Taylor, the youngest of the Duffy competitors, just missed a bronze medal in both the Boom Run and Log Rolling competitions in 2001.

HAYWARD, Wis. — As the old adage goes, the Duffy clan of Hayward, Wis., believes that playing together helps them stay together — but they have also picked up a bunch of splinters together, too.

That's because Sean Duffy, his brother Brian and their 19-year-old niece, Taylor, do their playing around logs — they're all accomplished log rollers and they're quickly expanding their timber sports horizons and competing in other events. The Duffys are well on their way to becoming the First Family of the lumberjack universe, a title they expect to solidify at this year's ESPN Great Outdoor Games.

And they all hail from the center of that universe — Hayward.

"In most towns, kids take swimming lessons in the summer," Sean Duffy said. "In Hayward, kids take log-rolling lessons."

The Duffys and several other lumberjack athletes from tiny Hayward (population 2,000) and from around the world are scheduled to compete in the Great Outdoor Games in Lake Placid, N.Y., from July 10 to July 14.

The Games will be broadcast on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC July 20-23, which the Duffys say will only be good for what Brian calls "the quiet timber sports."

From the beginning

Sean and Brian Duffy got involved in log rolling when they were children. Sean, 30, started when he was five, following in his big brother's footsteps. Thirty-three-year-old Brian also started when he was five, and he credits the young start with his success today.

	Sean Duffy is sitting out the Log Rolling event this year to focus on Speed Climbing.

"Log rolling is a sport that you have to learn when you're young," said the five-time world champion and father of three log-rolling children. "I've never seen someone learn it later in life and really get it."

The kids in Hayward have an advantage, Brian said. The town's Lumberjack Bowl, a timber-sports theme facility, offers lessons each year.

"There were 130 kids taking log-rolling lessons this year," Brian said. "That's more than there were in the youth hockey program."

Log rolling isn't just about balance, the Duffys said. There's a mental game-within-the-game.

"It's true that you have to be in excellent shape," Brian said, as he prepared for a pre-Great Outdoor Games 6-mile run through the woods near Hayward. "If you're not in great physical shape, it's hard to concentrate, and you have to stay focused to win. It takes focus and strategy."

Sean won't be rolling logs during this summer's Games. Instead, he's devoted his training time to the Speed Climbing event — an all-out sprint to the top of a 65-foot pole. Doing both the speed climb and the log roll would be too taxing physically, he said, and the speed climb has become his favorite.

Real World lumberjack

In addition to his accomplishments in timber sports, Sean is also known by many as one of the house members on the 1997 MTV "Real World Seattle" reality TV show. He competes regularly in Real World reunion competitions, and met his wife, Rachel, a "Real World San Francisco" alum, at Real World reunion a few years ago. He and Rachel have two children.

	Brian Duffy won the silver medal in both Boom Run and Log Rolling at the 2001 Games.

"I started log rolling because all my brothers and sisters log rolled," said Sean, one of 11 siblings in the Duffy clan. Since he can train with his brother, and now niece Taylor, the pursuit is that much more special.

"Brian and I encourage each other," he said "It's sort of a brother-bonding thing. And now Taylor's involved. She has such great natural talent — she's really fun to watch."

Taylor looks to her uncles for advice and coaching, she said.

"I started when I was six," she said. "I was just sort of dragged along because the whole family did it. Brian and Sean have been really supportive and they've kept me interested."

In addition to log rolling, Taylor, like her uncle Brian, also competes regularly in the Boom Run — a head-to-head race against one competitor across eight floating logs chained together end-to-end. She's part of a traveling lumber sports exhibition team dubbed the "Lumberjills," which helps ensure her some training time leading up to the Great Outdoor Games in Lake Placid.

"I'm also learning how to chop," said Taylor, who redshirted her freshman year on the University of Wisconsin-Superior women's basketball team. "I'll be competing in that soon."

It's not unusual to see entire families get involved in timber sports, said Rob Scheer of Lumberjack Sports International of Ketchikan, Alaska, an event-staging group that's in charge of staging the Games' timber sports events this summer.

"There's always some sort of connection," Scheer said. "Either it's generational or people get involved in it through work. There are also some colleges out there that have clubs that compete in lumberjack sports.

"The Games have definitely increased interest in the pursuit," he said, "and television coverage over the years on ESPN Outdoors has been good for the sport. Thanks to that television exposure, the annual Great Outdoor Games have now become the big event of the lumberjack sports season."