BusinessTN

Given that bungee cord jumping originated in New Zealand, it's not surprising that the more recent outdoor thrill-seeking craze of "zorbing" also originated there.

Zorbing is the sport of rolling down a hill inside a giant inflatable ball. Protected by a cushion of air while "sphering" down a hill, participants can choose to enjoy the tumbling, flipping, sliding ride with friends and even with a bucket of water tossed inside.

Zorb Limited of New Zealand has been operating Zorb ride parks in New Zealand, Australia, Europe and Japan for 13 years. The sport's originators, Zorb Limited opened its first and only facility in the United States last October in Pigeon Forge, Tenn.

Company CEO Craig Horrocks says key considerations in choosing Pigeon Forge as the site of the first U.S. operations were local understanding and support of his type of business and the fact that it is a destination most people get to by driving.

The available mountain acreage didn't hurt, either. While Horrocks, considered Panama City, Myrtle Beach, San Diego and Las Vegas as potential sites, the company would have had to "build a hill" in those locations in order to operate.

It hasn't been all smooth sphering for Horrocks and company, though. Earlier this year, Zorb Limited discovered a group in Maine representing itself as "Zorb New England" operating rides and even using photographs of Zorb spheres from Zorb Limited's Web site without authorization. As Zorb was preparing to take action against the group, news broke that Rebekah Meltzer, a news reporter with the Sun Journal in Lewiston, Maine, had been badly injured in an accident involving a globe ride developed by the "Zorb New England" group. During a media preview, Meltzer broke her back and injured a kidney when she struck a post while tumbling down a hill at Lost Valley Ski Resort in Maine.

Horrocks says the incident attracted unfortunate negative media attention, resulting in a temporary drop of activities at Zorb Limited's various globe-riding parks, including in Tennessee.

"Not all publicity is good publicity," Horrocks says. "And negative reputation can be like rust. It eats away."

Horrocks and company have spent 13 years working to make zorbing a safe activity, as well as to protect its name as the gold standard in the sport. To have unaffiliated operators damage that reputation is not something Horrocks takes lightly.

"The problem with the fake operators is they say, 'Well, I can go get a fake plastic ball from China for $1,000 and just tow a trailer behind my SUV. That's where the risk is," Horrocks says. "These people were so lazy that they didn't even bother to come down and do a little espionage on our site."

To provide some degree of protection for his company's reputation, Horrocks has trademarked the name "Zorb" and the activity "zorbing" in 16 countries. For Horrocks, it's not so much about stopping copycats as it is preserving his company's brand name, so customers can have confidence they'll have an authentic safe experience provided by the folks who invented the sport.

"At the end of day, we'll have competition," Horrocks says. "You can't go around suing everybody."