über die folgende Meldung (hier in Auszügen) freue ich mich sehr - vielleicht sollte sie mir ein Anreiz sein Gleiches zu tun
Dominic O'Brien returns as a competitor after a nine year absence
With the nation’s focus firmly on the 2012 Olympics and all the physical sports it encompasses, a very different competition is quietly taking place in London on the 23rd and 24th of August which is attracting competitors from across Europe, America , and even from Japan. However, instead of seeing how fast they can run, how high they can jump or how far they throw things, they will be taking part in a the equivalent of a Mental Olympics. And if you thought the beach volley ball was hard.....
The UK Open Memory Championships, now in its sixth year, has become the warm up event to the World Memory Championships taking place this year in London in December. It being the most comprehensive test of competitive memory on the planet, it is why competitors are prepared to travel so far to see how their months of preparation have prepared them for that event.
Grey Power Rules the Grey Matter
It has always been taken for granted that memory is something we automatically lose with age, or at least, this is the excuse we give ourselves from the age of thirty onwards! But, in a very brave experiment, one man has decided to very publically put this to the test – and to risk his standing and reputation if it goes wrong.
Back in the last century, in 1991 Dominic O’Brien, at a spritely 34, was the very first World Memory Champion, an incredible feat that he repeated a further seven time to become the only person ever to be the eight times World Memory Champion. Now with memory competitions held in 26 countries around the world, he chose to retire from being a competitor to become the Head of Ethics for the Mind Sport of Memory. He has not entered a competition now for nine years and is now 55. Has he now forgotten everything he knew? Does he still have what it takes?
This week Dominic announced to an amazed world, that he planned to return to the sport as a competitor at the UK Open Memory Championships, and for a very good reason.
Dominic is on a mission. He believes that we all have far better memories than we think that we have, not matter what age we are. All we lack are the simple techniques that the memory competitors use, and a bit of practice. Having taught school children around the country how to be better at exams by using these techniques, he now wants to inspire the older generation, that he is now reluctantly a part of, that far from losing their marbles, they still have the ability to have an amazing memory if only they gave it a chance.
“With every physical or mental skill, if we don’t use it, we lose it” says Dominic “ With computers, smart phones, and tablet devices to memorise everything for us, we are losing the skill of memory. But it is not too late!”
In fact none of the competitors taking part were born with particularly good memories. For all of them, this is a skill they have developed by learning the techniques and doing lots of practice – just like any other sport.
In this way, they can remember long – very, very long – lists of things: numbers – 4140 binary digits in 30 minutes; dates – 101 historical dates in 5 minutes; playing cards – 1404 playing cards in one hour (that’s 27 packs of playing cards, individually shuffled and memorised, perfectly, in just 60 minutes - imagine!)
Another past competitor is also returning to the sport this year and hopes to achieve a World Record in the Names and Faces discipline. 34 year old Katie Kermode who works as a translator, last competed in the UK Open in 2008 when she came 4th. She originally got started in the sport by reading Tony Buzan’s book on Memory and was inspired learn more when a teacher taught her how to memorise the order of the planets using a simple rhyme technique.
Viele Grüße
Steffen
