Here is a little story:
John Paul, who is the youngest kid
at Sankey, is just now starting to be able to ride the unicycle. When Uncle Tom
got here earlier this month he started running unicycle practice so the boys
will be ready for the upcoming trip. John Paul would just sit on the side, and
watch as we went through our routine. When we finished he would pull out the
smallest unicycle, and go to the wall on the side where he could lean up against in order to
keep his balance. He would stay in there for at least an hour just trying to
make it a few feet.
He started sneaking into the gym
whenever he could so he could get some extra practice in. After three straight
days of practicing like this he was able to go around the gym while holding onto the
wall. Once he was done with practicing he would come up to me and say, “Me legs
is ouching.” Which is his way of saying his legs are sore. One morning I was
able to hold his hand and take him around the gym. Then I starting trying to
get him to go across the court by chanting “wall to wall.” He got really into
it and in about twenty minutes he was able to go all the way across with no
hands.
His joy at accomplishing “wall to
wall” was awesome! He couldn’t stop smiling and laughing. He kept saying, “Me
is good unicycle!” To which I was
able to tell him how awesome he was.
Then later that night Uncle Tom
practiced with him, and as you can see in the video he is now pretty good. He
was so excited to show Uncle Tom his skills, and when he was able to actually ride
alongside him he was beyond thrilled.
His determination to learn unicycle
and become like his older brothers was truly inspiring. He learned how to ride
in three days. To put that in a little perspective, it took me a whole month to
be able to do what he can do now. Pretty awesome!