Staff Writer

For two days, it haunted my dreams. I tried to convince myself if a third grader could do it, so could I. 

Anyone can ride a unicycle, right?

Wrong.

Last Friday I spent an afternoon with the Gym Dandies, a group of Scarborough children ranging from third grade through high school who learn to perform circus tricks, such as riding unicycles and juggling.

Gym Dandies founder Jon Cahill said he created the program in 1981 while working as a physical education teacher at Wentworth Intermediate School as a way to change the traditional gym class routine to a learning experience. 

Cahill said the group started with 10 children who began to perform for local schools after a year of practice. Today, he has 220 children in the program. His performance group of 80 children is the largest group he’s had in the 28-year history of the Gym Dandies. He said the group has performed at local schools and parades, including the 2005 Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade.

As a way to heighten my experience, I asked Cahill if it would be all right to participate with the beginner class and get an inside look at how to learn some of the tricks of the circus trade. He agreed, but after the conversation, I became nervous about what I was getting myself into. 

I’m 23 years old and hadn’t ridden anything resembling a bicycle since I received my driver’s license seven years ago. I played sports in both high school and college, but neither the sport nor my skill set gave me any practice in balance. Then, the almighty pride factor – a man being schooled by a room full of children – became almost too much to bear in the days leading up to that afternoon.

Still, I talked myself into at least testing the possibility of being able to ride the unicycle more than three feet, lying to myself by saying if a third grader can do it, I could too. I took this attitude with me (while still trying to mask my absolute fear) as I entered Wentworth Intermediate School, where the group was practicing.

I shook hands with Cahill, who told me I would need to wear padding before trying out the unicycle. “This is great,” I thought, as it meant I could at least survive the day without a concussion. I was able to put on the helmet as well as elbow and kneepads. I struggled with the wrist protectors because I had never worn them before, but eventually figured it out.

Cahill gave me the first pointer of riding a unicycle, setting it along a wall and then rolling out the unicycle to position myself correctly.

Cahill told me the next step was to learn to fall forward and land. I held onto Cahill’s wrist as I gently leaned forward and landed on my feet. I succeeded in this as well, although I did misstep at one point and had a painful reminder of learning the ways of the unicycle.

The third and final phase was actually riding. I was to hold onto Cahill’s wrist while leaning forward, yet still keeping my weight on the unicycle seat and lightly pressing the pedals. My body took to his teaching at this point like a rock in water: it sank. Each and every time I tried to lean forward and pedal, the unicycle would come out from under me. Sometimes it would fall out in front of me, which Cahill said meant I pedaled too hard, or it would fall out from behind me, which meant I didn’t pedal enough.

Cahill gave me encouraging words, saying it usually takes about 20 hours for an adult to practice before being able to travel a couple of feet. It was hard for me to pay attention, though, as I watched dozens of children, barely old enough to be around when the New England Patriots won their first Super Bowl in 2001, riding unicycles like a member of the Hell’s Angels riding Harley Davidson motorcycles.

After a dozen more tries, I gave up on the unicycle, grateful to be alive to tell my story of defeat. I decided to move on to juggling, an event that I could possibly have more success in – and less risk of injury.

My juggling teacher was Teo Scott, a 10-year-old fifth grader, who started juggling tennis balls as if he was born doing it. He said it took him one year to perfect. 

Teo taught me to first start by using two balls, and focus my eyes on a spot on the wall while tossing the two balls. This didn’t go well. Tennis balls were flying everywhere. Each tennis ball has sand or rice in the middle, to give it weight. It felt as if they were of different weights, completely messing up my ability to juggle.

After more failed attempts, I began to take interest in the “devil sticks,” a trick involving a stick that is juggled by two other sticks and after more instruction from Cahill and Teo, I began to slightly juggle the stick; a far cry from my massive failure on the unicycle and juggling tennis balls. I began to feel a surge of accomplishment as I juggled the devil stick, even if it were for 10 seconds, it still counted to me. 

   After a couple of successful juggles, I quit, then and there, with a little bit of my dignity left.

I spent the remainder of my time talking with students. Sixth grader Aadharsh Chandrashekar said it took him three years to perfect riding a unicycle, practicing two times a week.

“Practice is basically the key word,” he said.

Sarah Maloney, an eighth grader, is in her sixth year with Gym Dandies and helps with beginner classes. She said it also took her three years to master the unicycle, but after getting used to unicycles she was able to perfect the 6-foot tall giraffe unicycle because she had already learned how to ride shorter unicycles.

Kristen Miller, a sixth grader and another student helper, said she got into Gym Dandies because of her friends.

“It’s a really fun experience,” she said. “I have a ton of friends who do this.”

Cahill, who received the Maine Physical Education Award in 1996 for his work with the Gym Dandies, said the students take away a sense of achievement by participating in the program.

“It builds self esteem,” Cahill said. “Achievement is one of the most important parts of a child’s development.”

I left the school that day learning an old lesson: You really can’t teach an old dog new tricks, at least not with one lesson.