Features / Skipping
Meet Bav: Bristol’s skipping sensation
Bav Panchal had a skipping rope laying around his house for years, ignoring it until lockdown enveloped the UK freezing everyone into place.
This spurred Bav into finally picking up the rope. He would spend hours on his balcony slowly improving his skipping, implementing his infamous tricks and sharing it with his growing fan base on Instagram.
His success reached astronomical heights after athletics brand Gymshark picked up one of his videos and shared it.
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This placed Bav in front of many new eyes, all wanting to soak up something interesting and full of vitality to distract from the ongoing pandemic.
Bav had actively been making content for social media for years, before sharing skipping on social media he shared cycling reviews and vegan content on YouTube.
Bav’s rope of choice is and always has been a shorter one, shorter than the professionals which tends “to make things harder really” he says.
Stylistically, it looks snappier in videos but truly it’s all Bav knows, as learning in such a small space meant he adapted to the constraints and made it work for him.
You might think that once someone goes viral, its out with the old and in with the new, but Bav refuses to throw out his three-year-old rope – no fancy equipment here.
Bav loves to skip in animated areas of Bristol – photo: Leah Hoyle
Despite skipping for five years now each trick still takes a while for Bav to perfect, “it hasn’t gotten any easier” he says.
Every social media video takes a day to film, even if it is just a snappy ten second clip, a lot of time and effort is behind it.
Bav never starts with a plan he just puts some music on, finds the sun and skips however he feels.
The music is such a core part to Bav’s videos and his passion for skipping, his favourite genres being jungle and drum and bass. Bristol is a hub for this music, cultivating his inspiration.
Sammy Virji and Gardna are the skipper’s favourite artists and keep Bav motivated. His videos allowed him to get in contact with Bristol based Gardna and they have since formed a friendship thanks to social media.
“That’s one of the best parts of this, connecting with artists you love and building a community.
“I only ever choose to skip to a song I like. I need to get into the vibe of the song so the movement feels natural.”
Bav brings his joyful skipping everywhere, having skipped at Boomtown and Love Saves The Day.
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According to Bav, the best places to skip are The Cottage, Thekla and near the Bristol Suspension Bridge.
This is because he likes it the filming location to have atmosphere and good sun but not to be busy. Bav described himself as “really quite shy, people always think i’m going to be outgoing but no. This makes me more confident.”
This confidence is a real motivation for Bav as well as the support from the skipping community and messages from his viewers.
“I talked a bit about my mental health and one woman made sure to message me that her and her daughter had been supporting me. It’s really good to hear.”
Bav has one daughter of his own who he tries to involve in his skipping as much as he can. The five year old helps him with making sure he’s in frame and taking the opportunity to get in his fun videos.
“I always tell her to always take the opportunity to look at boats and get on them. Just go for it.”
Bav continues with a smile: “I think it’s important to just keep saying yes to stuff. It gets you to really cool places.”
Main Photo: Bav Panchal
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