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About S.W.A.T.
S.W.A.T. stands for Single Wheeled Attack Team. S.W.A.T is a group of unicyclists based in southeastern Pennsylvania. It now consists of 6 full-time members: Jim Vadala, Nick Vadala, Nick DiJohn, Kevin O'Brien, Joe Graff, and Tim Braun. S.W.A.T. continues to grow, and its members continue to build their skills.

About Unicycling
Unicycling is a sport that tests both one's balance and physical limits. It has many differnt styles inculding Street, Muni(mountain unicycling), Freestyle, Trials and Racing. Unicycling is possibaly the Best sport in the universe; it remains unpolluted, unlike all other extreme sports.

Different unicycle styles (click the title to see an example, pictures courtesy of Yoggi):
Freestyle: Almost always performed on a flat surface such as a gym floor, freestyle is, simply put, unicycle tricks. In more specific terms, it is the art of riding a unicycle in different ways than normal forward riding. Basic freestyle skills include backwards riding, riding while olding the seat out in front of or behind the body, riding with one foot, and wheelwalking (using one's feet on the tire to push the wheel forward). More advanced freestyle tricks include unispins (rotating the unicycle underneath oneself during a hop) and combinations of basic skills (one-foot wheelwalking or backwards riding while holding the seat behind oneself are good examples).

Trials: Trials is the practice of navigating obstacle courses on a unicycle without touching the environment with one's body. The basic skill required for trials is hopping, but advanced trials also requires a rider to be able to ride very thin objects such as rails and 2x4s, stand in one place for extended periods of time to regain balance, and perform such maneuvers as crank and pedal grabs. Trials can be separated into urban and natural trials.

MUni: MUni, or Mountain Unicycling, is the most self-explanatory unicycling discipline. It involves riding along off-road and rough terrain on a unicycle. MUnis are generally the strongest unicycles avaliable, and tend to be substantially larger than trials and freestyle unicycles. Skills required for MUni include hopping and being able to roll over or hop up and down drops and rock formations, and in this way it can be similar to trials. Trials lines on MUni trail are known as natural trials.

Street: A recent development in the unicycling community, Street unicycling is a combination of freestyle and urban trials skills, with some entirely new skills thrown in. Street unicyclists perform some freestyle tricks while doing trials obstacles, such as unispinning into a crank or pedal grab, or riding down stairs backwards. Also, new skills have developed through street riding, such as grinding and footplants. Street riding is still a relatively young style and it has a lot of evolving to do.

Racing: Unicycle racing is exactly what it sounds like, but is currently a relatively small subset of the unicycle community, and is the discipline on which SWAT places the least emphasis. However, it is still an active practice among many unicyclists worldwide.




 
   


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