Hello All,
I am a Unicyclist of several months experience. I can rock, idle, hover, (or
whatever you want to call it), and am quite interested in doing some uni-hockey.
Can anyone tell me if there is any group in the Birmingham (UK) area that plays?
I am also working on juggling while on the uni, but progress is slow (picking
the objects up isn’t so easy). Has anybody got any advice?
Cheers, Ed.
Re: Hockey and Juggling
>I am a Unicyclist of several months experience. I can rock, idle, hover, (or
>whatever you want to call it), and am quite interested in doing some
>uni-hockey. Can anyone tell me if there is any group in the Birmingham (UK)
>area that plays?
Contact Mark Wiggins on markw@ftel.co.uk - but recently he said he’d given up
trying to set up a team in Birmingham. However if you want to do some one-a-side
playing…
On the other hand you could come to Bristol on a Thursday night where we have a
longstanding and growing hockey night, and a mix of abilities right up to
excellent. Mark was thinking of coming occasionally, so you could make the
journey together and save on costs.
>I am also working on juggling while on the uni, but progress is slow (picking
>the objects up isn’t so easy). Has anybody got any advice?
If you did it with stage balls in the shallow end of a swimming pool you
wouldn’t have to bend to pick up the balls.
Try juggling while cycling in a straight line, it’s easier than while hovering
(at least until you meet the wall). Also work on your hovering while not
juggling, and try and get it really precise without any wobbling or travelling.
If there is a circus workshop near you, do some tightrope walking - this is
excellent for improving hovering. You can always improvise a low narrow edge if
you can’t find a tightrope.
Re: Hockey and Juggling
Mark Wiggins wrote:
>I have recently discovered a juggling club in Kidderminster (not far from
>Birmingham) that have an informal game of unicycle hockey during their
>workshop. They meet every Sunday 6:30pm-9:00pm at the Horsefair Centre (on The
>Horsefair). The hockey starts at about 8pm and lasts approx 20 mins.
>Maybe I’ll be able to persuade the Kidderminster lot to give you a match…
That would be great. We are having a challenge match in Stroud this Saturday. Do
come if you can, and bring a team too. It’s at Stratford Park Leisure Centre,
Main Hall 7 - 10 pm. Tel Ian on 01453 750147.
The more we have matches between different teams, the more enthusiasm we will
generate, new players etc. It seems that the UK network on unihockey teams has
fallen into disrepair, and some teams have disbanded. We need to revive the
interest if we are to provide some competition for all the teams arriving at
Unicon next year.
Re: Hockey and Juggling
Hello minimalists,
Pick up is easy in the following way:
First take a bottle or a standing club Stand up a little bit, so your weight is
no more on the saddle. Bend your body down as far as possible (without falling)
and do the pick up. Try to find out the best position of the cranks. If this is
to easy you may put five beanback to a pack O Take the first ball of. then you
can try four, three and so far.
Good lack, hope it helps,
Greetings from old Heidelberg, Claus
Re: Hockey and Juggling
> doing some uni-hockey. Can anyone tell me if there is any group in the
> Birmingham (UK) area that plays?
There is a list of unicycle-hockey teams at
http://www.science.yorku.ca/cac/people/sander/uni/teamlist.html
If you don’t have access to the web, let me know and I’ll email you a copy.
Rolf
Re: Hockey and Juggling
In article <4782et$od@sun4.bham.ac.uk>, Ed Porteous
<d122@ee-alta.bham.ac.uk> wrote:
> I am also working on juggling while on the uni, but progress is slow (picking
> the objects up isn’t so easy). Has anybody got any advice?
I didn’t used to be able to juggle on the uni (clearly), and then I stopped
practicing it. A couple years later, I tried it again, and was instantly able to
do it. This summer I attempted to pass clubs while idling, and was amazed to
find that I could do it with no trouble at all.
Here’s why I think I acquired the ability without practicing it: To begin with
unicycling requires a lot of use of the upper-body to maintain the balance. As
your body finds that it is off balance in one direction, it must correct for it,
and it often will over-compensate, and then have to correct in the other
direction. As you practice unicycling, you get better at simply being balanced,
without having to compensate so much. So then you can use the upper-body for
something else, say, juggling.
Now, I’m not saying, of course, that you shouldn’t bother practicing juggling on
the uni. I would recommend first practicing juggling while riding forward (as
opposed to while idling), though perhaps you already discovered that to be
easier. Also, try unicycling along a straight line, like a painted line on the
pavement. The more precisely you can control the unicycle, the easier it will be
to juggle at the same time.
As far as picking up the objects, well, that’s another fun thing to practice! If
you don’t mind having your seat a little low, it’s actually not too hard. It
also requires precision, though.
Good luck!
...derF\lieN
<--------
±-------------------------------+
| Neil “Fred” Picciotto | derf@brown.edu | nfp@cs.brown.edu |
| http://www.netspace.org/~derf/ |
±-------------------------------+
Re: Hockey and Juggling
Sorry, Not beenback it must be beenbag
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
Re: Hockey and Juggling
Tim Sheppard wrote:
> Contact Mark Wiggins on markw@ftel.co.uk - but recently he said he’d given up
> trying to set up a team in Birmingham. However if you want to do some
> one-a-side playing…
Indeed, I have contacted Ed.
I have recently discovered a juggling club in Kidderminster (not far from
Birmingham) that have an informal game of unicycle hockey during their workshop.
They meet every Sunday 6:30pm-9:00pm at the Horsefair Centre (on The Horsefair).
The hockey starts at about 8pm and lasts approx 20 mins.
> On the other hand you could come to Bristol on a Thursday night where we have
> a longstanding and growing hockey night, and a mix of abilities right up to
> excellent. Mark was thinking of coming occasionally, so you could make the
> journey together and save on costs.
Maybe I’ll be able to persuade the Kidderminster lot to give you a match…
> ========================================================
> Tim Sheppard tim@lilliput-p.win-uk.net Lilliput Press - Publisher of fine
> books in miniature
> ========================================================
Regards, Mark.
Mark Wiggins, | markw@ftel.co.uk +44 (121) 717 6255 Fujitsu Telecom Europe
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