Editor’s note: This podcast was originally uploaded on Spotify on Nov. 5, 2023. 

In this episode of The Texan Recap, hear about a new sport at UT — RipStik hockey.

Reported by Paisley Garza. Hosted by Sriya Dommaraju. Edited by Jack Lewellyn. Produced by Aislyn Gaddis. Cover art by Emma Berke. Music by Top Flow Productions.

*upbeat music*

Sriya Dommaraju: There’s a brand new sport on UT’s campus — RipStik hockey.

I’m your host this week, Sriya Dommaraju and this is The Texan Recap.

Here’s what you missed this week.

*upbeat music*

Sriya: RipStik hockey is about to make its debut next week with its first game. General Life & Arts Reporter Paisley Garza is here to tell us about it. Thanks for joining me, Paisley

Paisley Garza: Thanks for having me.

Sriya: So could you describe what RipStik hockey is?

Paisley: So basically, RipStik hockey is a noncontact sport, and obviously played on a RipStik. Which, if you know what that is, it’s similar to a skateboard, but you don’t propel it by pushing your foot on the ground and RipStik hockey is also played on a basketball court. And it was rules that are similar to regular hockey, like traditional hockey, except there are variations since it’s pretty new like to keep them from hurting each other. And since people are still dropping in and learning how to play it for the first time, it’s pretty fluid rules right now, since it’s experimental.

Sriya: You talked to the founder and team captain John Parker for this story. What did he tell you about why he started the sport?

Paisley: So his story started with this sport and experimenting with it when he was 12 years old, actually, because I mean, like most 12-year-olds, they ride RipStiks and learn how to do that, which brought him to figuring out how fun that was. And he also grew up playing regular traditional hockey. And eventually, he decided to put the two together, start playing with his friends, and like made up a game per se. And he just started playing it when he was younger. And since he’s based in Austin, he tried to remember what it was like when he was younger playing games like that on the streets. And he obviously could just play like regular street hockey with people. But he somehow decided to make it harder for himself and find people who were playing on RipStiks just to make it more fun and more interesting. And since it’s harder to find people who can do that, and it’s obviously in a unique sport. You started advertising it by the crosswalk next to Moody with like flyers so that people and students would want to join. And that’s how people are interested in this.

Sriya: When will the first game be?

Paisley: So actually, some of the past games even got canceled because of weather occurrences. But the first game that they will be having is on November 8, next week at 5:45 p.m. at Eastwoods Park in Austin. 

Sriya: Can anyone join? 

Paisley: Anyone can join RipStik hockey because skill level does not matter for this. And everyone is welcome, even if you do not know how to ride a RipStik because as one of the founders Will Diamond said, he thinks that anyone can learn how to ride a RipStik if you have the right instructor and about 15 minutes. And both of the founders are like, obviously pretty good at it. So I mean anyone can come join even if you’re just interested or think it’s something funny to watch — like anyone is invited to just view or if you think it’s something cool.

Sriya: What are Parker’s hopes for the future of RipStik hockey?

Paisley: Parker’s hopes for the future are that obviously it’ll come out to the Austin community and more people will join even just viewing but obviously getting players because right now it’s a really small group and it’s really drop-in style, depending who shows up, like trying to gauge more interest. But eventually, he hopes to start some sort of league or at least a style that’s similar to that, where there’ll be different teams playing each week like a bracket per se. But as I said right now it’s a drop-in style to see where it goes and hopefully more people will become interested in this. 

Sriya: That was General Life & Arts Reporter Paisley Garza. Thanks for being here today. 

Paisley: Thank you for having me.

Sriya: And that’s The Texan Recap for the week of October 30th. I’m Sriya Dommaraju.

*upbeat music*

Sriya: The Texan Recap is a production of The Daily Texan Audio Department. If you like this episode, make sure you subscribe to The Daily Texan on your streaming platform of choice and follow us on Twitter @texanaudio. This episode was hosted and supervised by me Sriya Dommaraju, edited by Jack Lewellyn and supervised by Aislyn Gaddis. Special thanks to Paisley Garza for their reporting and to Katy Nelson, Mimi Calzada and Chloe Moore for contributing to this project. Cover art is by Emma Berke and music is by Top Flow Productions. To read the news stories in this episode or see more from the Texan, head on over to www.thedailytexan.com. Thanks for listening, and I’ll see you next week.