There are a few things on my mind in regards to flying trapeze.
One of them is the evolution of my layout, but I have put that one on the shelf for a while.
Then there are
The Dowels
Duu Duu Duu Duuuuuum (this is scary music)
For the sake of painting as detailed a picture as I can, I will include my personal background in this discussion.
As a beginner flyer I didn't wear grips. Most beginners don't.
I also have acrophobia, the fear of heights, which is different from the normal fear of height.
I am including the fact that I as a beginner fell of the bar many times during take-off. The "jumping in to the bar thing" which can be made easier by a belt hold. Unfortunately where I learned to fly the bar was far away from the board and no belt hold, so a lot of peeling of the bar.
Eventually I developed a take off that allowed me to take off unassisted and with some kind of palm grip on my hand to protect it from ripping.
On certain hot, dry months, the grips felt dry and slippery, they might have protected my hands but they didn't make me feel safe on the bar.
A year ago I changed into wearing no grips at all, or bare minimum gauze grips, it gave me the confidence to try and work my swing harder, to beat back harder at take-off, which is the most important component of the swing (except for the force-out) and to feel secure.
But it also only allowed me to take 8 swings before my right hand ripped.
Throughout the last 5 years or so, I have encountered flyers from all over the world that had taken to wearing the gymnastic, so called dowel grips. I was initiated into the group by many, I tried about 5 different dowel grips, and that was it. I wore them for about one class, one session, then I stopped.
Or I wore them in lines, but as soon as I did anything OOL, or went to catch, I didn't wear the dowel, but went back to my little gauze grips.
Certain days, I switched from dowels, to leather Palm grips, to gauze, all within an hour.
So 6 weeks ago, Pedro Farfan came to visit us.
For those of you that don't know him, he is the catcher at Mystere, Cirque du Soleil show and one of the best coaches in the world. I have seen him coach 3 of my friends in to amazing flyers.
He started laughing when he saw my grips. My gauze grips.
In a nice way. They man is super nice and funny.
One of the things he told me is that the sweep back and the break are almost the most important parts in the swing, and to sweep hard it is easier if you have a good grip. (With regular Palm grips they move a little when you break, the dowels barely move, they are stuck on the bar. This is my own note)
I understood in my gut, that I had to learn to use the dowels, if I wanted to reach my potential as a high flyer.
I am at a point right now, Friday, February 26, 2016 that I have committed to wearing the dowels all the time when flying.
So far, I don't think the dowels are helping me sweep back any better of the take-off as I haven't "gone for it", as in actually tried to sweep back hard. I am still too scared of falling off.
Yesterday, I went up on the trapeze and flew by myself, in my dowels.
It got easier and easier.
I stood on the board, and as I was going to serve myself the bar (which I hate and don't like at all - another phobia of mine)
I thought to myself: I am not going to fly, I am just going to serve myself the bar and see how that goes. Then I thought: I have to believe they work, I have to believe & trust that I will not fall. I "know" logically in my head that they work. And then I just did it. I went for it.
I flew. I flew and flew and flew and flew.
Today I will go up again and try harder.
I will also post videos for you.
Have a happy Flyday.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Cotton Candy Club
