In sports, we see crazy catches all of the time. Football players make them look routine. Baseball fans snag home runs while holding a baby. Even announcers get in on the fun. However, absolutely nobody has seen a game-saving grab quite like this one at the PortAventura theme park in Spain.
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Samuel Kempf, a New Zealand fistball player, was enjoying his day off from the Fistballing World Championships by hanging out at a Barcelona theme park. All of that sounds pretty casual, right? Well, he actually turned into a real-life hero for one stranger, who saw his cell phone go flying after he dropped it into the bottom of his roller coaster car.
While the Shambhala roller coaster was picking up speed, according to Stuff New Zealand, the man's phone went FLYING at 134 kilometers per hour — or 86 miles per hour — and Kemp somehow saw it, leaned over cousin Abigail Kempf, and made an outstanding, mid-air grab for the ages to save a stranger's phone.
You have to see the YouTube video from SirSammy 15 to believe it.
Roller Coaster Cell Phone Catch Video
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What's crazy is that Kempf actually saw it coming.
"The guy two rows ahead of me, as the ride started doing its ascent before it drops, he had his phone out and he dropped it and it just landed at the bottom of his cart," Kempf told Stuff New Zealand. "He was trying to reach down and grab it but because he was locked in he couldn't reach it and I just jokingly said to my brother and the people we were with 'get ready to catch.'"
As it turns out, it wasn't a joke. To make a long story short, the iPhone X really did sail from one of Europe's tallest and fastest roller coasters and Kempf was there to save the day.
"The ride started and I totally forgot about it because I was just in the moment 'cause it was such a good ride and then after the first drop we rose up and I just saw the phone drift across my view so I reached out and managed to catch it.
"I was sitting next to my cousin and she said she saw it but was too scared to let go so she was just gonna let it drop."
— New Zealand Fistball Player Samuel Kempf
Of course, after the ride, the owner of the phone gave Kempf a big hug and everyone else gave him a loud ovation filled with "cheering and clapping."
Luckily, the entire thing was caught on the Shambhala ride's camera. And as a nice gesture and thank you, the man who damn near lost his flying phone bought the roller coaster ride video for Kempf.
A happy ending for all at the PortAventura amusement park, indeed.
This post was originally published on September 5, 2019.
