Do you Freebord?

If you love snowboarding and wish you could do it year round your not alone. There are many boarders out there who wish they could hit the slopes every day of the year. The boarders that realized packing up their bags and leaving their beautiful homes wasn't an option came up with something called the Freebord.



The Freebord is a specialized skateboard that acts as a snowboard. One distinguishing feature of this Freebord is its six wheels. Four of the six are conventional wheels and the other two are located more toward the middle of the board acting as the central wheels which rotate in unlimited directions. By putting pressure on the edge of the wheel the boarder can maintain control of the board. The center wheels mimic the deck of the snowboard as the four outter wheels act as the steel edges allowing the rider to slow to a hault or cut a sharp edge to make a turn. The rider also has each foot in a binding to give more freedom to ride faster and to allow for more tricks or jumps to be executed.

Freebording isn't just a recreational activity although it can certainly be a recreatinal activity for everyone and anyone. There is a pro team called CHoE. This team travels around the nation together sharing their love and passion for the thrill of the ride. These 'adrenaline junkies' are filming themselves as they succeed in heart stopping rides with fanatical tricks. These pro Freeborders include Arnaud de Bluze (Vars, France), Nico Gaillard (Lyon, France), Laurent Brondel (Lyon, France), Mike Hoppe (Oakland, CA), Corey Lucero (Ellicott City), Tom Macfarlane (Perth, Australia) , Justin Oliver (Radford VA) and Richie Verost (Hamburg, NJ). All of these boarders are to end up in San Fransisco later this year to ride together. San Fransisco happens to be the favorite place to skate for many of the riders.

A member of the pro team from Perth, Australia, Sam Trowbridge passed away on April 21, 2011 from a Freebord accident that occurd the 20th late in the afternoon. He was riding without a helmet and caught a heel edge where he was immediately knocked unconscious and later the next day pronounced (brain) dead at the hospital in Auckland, New Zealand. His riding abilities, video editing skills as well as passion for the sport was spread throughout the world and admired by all.



It is important to recognize that reguardless of your age you are prone to serious injuries, Freebording is a dangerous sport to partake in and should be attempted at caution and with the proper safety equiptment. Never let your fears keep you from trying something new. Life is meant to be explored. Develop a new skill you never knew you had. If you like what you see, do what these guys did and order a Freebord designed to your own needs. Don't forget the helmet! You can find one your own size and at various designs and colors through the following longboard website:
http://thelongboardstore.com/protection/helmets-mens-medium/

Do you Freebord?

Visit the Freebord Official Page to learn more!

Edutaining in a House of Physical Education

Last week SUNY Cortland's APEM Club had the privilege of being the audience of a SUNY Cortland doctor from the Health Department who calls himself an Edutainor, Dr. Trunfio. "An Edutainor", he explains, "is someone who can incorporate humor and learning into the classroom...or is it a house of education because I know you physical educators are touchy with your terms". This was the moment in the session I began smiling and laughing for the next 60 minutes of his session. He says, as an educator you must "engage your students through entertaining them in education" and this is the key to holding their attention and keeping them on the edge of their seats. He encouraged us teachers to reach out to the masses and teach to the student. In your classroom there will be a multitude of ways that your students learn and it is your job to teach to each individual learner. To sum the different ways that your students will learn can be found in Gardner's Multiple Intelligence Theories. These theories include linguistic intelligence, logical-mathematical, musical, bodily kinesthetic, spacial, interpersonal, intrapersonal intelligences as well as the later added, naturalistic intelligence. Without edutaining to all of the masses, not everyone in your class will learn. It is your responsibility to educate everyone in your classroom. Dr. Trunfio stated, "Without entertainment, it's just information". So how do you incorporate this entertainment in your classroom and still educate your students?

To engage all of these different learners that could be in your classroom, Dr. Trunfio has developed something he calls the Laugh First Project. In this project he has created the acronym GOTCHA. GOTCHA stands for, Games, Openness, Tickets, Chaos, Humor and Abracadabra.

• GAMES: Dr. Trunfio encourages to present the students with a challenge, game or (as a physical educator would put it), an instant activity to get your students roped into your lesson and engaged in what is going on in your classroom. During the session Dr. Trunfio had a few volunteers stand in the front of class to create a balloon animal following his instructions.



• OPENNESS: Being open with your students and sharing your stories allows for them to see that you are human, just as they are. It brings you all to the same level and allows for your students to open up to you. Dr. Trunfio shared his embarrassing story of waking up late for a final exam on SUNY Cortland's campus and running to the classroom only to then realize he was taking the test in his underwear and coat. The idea of waking up late and having to get from the dorms to a classroom at SUNY Cortland was something we could all connect with at one point in time.



• TICKETS: As soon as we walked into the classroom Dr. Trunfio was there to present to each of us a raffle ticket. My immediate thought was that we were all going to win a prize. This is what Dr. Trunfio wanted us all to think. He later told us that the tickets were to hold our attention and to keep us in the session until the end because we all expected to win a prize. He then told us we were not going to win anything but then gave away a t-shirt to one winner.
  


• CHAOS: Movement is important for focus of your students. Dr. Trunfio was everywhere. He utilized every square inch of his floor/stage. He walked and ran up aisles as he was talking to us, reaching out to everyone in the class. It was hard for him to not put himself in the proximity of the students. He also created chaos in the room with his vioce being loud and upbeat. He was energized and used multiple props as if he were a clown in a circus. He eventually was wearing a rainbow curly wig holding juggling batons with a giant red ball for a nose.



• HUMOR: The element of humor sets a curved line strait and is the shortest distance between two people. Humor was something that was always being incorporated throught his session. He told stories of what he has done in his past to create humor. One of which was how he has used caution tape on the door to see the students become confused and wonder how to get into the classroom. Eventually they figure it out but seeing their faces when they see you inside and the door taped off will instantly create humor for you as well as them. Another way Dr. Trunfio brought humor into the room was when he stood in front of the class with his juggling baton and told everyone that they had to stand up and applaud and yell as loud as they could and the louder everyone yelled, the higher he would juggle the batons. We all stood up and applauded and yelled as he threw one baton halfway in the air and let it fall. We all became silent as he confessed he didn't know how to juggle. He just wanted a standing ovation instead. He explained that laughing is all a chain reaction. As an edutainor, you only have to make a small handfull of your class laugh because when one person laughs, the person next to them usually laughs and so on. Laughter is contageous.



• ABRACADABRA: Every time you step in front of your students you have the chance to create magic and not a minute of time should be wasted because when your having fun time flys. There is no reason why humor can't be implemented into each unit or lesson you teach. Dr. Trunfio demonstrated how laughter is a chain reaction by having 4 students lay on their backs with thewir heads on each other's stomachs as one laughed until they were all laughing uncontrolably. He then paused and told us how time flys when your having fun. As he pointed to the clock I realized that we had just finished sitting through his 60 minute session. He had fit everything that he wanted to say in only 60 minutes but so much had happened in that time and there wasnt a minute I wasn't paying attention or a thing that I didn't remember when I left the classroom.
  

Dr. Trunfio had utilized every minute that he had with us. He roped us in From the first minute and didn't stop edutaining until the 60 minutes was up. Educating through entertainment is something that I believe every educator should be doing. Given, there is a sense of professionalism and seriousness in educating but there are ways to make in memorable and fun for your students. To be a teacher that your students will always remember and to haave them rememebr all of what you taught you must capture and hold their attention. How will you bring your classroom to life? Dr. Trunfio brought his classroom to life through GOTCHA.. It is every educators job to bring their classroom to life. What are you waiting for? Start creating magic in your classroom today!

*Visit Dr Trunfio's website:

http://laughfirstproject.com/

ABDC Season of the Superstars

ABDC is another way to say America's Best Dance Crew. ABDC is a reality TV show on MTV that involves a selected 10 crews from all over the US. These 10 dance crews bring their own style of dance to the stage to entertain their viewers and to compete for $100,000. Every week the crews are given a challenge. Since the show has been up and running since February of 2008, this is the sixth season titled, 'Season of the Superstars'. It's titled 'Season of the Superstars' because each week the crews must choose from one of today's top artists and choreograph a dance to one of the artist's songs. This past week was the opening premier of season six and the top artist chosen was Lil' Wayne. The opening number was a hit and favorite from this season's judges as well as fans. This season's judges include an American rapper, songwritter and dancer Lil' Mama, former lead vocalist of the pop group N'SYNC JC Chasez, and a b-boy freestyle urban dancer D-Trix.



This week's season premier was an eye opener and really demonstrated many different styles of dance. For instance, the group I Am Me is a crew that is all about visualization and imagery. They use creativity from every day life and incorporate it into dance. One of their goals is to show America how they can take objects from every day life and turn them into a physical movement. This crew is one of a kind and absolutely a team to keep your eye on. But with so much talent this season, you may find it difficult to choose your favorite crew. Choose quickly because each episode a crew is voted off of the show to narrow the contestents down until America find's their favorite crew of the Season of the Superstars.



Stay tuned to MTV to see more of ABDC!