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Teaching a Child how to Sling (Read 1177 times)
Shale
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Teaching a Child how to Sling
Apr 19th, 2017 at 1:03pm
 
My wife and I recently had our first child, and I would like to know if anyone here has tried to teach a child how to sling. I would like to know four things in particular:

What is a good age to start?

What type of sling and ammunition did you use?

What is the best throwing style for a young child to learn?

How did you motivate the child? (I know how the ancient Balaeric slingers used to do it, but I don't think that the wife (or child protection services) would approve).
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Shale

As he that bindeth a stone in a sling, so is he that giveth honor to a fool. (Proverbs 26.8)
 
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vetryan15
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Re: Teaching a Child how to Sling
Reply #1 - Apr 19th, 2017 at 2:02pm
 
I have taught 3 nephews and 1  niece how to sling. Age range 5-10yo.  I taught them underhand. Use jumbo marshmallows,  sock balls. I taught with tennis balls.
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Curious Aardvark
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Re: Teaching a Child how to Sling
Reply #2 - Apr 19th, 2017 at 2:36pm
 
sock balls, as soon as they can walk without needing to hold onto things with their hands and underhand.
Smiley
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Do All things with Honour and Generosity: Regret Nothing, Envy None, Apologise Seldom and Bow your head to No One  - works for me Smiley
 
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Bill Skinner
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Re: Teaching a Child how to Sling
Reply #3 - Apr 19th, 2017 at 6:55pm
 
I've taught kids as young as 4.  And believe it or not, the kids had a natural sort of Figure 8 throw.  Let them figure it out, they'll find a way. 

You may want to look at a wrist loop instead of a finger loop though.  I used tennis balls and socks and a wad of paper with some duct tape wrapped around it to keep it's shape.
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Morphy
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Re: Teaching a Child how to Sling
Reply #4 - Apr 20th, 2017 at 9:19am
 
Anything soft is fine. Make it fun for them. When my daughter was probably 2 and a half to 3 she was already heading out to the field while I would sling. She was watching a lot of The Land Before Time so I would sling and she would steal my concrete ammo to use as dinosaur eggs.

Anything that gets them outside with you and having fun while youre slinging is good. If they are faving fun and the sling is involved eventually they will associate the sling with fun. After that it's totally up to their individual personality.

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« Last Edit: Apr 21st, 2017 at 7:11am by Morphy »  
 
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Shale
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Re: Teaching a Child how to Sling
Reply #5 - Apr 21st, 2017 at 11:22pm
 
Thanks to everyone for the advice. Did any of the kids you taught stick with it?
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Shale

As he that bindeth a stone in a sling, so is he that giveth honor to a fool. (Proverbs 26.8)
 
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Bill Skinner
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Re: Teaching a Child how to Sling
Reply #6 - Apr 22nd, 2017 at 5:58pm
 
Not a clue.   Grin 

I teach school groups from all over the state, they show up, get a class on primitive tools and weapons and get to throw a dart with an atlatl, use a sling with tennis balls and toss a throwing stick and get a basic class on how to fight with a war club.  Most are around 9 or 10 but some are PreK. 

If they show up, and there's time in the schedule, I'll show all the kids how to do it.  The really young kids are usually with the parents who are helping the teachers ride herd on the groups.

Some do lots better than others, I had a 6 year old and his 5 year old brother start tossing a tennis ball back and forth one time.  Not only were they throwing the ball to each other about 25 meters or so away, they didn't have to move to catch it and they did catch the ball.
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Tomas
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Re: Teaching a Child how to Sling
Reply #7 - Apr 23rd, 2017 at 12:56pm
 
I used to show some of the kids around my neighborhood to sling. One was my little buddy and he was between 9-12 when I was spending time with him.  Him and some of his buddies were pretty good! Not so much at aiming but they had good motions
We basically would just throw. I taught him single rotation Byzantine and he did quite well with it
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Drakolith
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Re: Teaching a Child how to Sling
Reply #8 - Apr 24th, 2017 at 1:42am
 
Wait, does that mean there are styles with multiple rotations in Byzantine? Wouldn't that just make it helicopter?
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Tomas
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Re: Teaching a Child how to Sling
Reply #9 - Apr 27th, 2017 at 11:09am
 
Yup it would be helicopter!
Lately I've been trying more and more to develop a good underhand Byzantine. I think it has promise for me as a slinger
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