Joey Gray, friend, and long-time champion and leader in the development of Ultimate, has some very instructional insights into the nature of "self-restraint in sport."
"In ultimate, she writes, "sustaining the game is more important than winning at all costs. Players agree to cooperate based on mutual understanding of rules. Anyone can win with ungracious calls - how good can that feel? So players learn negotiation skills that emphasize mutual respect. We want to have fun playing well, so we constantly seek that balance of ego and community called Spirit of the Game."
Joey goes on to quote some of the comments from applicants to the 1998 national team - the first year of the World Flying Disc Federation's mixed (coed) world ultimate championship.
"Once in awhile in an ultimate game you go to absolute war, with an individual, or maybe an entire team. It may be when you're the two hottest players on the field that day, or when your teams trade every point, or maybe when you're down by 8 and bring it back to within two. It's these times, when you and the person you're matched up against are caked with dirt and drenched in sweat, when you've already left it all on the field but still find some way to run hard, that you find out about the real players. It's when you inspire your opponent and they inspire you not just to keep going, but to raise your level of play. And in the midst of the war, knowing only one of you can win, you play against your opponent the way you wish they'd play against you: with everything you've got left, respecting their efforts and their calls, because you know that no matter how bad they want to win, they're going to do it fairly. And when it's all over, when no matter what the outcome, you shake hands, look your opponent in the eye with a stare of mutual respect and say 'nice D,' that's Spirit of the Game."
Take heart, ye workers of the world. Here is some exemplary playful pith from an article by Deanna H. Berg in which she writes about "The power of a playful spirit at work:
"When work isn't fun, people do the minimum they need to survive until they can leave work and have fun outside of work. Many companies now realize that playful creativity and meaningful work can combine to create organizations where people not only love to come to work, but also obtain superior results...
"The opportunity to play and have fun while we work can provide the safe environment needed to expand...self-imposed limits. A playful spirit (makes) it acceptable to experiment and not have to have all the answers.
"Play can also be a vehicle for self-discovery, making it possible for us to safely go beyond perceived boundaries to learn new ways of unleashing our skills.
"Taking time to play can also renew our energy for work... How many of us have been through job interviews where, after talking for an hour about our work qualifications, the interviewer then asked, "and what do you do for fun?" We can't separate play and work; if we're not having fun at work, we probably won't be having much at home either."
In a recent review of Thing-a-ma-BOTS, Tom Vasel concludes: "And thus lies my recommendation for Thing-a-ma Bots. It's creative, fun, and interesting - IF you either are playing with children or are a child. Adults should seek their 'filler' fun elsewhere, as this will seem boring and too childish for them. Kids, on the other hand, will have a blast playing the game, and wonder why adults don't have a good sense of humor."
I'm everso vastly delighted that the reviewer found my game to be appealing to children. This warms the very cockles of my conceptual heart. When my wife told me that some of the special education kids she works with really enjoyed playing Thing-a-ma-BOTS, I almost melted.
Finally, I've also learned from this review that the adults I hang out with, and design my games for, are far more childlike than Mr. Vasel and his playmates want to admit they are. Oh, all right, childish. These people will find Further Instructions and Suggestions" on my site, should they wish to learn how they can make the game even sillier.
I'm sure you remember my personal hoo haa over the Junkyard Golf Course and Community Building Event with Potluck (click link to download). I managed to get a very big vision for a wonderfully positive, fun-for-all event into a 10-page document. And I decided to give it away!
As you might have by now surmised, I've been experiencing a kind of leap, quantum-wise, with this whole junkyard thing. It started when I decided to think about using Junkyard Golf for a community celebration. Which is weird, because Junkyard Golf, the very first time I played it, was part of a community celebration, remember, for a preschool in Palo Alto called "Leaping Lizards."
So, to answer your question, what else I've been doing with Junkyard Golf is inventing the Junkyard Golf Conference Kickstart Kit. Which is a simulation game for the business community. For business to build community. For business to help people learn about how to build a better business community. Probably right after breakfast on the first day of a conference.
I made it a version of Junkyard Golf that you can play on tabletops, in a banquet room. Sure, you can play it on tabletops in the cafeteria or on a long table for a few small groups, even. And, yes, of course, you can even play it on the floor. But the point is, it can be played right where and when people most need this kind of experience, and most can use this kind of learning. Early on. Right after a meal.
Then I found a place that collected really "neat junk" - thick, colorful cardboard tubes, beautiful fabric and cardboard pieces, smooth chunks of wood, eye-blinding strips of Mylar. Who made it possible for me to make identical kits of really lovely junk - one kit for every table. Thus eliminating what seems to be the apparently overwhelmingly challenging requirement of people having to collect and pack their own junk.
And then, because it's designed to be played at conferences, at a dinner or breakfast or lunch or something, I decided to call it what I did. It's golf, but you don't even need a golf club. In fact, you can, with more control even than hitting a ball with a thing, slide or even flick. Kind of as in shuffleboard. And then I made changed a little about the game to make it at least as relevant and discussion-worthy as it was fun - relevant to learning about building the business community.
And now, can you believe it, you can order your very own Junkyard Golf Conference Kickstart Kit (from me, for the nonce). Soon, even, you'll be able to order it online. Now, you can even ask me to run the game with you. Soon, you'll have others to help you.
It's a business game, you know. A "simulation." It's fun you can take seriously.
1. I've been teaching some rather large groups about Junkyard Sports. "Human Foosball" has proven to be a fun, involving, elegant introduction to the spirit and practice of the aforementioned. The idea is that instead of having dolls on rods, you have lines of people facing this way and that. Sometimes, we kick the ball. Sometimes we volley it. Sometimes the ball is made out of a rolled-up sweatshirt. Every time, people seem to understand enough about foosball to create a genuinely fun, if junkish version, in minutes.
And, for another reason, you get people who play the non-human version, and can do things like you see in this Futbolin Video.
Alexander Kjerulf calls himself a "Chief Happiness Office" and is very interested in the possibility of there being such a thing as "Happiness at Work." In a recent post, he writes about how to: "Make your business happy and rich." Here are his observations:
"Happiness at work is a choice You can't force or pressure people to be happy, no matter how genuine your concern for others. If you create a mood where it's right to be happy and wrong to unhappy or dissatisfied, people will rebel against that and actually become less happy.
Happiness at work is different for everyone One man's happiness is another person's living hell. We're all different, and the same things will make some people happy, and others unhappy.
Happiness at work is long-term It's never about blowing off what must be done, in order to have fun and be happy instead. It;s not just about being happy here and now - it's happiness for tomorrow and next year and 10 years from now."
"...the really inspired anarchy of the time [1970s] came from...Sidewalk Inc. Founded by Tim Keating, Ann Kieffer and Bob Gregson, Sidewalk quickly became known for what Gregson called 'art attacks,' improvised outdoor performances of every kind.
"A van would pull up in front of a building and two dancers in evening clothes would jump out and begin a waltz or rumba. A dozen participants would do sidewalk sculptures with folding chairs. A skywriter would write something over downtown. A ballet dancer would leap out of a clump of bushes and perform. A bridge of balloons would appear over a downtown street. Artists performed skits in fountains. There was other wild stuff, such as Carl Andre's Stone Field Sculpture, aka the rocks. I love it/them."
Yes, it's the same Bob Gregson who did the illustrations for Junkyard Sports. The same Bob Gregson I met when I was teaching at Trinity College in Hartford. The same Gregson who is now the Creative Director of the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism. Yes, that Gregson. Bob Gregson of BobGregson.com. My friend and fellow play perpetrator for 30 actual years, who wrote me: "Today, I continue to raise havoc by sending people under tables and having them jump on trampolines as part of my work."
We have much to thank this man for. And much more to learn from him.
play - fun - reality - development - what a conconction! Maybe seriousness creates separation and fun and play brings it all back together again. What is more real? separateness or togetherness? What is more fun? separateness or togetherness? What is more developmental? separateness or togetherness? Where is more energy?
This was the source:
Psychology of play Lesser known, but a direct correlate to the ZPD and of utmost importance to Vygotsky, was his concept of play. Play was a moment where social rules were put into practice - a horse would behave as horse even though it was a stick. These types of rules always guided a child's play. Vygotsky even once described two sisters at dinner "playing" at being sisters at dinner. Vygotsky believed that play contained all developmental levels in a condensed form. Therefore, to Vygotsky, play was akin to imagination where a child extends her/himself to the next level of her/his normal behavior, thereby creating a zone of proximal development for her/himself. In essence, Vygotsky believed "play is the source of development." Psychology of play was later developed by Vygotsky's student Daniil El'konin.
You know that toy that you thought came from China or maybe Mexican Indians or some place, or France, even ( see Bilboquet)? Remember how you tried to get the ball thing to stay on the end of the stick? And how, after you finally showed everyone how good you were at it, how you thought, well, this is pretty much it?
The site, by the way, is the legacy of William Tulinsky, (Wild Bill), "Balero enthusiast and record holder." It is a gift to the world of fun, and I hope that someone soon will help it continue giving.
Joey Gray, friend, and long-time champion and leader in the development of Ultimate, has some very instructional insights into the nature of "self-restraint in sport."
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