Bock The South 2011: Video

Thanks to David, Ann-Marie, Randy, Nick, Josie, Kathleen, and Doug for all attending and making Bock the South a blast!



Video Source


See you at Capital Bocking 2011!

Bock Report: Easter Bock

Hello all!

We had a fantastic Easter. The XD Bockers went out to the park. Totting bunny ears, and baskets full of easter eggs. We had a fantastic time handing them out to kids of all ages at the park. Not to mention enjoyed hopping around.

Watch our events video to see us at it.

Alternate link here.

Don't forget to make time for Bock the South! It's coming up fast on the first weekend of May. See you out there!

Bock The South 2011

Mark your calendars for May the 7th through the 8th. The XD Bockers of Savannah, Georgia are hosting the first annual Jumping Stilts meet up event for the Southern United States.

Powerbockers from all over will travel to Savannah, GA. To meet up, and participate in some powerbocking.

Check out our Event Flyer. Excited? Print it out and show some friends. Don't forget to RSVP on our Facebook Event page!

Keep an eye out for more event details as they come!

2/11/2011 XD Bockers meet

Source

Above you'll find the last video edited together by our club. It basically is just some random clips at one of our most recent meet ups. In it we gave a lot of walking lessons, and did some light bouncing around.

If you happen to be in Georgia and have wanted to get a free walking lesson and a chance to try out. Do not forget that it's available through XD Bockers

We plan on releasing more videos throughout the season as the weather continues to stay nice. Keep an eye out here for any release!

Trick Spotlight: Eltovator

Named after Elton the originator of this unusual technique. The Eltovator is deemed a trick due to the difficulty of the maneuver. The user gets on the ground on there knees directly behind them. Then with a burst of energy backwards. They hurl themselves over their hooves. As the hooves pivot on the ground. They quickly stand and take a step to balance themselves.

This takes loads of practice to accomplish. We recommend you practice in the grass. As the falls forward upon failing this trick can hurt. Mainly in the wrists and knees.

But here's a basic how to once you've found yourself on the ground.

Get to the position as shown in the below videos.

Get your mind focused to do the trick. Take a couple small "practice motions" to help get ready if needed.

Lean as far back towards your hooves as you can.

We highly recommend you put both hands at the bottom of your spring and hold on. This gets your bodies weight far enough back to pivot on the springs properly when you attempt this.

As you go backwards and pivot over your hooves, Let go of the springs, stand up and step immediately forward. Other wise you'll fall.

Video here on youtube. Or head over to xdbockers.com and check out the trick section!

DCpowerstilts meet the XD Bockers

We had a great meet up in Savannah, Georgia with David from DCpowerstilts and all the local members of the XD Bockers. Josie, Doug, Kathleen, and DJ were all able to join David and Anne-marie

Tips: Springs Break In Period

Powerbocking Tips and Advice:

New Poweriser spring break in period

When you have either first strapped on your brand new set of Jumping Stilts. Or have recently replaced your springs. You'll notice that the spring is stiff and slightly difficult to compress. For a Newbie this is something you won't be able to tell the difference on. But for an experienced user, you'll notice that you won't even get any give in the spring at all.

This is simply due to the way springs are made. Over time the fiberglass in side begins to break down resulting in a softer and more responsive feel.

New users will need to use this period to work on mostly walking, and light running. Try simple Pogo Jumps and Bounces on the spring for a while. Typically about the time you get the basics down your springs will have "broken in" and you'll get the response you need out of them.

A good way to spot Unbroken in Springs against a Broken in Springs is when you wear them. Broken in springs will bounce ever so slightly as you walk. Unbroken in springs will stay stiff as a board and not move at all.

For experienced users it's best to break your springs in by first walking around for a couple minutes. Adjust yourself to the feeling you've almost forgotten about from when you were a newbie. Do a small jump. Walk a bit, and begin jumping more and more.

Springs break down quickest after being nearly bottomed out constantly. Just take it slow and you'll find that you've broken your spring in after only a couple sessions.

Tip: Try a bunch of set ups. Run into a jump, launch yourself from one foot. Land hard utilizing your arms to help bottom. Keep going until you've nearly bottomed about three times.

Mix those up with some hard pogo jumps. Be sure to use both legs equally to keep wear even on both springs.

Remember! If this seems like hard or annoying work. Think of it this way. You're burning a bunch of calories! An average adult will burn nearly 300 calories in 15 minutes of jumping.

Bock Report: Take a Kid Fishing

A couple weeks back the XD Bockers of Savannah, Georgia. Attended a charity event for the Children's Miracle Network. Two Local Members showed up, as well as a guest from the Midwest portion of our group.

Savannah Now a local paper highlighted the fundraiser with a notice towards us in it.

Fishing wasn't the only activity of the day at The Farm. D.J. Bothwell entertained the crowd by doing stunts on his power stilts,

"I saw people doing this on YouTube," Bothwell said. "I started a club in Savannah and I teach people how to do this. I'm here today entertaining the kids."

Bothwell was getting mixed reactions. The kids were delighted, the parents - not so much.

"Some of the kids ask about it, and their parents tell them, 'It's not for kids,'" Bothwell said. "I say, 'Well, actually, it is,' and the parents say, 'No, it isn't.'"

The leaps and somersaults were certainly impressive, and even just running, it was obvious Bothwell was having fun. "It's a full body workout," he said. "I don't think of it as exercise when I'm doing it. It's a lot of fun and you get a good workout as a benefit."

You can view the entire article Here. The online article doesn't have any pictures of us. But the printed paper has a picture of DJ landing from a jump.

Last Mondays Meet

On Monday April 26th 2010. The XD Bockers had another meet up in Savannah, Georgia. Our local official members Doug, and Josie turned out for the event. So in total there was three bockers up off the ground.

We drew a rather large crowd by Forsyth Parks Fountain. We performed various tricks, and answered tons of questions.


Before the big crowd hit however. A Local photographer from Dream Weaver Photos captured these pictures of yours truly.













The pictures were taken both by the fountain, and over on the stage. Overall the meet was fun. After the photos, the crowd. The three of us ran and walked all the way to the end of the park before stopping for the day. Which itself is likely a quarter mile or longer.

We'd love to have more people to join us. So don't forget, try outs are available here in Georgia!

Try outs with the XD Bockers

We've had a great few weeks here in Savannah, Georgia. The XD Bockers have held weekly try outs and powerbocking meet ups. Where we have taught many interested individuals how to walk, and to start them on there way into the powerbocking world.



On one weekend, Tancy came out and tried out walking. She ended up snapping a picture of myself, and Doug before she left.






Doug gave a walking lesson to Erica. After just a little while she was up and going on her own. See it IS easy!



Finally, today at our most recent meet. We captured this video (from stilt height!) of another person learning to walk.


Overall we've had dozens of try outs, and hours of our own time out on powerstilts showing off for the crowds and answering questions. If you're local to Savannah, Georgia we encourage you to come out and give it a try!

Picnic and Tryout on 3/14

On Sunday March 14th. The XD Bockers held a surprise try out and picnic meet up. At Forsyth Park in Savannah, Georgia. It was a nice day out. So our aim was to introduce a lot of new people to the joys of Powerbocking, and to eat some food afterwards. We meet up at around 2 and kept the walking lessons, and fun going until close to 4:30. Afterwards we went inside for a nerdy table top game. (Last Night on Earth!)



First up we had Jason. He took to them quite well after a good ten minutes. He spent a lot of his time making mech warrior sound effects.



While Jason was walking on his own, we had Chris up trying it out.


Then Matt went and took his turn.




Matt did extremely well also!





Here we had Henry up on Stilts. He managed to get the hang of it after only a few short minutes!



Then Sam and a couple other people tried it out. Though the other pictures didn't turn out well, here's sam!




At some random point though. DJ stopped giving lessons and did a short demo.





Josie decided to join in as well.




Overall everyone had a blast. To view the entire photo album from Sunday. Please view the XD Bockers Group Photo Album.

If you're local and would like to attend another one of our events. Please join our facebook group. We'll be doing events weekly!

Try outs available in Georgia

Previously your local Davenport, Iowa affiliate here. I have recently moved to Savannah, Georgia and will now be available to help anyone local. If you would still like contact with a powerbocker in the Midwest please contact me and I will forward you to a Midwest member of the XD Bockers.

For any interested in seeing Powerstilts in action. Either to try out yourself(Please bring your own pads unless you don't mind borrowing mine!), or to just watch another person using them. Please head to our Groups Facebook page or look of for semi-announcements here. We will be hosting try outs, and more weekly in Forsyth Park. Pssst, click that link for a virtual tour of the park.


Hope to see you out there!

4th of July, Bix7 Streetfest, and more

Hello sirs and madams!

XDvandalDJ here yet again. With an exciting, yet long over due. Bock report! How did invading Red, White, Boom of Davenport, Iowa go? What about this Bix 7 Streetfest thing? Or what else have I and my fellow XD Bockers been up to? Well continue reading for full details.


The invasion on the 4th previously planned Here and mentioned in this very blog. Went fairly well. I along with JosieFailed, and XDbockerChris(As ground crew) had a blast. Excitement was high, we gathered on friday evening. Grilled out, and showed hundreds what Jumping Stilts were really like, with a marvelous backdrop of fireworks to boot! However, I regret to inform you that we had no pictures or videos taken for this event.


Onward to the Bix 7 Streetfest! This was a couple weekends ago. The Streetfest is in celebration of a massive 7 mile uphill, downhill, crazy marathon ran in honor of an old jazz musician. In downtown Davenport several streets were closed for this to happen. Many tents erected, many venders to sell, and a few concerts here and there. In the midsts of the thousands that gathered. I personally set forth into the crowds. Enjoying the ease of moving through them at a full head and shoulders taller than the rest.

I spent my time walking through the crowds, and jumping like a madman in available clearings. I really took advantage of the closed streets and really loved the intersections. I was invited to perform at a concert, and even walked past a newsreporter on bocks which briefly captured me.

JosieFailed later joined me for another go the final day of the festival. We bocked in front of even larger crowds, and were actually given free toy light sabers by some other attendees. Overall we had a very great time at this second "Invasion" event. Next year will be another planned event for sure.


Other than those two larger events. On this last Wednesday Josiefailed and I traveled to Burlington, Iowa to meet with XDbockerChris, and XDvandalJake. Myself, Josiefailed, and XDbockerChris all put on a short demo for a local camp for the mentally disabled that XDvandalJake helped run. We wowed many young kids that afternoon, and were just completely jazzed by the interest and energy these kids put out. We conducted this demo at Dankwart park, and later moved it to the skatepark there. When some local skaters expressed great interests. We were also photographed for the local paper. Check back at this blog for an updated entry, if and when those photos are published.

When XDvandalJake got off work from the camp, we all rounded the evening off with personal practice, and all around having fun on our jumping stilts.

For any one local looking to meet for a try out. Or to just have fun with us. Visit our group page, email me. Or check out this thread for short announcements of our day to day meetings. here

Red, White, BOOM! Eh, Bock!

The end of June is upon us. Barbecues and summer events are currently growing in occurrence. Capital Bock is just days away from happening in Washington, DC. BUT! The start of July is just around the corner, more picnics, more barbecues... and was that an explosion?



Yes, that's right the 4th of July weekend is coming up! Currently, the XD Bockers are planning on "Invading" Red, White, BOOM! The Quad Cities Fireworks Festival for the 4th of July. It's hosted in Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island, Illinois. Fireworks are shot off over the Mississippi River for a super cool show. We plan to attend the cities official events on our PowerStilts. We'll meet up on the river front, bock down the 3 mile bike bath. Head over to the crowds, do some jumps in the 30 thousand square foot skate park (Which has a great view), and just spontaneously enjoy the 4th of July.



We welcome any one to come out and join our small gathering. For more information, please visit our Facebook Event Page to check it out. Don't forget to RSVP if you can make it. If all goes well, we plan on more "Invasion Events". They'll be full of good laughs, good times, and good height. xD

XD Bockers

Hello sirs and madams!

Your Davenport, Iowa Affiliate here. I am sitting here writing this after just getting in a while ago from a nice warm up bock over at LeClaire Park on W River DR. I'm winding down now, finally not sweating as profusely and just wanted to announce the formation of our local group (Still small, but hey you can help!)

The XD Bockers

The XD Bockers has a total of 4 members currently. Our aim is to take an enjoyable approach at bocking. To focus on laughs, and good times first and foremost before the rest. To do it the xD way!

You can check us out on our Facebook Group. The XD Bockers!

If you're local and are a bocker, or looking to become a bocker. Please look us up, I'll be more than happy to help you out.