Questions on Flag spinning ...

[N Murphy]

pour a glass of milk into a bowl....

always look at your watch...

Never extend the thumb, it should always be wrapped around the pole to give you more control over the equipment.

How do you turn a doorknob?

I use the thumb down the pole to get them to stop turning their wrist, thus making the silk wrap around the pole. After a certain point, I get them to wrap their thumb around. However, there are times when pressing the thumb into the pole is necessary for work. I tell them that it is important to use their thumbs. Some of them just use their fingers and their thumbs float in the air, they don't even touch the pole. Getting them to press their thumb into the pole also gets them to think about their thumb placement as well.

Every kid is different, and everyone needs a little trick to get them to spin correctly.

[Stick Stack]

I say spin a broom. Real easy to see if you're twisting it that way!

If done correctly, you would only see one side of it. If done incorrectly, it would revolve as you turn it. This is how I learned to stop rolling up the flag.

[byline]

How do you all correct rotating of the pole causing the silk to roll up?

In my experience, that happened because guard members twisted their wrists toward themselves slightly each time while dropping the flag into the "down" position. So, of course, if one keeps twisting the wrist each time, the flag is going to roll up.

I was able to get most of my guard members to see what they were doing and so be able to stop doing it, but it seemed like there was always one or two who could never get the concept. So to counteract that, I would write spins in one direction, then change to the opposite direction; that usually kept the flag from rolling up.