couldn’t sleep tonight and was wonderin… what do you consider pro? just making your first premire in a video or maybe being sponsored by a major company. whats you thoughts?
first off i hate the word pro. its a word a lot of preps are tryin to use at my school to think they can talk what they think is like skater. its embarressing. that said-shaun johanesson is “pro”. straight up
pro= profesional= payed to do it or earn money by doing it ie selling videos.
its your job…
can also look pro withot being pro…
pro = protection.
used for rock climbing. examples are cams or nuts. your rack has a lot of pro on it.
So I consider cams, nuts, hexes, tri-cams, and big-bros, all to be examples of “pro”.
IMHO, a pro is someone who is 100% dedicated to whatever it is they do; they can take pride in their craft / sport, but they don’t build their ego around it. A real pro will never compromise in their pursuit, and is always willing to help others who want to learn what the pro knows. You don’t need to make money to be a pro in my book, you just need to represent.
Yes, technically, you’d be “pro” if you made a living by being sponsored or performing. Selling videos would not be considered pro as it’s something that can be done without being good. Though, I would say Dan Heaton would be pro, as he essentially sponsors himself through video sales and is a really good rider.
Another example, Kris Holm would be considered pro, as he has been sponsored and has made a name for himself because he is good. John Drummond, while he makes a living off unicycling, would not be considered pro.
I’ll venture one step further than Gilby’s definition, and say that I only consider one “sport” unicyclist in the world to be a full-on pro, and that’s (obviously) Kris Holm. Even he doesn’t use unicycle appearances as his primary source of income, but his various unicycling-related ventures probably make up a substantial portion of it.
I don’t think anyone in the world, outside of entertainment-oriented performers, actually make a full-time living at it.
Of course you are also a pro if you perform for a living. Dustin Kelm is a good example.
To me the most basic defnition of Professional is “gets paid to do it.” This should also include “gets paid to teach it” for people who may not ride for the general public, but get paid to teach or coach others.
Different sports have varying levels of what they define as professionals for purposes of qualification for events. The Olympics used to be all-amateur, but that definition got blurred over the years and now is in many cases not even used.
The IUF just recently removed the definition (and restriction) for professionals in Freestyle competition. It used to be fairly restrictive, where the rider had to make at least half their income from unicycling (or performances that involved unicycling). This rule was hardly ever invoked, so we decided to let the pros compete on an even level with everyone else instead of forcing them to higher levels. Part of this is because Freestyle competition is fairly specialized, and being a “professional unicyclist” does not necessarily give you an advantage there. You may have better presentation skills, but you most likely do not have the technical skills. And since we need to see more and better presentation skills, I agree with the idea of not restricting professional performers.
I’d have to agree with johnfoss’s definition.
Cathy
id agree with john foss and gilby, but have another thing to add
if you are can make a living doing something you are pro, you dont have to like it you just have to be good enough to make a living
This is where my vision of “pro” and the current definition of “pro” split. When I hear the word “pro” I think “professional” and professionals should exhibit professional courtesy, professional attitude, professional image, etc. like one’s expected to do when he/she represents a corporation.
It seems some sports pros are in the sports for money and image, and don’t always do it for the love and community. I believe if you don’t love what you’re doing, your doing the wrong thing, or doing it for the wrong reason… in that case you’re just a drone, and not a real “pro”.
I agree 100%. I have met several people in the world of figure skating who are considered Pro because they toured with a Show Company for years and when they try to teach and be a real pro, they blow. They were only working in the shows to make money and when they left the shows, should have retired but decided to coach.
Fatal Mistake in SOME instances. Some of the best Pro’s I know weren’t great at the sport themselves, they just have the gift top teach. They exude professionalism in every sense of the word and can teach and coach others to be Pro as well. These are the true pro’s in my book.
if someone is well known or famous in this little unicyclist community of ours. shaun johanneson, andrew carter, john childs, kris holm, tyler cox…heh. they’re totally all pro’s.
Well, me and the rest of SWAT are sponsored by Arrow Racing and I am sponsored by 661, both major companies.
I wouldn’t consider myself pro, just good enough to be sponsored.
I’d consider that a potential pro, but to be pro you must be making a living, or income, at it.
For example, I am no longer a professional unicyclist. I do one or two paid performances a year, so I’m a very-part-time pro, but otherwise I’m a used-to-be full-timer.
I also like Maestro’s other definition of professional; professional behavior. Additional meanings for the same word. You can be an unpaid rider who is excellent, great to be around, and a good spokesperson for the sport. This makes you a professional-quality unicyclist.
As with most anything, being good at something does not necessarily make you a good teacher. Teaching is a skill which, if you don’t have (or learn), you won’t be good at, regardless of whether you are good at the subject matter or not. Many of the best teachers of physical skills are the ones who had trouble learning them. They had to analyze it more. Others, who perhaps had “natural” abilities, are usually less good at communicating how it’s done.
To make this discussion more interesting, if we wanted we could talk about what counts as “sponsored.” Or various levels of being sponsored. A free T-shirt or similar would seem to be the most basic level, while a regular paycheck would be at the very high end.