I’m attempting to start a unicycle club at my highschool which owuld meet after school. While I have many questions relating to the management of the club i have one initial question. Does anyone have any advice for a “Reason” im starting this club that i can submit to our activities director. He’s a sort of hard-as* and i need something good…THank you much.
Cole
You can mention the enormous health benefits of unicycling. As an activity that helps one’s balance, it can’t be beat.
Mention that in Japan, unicycling is a requirement in school, for reasons of physical fitness.
Tell him that at the end of the year, the club can perform a demonstration of unicycle skills. Most people would be very intrigued and impressed.
Good luck!
Re: Unicycle Club help
What you need is a mission statement.
Concise, positive, descriptive paragraphs are standard procedure in
the corporate world (both for profit and nonprofit), and for good
reason. It is easy to come up with justifications for a unicycling
club. Put yours in a paragraph that you can submit, and your
activities director will have to be a serious stick in the mud to turn
you down.
Here’s an example of what I mean. Add your own purpose, agenda, and
values to get your statement.
<insert name here> High Unicycle Club
Mission Statement
The <insert name here> High Unicycle Club is an extracurricular
student organization promoting all aspects of unicycling, making a
positive difference in the lives of its members through fitness and
camaraderie, sharing the dedication needed to succeed at difficult
tasks. The Unicycle Club encourages the participation of all students
regardless of ability and experience at regularly scheduled meetings
and special events, helps to develop confidence and self esteem, and
presents unicycling as a positive pursuit to the greater community.
If he doesn’t reply on this thread, you should PM Unibrier, who is director of a club in the Seattle area. I have to believe he has these talking points in his sleep. And he can tell you first hand the positive effect that riding has had on the many kids he’s mentored.
The Health and Safety Gremlin
Sorry if this is slighlty off-thread, but I was thinking of starting a unicycle club at my school (I’m the head/principal).
Now although I don’t have to appease a hard-a*s activities director, I am slightly worried about the risk of injury even with tons of armour.
In a climate where some British schools have banned conkers for fear of litigation by the parents of children who got bruised fingers, has anyone else covered the H&S aspects? I mean, let’s face it - at least one of them is going to fall off!
healthy for body and mind. unicycling helps to strengthen upper legs and provides a ton of self-confidence.
Re: The Health and Safety Gremlin
You could always send them over to the football team
Shouldn’t it just fall into your insurance for other sprting activities? (asuming you have any) if you haven’t got any, then I can’t see the difference between a unicycling club and any other sporting club…
Re: Re: Unicycle Club help
wow
impressive example
where can i join?
if u can find the activities director’s ‘hot buttons’, u can futher customise your mission statement in such a way that it really appeals to him
try n figure out, from his decisions in the past and from what u know about his conduct in his role,
-if he’s a fitness-freak?
-is he forever talking about the benefits of team work?
-is he always on about personal growth and self improvement?
-does he want unique things for the school to impress his boss (and counterparts at other schools)?
if u want to take it a step futher, figure out if he’s a visual, audio or tactile ‘based’ person
-does he say ‘look at this’, ‘watch me’ or ‘do u see what i mean?’
-does he say ‘listen to this’, can u hear what i’m trying to say?', ‘does this sound like a good idea?’
-does he say ‘i don’t have a good feeling about this’, ‘i’m not comfortable with this’
once u have an idea of his ‘internal’ (if u will) language, it’ll be easier to write your mission statement in a way that will really resonate with him
if the most beautifull woman in the world, oh no, wait, she’s my girlfriend, ok, sorry, if the second most beautifull woman in the world came to u and offered u a night of passion but she said it in Norwegian (insert any lanuage u don’t speak), chances are u would lose out on some action
and so would she
make sure this activities director doesn’t miss out on a stunning opportunity (to have a unicycle club at the school! pay attention now. she was just here for the example!!) just because u didn’t speak his ‘language’
or bribe him
I don’t know that unicycling is a required activity in any Japanese schools. Nor was it ever required at St. Helens School in Ohio, the one where all the kids used to ride. But you can still use Japan as an example. The vast majority of all schools in Japan have unicycles there. Your club would promote unicycling for the same reasons.
Aside from the obvious fitness benefits, the challenge part is perhaps the most educationally valuable aspect of unicycling. It’s very hard to learn, but having done it, the rider can appreciate that hard things are worth working at. The confidence-building benefits are lifelong.
Unicycling also appeals to students who may not otherwise be physically active. Like me. One of the reasons I decided to stick with it, after learning during my high school years, was because I knew it would be a healthy activity. It has helped hold back the hands of time on my body.
Your school’s existing insurance coverage should cover any form of indoor riding on standard unicycles. Where you start running into questions of coverage is when students start getting elevated more than a few feet off the ground. Giraffes may be a problem. But if your school does football and other traditional sports, remind them they are much more likely to have claims there than they will be with people riding unicycles.
The new Vice President of the Unicycling Society of America, Inc. would be an invaluable resource to you. Alan Tepper has run a very successful after school unicycling program at North Bend (WA) elementary School for almost 20 years. Send me an e-mail and I will send you Alan’s contact information.
Tom Daniels
President, Unicycling Society of America, Inc.
tadaniels AT usa DOT net
Thanks for the many replies. I will contact unibrier and Alan Tepper hopefully soon and then make my write-up/mission statement and reply back as to how things went. Goodluck to myself. THanks again all.