Hey guys.
Manna and I are doing a demo at an elementary school in a month. All I really know is that they want a 20 minute performance and then about an hour and a half of workshopping with elementary-aged kids and possibly their parents.
I figured for a chunk of the 20 minutes I would do the whole thing where I explain adds and the different trick components and have Manna demonstrate. And then we could shred or do a doubles routine or something. But that doesn't really come close to 20 minutes. So suggestions for with what we could fill up that time would be great.
I suppose I should get a bunch of sandmans too for the workshop part. I didn't think of that.
Elementary school demo + workshop ideas please
1. Don't talk about "adds" at all. Call them "points."
When I do demos around that length I'd usually structure it like this;
Introduce myself, explain how I got in to footbag, how long I've been playing and some of my competition results. Usually I include the anecdote from when I first looked on footbag.org, read the move list, read blurriest and thought it was impossible, but now I can hit it easily - and I demonstrate - that being the first move I hit for the audience.
Talk about the history of footbag - Stallberger and Marshall etc. The rise of modern freestyle with BAP (although I don't mention bap, or usually people's names too much). Competitions. Usually I mention Vasek a bit (ie. "the current world champion started playing when he was 13, was European champion when he was 14, world champion when was 15 and has never lost at worlds - he's won the last 6 years in a row" - obviously I'd have to change this a little these days).
In the history part I'd demonstrate some kicking. I'd say that it gets fairly boring quickly, and then as I got to the modern freestyle section I'd do a little and fairly easy run.
Move on to moves - explain the things you get different points for (very roughly) - ie delays, dexes, spins, ducks, symposium, paradox. Usually I explain paradox either in a joking manner or very occasionally I try to go into more details - usually with the example of mirage - ie. "you get an extra point if you go around the bag when you set it from the opposite side of your body" - obviously it's more complicated than that, but needless to talk about specifics.
Then I'd go through moves of each add value. Usually I hit runs rather than single tricks for each add until I get to 5 add moves. I also tell people a little about move names and give them the names of some of the moves. When I get to the more difficult moves I explain what happens before doing the move and where all the points come from. I generally try to avoid paradox and x-dex moves. I also demonstrate that the points aren't completely accurate - usually comparing dimwalk or even blurry whirl to whirr.
The giving move names and describing them works well because I usually finish off by doing "Your Mom" but I describe it really quickly. "ie. This last trick is the hardest one I can do. It's worth 7 points (I give it an x-dex in my presentation, but don't actually think it should get one). It's called "Your Mom." (pause for laughter). There's another similar trick called "Your Sister." Basically it works like this. You stall the bag on your toe, set it up in the air. Go around it with this foot. Jump in the air and go around it with the other foot twice while in the air. Catch it on the inside of your other foot behind the other leg. Too Easy."
I usually do some juggling in there somewhere as well, although I forget when. After all that I'll do a 2 minute routine.
A good way of making up some more time would be getting the teacher out to have a bit of kick with you or try to teach them a toe stall or atw or something.
I know this sounds a bit dry but I find it works fairly well, especially if you try to make lots of jokes - even though mine are often terrible, people still laugh, possibly out of pity or embarrassment
It probably goes without saying but talk yourself up and make sure only talk and attempt tricks you can hit fairly consistently. I once made the mistake when talking about tricks with funny names (not at a school) to talk about "golden shower" which immediately led somebody asking me to hit it. I can't and told them this but had a few attempts anyway, that would have made me look not so good. I think it's better to pretend tricks you can't hit well don't exist.
When I do demos around that length I'd usually structure it like this;
Introduce myself, explain how I got in to footbag, how long I've been playing and some of my competition results. Usually I include the anecdote from when I first looked on footbag.org, read the move list, read blurriest and thought it was impossible, but now I can hit it easily - and I demonstrate - that being the first move I hit for the audience.
Talk about the history of footbag - Stallberger and Marshall etc. The rise of modern freestyle with BAP (although I don't mention bap, or usually people's names too much). Competitions. Usually I mention Vasek a bit (ie. "the current world champion started playing when he was 13, was European champion when he was 14, world champion when was 15 and has never lost at worlds - he's won the last 6 years in a row" - obviously I'd have to change this a little these days).
In the history part I'd demonstrate some kicking. I'd say that it gets fairly boring quickly, and then as I got to the modern freestyle section I'd do a little and fairly easy run.
Move on to moves - explain the things you get different points for (very roughly) - ie delays, dexes, spins, ducks, symposium, paradox. Usually I explain paradox either in a joking manner or very occasionally I try to go into more details - usually with the example of mirage - ie. "you get an extra point if you go around the bag when you set it from the opposite side of your body" - obviously it's more complicated than that, but needless to talk about specifics.
Then I'd go through moves of each add value. Usually I hit runs rather than single tricks for each add until I get to 5 add moves. I also tell people a little about move names and give them the names of some of the moves. When I get to the more difficult moves I explain what happens before doing the move and where all the points come from. I generally try to avoid paradox and x-dex moves. I also demonstrate that the points aren't completely accurate - usually comparing dimwalk or even blurry whirl to whirr.
The giving move names and describing them works well because I usually finish off by doing "Your Mom" but I describe it really quickly. "ie. This last trick is the hardest one I can do. It's worth 7 points (I give it an x-dex in my presentation, but don't actually think it should get one). It's called "Your Mom." (pause for laughter). There's another similar trick called "Your Sister." Basically it works like this. You stall the bag on your toe, set it up in the air. Go around it with this foot. Jump in the air and go around it with the other foot twice while in the air. Catch it on the inside of your other foot behind the other leg. Too Easy."
I usually do some juggling in there somewhere as well, although I forget when. After all that I'll do a 2 minute routine.
A good way of making up some more time would be getting the teacher out to have a bit of kick with you or try to teach them a toe stall or atw or something.
I know this sounds a bit dry but I find it works fairly well, especially if you try to make lots of jokes - even though mine are often terrible, people still laugh, possibly out of pity or embarrassment
It probably goes without saying but talk yourself up and make sure only talk and attempt tricks you can hit fairly consistently. I once made the mistake when talking about tricks with funny names (not at a school) to talk about "golden shower" which immediately led somebody asking me to hit it. I can't and told them this but had a few attempts anyway, that would have made me look not so good. I think it's better to pretend tricks you can't hit well don't exist.
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Iron Clad Ben
- Superior Precision Bionics
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oh gosh, you do NOT need to get so technical. Talking about ADDs or point systems to elementary school kids? I can tell you right now, they will not understand or care. Sure way to put them to sleep. They are KIDS. Don't talk, SHOW! And get them INVOLVED as much as possible.
A week ago I did some demos for 5th graders. I had about 30 minutes for each class, probably did 6 or 7 classes that day. If you only remember one thing that I say --- DO NOT SHOW THEM FREESTYLE UNTIL THE VERY END!!
They will have MUCH more appreciation for it after realizing that just the basic kicks are very hard.
Freestyle too early will set the bar too high in their minds and they won't appreciate just being able to kick it on their own.
Here was how I broke down my 30 minutes:
1) Introduction. What is this called? Hackysack and footbag. Short history lesson two guys in Oregon, USA in 1972 started playing. How many kicks is the record? 63,326 in under 9 hours. AD-LIB!
2) FIRST LESSON: Kick-and-catch. Tell them when you first started out you could barely kick it once. Work on kick,catch,repeat using opposite foot. If you can kick it to a catch, you can kick it straight up. You don't have to do a Chuck Norris kick, just let it hit your foot. Once you get good at kick-and-catch, try kicking it more than once. At this point I empty out my bucket-o-footbags and let the kids try. Some will get it right away, others will have trouble. Help out the ones who are struggling.
3) SECOND LESSON: Games. I show them circle kicking first and then ask anyone who's interested in 4-square to check it out. Elementary school kids usually know regular 4-square. Teach them the basic rules, good passes, no spikes, they'll pick it up quickly. Some kids will still want to kick it on their own that's fine. Let them circle kick, solo kick or play 4-square for about 5-10 minutes.
4) THIRD LESSON: Stalls, optional for those who want to learn. Give a brief explanation, kick x 4 > toe stall, HOLD THE STALL. They will be amazed. Talk about how it's like cradling an egg, going down with the bag. Mention bending the support leg. Tell them it's easier in socks if they want to take off their shoes. Most will get it in socks. Help out those who can't.
By this point you should be about 20 minutes into it. At this point call everybody over and tell them you want to show them ONE LAST THING. I like to build it up with a talk first while I'm just kicking it... how this is the result of many years of practice... about how instead of watching TV or playing video games after my homework I would go outside and play... etc. etc. Show them freestyle. Do it Dan-Ednie-on-Australia's-Got-Talent style. Slowly build it up. Play below your ability level for lots of contacts, and thrown in bigger tricks in small doses. Seriously, you will be GLAD you waited. They will appreciate it so much more after having spent 25 minutes just learning to kick it. As a finale I like to show them a few of my "coolest" moves, like torque and eggbeater. Whatever you got that's spectator-friendly and can be hit in 1 or 2 tries, they'll love.
That said, 20 minutes is a long time to do a demo. Whatever you do, the demonstration of freestyle should be at the end. What kind of attention span do they think these kids have for 50 minutes? Yowsers. Good luck.
A week ago I did some demos for 5th graders. I had about 30 minutes for each class, probably did 6 or 7 classes that day. If you only remember one thing that I say --- DO NOT SHOW THEM FREESTYLE UNTIL THE VERY END!!
They will have MUCH more appreciation for it after realizing that just the basic kicks are very hard. Freestyle too early will set the bar too high in their minds and they won't appreciate just being able to kick it on their own.Here was how I broke down my 30 minutes:
1) Introduction. What is this called? Hackysack and footbag. Short history lesson two guys in Oregon, USA in 1972 started playing. How many kicks is the record? 63,326 in under 9 hours. AD-LIB!
2) FIRST LESSON: Kick-and-catch. Tell them when you first started out you could barely kick it once. Work on kick,catch,repeat using opposite foot. If you can kick it to a catch, you can kick it straight up. You don't have to do a Chuck Norris kick, just let it hit your foot. Once you get good at kick-and-catch, try kicking it more than once. At this point I empty out my bucket-o-footbags and let the kids try. Some will get it right away, others will have trouble. Help out the ones who are struggling.
3) SECOND LESSON: Games. I show them circle kicking first and then ask anyone who's interested in 4-square to check it out. Elementary school kids usually know regular 4-square. Teach them the basic rules, good passes, no spikes, they'll pick it up quickly. Some kids will still want to kick it on their own that's fine. Let them circle kick, solo kick or play 4-square for about 5-10 minutes.
4) THIRD LESSON: Stalls, optional for those who want to learn. Give a brief explanation, kick x 4 > toe stall, HOLD THE STALL. They will be amazed. Talk about how it's like cradling an egg, going down with the bag. Mention bending the support leg. Tell them it's easier in socks if they want to take off their shoes. Most will get it in socks. Help out those who can't.
By this point you should be about 20 minutes into it. At this point call everybody over and tell them you want to show them ONE LAST THING. I like to build it up with a talk first while I'm just kicking it... how this is the result of many years of practice... about how instead of watching TV or playing video games after my homework I would go outside and play... etc. etc. Show them freestyle. Do it Dan-Ednie-on-Australia's-Got-Talent style. Slowly build it up. Play below your ability level for lots of contacts, and thrown in bigger tricks in small doses. Seriously, you will be GLAD you waited. They will appreciate it so much more after having spent 25 minutes just learning to kick it. As a finale I like to show them a few of my "coolest" moves, like torque and eggbeater. Whatever you got that's spectator-friendly and can be hit in 1 or 2 tries, they'll love.
That said, 20 minutes is a long time to do a demo. Whatever you do, the demonstration of freestyle should be at the end. What kind of attention span do they think these kids have for 50 minutes? Yowsers. Good luck.
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Iron Clad Ben
- Superior Precision Bionics
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I saw that part. This was my suggestion for 30 minutes of time. How the heck they think they're gonna hold kid's attention for 100 minutes on one thing, I don't know what to tell you. My other main point is that the performance should be AFTER the teaching.Jeremy wrote:Ben, I think you missed this part of Erik's post...
and then about an hour and a half of workshopping with elementary-aged kids and possibly their parents.
Erik
I think you should tell them you only need 30-45 minutes. An hour and a half teaching and 20 minutes performing is way too long. If they broke it up into groups and you spent 30-45 minutes teaching and demoing smaller groups of 20-30 at a time, that would probably be time better spent.
Gee, this is suuuper helpful. Thanks Guys!
Keep it coming!
I got some good ideas. Like I will do the kicking and then get a volunteer to come up and try kicking to show it's not easy. Maybe get a volunteer to try a stall and a trick later?
Hmm. And yeah, I think I will see if I can lower the time. But maybe for the 1.5 hours we could do foursquare. Hehe. Kids love that.
Keep it coming!
I got some good ideas. Like I will do the kicking and then get a volunteer to come up and try kicking to show it's not easy. Maybe get a volunteer to try a stall and a trick later?
Hmm. And yeah, I think I will see if I can lower the time. But maybe for the 1.5 hours we could do foursquare. Hehe. Kids love that.
depending on how quickly they pick up the skills you may need to have some backu p stuff becuase they may not be good enough to have fun playing 4-square. Maybe have some simpler games - footbag golf type stuff where they have to kick it into a frisbee or something. I'd also recommend having bags to give away. Maybe have a consec kicks comp or a some other games with bags as prises, even if they're just cheap kickable bags.
Who wears short shorts?
Dylan Govender.
Dylan Govender.
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CIC flurry
- Amazingly Sexy Man-Beast
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Don't do this! The last thing a volunteer wants is to be singled out and embarrassed by their lack of ability amongst their peers. There will be no benefit gained from doing this. Trust me, I tried it unknowingly once, and let's just say...never again.Muffinman wrote:Like I will do the kicking and then get a volunteer to come up and try kicking to show it's not easy. Maybe get a volunteer to try a stall and a trick later?
Two hours with the same group is an extremely long time for a demo + workshop. Next time I recommend you give them your own terms (i.e. what length of time you think is reasonable and will hold their attention).
Tell the organizers your needs and they will accommodate you.
Not sure what you're charging but minimum $150-200 is a good base.
Easy 20 minute demo (my method):
Hello, my name is ______ from _____ and today I would like to show you freestyle footbag.
How many of you have heard of Hacky Sack?
Now, " " " " " " footbag?
Footbag: american sport, 1972 in Oregon, Hacky Sack is a brand name, freestyle and net, worldwide competitions/players
the goal of freestyle is_____
Here are the types of tricks:
[Structure: say the trick type, then name of trick, do the trick, hand catch and stop, maybe repeat or do them continuously if it's easy]
(do only 2-4 of each category)
Kicks
Basic Stalls
Ask them to name a body part and you stall it there
Kicks + jump/spin
Rolls, carries transfers, etc.
Single dexes
Spins
Ducks
Double dexes
"now you can put the elements together: spin + dex, spin + duck + set + dex, etc."
2 or 3 advanced moves (ex. PS whirl, vortex, flurry, etc.)
"The main event in freestyle competition is called Routines. This is where we put all our tricks together into a show."
Do an easy 2 minute routine to simple song.
Q & A period
----------------------------------------------------------------
Workshop
Get the school to either buy a bulk amount of footbags from the dollar store (I know it sucks, but at least they'll each have something to work with) or get them to compensate you for any footbags you buy specifically for the event. Or sell them to the school as a class set at a slightly higher rate than you paid.
Get them to form groups and share if there's not enough to go around.
Form them in a circle around you.
Tricks: place on toe > swing leg up to hand catch, hand > knee/inside/toe kick > hand, place on forehead/knee/inside/elbow and balance (if they're young), get them trying consecutive kicks
older kids: toe set to lap catch, toe set to back of neck, walkover, flying clipper ("lean back!"), stalberger maybe
Tell them to they must hold the footbag in their hand (show them), reform the circle and not be talking before you will teach the next trick.
For pairs, teach them to give and receive good passes with accurate kicks and hand tosses. 4-square is too hard for beginners. Instead, get them in groups and have them try to keep up as long as possible. Smile and give positive feedback to any individual improvements you see.
An easy kicking device is to buy a little foam soccer ball, cut a slit in it, buy a plastic broomstick and put glue around the end and stick it in the slit. Go around the circle, lower it slowly and let each kid kick it. Now they can practice the technique without the nuisance of gravity!
Message me if you have any further questions. I've done at least a hundred school demos.
Thank the organizers.
Business cards are a good idea.
Good luck.
Jorden
Jorden Moir
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hacksterbator
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i did a bunch of half time shows at my university basketball games, and used almost this exact same format. Except when people raised their hand when they had heard of footbag i made a joke about them seeing my show last time. but i didn't have time for the q&a so I said "for more information on footbag, visit Footbag.org... or you can always just google it".Jorden wrote: Easy 20 minute demo (my method):
Hello, my name is ______ from _____ and today I would like to show you freestyle footbag.
How many of you have heard of Hacky Sack?
Now, " " " " " " footbag?
Footbag: american sport, 1972 in Oregon, Hacky Sack is a brand name, freestyle and net, worldwide competitions/players
the goal of freestyle is_____
Here are the types of tricks:
[Structure: say the trick type, then name of trick, do the trick, hand catch and stop, maybe repeat or do them continuously if it's easy]
(do only 2-4 of each category)
Kicks
Basic Stalls
Ask them to name a body part and you stall it there
Kicks + jump/spin
Rolls, carries transfers, etc.
Single dexes
Spins
Ducks
Double dexes
"now you can put the elements together: spin + dex, spin + duck + set + dex, etc."
2 or 3 advanced moves (ex. PS whirl, vortex, flurry, etc.)
"The main event in freestyle competition is called Routines. This is where we put all our tricks together into a show."
Do an easy 2 minute routine to simple song.
Q & A period
this should get stickied.
A.G.