STUDENTS ON THE Pleasant Valley Unicycle Team perform in several parades throughout the year, including the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, held in downtown Portland.
IN ADDITION TO THE more than 70 unicycles that students are able to use for the unicycle program at Pleasant Valley schools, students are also able to practice on and learn how to ride the “giraffes,” which are very tall, big unicycles.
STUDENTS WHO ARE a part of the Pleasant Valley Unicycle Team are able to perform a number of tricks during team performances, including backwards riding, idoling, bunny hopping, pinwheels, spins and more.
VANCOUVER — Several years ago when Paul White, health and physical education teacher at Pleasant Valley Middle School, was a student at the University of Oregon, he said one of the requirements of earning a degree as a PE teacher was taking a class that required him to learn some “circus act” type skills.
“We learned how to juggle, how to ride a unicycle, how to use stilts, stuff like that,” White said. “It was a great class, and that’s the kind of stuff I like to incorporate into my PE class.”
About 10 years ago, White decided to incorporate unicycle riding into his PE classes at Pleasant Valley Middle School.
“I thought unicycle would be a great challenge,” White said. “It takes so much practice and perseverance, and I love that the kids have to be pushed.”
When White began teaching his students to ride unicycles in his PE classes, a few students decided they wanted to learn even more about the skill. The sport continued to gain popularity, and eventually White was able to start an afterschool program, run through Battle Ground Community Education, for those students who wanted to do even more with the unicycles. And that was how the Pleasant Valley Unicycle Team came to be.
The team, appropriately named All for One, One for All, is for students in second through eighth grades who want to learn all they can about riding and performing on a unicycle. White said the team just had their last performance of the year at a University of Portland men’s basketball game. The team also just participated in a special celebration for the eighth-graders on the team, five of whom stayed with the program all the way from second grade to eighth grade.
This winter, White said there were about 34 students that made up the performance unicycle team. He said they had about 70to 80 kids throughout the year who would come and go in the program. White said they have more than 70 unicycles for the program, as well as helmets and other equipment.
They also have 15 “giraffes,” which are the very tall, big unicycles.
Students on the unicycle team practice three days each week for an hour after school, and White said it takes about a month to put a routine together, coordinate everything with the music and be ready to perform. Some of the tricks the students on the team learn include backwards riding, idoling, bunny hopping, pinwheels, spins, going over ramps and teeters and more.
Students on the performance team are then able to perform tricks as a team during halftime at the Prairie High School basketball games. The team did six performances during games this year. Many of the team’s students then get to participate in parades throughout the year, including the Hazel Dell Parade of Bands and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in downtown Portland. White said they have talked about also possibly participating in the Battle Ground Harvest Days Parade in the future.
White said the unicycle team is made up of about 50 percent boys and 50 percent girls. He said the team starts with beginners and then there are levels that the students work toward. Once they reach those levels, they move on to other tricks and levels. The team has performed on KGW on “The Drew Carney Show” and they have also performed during halftime at a Trail Blazers basketball game.
Out of all of the many skills White said the students learn by being a part of the unicycle team, he said the best thing they learn is perseverance.
“They really push themselves to keep getting better, to keep improving in their skills,” White said. “Sometimes a lot of athletes/kids are satisfied with just learning the basics of something. This program is different. This program is so awesome because you have the eighth graders helping second graders, seventh graders helping third graders, etc. There’s not a lot of programs where you have that age range of kids who help each other.”
White said he’s had students leave the unicycle program who have even went on to participate in the unicycle olympics up in Seattle.
“We have amazing parents here, too, that volunteer to come out and help,” White said. “This is something that I’m really passionate about and it’s grown so unbelievable over the last four or five years now. People just enjoy it. We even started having kids sign up for the afterschool program who aren’t even students at Pleasant Valley.”
To follow the Pleasant Valley Unicycle Team, visit their Facebook page or look them up on YouTube.
