No more Bubble Ball

[vumbi]

Ooooooo, RichardB has invoked the......ORB!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAKWKfVcd04

 

I'll take a few hits off that thing, lol! So he'll ban 'the orb'. What's next, the orgasmatron? You can just imagine what the inside of that thing has all over it.

[perdidochas]

I took my Webelos boys on a weekend canoe trip.  The paddle was about 15 minutes out to an island with no facilities and the boys had a blast.  Well. Every boy/father combo had their own canoe and getting to the campsite ended up being a combination of automobile travel and canoe travel, but all the families showed up just fine. 

 

Sounds fun, but with the G2SS in 2008, that was not allowed.  Just looked at the guidelines, they've gotten better for paddle sports--no longer has to be council activity.

[Stosh]

Sounds fun, but with the G2SS in 2008, that was not allowed.  Just looked at the guidelines, they've gotten better for paddle sports--no longer has to be council activity.

One needs to look closely at the process.  The parents brought the kids to the activity which began when they set foot on the island.  Until then the parents drove the boys and paddled them out to the island.  I don't care how the parents got them there, they could have ridden bikes, or they could have come on horseback.  Not my problem.  How is riding in Dad's canoe any different than riding his Dad's car?    And even then this was way prior to 2008.  But even with my Venturing Crew, the transportation to the meetings and activities were up to them and their parents.  We had people coming in from 3 different states so car pooling was out of the question.

[Beavah]

 

All the while it might be as simple as we got bigger fish to catch and fry.   Going to let the little ones go, bait the hook for the big fish, and start the grease getting hot.  

 

 

Yah, hmmm....

 

Seems to me if yeh have bigger fish to catch and fry then yeh should be doin' that, eh?   Not wastin' your time on bubble-ball bans.    Don't sweat the small stuff, mate.  I've never seen bubble-ball or orb stuff, but I hear it was great fun at OA, with no injuries.  So what's da problem?  We've been doin' wide field games in Scoutin' since da birth of the Movement.  As much as anything, that is scouting.  This is just wide field games in bubble wrap.   Yeh really are makin' your team look out of touch and foolish. 

 

Besides, if you're goin' to let the little ones go, then I reckon in a few years we won't have very many big fish in da program, eh?    Seems to me fun and frolic for the little ones is a fine thing.  

 

Beavah

[Beavah]

water gun usage was prohibited long before 2015 - it was a prohibited activity back when I went to Camp School for Cub Scout Day Camps back in 1981 - and it was prohibited for the exact reason I just explained.  Laser Tag was prohibited as soon as Laser Tag started to become a thing back in the early 1980's.  Nerf Gun fights were prohibited as soon as Nerf developed Nerf Gun fights.  The BSA's position on these things has always been consistent - for a very long time.

 

Yah, CalicoPenn, not sure where you're gettin' your info, eh?   I've been around all that time and yeh just aren't reportin' it accurately.   Maybe at some local camp there were some rules, but never nationally.  Yeh can find old issues of Boys Life magazine with squirt guns, especially when Super Soakers came out.  Da G2SS didn't incorporate a vague laser tag prohibition until around 2000, and we all assumed it meant da laser sites for real firearms, not the toys.  And nerf and suction cup darts and all sorts of other things have been around for decades, but da prohibition on "simulated firearms" didn't show up until about 7 years ago.

 

This is a recent trend, and it ain't safety or liability related.   If it were and da BSA were just tryin' to shift liability to da volunteers or chartered partners, then that's not a very ethical thing for the BSA to do, eh?   We all recognize, though, that squirt guns and laser tag and whatnot are safe and don't pose any real liability concern.  Yeh can get general liability insurance for a laser tag establishment at no additional cost.   Try to do that with a waterfront or a rifle range!

 

This is someone's political or marketing agenda.   Back when da BSA's safety advisory group OK'd laser tag and it was officially allowed, there was somebody else in Irving who pushed the "ban it" agenda and reversed da call.   Never could find out who.

 

No matter.  I reckon it's reached da point where 95% of da units out there just ignore this silliness.  As a Commish, I've certainly limited my input to genuine safety issues.  It ain't worth spendin' social capital on squirt guns when there are so many more important things, eh?

 

Beavah

 

P.S.  BTW, good to see you're still around, mate!   Hope things are well and that yeh get out into the woods a lot this year.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Beavah

[T2Eagle]

Yah, hmmm....

 

Seems to me if yeh have bigger fish to catch and fry then yeh should be doin' that, eh?   Not wastin' your time on bubble-ball bans.    Don't sweat the small stuff, mate.  I've never seen bubble-ball or orb stuff, but I hear it was great fun at OA, with no injuries.  So what's da problem?  We've been doin' wide field games in Scoutin' since da birth of the Movement.  As much as anything, that is scouting.  This is just wide field games in bubble wrap.   Yeh really are makin' your team look out of touch and foolish. 

 

Besides, if you're goin' to let the little ones go, then I reckon in a few years we won't have very many big fish in da program, eh?    Seems to me fun and frolic for the little ones is a fine thing.  

 

Beavah

I'm always a little jealous when I hear someone make a better argument than I can in favor of my own beliefs.  Thank you Beavah.

[John-in-KC]

CP,

 

I think the answer is pretty simple:  When a unit goes as a unit to an activity, if something happens, and the Chartered Partner gets exposed, the local and National Council will get to pick up the tab for the Partner, under liability coverage.

I rather suspect the leaders involved will be banished from Scouting.

SEs nationwide will get a memo from the legal department in Irving, and the DE's and Commish will get sent out with the message of "Don't even go there."

Until then, it's sort of like sod surfing ;-)

Now we're getting in to another part of the territory - enforcement. 

[Eagledad]

 

This is someone's political or marketing agenda.   Back when da BSA's safety advisory group OK'd laser tag and it was officially allowed, there was somebody else in Irving who pushed the "ban it" agenda and reversed da call.   Never could find out who.

 

Beavah

 

 

Glad to see you back Beav.

 

I knew there was something up at National back when they restricted the ceremonies where Cub Scouts were held up-side-down while receiving their Bobcat badge. If their justification had been risk of physical harm, I would have accepted that. But their justification is to prevent "hazing". Hazing!

 

Barry

[RememberSchiff]

New Executive order?

 

http://talkobamato.me/synthesize.py?speech_key=4063dd2f306d4726a17ce93082991dea

[qwazse]

If they can't do it in scouts, our schools will be invaded:

 

http://www.wpxi.com/news/hempfield-area-hs-warns-of-dangerous-behavior-connected-to-squirt-gun-assassin-game/217221857#

 

In related news, Son #2 bragged to me that he is the first Freshman in the history of his college youth fellowship to be in the final four of assassins. (Grades aren't too shabby either. I guess always looking over one's shoulder makes one pretty attentive.)

[John-in-KC]

Beavah nails it (WELCOME BACK, by the way!!!)

 

Look for the things which can really hurt a kid.  Then, either be watchful as they do their thing, or work with the youth to reduce the risk, by modifying the activity a smidge, by adjusting a rule, by reducing the team size...

 

Many more than one way to skin a cat...