[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index][Author Index][Search Archives]

cambok on stilts




Poster: Henry Best <jstrauss@poboxes.com>


>In a message dated 97-07-30 23:43:37 EDT, Morgnne@aol.com writes:
>
><< how about CAMBOK on stilts >>
>
>Oh no, oh no, OH NO.  <clutching head like a stunned monkey>  Didya have
>to say it???
>
><busily noting the info on the nearest trauma center to Cooper's Lake>
>
>Rhian <----who has heard many stories of the crazy things Henry is
>willing to do....

I learned an important evaluation tool from Teller, of Penn & Teller:

No Permanent Damage. In summation, if you make sure you have that bottom
line covered, you are empowered to do things others wouldn't dare to do,
because you know you are covered where it counts, even if you risk a
little pain or looking like a total idiot.

Well, it's not like the idea of cambok on stilts is that impractical.
Beginning stiltwalkers often use long sticks for balance and to rest
(tripod). Back in my walking stick days, the idea of "stilt polo" was
suggested seriously. 

I practice on my stilts weekly at fighter practice, and I can easily kick
a ball or 20 oz coke bottle around on rough ground. Juggling three balls
on stilts is a trivial skill tho I am not as good with clubs. 

If there were 5 other people with my skill at stilts, a soccer or cambok
game would not be out of the question, so long as everyone was genteel. In
fact, I think it is inevitable, tho I don't expect to see it have the high
kinetic energy of regular cambok or soccer.

At Pennsic, I plan to work with Susanna, Kendrick, and Julian, and get
them up to speed. Stilt walking isn't that hard. It doesn't take a lot of
practice to learn it. What it does take, and we may not have at Pennsic,
is sufficient ELAPSED TIME to integrate the new skills and make them
automatic. (I gave up stiltwalking, early in my learning curve, for a
month or so. When I started doing it again, there had been some sort of
integration, and I have found it easy ever since when it was hellishly
difficult before.)

The plan is to see if the three of us can learn to dance "Rufty Tufty". We
are going to practice and see. We will make a SANE and realistic
evaluation of whether to proceed. If we can't do it at Pennsic, I'm sure
they will go on to do things about that silly in a couple of months' time.
If their learning curve matches mine, they should be ready to dance by the
Flemish Fair in October.

-Henry



       John Strauss             |    Dr. Henry Best, OP       
       Lexington, KY            |    Dragonsmark, Midrealm      
 -------------------------------+------------------------------
       jstrauss@poboxes.com     |    "Jugate Potentum Gaudii"

=======================================================================
List Archives, FAQ, FTP:  http://sca.wayfarer.org/merryrose/
            Submissions:  atlantia@atlantia.sca.org
        Admin. requests:  majordomo@atlantia.sca.org