SPORT - THE WHEEL THING ANDREW SHIELDS TAKES A WELL- BALANCED LOOK AT
UNICYCLE SPORTS - AND FINDS THAT WHILE YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE INTELLIGENT
TO PLAY THEM, YOU SOON WILL BE
Andrew Shields, [email hidden]
521 words
7 June 2007
Time Out
English
Copyright 2007. Time Out Communications Limited.
While the British education system comes up with league tables, SATs,
fines for errant parents and airport-style knife screening as ways to
boost academic attainment, maybe we should just learn from Japan. When
research showed that unicycling helped improve concentration, balance
and co-ordination and could significantly aid physical and mental
development, the Japanese Education Department went for it big-time. In
1992, unicycling became part of the curriculum for primary-age pupils.
Every year, 2,000 Miyata unicycles are donated to schools for teaching
so that now more than one million Japanese can ride on one wheel.
What to do, though, when you've mastered pedalling forwards and, er,
backwards? Some gravitate towards circus skills such as juggling,
others seek a more competitive angle. The first World Unicycling
Championships took place in New York in 1984 while the most recent, in
Switzerland in 2006, included basketball, long-distance racing and
orienteering. Late last year, Oregon was the venue for the inaugural
World Unicycle Cyclocross Championships.
Ingenuity knows no bounds - clearly a result of all the brain cells
these single-wheelers are boosting. However, hockey is the unicycle
sport played most widely. It's a good way to improve basic skills,
speed and manoeuvrability and is based on ice hockey - but with much
less contact. The set-up is simple: five-a-side teams, 6' x4' goals, a
basketball court to play on, ice hockey sticks, a low-bouncing ball and
rules based largely on common sense. Putting your stick under or
through someone else's wheel is a foul.
The origins of the game are obscure. A 1925 German silent movie,
'Variete', includes a scene with two unicyclists. One has a hockey
stick, the other a walking stick. There are two tiny goals and what
looks like a crumpled towel for a ball. In mid-1970s California, a club
called 'Wheel People' kept the flame alive, while the game came to the
capital in 1988, with a tournament in Covent Garden as part of the
national Telethon charity appeal. Out of that sprang London's own club,
the LUNIs - which describes the sport as: 'Skilful. Great exercise. And
not at all serious.'
Serious enough, however, for there to be a British League - which
starts a new season on Saturday when the LUNIs host the first round at
Westway Sports Centre. The event is for organised teams but the club
runs sessions every Thursday when complete beginners can have a go. You
don't even need to be able to unicycle - learning the basics is part of
the package. Children of west London: you have nothing to lose, and
possibly several IQ points to gain.
- The British Unicycle Hockey League starts at Westway Sports Centre on
Sat. See listings for details. For information on unicycling contact
the Union of UK Unicyclists ( www.unicycle.org.uk ) or LUNIs' Jonny
Molloy (020 8548 0759).
--
JJuggle
Raphael Lasar - Matawan, NJ
Poor man wanna be rich, rich man wanna be king,
and the king ain't satisfied 'til he rules everything...
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