Fast learner?

Ok so I have this friend... a friend who I've finally gotten interested in poi ( ), so I started showing him some moves. He got the forward weave in about 2 hours, the reverse weave in about another 2 hours, and by the end of the night he was doing full transitions between the two. Seeing as how it took ME like 2 MONTHS to learn all that, I was a bit flabbergaster (Of course, I didn't have a teacher... except for HOP).

Well, if nothing else a new poi beginner is out there. Just wish I was that coordinated, haha.

I know what you sayin' man . I just started teaching a friend of mine

and she had thread the needle in like a few hours , weave, reverse weave,

windmill, butterfly all came immediatly and she is now attempting btb

stuff . This is from doing poi for a few days. I can't believe it,

its really not fair .

:garbo:

I learnt the forward weave, reverse weave, nearly all of the butterfly variations, the windmill, the corkscrew and a load of turns in 2 weeks, ish. Working on btb stuff now. Does that make me a fast learner?

Take it as a compliment, cause it takes a good teacher AND a good student to make progress like that, although occassionally you do get some people who pick it up very naturally.

I met someone last year who got the btb weave in about 2/3 hours. He had only been spinning a week!

J

its true thou, it took me a lot longer cause i had to teach myself from, no offense malcolm, the crappy gifs on this site. Having someone in person to show you exactly how to do it from every angle, and more importantly what you are doing wrong instead of repeatedly smacking yourself till you get it right saves days worth of practice. Just delight in the fact that you are a good teacher and that, as with most things in life, if you get spoonfed 'tricks' you miss out on the most important part of it - learning them gracefully. When you teach yourself you become a lot better at creating new moves and can make them look good by transitioning between them better - because you understand the moves - what hand is where - what muscle is twisted in which direction and thus how to move it into another move. I've seen people who know 20 moves which they've been spoonfed who just look crap cause they have to go back to swinging by their sides each time. On the same note i've seen poeple who know 5 moves who look great cause they have rythmn and can transition effortlessly in time with music.

completely agree with Flid. I couldn't get jack from those gifs and i only understood how they could be usefull after I actually got everything down myself...

however it was still a great reference in absence of a teacher, showing what direction to move.

I think it would be awesome if the lessons page got overhauled. Let people in the community generate their own .gifs and malcolm can pick the best ones and put them up. Then you can click on a link that says "need more help" for each move and it will give you access to some of the other .gif's that are of reasonable quality.

Also it will break down the best one like arakrys did here http://www.hieris.info/about/poi/beat/ Also in the "need more help" it would list various tips&tricks people have come up with in the poi moves forum. Such as holding sticks in your hands instead of poi to get the planes figured out in your head etc..

Also try to get as many as the new moves people have come up with in there as possible, and maybe give a few of the crazy geeks on the poi moves forum access to it so they can do all the updating and stuff and malcolm won't have to do it.

and maybe have short hi-fps divxed .avi's of some of the harder moves.

Agree with all of ya there. I was the same...lerning really quick but at the same time i just didn't go to the next move. I stayed on that move until i felt comfortable with it

Eg: Thread the needle=I lernt in 30min but it took me an hour/hour1/2 to get it right (felt comfortable)

It's funny now cause the people i lernt off...is lerning of me. Im not saying that im good but i think it's funny . But there are some people that i have meet are really despite when it comes to teach or show there moves...it's like they are claimming that move for themselfs (No it's my move), but, when they have a play we see it anyway!!!! same as equipment (No you'll steal my ideas on how i made my staff or poi)

And here i was thinking poi and staff was all about sharing ideas, movement etc!!!!!

i don't totally agree with your comments mozy. Unless you learnt moves from scratch without ever seeing them before or knowing they were possible, you just got the the idea in your head then practiced it till you could, you can't really call them your moves. Secondly 60-90 minutes isn't exactly a long time to practice a move to feel totally comfortable with it. By your time estimations you could become the worlds greatest spinner in a week, which i'd like to see.

It is frustraing in a way when you don't have a teacher near you.

I know I could easily teach someone every move on the "lessons" in a month if we practiced a whole bunch... and it took me two years.

I'm just wondering.....

does it matter?

does it matter how long it took you to learn a trick, move etc?

we all learn at different rates, and have different learning styles

so, why does it seem to matter?



ade

hmmmm... interesting thoughts about teaching and learning....

i help run a uni circus club. the main regulars such as myself are not the greatest jugglers, but we try and get everyone started so they can develop there own style. ive taught so many ppl to juggle three balls, poi, staff, devil sticks, unicycle, clubs.....ive given up getting frustrated at talented beginnners!!
we were fooling around at uni and a guy came up and asked if he could try the clubs, as he had only juggled balls in the past. this guy had clubs mastered in 10minutes. it took me a couple of weeks!!!

i worked out poi much the same way as Flid, and completely agree about the benefits of teaching yourself. but its a hell of alot easier with a good teacher!!
what ive concluded from juggling/fireart/martial arts is a teacher is good to help you with the basics, and get you to the stage when you can teach yourself and understand what you are doing wrong. then its up to you.

thats what i love about juggling and firearts - theres a great social and supportive aspect of helping and teaching, but if you wish you can work it out yourself in your own time. i prefer a combination of the two.

but good point Ade, it doesnt really matter!!
then again if we only talked about stuff which mattered on HOP it would be a pretty boring discussion board!!

cheers.

(hopefully i havent wandered off the topic this time as i sometimes do!!)

Yeah, if I had had someone to show me I probably would have picked it up a lot quicker as well. Being able to see what he was doing wrong (from knowing how I overcame the same problems) allowed me to show him how to correct it. Still, since I'm the first of my friends to do this stuff, so its satisfying to just know I've improved enough to make others want to do it.

I was just expressing my "Back in my day!" side... Pain was my teacher, but its nice being able to save others from that.

pain is a good teacher!! cos after a while you get used to poi bruises, and they dont hurt as much!

i found by 'learn by pain' poi method fantastic!! i went paintballing a few months ago and i did not have a single 'fast moving projectile inflicted' bruise! it was brilliant!

similarly when learning to ride the unicycle, i was far more philosophical about the pain after learning poi!!

im just going to wander off the subject for a short moment *hugs em for being such a marvellous teacher*

ok, what i wanted to say is that without some form of a teacher i, for one, would have never started spinning. she was the first person i ever saw spin and the only way i would have ever touched a set of poi.
i am one of the most uncoordinated people ever and without the gentle coaxing of a teacher i would have never mastered the basics to move on and do other stuff.

so i think it depends on the person and the learning type. some people need the extra push while others need to work on their own from the beginning. it just depends =)
and at some point you will catch up. maybe you'll get better or maybe you'll just develop your seperate ways. whatever. but it's so nice to have someone to share it with!