its neighbour Surrey in that it falls easy on the eye with a dense population of woodland and countryside, and is also situated around 45 minutes away from Central London. The picturesque county has a wide range of activities and unique experiences to make a weekend visit out of, including those taken on water – as the county encompasses two of the three largest rivers in the UK.

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Dave Compton – Interview – UK Freestyle Mountain Boarding

Aaron    The Professional's Arena     ATB, experiences, extreme sports, mountain boarding, Mountain Boarding Championships, Surrey

Theo Acworth's Photography of Dave Compton

Dave Compton is part of the RTH team performing at this year’s Exclusive Mountain Boarding Day.

Hi Dave, thanks for talking to us today. So what exactly is Freestyle Mountain Boarding and what do the competitions consist of?

Hey there, no probs. Freestyle Mountain Boarding is probably most similar to Freestyle Snowboarding, as your feet are strapped to the board. Freestyle used to be run on one big-air jump, with the best single trick winning; but now Slopestyle courses are used a lot more, with a line of jumps, rails and quarter pipes.

Winning runs nowadays will have huge flips and spins, technical rail tricks, and most importantly good style throughout the whole thing. A lot of the recent competitions have been run in a Jam format, where everyone can drop in for their run when they want, instead of on a timer by the organisers. Jams are brilliant fun because they end up being a lot more creative and progressive, and usually less stressful for the riders as well.

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