With Leeds cubs & scouts
We talk about the range of activities we undertook to promote marbles among younger generations, in particular cubs & scouts.
We have been trying to explore ways to encourage the younger generation to play marbles; and what better ways than approaching our local Beavers and Cubs in Leeds (in particular The North Leeds Scout District). We have received tremendous support and enthusiasm from their leaders, notably those 7th North Leeds Cub pack.
From around 2006/07, we have been talking to local leaders about possibilities of them getting involved in playing marbles. When we won the World title for the first time in 2008, it was a good motivation & opportunity to show the trophies to the cubs, explain what it is about and how to play among other things.
Cubs get even more interested when they are talking to a winning team; so having the trophy aside and a good story to tell - they pay attention and want to get playing. We often set games and a small team competition where the winners would get to take a photo with the trophies. As an added bonus the best players are given the actual marbles Yorkshire Meds players used to win the finals of the World championship.
To put this into practice, we built smaller size (portable) rings made of one square-metre wood panels and covered with a green snooker table cloth; then draw a circle of 1metre diameter on the green cloth. We built three of these to be able to run some demonstrations as well as setup a couple of games between cubs & beavers (managed by their leaders).
We have been running three different activities over the years:
- Demonstrations & games
- A visit to Leeds training ground
- Annual marbles tournament within the North Leeds Scout District
Demonstrations & games
We have run multiple demonstrations and training sessions with a number of Cub packs. Normally this starts with a short presentation of who we are (to get their attention); trophies, history of the tournament, how it is played (a typical day) and of course the beautiful marbles . Then quickly a couple of Yorkshire Meds players knuckle down for a couple of demonstrations on the 1sqm rings; The cub leaders then make up teams of cubs to paly; we devised some shorter/lighter-versions of the rules as well as being (relaxed) referees for the games.
A visit to our training ground
We have also organised afternoon visits of group of cubs and beavers (under the watchful eyes of their leaders) in the Leeds training ground (in our back garden) ; where they could see a full ring and Yorkshire Meds players in action; and then they (cubs & leaders) take turn to play as well. We also used mixed teams (Yorkshire Meds players would also have cubs & leaders in each team).
Annual marbles tournaments
As cubs, beavers and their leaders got taste of playing marbles; the leaders started to think of adding a marbles tournament to their list of activities. The idea was to get other cubs pack to join a tournament. So it was quite an experience for the Yorkshire Meds team; in particular Bob, Leila and Mourad. We visited most of the cubs' pack in north Leeds and did "train the trainer" sessions: First do the usual presentation to leaders & cubs; then explain the rules and how-to-be a referee to the leaders. After that, The leaders practiced again with their cubs marbles for the cubs' tournament. The main organiser (7th North Leeds) built over a dozen of wood panels (one square metre) rings to be able to run multiple games.
This has resulted in the first District marbles knockout competition in September 2010 in Leeds. It was a great success and the cubs, leaders and parents really enjoyed themselves (and so did we). The 2011 annual tournament took place on the 06th of November 2011. The 2012 tournament took place on 21st October 2012.You never know, we might get a team or two from these young cubs into the main championship over the next few years.
