Learn how to hoverboard from a record-breaking teen!

Have you ever tried hoverboarding? 🤪

Basically, it is like a skateboard but it feels like it's floating instead of rolling. Like gliding on air, or surfing on land!

Super cool, right?

Bianca Ciocirlan, a 13-year-old former figure skater from Romania, wanted to combine her love for ice skating with her newer passion for hoverboarding, and she did something truly exceptional...

She achieved the world record for the most seated pirouettes on a hoverboard in 30 seconds – 45!

Bianca started figure skating when she was 7 years old. She loved it and was really good at it until unfortunately, at the age of 10, she had a training accident where she hurt her knee…

So she had to take a 1.5-year break from figure skating. 😢

“I was devastated,” Bianca told us. “I thought I could ‘beat’ the pain, but it wasn’t that easy. […] I had hope though…”

Bad things sometimes happen in life, but the important thing is to stay positive and keep trying!

And that’s exactly what she did. 💪

“About 2 months after the accident, I requested a hoverboard for my birthday. […]

“I realized that I could do much more than moving with it. I could spin, I could get creative.

“And I also realized that my knee didn’t hurt while doing it…”

And that’s how her new adventure began!

Hoverboarding really helped Bianca cope with the disappointment of her injury.

“It basically helped me stay strong – it felt like I was skating, like nothing was lost and everything was still good.”

She even showed us how to hoverboard like pros!

Here are the 3 basic steps:

Find your balance. Once you get on to the hoverboard, spend a few minutes trying to really find your balance until you feel confident to try some moves.
Lean to go forwards or backwards. Lean ahead, slightly and slowly, if you want to zoom ahead, then lean back if you want to slow down or stop. Make sure you have someone to help you by holding your hands or just being there to catch you in case you lose balance. Staying close to a wall is also helpful – remember, safety first!
Lean feet in opposite directions to spin. Are you ready to start spinning? Try doing it really slowly at first, and then gradually increase your speed!

Sounds pretty easy, right?

Well, try breaking a world record with it. 😎

After her record-breaking experience, Bianca has some very useful advice for anyone who is experiencing change that they are finding difficult to cope with:

“Stay strong and never give up hope, because in the end everything will be great.

“Personally, it helped me to find a different passion and realize that the world didn’t end and that I can still go on and do what I love.”

We couldn’t agree more – in fact, experimenting with different hobbies and passions and embracing change can even lead to breaking a world record! 😉

If we’ve learned 1 thing from Bianca’s story, it is that using a combination of flexibility, positivity and resilience, you can overcome any challenge.

The ability to adapt is an important and valuable life skill!

Congratulations, Bianca, you are Officially Amazing.

You can find out more about Bianca and other kids who became the very best in the world, through our series The One Thing on Da Vinci.