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On arriving for your first ‘flight’, you will be given a briefing from an experienced instructor. This might involve you balancing ‘belly-down’ on a chair, in an attempt to create the perfect ‘flying shape’. Following this, you will change into your (usually psychedelic) flight suit, helmet, goggles and ear plugs (you will understand why you need these later) and you are then ready.

When it’s your turn to fly, you will stand at the doorway of the wind tunnel and, on your instructor’s say so, lean forward and fall into the airflow. You are now flying. The noise will be deafening and so your instructor will give you direction via some pre-determined hand signals (not dissimilar to those used in diving). You can control your flying by increasing or diminishing the drag of your body and by using your arms and legs as rudders. The best way to learn is to experiment and to think of yourself as an aeroplane (I was a B2 Bomber – slow and stealth-like).

You will usually get two one-minute sessions of flying, which might seem measly until you consider that a ‘real’ skydive, from a height of 10,000 feet, would only provide you with about 30 seconds of free fall. Hence you are getting the equivalent of four skydives.

Indoor skydiving is suitable for everyone. The instructors will consider your age, shape and ability level and set the wind speed accordingly. On average, the wind speed is just over 120 miles per hour. This matches the terminal velocity of a normal-sized human being falling from high above. With indoor skydiving it is necessary to create that same speed, but blowing air upwards.

If you catch the skydiving ‘bug’ you can sign up for further classes and learn how to do turns, rolls, formation flying and pretty much any acrobatic maneuver that you can think of. And all this at just a few feet from the ground.
By Helen Keeling

The following few steps will guide you into formulating a comprehensive schedule for learning and practicing this amazing combat skill with the help of any DIY instruction material. Your journey of how to learn Shaolin kung fu at home begins here:-
•First things first, get the right instruction material. Be it an instruction DVD or an elaborate wall poster with clear depictions of postures, stances and kung fu moves, make sure you get that material whose content is comprehensive, complete and easy for you to understand. In case of an instruction DVD, make sure that the instructor is a thoroughly qualified martial artist. Check for details of the instructor’s qualifications or thoroughly investigate about the instructor’s martial arts background to get a grip of his experience and instruction style.
•Set the right atmosphere. Just because you’re practicing at home doesn’t mean you should settle with whatever surrounding is available. Make some efforts to convert an extra room into a proper practice room so that the atmosphere there is conducive to your training. For instance, you should have a lot of floor space to allow yourself to practice the rigorous moves, expansive actions and workouts involved in kung fu. Kung fu involves a lot of leaps, kicks, punches, twists and turns. You wouldn’t want your fists or feet to crash into furniture or any hard surface and hurt yourself in the process. Get proper matting for the floor so that you don’t injure yourself while practicing those falls and landings.
•Do your warm ups properly before getting into the routine practice session. Most good instruction DVDs also teach you good warm ups and flexibility exercises that condition your body to undergo the intensive martial arts routines . Besides warm ups and flexibility exercises, you may also be required to do some stamina and endurance building exercises. Do proper research into these areas before embarking upon the main training. Failure to do so would only leave you with stretched muscles, pulled nerves and painfully sore joints.
•When learning or practicing kung fu at home, it’s a good idea to get a partner. When two people practice together, both of you get to master those holds, throw, attacks and blocks better with each other as opponents. The simulation is more real as you get an idea how a real-time combat involving real people would be like because you’ll get an idea of how an actual person would react to attack you or shield himself from your attacks in a real situation.
•Draw inspiration and motivation from kung fu legends. Keep a good collection of martial arts and kung fu movies and watch them on a regular basis, not for entertainment but to pick up the various combat techniques and fighting strategies from on-screen kung fu idols. Watch videos of actual kung fu tournaments and implement the tactics and stances shown there in your practice routines.

You can try practicing the gymnastics tricks in your backyard or even in an empty room inside the house. Make sure that the room is big enough for you two move around to attempt the tricks, and has no furniture. As for the backyard, clear it out as well because you don’t want to bang into something while trying the cartwheel.

Cartwheel
Stand on one side of the area where you are doing the cartwheel and stretch both hands up. Point the right foot forward, keeping it slightly above the ground. Lean forward from your waist, put your weight on the right foot, and keep your back and both legs straight. Lift the left foot off the ground and lean furthermore down so that your right leg bends from the knee. As you go down, bring both hands down as well so you can support your body weight on them. Lift your right leg off the ground as well and stretch both legs as far away from one another as possible. Rotate your body weight from one side to another so you can finish the cartwheel. As you come to the other side, your right foot will land on the ground first and then the left leg. You will reverse the steps on how you started the cartwheel to end it. Stand up straight, point left foot forward and that’s it.

Splits
Place a mat on the ground, kneel on the floor by keeping one foot in the front, bent at knee, and the other foot extended in the back. Push you hips forward, keep your chest up, and back straight. Here, before doing the split, your legs need to be stretched properly. To begin the split, your chest will be facing forward at all times, both legs will be straight but turned slightly outward, and the toes need to be pointed. Stay close to a wall in the beginning, bend your right leg’s knee and support it against the wall. This is done when you are in the split and you need to stretch both legs. If you want, you can even ask a friend to hold your leg instead of supporting it on the wall. Pull your chest upward, lean slightly back from the waist, and look behind as far as you can. And that is how you do a split.

Center Split
To perform the center split, sit on the floor and touch the soles of your feet together. Keep your back straight, chest held high, and lean forward, towards the floor from the waist. Extend both hands forward, keeping them straight as well, and bring your head down, closer to your feet. Place the palms of your hands flat on the floor, look forward with head still down, and open your legs. You need to stretch your legs as wide as you can with the toes pointed at all times. Now bring both legs on either sides and bend the knees at 90º angle with legs (from the knees) stretched behind you. Support the body weight on your elbows and forearms, and bend your waist just a bit; look upward. Now extend the right leg towards your right side, keeping the support on your elbows and forearms, and your left leg in the bent position. Extend the other leg as well and push your upper body upwards with both hands. Face forward with your chest up and back straight. And that is how a center split is done.

Here is a list of skills you must learn or sharpen further, if you already have a talent for them. These are the skills which your school audition panel will be looking out for, so be smart and do not refrain from working hard.

#1- Gesture Acting
You have to learn how to act through gestures. The people around you cannot see your face and do not know the real you. This actually good for those who find their real personalities coming forth, when behind a mask. All that people will see is the gestures you make and how you move in your costume. Your costume has to become you, and you have to be your costume! It’s as simple as that, and yet a very difficult task to accomplish. Pick up tricks by watching how other mascots use their body language in order to communicate with the players and the public. Watch videos and see popular game recordings of your own school too, so that you have more mascot ideas, on how to move in your own school’s mascot costume. Practice makes one perfect, and in this case, you have to get your act perfect. For the final audition, you will need to prepare a skit or a performance ritual, where you will enact different emotions, while using your costume in order to depict these emotions.

#2- Learn to Dance
You cannot be a mascot if you have two left feet! You have to learn how to dance. Which means, you have got to know the latest moves and have to move to the beat. Always remember to choose popular upbeat numbers, which are in trend and are a sure winner with the crowd. Learn modern hip hop steps and moves, and you are sure to get the crowd hooting with joy! What more does a school want from its mascot, if he is at the epitome of greatness!

#3- Gymnastic Moves
If you can manage a back flip and a hand stand, you have half the battle already won. A flexible mascot will be able to perform along with the cheerleaders. Which is very lucky, as some might say! The mascot will be able to make cool moves even while dancing or when the home team has scored. This skill will definitely make you a top qualifier during the auditions, if competition is on high gear. Read the rest of this entry »

Starting from how and where the players are supposed to stand near the air hockey table to keeping score and making sure that players don’t cheat, the rules and regulations are explained below. Go through each of the section and read carefully.

❖ Where to Stand
This indoor recreational game is played between two opponents. When both players are ready, they have to stand on either sides of the table. There is a center line in the middle of the table and keeping this line in check, the players can stand anywhere around the table so as long as they are on their side. Either player cannot cross that center line. While playing, the player’s hands, arms, body, and even clothes can’t touch the table or the puck.

❖ How to Start the Game
Before the game begins, the referee has to decide which players goes first. Similar to other sports, a coin is tossed and whichever player wins the toss, gets the chance to serve first. After the first serve, if let’s say player 2 made the score, he/she will get the chance to serve again. Whichever player makes the last score, begins to serve. If the game is being played in sets (best of 3, 5, or 7), after each set, players will switch sides. The referee has to say “Time In” for the game to begin.

❖ How to Play Air Hockey
Each player is given a mallet (the object to strike the puck with) and the game is played with one puck on the table. Considering the center line on the table, both players have to strike the puck without crossing this line. The player who won the toss begins by serving the puck. What both players have to aim for is to strike the puck in such a way that they can make the goal. The puck has to enter the horizontal plane on each players’ side. Each player gets about 7 seconds to make the shot after the puck has crossed the center line. Once the puck enters this plane, the player gets a point. Read the rest of this entry »