As has been stated by others in this thread earlier …
UNICON is considered the World Unicycle Championships. It is an INTER-national competition since riders from all countries are allowed to compete and place.
NAUCC is the North American Unicycle Convention and Championships. It is a NATIONAL competition since riders from all countries are allowed to participate, however, only North American riders can officially place.
It has nothing to do with racism …
A national competition (whether it be in the USA or elsewhere) is meant to allow the best competitors from that country to show themselves and their skills.
Many, if not all, amateur sports (from running to swimming) follow these same rules in which a countries national championships are open to perminent residents/citizens of that country only. While people from other countries may typically participate, they do so purely for exhibition purposes and are not recorded in the final results.
The NAUCC is NOT the only competiton to restrict entries based on citizenship …
I was in Germany a couple years ago and participated in the German National Unicycle Championships, but since I am Canadian my performances did not count nor were they officially recorded.
The TOque Games are not like UNICON or the NAUCC. The TOque Games are not affiliated with any governing unicycle body and is organized independantly by the Toronto Unicyclists. There is therefore no restriction on who can compete, but at the same time the results mean nothing outside the context of the games from an official standpoint.
Tommy – we’re really looking forward to next summer already. I know that hosting the event is extremely difficult, and I’m always amazed when the organizers can pull it off so well.
Aussert_einrad – I thought Kaori’s presentation was fabulous. I think her level of skill and her smooth, fluid, flawless presentation were inspiring. I don’t participate in the judging at all, and I think there have been other threads that discuss that issue, and the issue about who may participate in a country’s championships. This thread is about highlights, and watching Kaori perform and watching Zack Baldwin and Jeff Groves during the public show were definitely highlights.
By the way, Kaori was featured in the local newspaper there, the Sentinel-Tribune – front page, very large picture on July 28. Back at the hotel the next day, she was just leaving the swimming pool when one of the hotel maintenance workers came up to us and asked if she was the person featured in the article. We assured him that she was, and he said he just couldn’t believe how talented she was. I told Kaori that she’s now a celebrity in Ohio!
Scorpio – thanks. As a matter of fact, I have spent an enormous amount of time on trying to promote unicycling over the last few years. It’s a terrific sport.
Christopher – so we’ll see you there in Tennessee? I will practice making brownies for the next 11 months until I get it right. Bring Harper.
Carol
P.S. Darren Bedford: I treat myself to one Kinderegg a day. Sure beats the heck out of vitamins.
The reason why no one mentioned her in this thread is apparantly no one saw it as a highlight or overlooked it and forgot to mention it. This thread is called NAUCC Highlights and for everyone, that means a different thing. For me her routine was not a highlight cause I saw way too many of the same type of routines in Japan and after seeing 20+ routines that all look simular, they start to get old. I’ll admit the first couple times seeing them it blows you away and I was way impressed. But after seeing the simular routines for the last 10 years it’s not a highlight for me anymore. Now if it was a highlight to you or anyone else, all you had to say was that my highlight was Koari’s routine and you didn’t have to insult other people for it not being their highlight.
Also, you must not get Unicon cause it is an INTERNATIONAL event so anyone on this planet can compete in it cause it’s international. It was not Japan’s national convention just because it’s in Japan. And I don’t think that the USA is the only place that limits it compititors to people of it’s own country, do you know that for a fact?
NAUCC is to determine the best riders in North Amercia, thats why riders are limited to those from NA. Unicon is and international convention, to determine the best in the world, though not everyone always goes. It moves around last year it was in Japan next year it will be in Switzerland.
Kaori isn’t North American so she could not be ranked as one.
Bist Du doch bloed oder kannst Du einfach nicht lesen. Es hat gar nichts mit Rassismus zu tun, sondern ist das einfach so geregelt. Deutsche verstehen - wahrschienlich auch lieben - regeln bestimmt besser als alle andern Laender - es war alles in Ordnung. Sei kein Arsch. Wenn Du etwas zu sagen hast ohne alle beleidigen zu muessen, sags einfach ruhig aus. Aber diese idiotische Rede bringt keiner was. Ich halte es fuer sehr positiv dass ich in den DeutscheEinradMeisterschaften wettkampfen darf, wenn das wirklich stimmt. (Also, stimmt das wirklich?) Auch hier kann das in der zukunft moeglich sein. Aber, auf Carol auszuschimpfen gehts doch nicht. Sie arbeitet ganz viel fuer alle Einradfahrer, und hat ganz deutlich das japanishe Madchen erwahnt, es freue sie sie kennenzulernen. Es soll dir lied tun los auf sie so zu hauen. Lass mann noch wissen dass Du denken kannst, und geb was Positives zu.
Äusserst_einrad’s first post was a little ill-informed. His (her?) second post showd a lack of reading any of the posts since the first one. Please note that Carol McLean did mention Kaori in the initial post.
The way of handling the non-NA competitors at NAUCC 2005 was a little clumsy, and may not have been publicly explained during the convention. But the hosts, officials and USA board had already discussed it at length.
My opinion on the subject is that we don’t really need that rule for conventions that are not close to a Unicon. I prefer to welcome all comers, and don’t mind if the NA champion is from some other country.
Kaori is attending English school in San Francisco, but is not a US resident (under the current rule). But she is an awesome rider and we can learn much from her, as well as some of the other non-NA riders that were allowed to participate at NAUCC 2005.
I’m sorry, Äusserst_einrad, if you only had un-highlights from the convention, and no highlights worth mentioning. There’s still time!
BTW, I just got home today. My body is still recovering from several consecutive days outside in high heat/humidity, first at the track, then MUni venue, then Cedar Point. WATER!!!
Highlights that must be listed here to balance things out:
Carol McLean, for introducing the new Skills System (still in development), and spending much of the week explaining it, testing people, and collecting feedback on the system.
All the other people who helped out by hosting workshops, or attending them. I think we had a pretty good turnout. If we concentrate on a schedule of workshops every year, we’ll do it even better next time!
All the other people who helped out. There’s a ton. But I’m out of time…
I enjoyed meeting new people, renewing old friendships and watching all the performances.
I especially enjoyed the “after hours” activities sponsored by Darren Bedford. The Bedford Experience evenings, Flaming Hockey and the Door Decorating contest were great fun. I hope similar events happen at future conventions. Thanks, Darren.
Yes, I’d like to second Gilby’s and the other people’s request to thank Darren Bedford for his great parties and good times. No offense but Nationals would have been pretty lame without his events so I appreciate all the work you did Darren to make nationals that much more fun!
As mutch as I love you, Carol, you’ll still have to do the thing with the rice paper before you can snatch Harper from my hand. Oh, you’re goinng to look just super after we heat up the cauldron!