footbag with younger girls

colefieldhouse22 · Post by **colefieldhouse22** » 03 Dec 2007 22:24

Next week I will be talking with girls from 12-14 years about footbag. It is for an after school program at a middle school.

It is my first time doing something like this so I am not 100% sure of what I should talk about. I do know that I am going to give some background and a demo.

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can make it interesting for younger girls? It is obviously a male dominated sport but how can I say that and still make it clear that there are women that are achieving great things in the sport?

Or if you just have any fun ideas that I can do with them, let me know.

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 03 Dec 2007 22:27

Maybe don't mention that it is a male-dominated sport.
That alone could be unproductive.

Moxie · Post by **Moxie** » 03 Dec 2007 23:24

Are you able to show them videos? I'd find a good video of Carol to show them. I love her graceful style. I remember seeing her in my early days and thinking she was amazing.

habitat · Post by **habitat** » 03 Dec 2007 23:27

http://modified.in/footbag/viewtopic.php?t=11846

Check that thread out if you haven't already. Good Luck.

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 03 Dec 2007 23:38

I think Lise also has incredible style, and is also very bothsided, which is an important thing to demonstrate to a beginner.

QuantumBalance · Post by **QuantumBalance** » 04 Dec 2007 01:08

I wonder what a girl would think if she saw that shredita section from wts as a standalone.. without dylan fry's reaction.

King Monkey · Post by **King Monkey** » 04 Dec 2007 06:51

Or have some comparison footage between Tina Aeberli and say, Vasek or maybe someone closer to her level, to show that there are no limits to women achieving in the sport.

PegLegHolly · Post by **PegLegHolly** » 04 Dec 2007 11:02

i would leave the focus of gender out, and just get them interested in doing it. they can make their own assumptions/observations later, just like everyone else does. i wouldnt focus on "this girl is the best in the world and here is a comparison of the boy thats the best in the world", because you can easily say "footbag is a sport played by both men and women. start with consecutives... etc."

to me, its not important for me to state that men and women are equal, because it is assumed and youre a boy going to a girl's group.

edit: im so stupid!

Outsider · Post by **Outsider** » 04 Dec 2007 12:50

PegLegHolly wrote:try to keep your relationships with them professional. sure, they might want to join your club... but i wouldnt recommend "seeing" any of them (i dont know how old you are but im assuming youre in highschool.)

Sorry to have to pick on you, Holly, but this is simply getting too funny to ignore.
I don't think Adrienne is going to be trying to "see" any of those young women, as she is one herself. Also, though still young, she's not that young... She must be mostly done with college by now, no?

I think you must already know Adrienne, Holly. You were both at Worlds. Maybe you just missed her there. Adrienne has been known to spend a little too much time playing that other footbag game...

colefieldhouse22 · Post by **colefieldhouse22** » 04 Dec 2007 12:56

Thank ya'll so much for the feedback. Definitely continue to post if you can think of advise. Especially things I can do to get them to interact. Like games or other group things that would be fun. We might play 4-square because it is a variation of a game they already know.

Holly, I started cracking up when I read your responce. I am actually a 21 year old female in my last year of college. So I will definitely not be "seeing" any of the 12 year old girls!

I want to mention that it is mostly guys who play is because 1) I don't want them to think that I am the norm and 2) To show them that girls are able to succeed in anything even when it is male dominated. Not as the main focus, but a topic we talk about.

Also, I think the purpose of the demo is more to expose them to new sports and the women in them as opposed to getting them to become little shredders right away.

I like the idea of showing videos of Tina and Vasek together to give examples of the best man and woman players. And Emily, if you know of any good footage of Caro, that would be awesome.

QuantumBalance wrote:I wonder what a girl would think if she saw that shredita section from wts as a standalone.. without dylan fry's reaction.

I don't remember what his reaction is, but from what I saw of that boy at Worlds, it probably wouldn't be appropriate

colefieldhouse22 · Post by **colefieldhouse22** » 04 Dec 2007 12:58

Outsider wrote:Adrienne has been known to spend a little too much time playing that other footbag game...

umm.. and what is the other footbag game?

You rock Jon

Iron Clad Ben · Post by **Iron Clad Ben** » 04 Dec 2007 13:34

colefieldhouse22 wrote:
Outsider wrote:Adrienne has been known to spend a little too much time playing that other footbag game...
umm.. and what is the other footbag game?

Playing dumb eh? It involves Chaos and flying mousetraps...

Adrienne, show them the Tina "Graffiti Session" video. It's so awesome!
http://www.modified.in/footbag/viewtopi ... t=graffiti

Definitely read topic that James linked to, it's very good. Are you going to get to actually teach them to play interactively (i.e. they get to try it out) or is just a presentation?

PegLegHolly · Post by **PegLegHolly** » 04 Dec 2007 21:55

lol sorry adrienne!!! i know boys named adrienne... and i assumed. im horrible... and im sorry. seriously, ive read and responded to your posts and never connected that youre a girl. im soooooo sorry!!!

forgive me?

Moxie · Post by **Moxie** » 04 Dec 2007 22:16

Just because Adrienne is female it doesn't mean she can't like-like other girls... or be a pedophile.

hacksterbator · Post by **hacksterbator** » 04 Dec 2007 22:49

Moxie wrote:Just because Adrienne is female it doesn't mean she can't like-like other girls... or be a pedophile.

had to comment.

awesome.

no disrespect.

kids love four square. they eat the stuff up!!! it's easier to get into over free style or net, where the learning curve is much higher and the barriers to entry are greater. simple enough to undertsand how the game is played so anyone can get involved right off the bat. try it out.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 05 Dec 2007 05:54

Agreed. I find foursquare is the most accessible and immediately rewarding type of footbag for beginners. I get em hooked with foursquare, then move them onto freestyle.

yyz · Post by **yyz** » 05 Dec 2007 05:58

Since I can assume you are giving a FOOTBAG demo and not a net or freestyle demo, get ahold of chris ott and have him send you a copy of the video he put together for the IFPA. It is about 4 min long. Kids want too do not sit and watch. Show them various types of bags. The video has some of everything, and includes a little carol clip. Also spend very little time on what others have done and get them doing what they can. Also spend a good amount of time showing what you can do, kids listen to people who show them neat stuff. Try to bring someone to read something about footbag while you are catching your breath, dead time= loss of interest when dealing with kids. Good luck AND PLEASE WAIT A FEW YEARS BEFORE DATING ANY OF THEM. TED F

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 05 Dec 2007 06:19

Yeah, I taught some classed to highschool kids and we pretty much just played foursquare all the time. It's fun because you don't need to be able to hit tricks (which take lots of practice).

Zeke · Post by **Zeke** » 05 Dec 2007 09:17

colefieldhouse22 wrote:Or if you just have any fun ideas that I can do with them, let me know.

If you play squares, maybe you can print out the updated 4-square rules on footag.org. Then there is a list of propositions you can add to games to liven things up. Spin rule, Line rule and No Emotional Outbursts are fun to try. If it's possible, try to have multiple courts with no more that 6 players to a court so they won't wait in line tooo long. Good luck on the demo

mc · Post by mc » 05 Dec 2007 11:13

try somehow to incorporate underwear pillow fights and doing makeup into four-square.

girls love that stuff, right?

footbag with younger girls

footbag with younger girls

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