Forums > Beginner Staff Moves > A total noob

Posted: 9 years ago
saw the kickstarter a couple days ago and it seems interesting and depending on how skilled you are already will change how appealing it should be to you; eg im learning trickier contact staff/sword tricks already so while it will be useful for me to see what other people are figuring out, theres a chance i will know some of the things on it already, which means that im primarily interested in the equipment offered in the pricier donation options (...and because im not in america theres no shipping option to me ). but if you have never touched a staff/sword before then everything about it would be beneficial.

as for the other questions; time it takes to learn any skill will depend on your ability to learn and time you can put in in practice. i practiced multiple skills about 2-4hrs 2-3 times a week and each skill progressed differently; eg poi took me 2-3months to set on fire, staff took me 15mins before i tried it on fire, torches took me well over a year to try, etc. Before trying anything on fire you should primarily be comfortable enough with the skill itself and have read up on fire safety (also if possible, had someone with experience keep an eye on ya). First burn should be done in daylight according to most people, though early sunset/sunrise can give enough light to be safe imo

for youtube channels it'll depend on what skill you want to learn, searching for drexfactor, nick woolsey or playpoi with 'poi tutorial' should get you a lot of useful poi videos. Check the tutorials here under the 'learn' tab as well to get used to terminology (searching specific phrase/term along with 'tutorial' is usually enough to find a few vids)

I dont want to be called 'the greatest' or 'one of the greats'; let other guys claim to be the best. I just want to be known as a clown, to me thats the height of my profession. It means you can do everything-sing, dance, and above all, make people laugh

Posted: 9 years ago
Thanks for writing me back, it is a bummer they don't ship internationally. Do you have any YouTube channels that you follow?

Posted: 9 years ago
https://www.homeofpoi.com/us/lessons_all/teach/Library-Staff-4_0_0
the 3 beginners sections are quite useful for learning, the vids for some other sections arent the greatest so just go to youtube and search the name of the trick theyre trying to teach and ' staff tutorial'. i havnt found any specific channels that are consistantly useful unfortunately but ive found POV (point of view) vids most useful as most show exactly what you will be seeing and do slow-mo during the key parts

had a bit of time to kill and these guys https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5rgCAC0uiJ_2PkWLSzzT_w
seem to know what theyre talking about and could be useful, though tbh ive learnt most of my staff from going to conventions and then messing around with the ideas i learn there in order to learn new tricks and transitions. also, if you have some spare money, id recommend travelling to conventions or doing retreats like srikanta barefoot offers https://www.fusion-arts.com/workshops-and-retreats/
. Learning in person works better for me as i can get feedback off other staff spinners and seeing what they do can help me think differently about how im spinning; eg at the last convention i was at many of us were struggling with fishtails and by seeing what another guy was doing i was not only able to get fishtails smoother but able to see how to connect it smoothly into most of my other tricks -up until that point id only tried connecting them to 3 beat weaves and halo rolls but now can do them to/from most other tricks in my repertoire, including when spinning horizontally which has allowed me to flow a lot better

I dont want to be called 'the greatest' or 'one of the greats'; let other guys claim to be the best. I just want to be known as a clown, to me thats the height of my profession. It means you can do everything-sing, dance, and above all, make people laugh