![](../images/for_pdf/0711-02201.jpg) | | Sara Kaiser practices rope walking at Moraga Commons Park. Photo Sophie Braccini
| | | | | | Local residents are seeing a new group of users at Moraga Commons Park: rope walkers. They come with a rope, secure them to trees (with adequate bark protection), and practice their new sport. Kids start a few feet off the ground, while more advanced walkers go higher with longer ropes. Sara Kaiser, a 2010 Campolindo High School graduate and UC Santa Cruz student says that she is one of the top three or four women in the world for the distance walked on a slack rope. "I started practicing at UC Santa Cruz; it is quite popular there," says the young woman who was practicing at the Commons July 18. "There are just a few thousands people training in this sport in the world, and few women." Kaiser says that her longest walk was about 600 feet and that puts her at the top of female rope walkers. Kids strolling by were drawn to Kaiser, touching the rope and asking to try it out. She would love to someday teach local kids to rope-walk. "Children can start as soon as they know how to walk," says Kaiser, "it takes about a week to be able to walk 30 feet."
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