T
treepotato
Guest
what do you reckon? it's the most fun essay i've ever written! (and
essays are never fun!)
English Language Coursework Piece 2 LIZ 12LW
HAVE YOU SWUM IN THE WHEEL WORLD?
Every four months for the past three years I have and it has helped me
improve my skills immensely and develop new ones and meet lots of new
and exciting people.
Just to ensure that you are not stomping off down the path of swimming
I had better direct you otherwise. If you were member of the ‘UUU’ then
it is highly likely that at some point you have SWUM; I’m guessing by
now that you are suitably bemused by these strange words that appear on
the page before you, so I had better educate you a little on the
subject. ‘SWUM’ is in fact absolutely nothing to do with the sport of
swimming, it is in fact related to the very different and far more
exhilarating, exciting, sport of unicycling. ‘SWUM’ stands for South
West Uni Meet.
‘UUU’ stands for the UK Union of Unicyclists who organizes events such
as SWUMs and sends out a twice-yearly newsletter to its members and
offers a 10% discount off certain products on unicycle.com (the number
one resource for unicycles/accessories and juggling equipment).
Let me tell you a little more about SWUMs; they are held at various
venues in sports halls, (past hosts of the event have been Exeter and
most recently, Ashburton) every SWUM has the same structure, but each
is very different, with different people (as well as the regulars) and
many new, exciting tricks on display. The general recipe for a SWUM is
a mixture of games, workshops, competitions and levels testing, as well
as free space and time to practice, there is also a section at one end
of the hall for jugglers and people to practice other circus skills.
Each SWUM begins with a warm up led by one of the more advanced riders,
which involves riding round in a circle then at the command of the
leader, performing tricks and skills; if you are unable to perform any
of the feats then you just carry on doing the last one you could. After
the warm up the room is spilt into sections with space to practice and
a number of workshops right from beginner to expert, each led by an
experienced unicyclist who teaches new skills. After the workshops it’s
game time, for those who choose it. Teams are picked for unicycle
basketball and unicycle hockey, (personally I much prefer unicycle
hockey as it is a much more fast and exhilarating game than
basketball). Other games played (with prizes) include, musical
unicycles (a unicycle rendition of musical chairs replacing the chairs
for unicycles), stuck-in-the-mud (on unicycles), slow races (the
slowest unicyclist wins, but there are very strict rules) and last but
not least, probably the most dangerous game played on one wheel,
‘gladiators’. To play gladiators everyone goes to the sides of the room
against the walls then the referee shouts “1,2,3, GLADIATORS!” and
everyone charges into the middle and tries to get as many people off
their unicycles and on the floor as possible, using various methods of
attack such as; riding behind someone, grabbing the back of their seat
and yanking it out from underneath them (this is one of the most
effective methods unless you try it on one of the expert riders who
just laugh and carry on riding with the seat post dragging along the
floor behind them). Other modes of attack include the basic ‘shove’ or
the more violent (but exceedingly fun) option of grabbing onto some and
swinging them round until they (hopefully) go flying off, however this
method can turn against you and result in suicide. After the games is a
little cool down period, followed by the announcement of UUU levels
testing, open to anyone who wants to give them a go. The UUU (UK Union
of Unicyclists) levels range from 1 to 10, with only 1 maybe 2 level
tens in the world, the world champion himself, Kris Holm and renowned
trials champion, Zack. Level 1 is very simple and requires only for you
to mount the unicycle unassisted, ride 50 metres and then dismount
gracefully. Level 2 is much harder and after that the difficulty of the
levels increases very rapidly. The levels are not at all compulsory and
are just there for a bit of fun, with certificates at the end and the
option to try again at the next SWUM if you mess up the first time.
The brilliant thing about going to a SWUM is the wonderfully wide
variety of ages and skill levels, right from little 5 year olds on tiny
unicycles with L plates on, to 20, 30 or even 50 year olds who’ve been
unicycling for years and certainly have the skills to prove it. However
there are young unicyclists who are experts and older unicyclists who
are just beginning; no one is ever made to feel left out and there is
always someone ready and willing to lend a hand, be it to teach someone
how to ride a unicycle or share tips on a challenging skill. As well as
a diverse range of people at SWUMs there is also an equally ample array
of unicycles; from freestyle (standard) to muni (mountain unicycles) to
trials (durable unicycles with wide bouncy tyres for jumping off and on
obstacles) to giraffes (tall unicycles used by performers with a chain
to drive the unicycle from the pedals half way up the seat post to the
wheel) and ultimate wheels (no seat or seat post just a wheel and
pedals) and even impossible wheels (a tyre with a platform which swings
either side, to ride this you set it rolling then run after and jump on
with a foot on each platform). As well as this massive mixture of
unicycle types there are also the latest weird and wonderful inventions
from unicycle.com such as, unicycles with brakes (cheating if you ask
me!) and giraffes with two or three wheels on top of one another of
which the two wheeled variety is ridden by pedalling backwards to ride
forwards), and any other strange and fascinating contraptions cooked up
by the unicycle.com team.
So now that you’re a little more educated on the ‘wheel world’ you can
impress people with your new found knowledge of ‘SWUMs’ and the ‘UUU’
and perhaps now you’ll think a little more when you see someone riding
a unicycle and realise that there is far more to unicycling than meets
the eye, there’s a whole world out there, which in my opinion and the
opinion of many other fellow one-wheeled riders, is the wheel world…
--
treepotato
Some unicycles can give nasty pedal bites.....i still have the scars to
prove it
------------------------------------------------------------------------
treepotato's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/3942
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/48164
essays are never fun!)
English Language Coursework Piece 2 LIZ 12LW
HAVE YOU SWUM IN THE WHEEL WORLD?
Every four months for the past three years I have and it has helped me
improve my skills immensely and develop new ones and meet lots of new
and exciting people.
Just to ensure that you are not stomping off down the path of swimming
I had better direct you otherwise. If you were member of the ‘UUU’ then
it is highly likely that at some point you have SWUM; I’m guessing by
now that you are suitably bemused by these strange words that appear on
the page before you, so I had better educate you a little on the
subject. ‘SWUM’ is in fact absolutely nothing to do with the sport of
swimming, it is in fact related to the very different and far more
exhilarating, exciting, sport of unicycling. ‘SWUM’ stands for South
West Uni Meet.
‘UUU’ stands for the UK Union of Unicyclists who organizes events such
as SWUMs and sends out a twice-yearly newsletter to its members and
offers a 10% discount off certain products on unicycle.com (the number
one resource for unicycles/accessories and juggling equipment).
Let me tell you a little more about SWUMs; they are held at various
venues in sports halls, (past hosts of the event have been Exeter and
most recently, Ashburton) every SWUM has the same structure, but each
is very different, with different people (as well as the regulars) and
many new, exciting tricks on display. The general recipe for a SWUM is
a mixture of games, workshops, competitions and levels testing, as well
as free space and time to practice, there is also a section at one end
of the hall for jugglers and people to practice other circus skills.
Each SWUM begins with a warm up led by one of the more advanced riders,
which involves riding round in a circle then at the command of the
leader, performing tricks and skills; if you are unable to perform any
of the feats then you just carry on doing the last one you could. After
the warm up the room is spilt into sections with space to practice and
a number of workshops right from beginner to expert, each led by an
experienced unicyclist who teaches new skills. After the workshops it’s
game time, for those who choose it. Teams are picked for unicycle
basketball and unicycle hockey, (personally I much prefer unicycle
hockey as it is a much more fast and exhilarating game than
basketball). Other games played (with prizes) include, musical
unicycles (a unicycle rendition of musical chairs replacing the chairs
for unicycles), stuck-in-the-mud (on unicycles), slow races (the
slowest unicyclist wins, but there are very strict rules) and last but
not least, probably the most dangerous game played on one wheel,
‘gladiators’. To play gladiators everyone goes to the sides of the room
against the walls then the referee shouts “1,2,3, GLADIATORS!” and
everyone charges into the middle and tries to get as many people off
their unicycles and on the floor as possible, using various methods of
attack such as; riding behind someone, grabbing the back of their seat
and yanking it out from underneath them (this is one of the most
effective methods unless you try it on one of the expert riders who
just laugh and carry on riding with the seat post dragging along the
floor behind them). Other modes of attack include the basic ‘shove’ or
the more violent (but exceedingly fun) option of grabbing onto some and
swinging them round until they (hopefully) go flying off, however this
method can turn against you and result in suicide. After the games is a
little cool down period, followed by the announcement of UUU levels
testing, open to anyone who wants to give them a go. The UUU (UK Union
of Unicyclists) levels range from 1 to 10, with only 1 maybe 2 level
tens in the world, the world champion himself, Kris Holm and renowned
trials champion, Zack. Level 1 is very simple and requires only for you
to mount the unicycle unassisted, ride 50 metres and then dismount
gracefully. Level 2 is much harder and after that the difficulty of the
levels increases very rapidly. The levels are not at all compulsory and
are just there for a bit of fun, with certificates at the end and the
option to try again at the next SWUM if you mess up the first time.
The brilliant thing about going to a SWUM is the wonderfully wide
variety of ages and skill levels, right from little 5 year olds on tiny
unicycles with L plates on, to 20, 30 or even 50 year olds who’ve been
unicycling for years and certainly have the skills to prove it. However
there are young unicyclists who are experts and older unicyclists who
are just beginning; no one is ever made to feel left out and there is
always someone ready and willing to lend a hand, be it to teach someone
how to ride a unicycle or share tips on a challenging skill. As well as
a diverse range of people at SWUMs there is also an equally ample array
of unicycles; from freestyle (standard) to muni (mountain unicycles) to
trials (durable unicycles with wide bouncy tyres for jumping off and on
obstacles) to giraffes (tall unicycles used by performers with a chain
to drive the unicycle from the pedals half way up the seat post to the
wheel) and ultimate wheels (no seat or seat post just a wheel and
pedals) and even impossible wheels (a tyre with a platform which swings
either side, to ride this you set it rolling then run after and jump on
with a foot on each platform). As well as this massive mixture of
unicycle types there are also the latest weird and wonderful inventions
from unicycle.com such as, unicycles with brakes (cheating if you ask
me!) and giraffes with two or three wheels on top of one another of
which the two wheeled variety is ridden by pedalling backwards to ride
forwards), and any other strange and fascinating contraptions cooked up
by the unicycle.com team.
So now that you’re a little more educated on the ‘wheel world’ you can
impress people with your new found knowledge of ‘SWUMs’ and the ‘UUU’
and perhaps now you’ll think a little more when you see someone riding
a unicycle and realise that there is far more to unicycling than meets
the eye, there’s a whole world out there, which in my opinion and the
opinion of many other fellow one-wheeled riders, is the wheel world…
--
treepotato
Some unicycles can give nasty pedal bites.....i still have the scars to
prove it
------------------------------------------------------------------------
treepotato's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/3942
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/48164
