Am I the only person on this list that thinks the Skill Level Certification
System is silly? For one thing - a certification system for unicycling? For me
and everyone I know, unicycling has been completely informal, and we try to
learn whatever tricks we feel like.
It seems like the levels are primarily geared towards performances, as well.
Unicycling for me is more a fun form of transport, and a lot of the cool stuff
I’ve done/seen done has had a lot more to do with terrain and obstacles, or the
ability to do normal things while on a uni, like pick things up off the ground,
(which is requisite for) playing frisbee, basketball, etc. The skill level list
includes nothing like this. And what about freemounting a giraffe? Riding with
people on your shoulders?
It seems that trying to codify a set of skills that make you a “good unicyclist”
is futile. And trying to set up a “certification” system for said skill levels
is perverse. It would be far more appropriate to set up a list of “fun things to
try”, and add to the list as people come up with ideas. I think we will end up
with a far more creative and diverse list that way, and unicycling won’t become
(ugh) formalized. Pojundery, John
I had never heard of a Skill Level for unicycling before subscribing to this
list, and yes, it DOES seem a bit out of synch with the reasons most of us ride
unicycles. I was a member of a performing team that went to Denmark for part of
one summer, years ago, and we invented our own stuff and had a blast with no
thought given to whether it made us high-ranking performers.
From: bkonarsk To: unicycling Subject: Unicycling skill levels Date: Saturday,
November 05, 1994 10:10
Am I the only person on this list that thinks the Skill Level Certification
System is silly? For one thing - a certification system for unicycling? For me
and everyone I know, unicycling has been completely informal, and we try to
learn whatever tricks we feel like.
It seems like the levels are primarily geared towards performances, as well.
Unicycling for me is more a fun form of transport, and a lot of the cool stuff
I’ve done/seen done has had a lot more to do with terrain and obstacles, or the
ability to do normal things while on a uni, like pick things up off the ground,
(which is requisite for) playing frisbee, basketball, etc. The skill level list
includes nothing like this. And what about freemounting a giraffe? Riding with
people on your shoulders?
It seems that trying to codify a set of skills that make you a “good unicyclist”
is futile. And trying to set up a “certification” system for said skill levels
is perverse. It would be far more appropriate to set up a list of “fun things to
try”, and add to the list as people come up with ideas. I think we will end up
with a far more creative and diverse list that way, and unicycling won’t become
(ugh) formalized. Pojundery, John
> Am I the only person on this list that thinks the Skill Level Certification > System is silly? For one thing - a certification system for unicycling? For me > and everyone I know, unicycling has been completely informal, and we try to > learn whatever tricks we feel like. > > It seems like the levels are primarily geared towards performances, as well. > Unicycling for me is more a fun form of transport, and a lot of the cool stuff > I’ve done/seen done has had a lot more to do with terrain and obstacles, or > the ability to do normal things while on a uni, like pick things up off the > ground, (which is requisite for) playing frisbee, basketball, etc. The skill > level list includes nothing like this. And what about freemounting a giraffe? > Riding with people on your shoulders? > > It seems that trying to codify a set of skills that make you a "good > unicyclist" is futile. And trying to set up a “certification” system for said > skill levels is perverse. It would be far more appropriate to set up a list of > “fun things to try”, and add to the list as people come up with ideas. I think > we will end up with a far more creative and diverse list that way, and > unicycling won’t become (ugh) formalized.
yeh. I agree. but whatever… one thing that the skill level thing does,
though, is give you a nice, long list of cool things to work on if you run
out of ideas on your own. before I saw the list, and before I knew anyone
else who could ride, the only things I ever thought of were forwards,
backwards, idling (but I couldn’t figure out how to make that work anyway),
and riding with the seat in front (actually I think I saw someone else do
that…) ok, maybe I’m unusually uncreative…duhhhh. but my point is,
before I saw the skill levels, it never even occured to me that there might
be more to life than going forward…