Ropes and Poles

On the 27th of July 2011 I will be joining several thousand Scouts from around the world near Rinkaby, Sweden, for the 22nd World Scout Jamboree. I will be an Assistant Troop Scouter with the South African Contingent. I am looking forward to the trip, and hopefully to meeting some of the people who've shared ideas with me here on the blog.

The Football World Cup starts in South Africa next week. South Africans are getting into the spirit of things, and flags of all the participating nations are lining the roads and filling offices and shopping centres.

People have been particularly displaying our own flag, with street vendors selling flags to fit into the side windows of cars, and also covers for wing mirrors.

Aiden Choles is a friend of mine who decided that it wasn't enough to fly a flag from his car- he covered his entire car in a (removable) vinyl wrap. A number of local companies helped sponsor this, and he will be keep the flag flying until after the World Cup ends on July

With the World Cup just a week away, here are some soccer variants that our Scout troop has played.

Crab soccer
-Players all move 'crab-style' - lying on

Three-legged soccer
-players are paired up and one leg is tied to the other player like for a three-legged race.

Wheelbarrow soccer
-players pair up as for a wheelbarrow race. The 'wheelbarrow' player handles the ball with their hands.

New rules soccer
-This game starts out as normal soccer. Every time a team scores a goal, they are allowed to make a new rule eg. all players need to hop on one foot when they are kicking the ball

(2010 World Cup Stadia: Clockwise from top left: Soccer City, Johannesburg; Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium; Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban; Cape Town Stadium)

With the 2010 FIFA World Cup around the corner here in South Africa, I'll be posting links and projects to get into the spirit of things in the next few weeks.

(Soccer City in Johannesburg, the biggest stadium in Africa- click image for a rotatable 3d view)

First up, some 3d models for SketchUp and Google Earth. All 10 of the stadia that are hosting matches have been modelled and are available on the 3d warehouse for download. Here is the official collection.