I saw in the newspaper that the makers of Balance Bars (www.balance.com) are
asking people involved in mind/body sports to submit grant requests. With a
name like Balance Bar I couldn’t resist. I called the elementary school I
volunteer with, and sent in the essay below. I think it would be great if a
unicyclist won one of their grants. If anyone else has a bright idea for a
grant, then go for it!!!
Must be 18 and a US resident.
My Essay…
Balance? Do you want balance? How about throwing yourself down a set of stairs
on a unicycle? How about hurtling across the side of a mountain on one wheel?
“Look ma, no hands, no brakes, no gears, no second wheel!” Is this a balance
sport? Is this man balanced? “Hey, man are you ever 2 Tired?”
Take two…
Center! Weight on your seat. Smooth, round pedal strokes. Eyes up. Focus,
focus… Go for it! Like little birds leaping from their nests, third graders
launch away from the wall, fluttering on their unicycles–some catching a pedal
and falling to the earth; others catching the concept and soaring across the
gym. My heart flies with these little birds.
Take three…
I did my doctoral work in psychology at Stanford University, back in the mid
1970s. I studied personality theory with Albert Bandura, the father of social
learning theory, and researched a phenomenon called “The Knowing-Doing Gap”-how
it is that people (parents, managers, the rest of us) who know how we should
treat each other, fail to live up to what we know so often. I worked with
parents who abused their children, and with managers who struggled in
challenging work environments. I learned that a large part of this
knowing-doing gap exists because “knowing” is so often not enough.
Some areas of expertise are full of thorny concepts-think calculus or chess.
Others are full of thorny behaviors-think swimming or unicycling. Most
interpersonal and management skills are not rocket science. They are closer to
swimming or unicycling than they are to calculus or chess. Teaching parents and
managers using books and lectures is like discussing gravity with a unicyclist.
It might be fun for you, but it doesn’t make for a good parade.
Professionally, I teach managers to solve conflicts–using concepts I learn
from teaching children to unicycle in the mountains. As an amateur, I teach
children to mountain unicycle–using concepts I learn from teaching managers to
solve conflicts.
Take four…
You’re descending, a rock just ahead. Lean back, take the hit. It throws you
forward, back into the balance envelope. Your wheel gives on the scree,
spinning loose for a second. You’re free falling. Tuck your wheel under you,
aim to launch off whatever you hit. There, you’ve bounced back. More river
rocks–it’s all baby heads! A bucking bronco couldn’t be rougher. Leap!
Recover! Leap! This is living in the instant. This is Zen. This is not a circus
clown in a carnival. This is Muni!
Take five…
The National Unicycle Convention and the International Unicycle Convention are
coming to North Bend, Washington this summer. There will be exciting downhill
unicycle competitions, and I want to organize a team of my third, fourth, and
fifth graders to compete. I teach unicycling as a volunteer at my local
elementary school. They have a few beater unicycles, but they need better
equipment if they are to ride the ski lifts to the top of Snoqualmie Summit,
and win the races coming down. I’ll put in the time, if Balance can help me
purchase 5 mountain unicycles for the school. Each unicycle handles three
unicyclists (they share), so you’d be supporting a team of 15 riders.
Teachers are telling me that some of their tough cases have turned around
through unicycling. It could be adult time, it could be a sense of
accomplishment, it could be learning how to focus, it could be time away from
TV, it could be bullshit-but it makes me very motivated to make it work. I’d
love to take a winning team to the Nationals, and have Balance be their
sponsor.
David Maxfield
Bainbridge Island, WA