Pro-Jump PowerBocking Jumping Stilts Forum - Community for Power bocking / Pro Jumping!
Members Lounge => General Bocking Chat => Topic started by: Gremlin on December 31, 2012, 06:09:01 PM
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Apart from taking the mick out of Jason all the time i was just browsing the forum and saw about projump competition for pics and vids posted where the winner wins prizes, would this be an idea to start again to get people back on the forum?
:PJ1: :PJL:
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It would be nice mate but PJ can't be expected to give away good stuff when they only get 3 or 4 entrys (that happened last time) so we may have to get a few more people on here first :Cbiggrin:
Locky and I did try to do a comp for silly things (set of old springs etc) but it didn't seem to take off
What we need is a comp that gives people fame but costs very little
But the most important bit is what we are doing now and that is chatting on here about ideas so you have already succeeded in upping the post count this week mate :Cbiggrin:
I am happy to enter a comp that has no prize just an anounced 1st 2nd 3rd place just for the fun so think one up and I'm sure you will get at least a few Banned and a few Welshies (If only Locky :Claugh:)
Jason :Hoofies2: :CGEEK:
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LOL pardon me for going off topic a little, but I have been thinking about Capital Bocking this year. I would really like to start having some sort of national competition for us and CB seems the logical place to do it. One of the biggest problems though is how do we make it fair (and fun) for everyone. I believe we had this problem last year at CB on the Sunday just to give away a pair of stilts that PJ had put up and that was just one prize. How we'd do it for several events, I've no idea. I know they have the annual championships in France but from what I hear it could be organised a bit better :/
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Locky you could do stuff like 100 metre dash/high jump were the 1st could win springs for thier stilts, 2nd could win calf cuffs and 3rd could win safety gear or key rings or do give them vouchers for the pro-jump shop at different values of money , most improved during the day/event could win something and maybe mock up a certificate that the winners get and maybe the other entries for entering its a start
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Ha, mock up certificates are always funny and still give recognition :Csmile:
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I do see your problem there Locky
I mean if you have a high jump contest I can give you a hand full of people who will win it every time
Same for a running contest or flipping or tricking
If you want a winner for most modified stilts I am your man
So how do you make a contest that all can enter and have a chance of winning
You either need to make a level playing field (that would mean a non bocking chalange) which sort of defeats the object
Or sort people into catagorys of how good they are (good luck with that one mate :Claugh: )
One idea I had was a le mans style start race in sections
Here it is for what it is worth
You start with 5 people all seated on a wall no stilts on
They have to put their stilts on run across an area back to the wall take stilts off and hand them to someone
Once you have held 5 races like this all the winners compete against each other and the seconds against each other and so on so all are in a race they have half a chance to win
This means everyone gets two races and you can change the numbers to accomadate however many people you have on the day
It would also level the field a bit as lacing a set of skips up will take longer than a set of old PJ's
Anyway that is one idea for the pot
Jason :Hoofies2: :CGEEK:
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I know it's not really the same but with motorbike stunting we had two categories: novice and pro. With stunting this was fairly easy to categorise however with bocking I can imagine its a bit trickier as how do you judge how good someone is really?
It would be interesting to see what ideas people come up with but I don't think you will find it easy to accommodate everyone. You will either have to have a competition which isn't based on skill or be put in the situation where you only have a few real contenders.
The other thing to consider: who will judge? Someone who can do it all or someone that knows the sport but has less skill?
The whole thing is a minefield of questions and different options, so whoever's organising it, I wish you the best of luck!
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In fencing the categories are based on time in the sport. Eg: beginner < 18 months Intermediate: Less than 3 years ect.. In skiing it's purely based on age which generally means any newcomer does pretty badly, but I think actually a good motivator. There are also tonnes of handicap systems which could be adapted for the sport. Personally though I don't think that events would 'big' enough if there were different categories. I suppose if you were to split things up a bit I'd look at those who can flip and those that cant. It's quite general but those who can flip seem to have mastered the basics and everything up to that point quite well. Not always true though.
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I dont think there would be prizes as such but just the award/medal to show the winner was the best at whatever the event was.
I think every event would need to have an absolute rule to determine the winners rather than a judge. For example, the high jump (would all have to be done on the same set up) and a running race done against the clock. I dont know what else they do at the french event. The idea of a long jump doesnt really grab my attention much.
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The only way to make it fairer would be to put people in categories of skill and you could get is it Naz? to judge it and if its done in a places with a lot of people then you could get a mayor as a judge as well which would get papers evolved which would also mean publicity and advertisement for the sport and the pro-jump forum, getting stickers and banners made up should be quite easy to get done and made up.
As for events you could do stupid stuff like egg and spoon races on the stilts with stepping up over obstacles etc, plus with what Jason idea, but surely having a laugh and having a go and getting together would be more important the getting prizes
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I'm happy to put up prizes for a comp but like jason said we really need more people contributing. I'm sorry I've not been around much but something else is currently keeping me on my toes, but I have been lurking!
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We could do that roy but to make the egg and spoon race fair jason needs to be blindfolded as his bloody good at every think :Ctongue: oh and if this is a yes from jason i dont want to be next to him just incase he falls on me :Ctwitcy:
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It's often overlooked but for a competition to be a success you need a decent commentator/mc to get the crowd going.
Also with regards to judging, you have to have ideally 3 judges to give definitive scores. One judge may favour flips, but overlook technique while another may concentrate more on use of space etc.
I'm only talking from my experience of competitions so if none of this is relevant to bocking then please don't be afraid to tell me I'm talking out of my a*** :P
We used to get judged on the following:
Amount of tricks
Difficulty of tricks (always an objective one, hence having 3 judges)
Use of space
Crowd interaction
Execution of tricks
Just throwing some ideas in. Getting carried away! :Claugh:
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Clive we could super glue all of ours or hard boil them and not Jasons :Cwink: :Cyes:
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All the old chestnut tricks Roy :Claugh:
Didn't anyone tell you Clive you are my partner for the three legged race and I feel wobbly already :Cbiggrin:
Jason :Hoofies2: :CGEEK:
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one great way I've seen to get more people to participate in these sorts of comps is that the prize scales based on the number of participants. If less than ten people submit entries then the prize is something small, like a pair of kneepads. if 10-20 people enter maybe new springs. More than 20 new stilts. Something like that.
Getting the community active again is a bigger task than just running more comps, but I'd love to see the bocking community back where it was 4 years ago.
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also i found that at cb last year people showed up not most people just sat about even when there was a comp running for new stilts but another thing that jake from the welshes said to me last year and i agree on is that a competition is there to find out who is the best at the thing they do so trying to make it a level playing field isn't really what a competition is about i would like to think that there would be more people to go up against like there was a few years ago one of the things that has push me to where i am now is CB 2008 seeing people like sim jonho bob becky hell even sprog doing flips tricks and every one up taking part last year i only really felt it was a small group of us wanting to bock and put on a show i know some times we can be daunting doing flips but when i couldn't do them i looked at it and said to myself im not going to stop until i can do that and it happened again last year with me and jake going at it together seeing him land that 720 back blew my mind and im still trying to land them but its given me the boost to carry on so my question is why has no one els got this mentality any more :(
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I know what you mean Greg and I know why some people seemed to just sit there because I asked them and the answer was simply pathetic. I'll leave you to guess.
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I hate to say this because it sounds negative but I think it’s a point that needs to be thought about.
Bocking has a huge handicap when it comes to organizing a competition or any event really. It is, there are so few of us we are scattered so far and wide and we’re not a rich elitist bunch either.
This means getting people to go to an event with the associated travel cost etc. isn’t easy. A competition isn’t an attraction unless there is a real chance you could do well or you want to compete. If you just want to watch, look at you tube there’s plenty there and saves all that expensive.
As for a fair competition, there isn’t enough people to categories it fairly, if there is such a thing. You would end up with 1 in each category.
For me, being a grumpy old git! A lot of the attraction of the big events is being inspired by seeing the few who can perform do their stuff in the hope that I can pick up the odd tip. After all another drawback of this sport is the lack of tuition, Almost anything you learn to do you learn alone or off someone that has just learned it, usually by trial and error.
So after all this moaning what do I propose? Well how about a “training camp” event. i.e. groups that have them bring crash mats etc. and those that can spend a few hours trying to teach those that can’t. And I’m not just talking flips. Any tricks, even just getting back up if its required.
All this said events like CB and the Big Bock were great just for the camaraderie so we will be there if we can anyway.
:Cyes:
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One thing to consider is that while you may moan about people watching and not taking part, do they actually get given encouragement to join in?
It's all well and good wanting to perform and show off, but this can be daunting to new people or lesser experienced members (me included) having people jump circles around them, and a bit of encouragement or motivation from more senior/experienced members goes a long way.
It's worth noting - this is not directed at anyone in particular, just trying to throw a different perspective on it. Just my 2p worth.
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Well said Dave
I do find that people tend to sit around and their excuses are normally of the "I'm not that good so don't want to look like a fool" type
I have been making a fool of myself for so many years that it is second nature to me :Claugh: And Locky has me beat sometimes :Cbiggrin:
But not all people have that much confidence
Also we must be careful of the "I can do it so you should be able to" attitude
If I had a quid for every time I have bitten my tongue while standing in the rain trying to mend someones car when all they needed to do was learn how to maintain it properly (I mean your not a real man if you can't mend a car are you :Cno: ) :Claugh:
Yes it is a biggoted attitude but mending and maintaining cars is so easy isn't it (I'm sure Clive will agree with me there) :Claugh:
:Claugh: Ok so who here wants to kick my A** now :Claugh:
Lets all help the wallflowers to get up and have a go and not make things worse for them because a lack of confidence in anything is a heavy load to bare
Jason :Hoofies2: :CGEEK:
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Jason and Davido, You both are so right :Cyes:
Every time we go somewhere I hear it and see it from my lot and think it myself to be honest, we end up watching the "pros" then waiting till they bock off round the corner before we have a bounce or bog off round the corner ourselves.
It still doesn't stop us going if we can but I do wish I had a little more confidance / ability.
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I'm just going to give a litte story here of something that happened at CB and to be honest it really made my day.
Being the organiser, I was all over the place. Literally didnt spend more than 30 secs chatting to any one person before being called to do something else or see someone etc. Thats how CB is for me and it goes with the territory.
We have 3 new bockers in the welsh bockers this year. Myles (who wasnt at CB) Rob and Mikey. Rob and Mike are best friends in school and together rather a lot. We also had Jake there who was having a lot of fun with the likes of Greg, Simeon, Adam (nofear) etc. At one stage the majority of the EA's decided they were going to go round to the large wooden steps. Jake was going too and I was very surprised Rob tagged along with AFAIK no encouragement from anyone. Rob's a crazy little kid, he is just 14 and has doesnt have much fear. He's picked up bocking really quickly and is no doubt "my little star". But on this day he just went. He'd only met jake twice before, didnt have a damn clue who the EA's were or what their names were. It didnt matter. They were a fun crowd doing good tricks. Thats the only reason I can see that Rob went with them. Within an hour it became clear that a crowd had developed at the steps and some guys were doing crazy stuff, as Greg has already mentioned. By this time Sprog and myself had joined them with cameras poised etc.
I guess my point is that at some stage Rob decided to go with a bunch of people he didnt know but knew he could learn from even though he was still a newbie and injured if I remember. He never turned to Mike and asked him to come with. He never told me or steff where he was going. The only thing he saw was that he needed to be with these other guys to learn from. And he did.
I know people sometimes feel intimidated by the flippers. I've been there myself. I drove kiola up to Bradford in February 2007 to meet what was then the PJ display team (brucie and zeb etc if the names mean anything to you). I was intimitaded by their presence. A little scared and anxious about meeting them and there was no way I wanted to put stilts on seeing as I'd only been bocking about 6 times in total. But they made me feel very welcome and I did put my stilts on. I made some fantastic friends that day and even attempted my first front flip on the crash mats….meant as a joke but it definitely showed me the way.
Everyone in this sport knows what its like to learn. Without exception, we've all been there. I'm sure Jason wont mind me saying this but there was a time when I never thought Jason would be able to jump up a wall or over a bench. I never thought he had the confidence and yes the age factor comes into that. But when I saw him on a video jump a bench all I felt was joy and very proud of him. It's not as easy as it sounds but you either get up and try these things or you stay sat at the sides watching. That may not be a bad thing, but you learn more and quicker by getting up and doing it…and you make a lot of new friends as Rob did at Capital Bocking.
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Oi Locky less of the age bit :Claugh:
I do agree mate I never thought I would make it over a bench :Cbiggrin:
Yep Rob is amazing and he must scare you as much as Dave does me (I mean from Bambi legs to back flip on concrete in less than 6 months)
I was half way through dialing 999 when I realised he had landed it :Claugh:
Greg's post has a lot of good points in it
Comps should be to prove who is best but in our sport this would mean an elite few always winning and a lot of others not
We have always been a teaching (or self teaching oriented sport) so we need to encourage people to take part and try
So how about from now on we split comps into a Masterclass and all the rest of us
This would make a good chance for all and we would still be treated to the likes of the EA's showing us how it should be done
The one think that I feel has come out of this post clearly is that a lot of us old hands (me included) are not doing enough to encourage the less skilled/fit/confident members to get up and try something
I will be trying this year to be more like the Welsh guy (can't remember his name :Claugh:) who had to drag me into the display at the first CB and stopped me being a wallflower (Thanks Locky :Cnotworthy:)
Jason :Hoofies2: :CGEEK:
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I really like that masterclass idea. So basically we'd hold a big competition which was split into 2 main categories - those who consider themselves an advanced competitor and those who are serious about fun. I suppose the contenders decide which category they wish to go for but cannot enter both. Still got the issue of what individual events there would be but I really think we're on to something here.
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I would like to say that I suggested that in the other thread so I demand partial creative credit :Claugh:
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I think the French events would be a good start as far as what type of events.
Probably two areas - something similar too gymnastics, where you do 2 routines / sets (a compulsory and then voluntary).
And then as Locky said typical track and field type stuff. High jump, long and short runs etc. (Maybe not javelin) :Cno:
You could also do a cross between hurdles and showjumping with barriers and a distance (sand pit) to clear within a time limit.
As for categories, you could always have qualifiers with a certain number going into the Pro comp for the Cup, and then the rest carrying on for the lower level?
Anyway....food for thought.
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Yep Locky you took the words right out of my mouth
If you think your hard enough you can play with the big boys
Or you can join me in the shallow end but not both
How about an obstacle course we could make use of the local features so at Cardiff it could be something like
Up the steps over one of the seats at the to turn back and climb/vault over the rail and bounce down the seat bits over the high jump and a sprint to the far side steps with two tricks on the way (maybe not but you get the idea)
And a smaller version for me :Claugh:
Jason :Hoofies2: :CGEEK:
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Im liking the idea of being encouraged and taught, ive been on the stilts about 6 times now and without the help of Clive, Jason and Gizmoqueen i still wouldnt be able to jump but without them 3 and david and oli making it a laugh and giving me a bit of confidence them i wouldnt of even tried.
But at the same time i do get imtadated by david by how far he has come in such a short time while i still panic trying to jump on to something small lol
So basically im up to being taught but i still need the right encouragement to do more but id still be a "wallflower" with so many better bockers around
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ROY......dont wory your get there we all take our timesome more than others ,yes david is doing really well but when god was handing out fear he forgot to give david his lol..anyway when i got mine on i didnt even think it was possable to jump over anythink or on anythink untill i got to know jason,then we both try going for stuff we never would have done,being around other bockers your learn very fast and get to pick things up easy...your doing very well for the time you time you have been on them..keep going.. :Cwink:
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Agree with Clive there Roy you are doing just fine mate
I had been blocking about 8 months when I met Clive and could only just jump over a 6 inch block of wood on the floor and that took 10 mins of getting ready :Claugh:
We all progress at our own speed and do the things we are comfy with
I started learning how to flip a couple of years ago and realised that an unfit 19 stone old guy was a bit more likely to break his neck when he landed on his head :Claugh: so I have been working on losing the weight and hopefully getting fit again
Next step is flip on a trampoline and then stilts and crash mats again
Only taken me two years so far :Claugh:
So Roy in comparison to that you are a BL**day fast learner :Cbiggrin:
Jason :Hoofies2: :CGEEK:
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The group just for fun can just do stupid events or try and make events where they can practice and get better at it like having a competition where they start to jump up on to a step then 2, 3 etc and the winner is the one who gets up to the most steps, but they are also learning at the same time, or a running race so they can learn how to run etc. :Cwideeyed:
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Just while I think of it, we always used to have team events when we did stunting. Just something else you could throw in to add some variety.
We did it differently each year:
One year we had already established teams competiting, scoring according to skill. The following year teams were drawn out of a hat and were judged on how entertaining they were. This added a different element to the competition and also got people together who otherwise may not even have spoken.
Just some ideas!
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Could be a fan idea there mate
If we made the teams up out of one expert ( must be able to flip) one useless old hand (done it for ages and still falls over all the time) one improver and one compete novice
That would level the field and give the experts a good reason to teach well :Claugh:
Think we could field a team out of the banned all we need is a novice :Cbiggrin:
Jason :Hoofies2: :CGEEK:
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locky the best thing i saw rob do that day was us going go on do the set one one one he slammed his head got back up and after sitting down for a few mins tryed again and did it thats the kind of stuff im talking about i know its a fear factor thing but people can do the most amazing things and without giving it a go and having the "oh im not good enough" attitude that seams to be plaguing the bocking world atm you just aren't going to learn anything even when i tried to teach some people that weekend as soon as i left them to there own devices to get on while i taught someone els they just sat back down -_- that kind of people just makes me not want to waste my time teaching iv said on numerous occasions that if people want to come to my gym in stowupland here in suffolk i will gladly spend the hole session off my stilts helping people learn new skills and the basics its a shame the gym we use dosent have much equipment to play with well they have a few things but not enough small mats or things to jump over i would like to have another day like we did a few years back in Lincoln when pro jump was sponsoring it and clive b was running it as it had good advertisement and lots of things there i would be more than happy to host something like that the gym we used to run ours at in bury would have been perfect for it but they dont like us using their crash mats any more :( i put it to Naz if i can find somewhere big enough and put the effort in to advertising and getting people down will projump sponsor the event and send me some try before you buy stilts that i can get the general public in to have a go im sure Bury St Edmunds or surrounding places would be more than glad to host the event the only problem i have is that its not very central its not to bad for people in London and up towards Birmingham but you welsh s***s would have a bit of a trek and anyone up t' north but then again i have driven miles in the past for some fun so why cant you :)
so let me know by PM or on here Naz if you like my offer or if anyone els would like to take on a big event i will be more than happy to help organise it