Hey guys, so I just got back from
Brazil, and I get to present tomorrow. I mean, I knew that I was presenting
early in the week, but I didn’t think that it would be THE VERY FIRST DAY BACK
FROM BREAK! And I didn’t even sign up for this, I was sick the day sign ups
were and all of the slots got taken except for the third one. I mean at least I’m
not the very first person; I would have almost no idea how to start. At least I
can see 2 people go before me.
I
have very mixed feelings about doing this TED talk. I’m excited about the more
casual approach to the actual presentation part, but it’s something I’ve never done
before for a school project. I want to be relaxed, but also present what I have
learned and gone through.
I’m
also a little nervous about sharing my final product. It has to be an
on-the-stage presentation. I’m not showing an edited video or a drawing or
something like that. It just adds elements to my presentation that could go
wrong. I also am nervous about the criticism. I am very close to being able to
do some interesting tricks, and when people see that I am not quite there, they
might think that I slacked over the seven weeks of the project. I’m shaking and
sweating a little bit right now just thinking about me bouncing the ball off of
my foot and it rolling off the stage. Since I’m not as good as the actual
Globetrotters, that scene happening isn’t so far-fetched.
But
at the same time, I feel an inner confidence about my project. I feel that I
picked an interesting topic and I think that it should be enjoyable for other
people to see the skills that I have learned. I feel that I have put a good
amount of time into practicing and I’ve really enjoyed this process. The part
that scares me is that all of this won’t be evident in my presentation.
Since
my last post, I have continued to improve at a steady pace. I have developed
another sub-trick in going off of spinning the ball on my finger. I can now
switch which finger I spin the ball on. I can “walk” the ball from my index
finger to my pinky, but since pinky fingers are so weak, it is difficult to get
the ball back to my index finger. I also can spin the ball on my thumb a little
bit. Since I have hitchhiker thumbs, this was easier than you might think.
I
also have improved a lot with the outer roll. My dad suggested that I lean
forward to create a more level path for the ball to travel on. This trick has
helped me with my consistency. Although I’m still not a total master, I feel
much more confident in preforming the trick. If you read my last post, I plan
to use the mental tricks when I preform on stage tomorrow. I have confidence,
but if I screw up, I have a career as a street performer to fall back on if I
don’t get into college!
2 comments:
Wow Jeremy, that really sucks that you missed the sign up. Despite that though, I think that you should do well. I read somewhere(not sure exactly where...) that when you present you don't always want to be completely prepared, that "winging it" causes a natural feel to your talk. Now, I would recommend that you do practice, because winging it normally=disaster. Anyway, I am very excited for your presentation, it sounds very cool!
Well Spittle, I am glad that you have improved and seem to be somewhat confident in your abilities as a basketball trickster. I believe that you will do absolutely fine, and that your determination and hard work will show in your end product. That sucks that you didn't know that you were going on the first day, but I am sure that you will nail it Jeremy. Good luck and go do a great talk!
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