About Us

How it All Began - From the Founders

 

Ian and I are both athletes who push ourselves to our extremes in our daily lives. Out of the four Klosowiak brothers, Ian was always the one who would discover new sports through the local Chicago suburbs YMCA and would then convince our other brothers and me to do them. This way, we learned how to skateboard, inline skate, mountain bike, road bike, rock climb, do gymnastics, swim and other sports. Learning new sports and working hard to master them was what raised us and taught us the value of hard work, the importance of diligence, and the necessity of persistence. Even at the age of 31 and now having a wife and kids, Ian is still learning new sports, trying out telemark skiing and mastering kite boarding. The lifelong athlete is always in pursuit of the next physical challenge. 

Out of all the sports I dabbled in, I chose gymnastics to focus on, which I did for 13 years, as well as 1 meter springboard diving for four years. After earning top-three Illinois state placements in gymnastics and winning All-American in diving, I retired from those two sports at 18 and went off to college searching for new activities to learn. When you grow up doing a sport for 24 hours per week for over a decade, that desire to learn and master your body in different sport applications never goes away. With a strong foundation in balance and core strength from gymnastics, over the next several years I picked up ice hockey, extreme slack lining, rock climbing, mountain biking, snowboarding, skiing, wake boarding and other sports. No matter what sport I do, whether it’s whipping around the high bar, leaning over to shoot the puck, or cruising down a fresh groomer, the fundamental thing that ties everything together is having good balance and core strength. 

For much of his younger 20s, Ian’s athletic career was riddled with various injuries which ultimately resulted in a serious knee surgery and a long recovery period. Every athlete that has had an injury knows that when you switch seasons or pickup a new sport, you have to prepare your body adequately. We all train in the off season, we cross train with other sports to work different muscles, and we continuously look for more tools to help us prepare for our sports. We do this to prevent injury, but also to be stronger, faster, better at our sports and take our skills to the next level. 

Until now, there has been no balance board that is truly challenging in a way that so many sports are, leaving you sore and hungry for improvement. The Skill Board will challenge your sense of balance, will work your feet, shins, quads, core, all the way up to your shoulders. It’s a full body workout that requires attention and focus and will ultimately really heighten your sense of spatial awareness and balance. Ride safely, and good luck!”

-Adam Klosowiak, CEO