There are a few times a year where the students seem to just start to wilt. Energy is low, enthusiasm seems to wane, it just starts to feel like a struggle for them and let’s be honest, for you too as a coach or teacher. You are feeling the strain of ‘bringing it’ week after week.
These are the weeks that learning new material seems impossible, and they just melt under the pressure and perceived boredom of a ‘review week’
We have a great solution to those doldrums that not only gets them excited about the work but helps them start to put a shine on their technique…..all without them knowing it! Wink
We have what we call the Bucket Challenge.
We take all the elements that they have learned. ALL of them from the simplest elements to the ones they have just started working on, and we write them on little slips of paper that we fold and pop into a bucket. Then after warming up, you guessed it, they each come and pull a slip of paper and they have to go and execute that element with the cleanest form they can!
Once they have done that they get to come back and pick a new slip of paper and go and execute that element with the cleanest form they can!
And repeat and repeat and repeat.
Two things seem to consistently happen when we play this game.
The energy of the unpredictable brings a new excitement into the room
Their technique ALWAYS improves
Not to mention that those elements that were new last week and that you heard the “I can’t” complaining about because they were tired and lost motivation become the elements they want to pick so badly. They suddenly want to achieve.
At Spectacle Blue we have the entire studio do the bucket challenge for an entire week!
For beginners:
We put all the elements from trapeze, hoop and silks in one bucket with multiple apparatus hung in the space.
they practice elements and clean technique
they learn the names of the elements
And ….. don’t tell them (wink wink) but we just might have the elements they are struggling with in the bucket more than once! We love it and they love it when they get the same element 3 times in a row! “Miss Robin….I picked Twisted Angel AGAIN” as they laugh and head off to the trapeze bar!
For more advanced students, we use this to begin working endurance and helping them create unique transitions.
they pick one element and execute it
they pick a second and now they have to put them together
they pick a third and add it to their mini routine
and so on......
Sometimes the elements they pick do not easily or naturally fit together. Their challenge is to figure out how they are going to get from one to the other in their own interesting way.
We LOVE this challenge in our studio and the students love it too!
We are happy to share it with you.
Take it, try it, add your own twist, share your ideas and results with us!
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