Forums > Social Chat > Just started poi, any advice?

Posted: 30th Jan 2001
welcome Oats, as a brief advise i would say get very familiar with basic moves and confortable with changing sides, turns and similar basic building blocks of more difficult moves - also make sure you practise lots with your 'weaker' hand...the lessons on the site are quite good and range from simple moves to difficult ones - try and figure as many of them out as you can; it's gonna take some time...in the process if you need any help just...post a message! happy swinging,Simos

Posted: 31st Jan 2001
First and foremost: Don't hit yourself!!!! Beyond that: practice, practice, practice.If you get frustrated, walk away for awhile. Usually the more frustrated you get the more liable you are to mess up. I think alot of us have shared storied where we get flustered with a move, put the poi down or practise something else and come back to it later.Beyond that, ask and ye shall receive ------------------Pele Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir...

Pele
Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir
"Oooh look! A pub!" -exclaimed after recovering from a stupid fall
"And for the decadence of art, nothing beats a roaring fire." -TMK

Posted: 31st Jan 2001
no pain no game. and never try to force a move, just keep at it and i garrentte your body will adjust a bit and make it work.Also fool around with length of the strings, and find out what your comfortable with. alot of people here like then as long or a little longer than their arms. My freind and I who swing keep our strings a little shorter than the lengths of our arms. the length in many cases will reflect your style and your ablility to do certain moves ------------------bring light into the night

Its all in good, clean, light producing fun.

Posted: 30th Jan 2001
Welcome! As far as learning moves, this site is the right place to get tips, for sure. Remember that however you learn a move and practice it, that is the way your body will be conditioned to act. This means train your weaker hand to learn moves to the same degree as your stronger, and try to get outdoors as much as possible so your movements aren't restricted. This is a problem I've had, having practiced a lot indoors. My turns aren't what they should be, and my feet, unless I'm really into the dance and locomotion of it all, tend to want to stay put. If you've got the chance to practice outdoors, DO IT.Good luck and have fun!-Rick

-Rick aka Loki
oh, man, a signature?... uuh... this is like coming across wet cement... uuh, shoot, I had something clever I was saving... I hope I don't run out of sp

Posted: 30th Jan 2001
Hey Oats, i just started out in december and have found this website has helped me out a lot. Also watching other people has given me inspiration and also a chance to watch how moves work and how to put moves together.We have used the meet others database as a place to start a weekly get together to practice and meet other poi people!!

- Industrial design knows of no article more useful than the milk crate -

Posted: 31st Jan 2001
Simos, Pele, emptyset, Rick and Frenzie. Thanks for that its helped on the turns already. A couple questions, i've been reading about fire waters and white gasses, what are they? When i'm ready(which i think may be a while) what should I use? And happy days are here today, a little while ago i got the chase right. But thanks for all the advice.Frenzie, i'm up in orange working at a school here, when i get down to sydney wheres a place where i can watch a few people?Thanks again.

Posted: 31st Jan 2001
...oh and btw get a nice soft practise set - it'll help a lot...Simos

Posted: 31st Jan 2001
Get a cup...

NY FirebatsA shirt that is soaked in fuel burns very nicely. - Not By Me

Posted: 31st Jan 2001
Thanks one and all.A cup?A practice set sounds like a good idea, i was thinking of using tennis balls , any ideas of how to pierce them?Have any of you heard of a figian sort of poi. Apparently its a single length of chain with two poi on the ends. Sounds intresting

Posted: 31st Jan 2001
AHAHAHAHAHAHA.....Alexlex and Simos, you guys crack me up!!!Stumpy,Well, there are fuel conversations currently in the fuel mix thread and a very complete set of opinions in the changing of the guards thread that you might want to peruse through. It'll help get your fuel knowledge going. Glad it's helped. I also forgot to mention....warm up with stretches and stuff first, it helps heaps, especially in the behind the body moves!Trust me from personal knowledge of having to bathe in Flexal 454!!!!------------------Pele Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir...[This message has been edited by Pele (edited 01 February 2001).]

Pele
Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir
"Oooh look! A pub!" -exclaimed after recovering from a stupid fall
"And for the decadence of art, nothing beats a roaring fire." -TMK

Posted: 31st Jan 2001
Oats....The chain poi thing is similar to meteors and Flavio has something along those lines she mentioned in the new moves section under Bolos. I think there was a meteor thread as well. Meteors are an oriental thing...a long chain with bowls of flaming liquid...yes bowls, not balls, on either end. I guess a cross between staff and poi moves can be used but I'll be buggered if I could figure it out!Hope it helps.------------------Pele Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir...

Pele
Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir
"Oooh look! A pub!" -exclaimed after recovering from a stupid fall
"And for the decadence of art, nothing beats a roaring fire." -TMK

Posted: 1st Feb 2001
Stumpy,You're in Orange? Not too far to drive down to Sydney occasionally then!5 of us met for the first time the other night in Newtown (thanks to the home of poi). We plan to make it a regular weekly thing. Next week we're meeting on Wednesday night at 7-30pm in Camperdown Park, Newtown.Come down.... it's only a couple of hours drive! Finn

Posted: 1st Feb 2001
Oats - tennis balls are great; i'll tell you what i do: get something sharp made of metal (even a small screwdriver will do - there are other tools similar to screwdrivers but that have a sharp pointed end) and push it right in the tennis ball (if you are having trouble heat up the metal you are using but be careful)...make two similar holes with a 1.5-2cm spacing between them - then get a long treasury tag and push the metal ends in the holes (make sure they go right in - push them with the screwdriver if necessary) - that's it really, you can then connect this to your strings using any way you like (knot, keyring etc)....i hope this helps,Simos

Posted: 1st Feb 2001
Ace Simos, cheers for that. I might get down to that pretty soon, last night was hell i'm practicing the cork screw and man its beging to hurt like nothing on this earth. But i walked away and we'll c what happens this eve.

Posted: 1st Feb 2001
Hey Finn.I'm afraid weeks days are out. I work at a bording school so we keep an eye on this lot quite often. Besides i still can't drive its public transport all the way for me, just never got round to doing the test. Some call this laziness, i prefer to see it as getting in touch with the rest of the world.

Posted: 11th Feb 2001
Hey Oats it's good to have you spinning! Tennis balls are the best for practice and here is the best way to get the string through:1. take the ball and punch 2 holes exactly on the opposit from one another( easy beacuse of the lines on the ball!). almost anything sharp would do the job.2. take a metal wire and bend one end making it look like a big needle.3. put the sring through the "needle" and get the needle through the ball.( to get exactly to the second hole once it's in, just press on the hole firmly with your thumb and then you will feel your needle!)4. now just pull it all the way - a little strength in this point. well done.5. make a nice knot on both sides of the ball and there you go!I recomend also leaving a bit of free string on the bottom edge so you can tie a glow stick to it whenever needed, and don't be lazy and make proper handels so you can practice for as many hours as you like without injuring your fingers.don't give up if you get hit!!!remember: NO PAIN NO GAIN, JUS WATCH YOUR BALLS AS WELL AS YOU CAN!

Zohar