way to much hockey? I didn’t even know that there was such a thing;-) ( I was the bushy haired and short bearded gentleman vainly trying to improve my wheel walking) It was a really good uni-meet and one of the best attended for a while - really good to see some of the skills of the better riders- always inspires me to keep up the practise - I do agree with the games but people seem to drift off around 5ish. Steve Colligan organised some after the warm up which was a good start
Yep that was me- I’m impressed by how vigilant you were/are on the unicycle spotting - you’d have got bonus points though if you’d noticed that it was only an Onza cover on one of Rogers lovely carbon fibre seat bases ( I believe you had one on your green machine) so not really a complete Onza saddle but I’ll let you off. I’ll say hi next time I see you,you can probably give me some tips on the wheel walking as well which would be most helpfull. Oh the joys of unicycle spotting
Roland
Too much hockey??? What??? We played less hockey than usual! We started the hockey later than usual to give people more time to do their own thing. Before we started the hockey, Mark and myself ran a workshop for anyone new to hockey, or beginners to the hockey scene. There were only 4 teams playing hockey and each team played each other once (10 mins per game). We’ve never played so little hockey. We did play a special game of hockey for the young ones and beginners though. That was another 10 mins. After we finished the hockey, everyone was free to do their own thing… This lasted about 20 mins before people started drifting off again. As the floor was all but free of 2 riders at this time I thought it appropriate to start some more hockey as practically everyone was just sitting around or just chatting. This is how I left things as I had to go at 5.30pm (one big game of hockey).
I introduced a few games after I did the warm-up, as I know from experience that by the time we normally play games at the end of the meet, the numbers have thinned out considerably. Maybe we’ll play even more games after the warm-up at the next unimeet. We were just experimenting with playing games so early in the day, but I personally think it a good idea. Maybe people could reply to let us know what they think about that one.
It was a good meet and nice to see some new faces.
Just a note for the ones among you that haven’t been to many unimeets before. THEY ARE FANTASTIC WAYS TO MEET LIKE MINDED PEOPLE, YOU’LL HAVE A GREAT TIME, BUT NOTHING EVER RUNS TO SCHEDULE!! Please use the scheduled timetable of events as a guide only. I know there wasn’t a muni ride, but that was because nobody turned up who would be able to take a group out for a ride, or sufficient interest. It all depends upon who actually turns up.
These events are run by the riders that turn up themselves. Steve Grainger doesn’t have an army of people to run and organise things unfortunately. The timetable states lots of things that we do try to arrange, but at times they’re not possible because of what I’ve just mentioned above.
Incidentally, there are two practice halls. If you’re not interested in playing hockey then you could always use the other hall.
For anyone that hasn’t been to one of these meets, then do try and get to the next one, whenever that is? They are really good days. We’ll just have to wait for Steve Grainger to post here and email all when that is of course. There’s usually one a month until BUC.
There’s always too much hockey. The right amount of hockey would be none (you’d never guess I don’t like hockey would you? :))
Most people seem to like it though, so it’s fair enough to do what the majority want.
That’s a good idea… perhaps we could do a quick muni ride at the Ashburton meeting if there is a suitable route nearby. I wouldn’t want to miss the whole indoor meet to go muniing (it’s a good chance to practice my non-existant freestyle skills) but I’d certainly be up for taking a muni group out for an hour or so (perhaps when the hockey is on :D)
I’ll mention it to Sarah.
Hello unimeeters.
I feel a bit cheeky asking this. But I guess you don’t have to reply. Anyway, I’ve managed to actually suss out that you do stuff at your unimeets
Well, the North Wales unimeet was held on Sunday, and it was a good one. We have decided to hold it inside for the rest of the winter and so rented the hall that the circus club I go to is usually held in. It was only a couple of hours and most people were happy just doing their own thing for that time. But Stu wanted to jump onto and off stuff. So for the sake of the survival of the hall, I was wondering if you would share with me some ideas of the stuff that you do at your unimeets. Baring in mind ours are usually quite small. 10 at the most, probably 2 on a bad day. What can we do that will keep Stu amused and not get us all chucked out of the hall?
Any help will be appreciated.
PS we also haven’t got any money so anything that involves equipment is out.
Workshops teaching new skills/tricks (needs someone who knows some!); silly games like gladiators, british bulldog, stuck in the mud (most playground chasing games will adapt); long and high jump competitions (they require a little equipment, but you can improvise); hockey is ALWAYS good even if you have to use jumpers for goalposts, but you will need someone to bring some sticks.
I find the one of the nicest things about Unimeets is that there’s generally someone with a new shiny uni that they’re showing off, and if you’re lucky they let you ride it unfortunately this can lead to an expensive unicycle habit
The high and long jump thing sounds really good. I think that definately has potential for Stu.
The problem was that he wanted to show the others how to do crank grabs and stuff that I couldn’t let them do in the hall. Gladiators also has potential. Or if I could buy some hockey sticks through the juggling club that the unicycle club could borrow. MMM. Definately food for thought there.
I thought there was a tad too much Hockey aswell. Yeh i enjoyed myself at the unimeet actually been able to do tricks even afrer practicing for months, great
Heres my pictures, a bit random yes but at least theres some
Looks like it was a good well attended unimeet that I missed (I was away on holiday).
I too was of this opinion. After two or three goes at getting into hockey I thought it was not for me and that I was just crap at it. That was until a local group (now East Midlands Unicyclists) arranged a weekly game of hockey (or more precisely Roland arranged it) and I thought it’d be good for just unicycling even if I didn’t like the hockey bit. Well after several games I started to like it to the point that now I’m hooked. I’m not quite so crap at hockey now and it’s even improved my general unicycling skills. It’s also funny that no matter how good someone is at unicycling the first time they try hockey they look like beginners (to a degree).
Some people like unicycle hockey the first time they play it, I didn’t it took some time to win me over. Of course some people will never like it but I suggest not to dismiss it so easily.
It’s not just unicycle hockey - I’ve never been a fan of team ball games in general… being forced to play them at school for years was enough for me. But I’m not normal
Most people like those sorts of games, so that’s a good reason to play them at the unimeets even if some people (me) aren’t interested. That’s what I was getting at in my post, not saying that nobody should play hockey.
I find hockey very entertaining and I can see how it improves your general riding quite rapidly, in what other activity do you spend 10 solid minutes with rapid speed changes, sharp turns, quick stops and snappy twists? Not to mention idling and riding backwards for short periods.
There was a lot of hockey at this Kiddy, I didn’t really get the chance to move into the other hall and work on wheel walk or have a go on the big giraffes… But I made up for that yesterday at the university circus society meeting, and can now WW a good few meters unassisted…
I always got out of team sports at school ‘cause I disliked them blaming my brother as I had to go watch him play football all the time while I was growing up (he was good and turned pro so I can’t really blame him but still). I tended towards solitary sports and ended up doing Olympic Weightlifting which suited me as I’d only rely on myself though I wished I’d had the opportunity to try gymnastics…oh well.
Come to think of it unicycle hockey is the only team sport I’ve done voluntarily
Well it’s hockey tonight and we play outside with the forecast saying it’ll be -1°C which is a bit different to the 29°C where I was on holiday…brrr I’d better wrap up well.
IS there any one with the ability to find and transport a few pallets and a sheet of plywood of the same size? screw the ply to one pallet to create to solid top layer and use others to create a variable hight pltform for jumping on/off that doesn’t involve damageing any one elses kit. I have considered this for SWUM, but we dont have the storage space or transport. SWUM does have a couple of 10x10cm blocks for hopping over. They are used in one of the UUU level testswhich seem to be popular part of most SWUM meets.
The long jump set up we do with tape on the floor and garden canes as moveable lines to not touch to prove you cleared the distance. The high jump rig is two garden canes with foam caps on top set into wooden blocks as up rights, those canes have cable ties spaced every 2 cm up them which are just big enough to balance a third cane across. if you hit the cross cane it falls off instantly. Beause the uprights are not rigidly joined together the whole lot falls if its hit by a falling body. Its as safe as I could make it I hope. total cost of both jumps set up was about £2.50 for the canes and cable ties and a bit of time with a tape measure.
Salom courses are quite easy to set up too. you could use tape on the floor or jumpers/juggling bean bags/clubs etc. PVC tape is the uni meet organsiers friend! it comes off the floor easily and you can write on it with magic marker or biro.
Sarah
Hope you had a good hol. Looking forward to seeing you up in Manchester on the 10th Dec for the hockey tournament, with the rest of the EMU’s of course.
Incidentally, we’ve got some serious talking to do. I did manage to get up to Ben Nevis and suss things out. I took lots of photos and video so you can see how bad things are. For the moment, have a look at a couple of photos I posted last week.
Now who was it that said going up Ben Nevis in winter was a silly idea? Nice photos BTW like to see more.
I did have a great holiday but it looks as though I might not be able to make the hockey tournament on the 10th But there’s certainly gonna be some EMU’s there.
'Twas a good day indeed. It was nice to see everyone again: steve, paul, trev, amanda etc… and to meet some new people like gk. i thought there was a bit too much hockey, but then i dont like hockey i dont really mind it but i did miss the big hall for practising fast tricks.
cant wait to go to the next one, i heard there might be one on 23rd of jan? but im not sure,
But there’s certainly gonna be some EMU’s there.