How to sling like a Balearic slinger
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 มี.ค. 2021
- Here I show you how a Balearic slinger uses their sling to propel a stone at velocities up to one hundred miles per hour, and how you can learn this safely with tennis balls before moving up to stones.
slinging.org
This is a masterclass on how to educate someone with a video. No crazy graphics, your voice aligns with the action on the screen, step-by-step instruction, occational slow-motions and break-downs.
Can you just make all the instructional videos on youtube? I'd be a genius!
The step-by-step instructions actually help you learn for a change. Most others would condense it to a ridiculous 3-step process,
1. How to hold a sling
2. How to load a ball into the sling
3. Enjoy!
:) Totally, I felt the practice entering my muscle memory just by watching!
I call it, KISS
Keep it simple, stupid
Dead right Adam, incredibly professional despite the simple production. Someone edits excellently too
You are right...the genius of the approach can be summed up by saying..."less is more"
Learning how to sling from a guy called David, now I just need a Goliath and my Easter Sunday is complete.
Yea david jus needs to be slightly younger
You could always play DnD :D
Also if your name was Benjamin and you was left handed
One thing I have learned for sure: Whether you are David or not, there is always a Goliath of one description or the other. You don't have to find them, they find you. Best to keep a little faith, a sling, and five smooth stones, in that order.
lol
Well, I didn't wake up this morning thinking I needed a sling, but thanks to TH-cam's algorithm I guess I do.
Get one. It’s so fun!!!
Dude that is hilarious. Your comment is tickling me to death. I know what you mean though. Apparently the other day it was imperative that I know about the dietary habits of models, and I’m a guy. My wife set up the account, but she never uses it.
By the way Ken is right.
Me too!
@@cassiecraft8856 nah I beg to differ. Wrong as two boys f G in church on Sunday eh?
My late wife came from Central Italy and grew up in a sheep farming family. As a teenager she would have to look after the sheep which the family had free roaming and she learnt at a very young age to use a sling. Used mainly to drop a stone near the sheep whilst hearding to make them go in another direction or the direction you wanted them to go but also with lambs there was the risk of wolves, very rare but a risk still
Wonderful! Yes, the sling has been used far more for steering sheep than than for fighting war.
Man, she must have been cool to been around!
Accidently headshot the sheep?
@@PunchLineBoxing not when you’re a master slinger.
@@davidmorningstar yes, you would know. That’s what you used the sling for before Saul gave you a job in his army!
I’ve been practicing the use of a sling by playing fetch with my dog. A couple weeks in and already finding that I’m surprising myself with the accuracy I can achieve. Dog is loving the longer runs to retrieve the ball as well!
now this is just wholesome AF
Big brain play. This is so cool.
That's clever of you!
Yep, I've been doing this for years, the looks I get at the local park from people. Lol! But the dog loves it.
I just wondered, David has some videos on here about using a staff sling, if you used one of those, would your dog have to get a bus to retrieve the ball? 🤣
The TH-cam algorithm decided that this day I would learn about balearic slingers.
Great video, David.
And here i am thanking the algorithm once again for giving me things that i dont know that i actually need
Nice explanation.
As born and raised in Mallorca (Balearic Islands) I am very surprised of how popular slinger is outside our small island. Much more than here which it is sadly almost forgotten.
It has all the requirements to be in the olympics, except for popularity.. sad !
Honestly, i can see practical application of this skill in ....Hong Kong for example?
Too bad ballearic style sling require some handmade work since it is not as available off the shelves like normal
Y sling
From what I read, all your best/skilled ancestors where outsourced / exported. and the ones left are probably not too interested to keep the practice going strong.
also, I think it's gaining popularity or a bit popular cause of gun bans, etc.
slingshots, blow-darts, javelin and bow & arrows are also nice.
aside from a small slingshot and a balearic sling, other else looks fishy or suspicious to have around.
@@MangaGamify slinging was part of their daily life. It was how they hunted, defended themselves, and protected their livestock. This is why basically the general population (the men anyway) could be hired as mercenaries, they'd been doing it their whole life. So it likely fell out of use just as quickly as they didnt need it for their daily life.
@@MangaGamify the sling was used all over the world. It was not a group of people from the balearic islands who did that as the only people.
When I was a child in Spain I met a shepherd one day, he showed me how to use a sling and then he gave it to me. Never saw him again, nobody around me knew nothing about slings but I got pretty good with it.
There is a sweet spot, maybe milliseconds because is extremely hard to get it right, where you move your wrist just before releasing, if you feel the weight of the stone when pushing with the wrist you are doing it right and the stone will fly much farther and be more accurate as you basically aim with the wrist.
I can relate to that .
As a somewhat veteran slinger myself i would like to confirm this guy knows what he's talking about and that this is an excellent tutorial for beginners.
I started slinging when I was a young teen after reading about in the sci fi novel Land of the Giants. Thought it was the coolest thing ever. The method I taught myself was based on the description in the book and is the same as the one you show in this video. When I was in the SCA I demonstrated the power of this weapon at war camps but it never caught on. No one realized just how ubiquitous slings were throughout the the ancient, medieval and early modern worlds. But you've inspired me, David! Time to start practicing again.
Have a look at my video 'Long range slinging in the Balearic islands' for some big sling energy.
Great to hear from another survivor of the SCA. I did the Renaissance Faires for several years in the early 70's. Not as a slinger, but as a shawm player. Probably did a similar amount of damage.
cheers from windy Vienna, Scott
David , DID kill, Goliath, the giant. Evidence, is here, and GOD CANNOT LIE....
@@petersack5074 That's making three assumptions: God exists, God cannot lie, and the Bible is the Word of God.
@@therealzilch ASSumptions ? there IS A MASTER ENGINEER of ALL LIFE, flesh and blood, plants. LIFE can only beget LIFE, There is no excuse, for created beings, to NOT ACKNOWLEDGE, THEIR MAKER.......so, your ASSUMING these global inventions, of humans, just '' CAME TOGETHER, from some slime, on an ancient beach ? ONLY THE FOOL, SAYS THERE IS NO GOD. WHO, or in your feeble terms, MADE/CREATED EARTH, IN ALL ITS POWERS/GRAVITY/thin coating of AIR , which sustains all life ? fools.......HE is in TOTAL CONTROL OF THE WEATHER, WHICH SUSTAINS/OR CAN D E L E T E any of HIS CREATED BEINGS. ! smarten up.....look around, you all have eyes and ears, to see and hear......'' mother nature "" yes .....what about FATHER GOD, WHO GAVE US THIS SHORT , USELESS LIFE.....those NOT RECOGNIZING/ NOR ACKNOWLEDGING HIS ETERNAL EXISTENCE, WILL ALL SOON PERISH, of pestilences/famine/diseases/ GLOBAL WAR....it is coming.....regardless of what YOU THINK !! May your future, be in your own choosing. HISTORY, karma coming, again. Mark these words, they SHALL STAND. good day, all .
This is the best video I’ve found so far. Most are just guys slinging and talking and not breaking down the technique. This is great. Just made my sling this morning and have been slinging at the garage door. So far I’ve shot two tennis balls over the house and into the woods. I think I’ll head on down to the tennis courts next time.
As a teenager I experimented with a sling. Seeing this as how it's properly done would have saved me whacking myself silly with stones. Now I'm inspired again to try.
Im going to be showing this video to my history class, so many cultures used slings and itll be great to show them how they were used. Love the video thanks for making it!!
Thank you!
Check out the channel invicta. They have a video about balearic slingers which is incredibly informative and well made. And a fantastic video on how the romans keot their armies fed.
@@lars7747 Indeed. Invicta should be required for all history classes at this point.
Thanks for posting David! I've always had a thing for "projectile launchers" As a kid I made atlatls, bows & arrows, slings, and slingshots. Practiced hard and "proof of skill" was bagging a rabbit. Retired now, still make those "primitive" weapons and practicing regularly.
I can't believe I'm getting a slingstone tutorial from David.
I am old, but not that old 😅
Your teaching technique reminds me of Army training. Very good.
"Stones are live ammunition" that sounds quite intimidating really
Cause it can be, basically an ancient gun
Tbf, slingers could punch through scutum and leather armor
Even better are lead balls. A slinger can outrange an archer with the right sling+ammo combination.
If you use heavy stones and you know what you are doing you can smash someone's face in quite literally. I used to practice this and aimed for branches. If I got everything just right with a big stone it could explode a branch off with loud crack if the stone hit at the root of the branch (3cm diameter).
Sling can throw stuff at such speed that they break sound barrier.
It's more than 340 m/s.
66 m/s is 240 km/h.
Now imagine stone flying at you at such speed.
Brings back fond memories of my dad teaching me the sling as a kid.
Four sling videos in and yours is the first to mention how you release the blooming thing. Bravo !
I've argued that the story of David and Goliath is a metaphorical story about the little guy defeating the giant.
If it were real, the Phillistines would have been very familiar with the dangers of a skilled slinger.
Ancient armies used lines of slingers to disrupt and injure opposing lines.
Thanks for sharing this.
The Balearic slingers raised their children in the art of slinging when they were very young. They put the food on a very high pole and the children did not eat until they pulled the food from the top.
loved the simplicity of the editing and breaking down everything and having actual quality, taught by a professional. Love videos like these!
When i was a kid i had plenty of free time and lived near endless fields, i tried so hard to learn to use a sling but simply couldn't figure it out intuitively. If only i had your TH-cam video 20 years ago lol. Fantastic tutorial
You know, my better judgment tells me that watching these videos of yours is just another form of procrastination, but then I tell my better judgment, what if... What if I was transported back in time and had to join a roman army? Then I'd regret such an attitude. I'm not in denial; these videos are super important for me to watch, as I lack critical combat skills. So thank you.
No joke though, I love your videos.
Excellent video. I've messed around with a sling for 4-5 years but never got the hang of it. Your video showed me exactly what I was doing wrong. Still can't hit a barn door, but that's just practice. Thank You.
I am a native balearic my parents were also native as well as their parents. I apporve this video. Thanks a lot for your time and effort!
Thank you to all the Balearic people for keeping this historic skill alive and inviting us to their competitions today.
@@davidmorningstar Usually during summer they show us the basic skills, is something similar to the boy scouts but in a different way.
Gent in the yellow shirt at 6:04 is still remembered 50 years later by small animals all over Majorca, they call him "death that spins".
Soneone who knows how to use a sling will never starve.
This is beautiful 💛 im Joan from Ibiza and went to learn this things in school, i still working with "esparto" which is the original name of the material we use, is so sad for me knowing that our next generation didn't learn to use it or didn't even know about it, i rememeber the first day i enter the workshop, i will never forget the grandmas that teach us how deep is and why we starts to use it.. Is there is any craftmaster around there reading me, PLEASE SHOW YOUR WORK, its something absolutely priceless that will never be forgotten 🙏🏽💛💛💛💛
Excellent! Thank you. And to think how lethal these slingers were in ancient battle.
Balearic Slings were famed warriors in their day. Coveted and feared, born using slings, and a six minute TH-cam video will make as good...I'm in!
Suddenly David slinging a 9’ monster of a man in the dome and knocking him out during a duel makes a lot more sense.
It's incredible to think that they are still practicing this art as a tradition in the Balearic Islands. They've been doing it since ancient times, and units of Balearic slingers were sometimes attached to the Roman army to provide ranged weapon capability.
I seem to recall reading somewhere that a skillful slinger can actually be effective at greater distances than a longbow! I found that to be pretty impressive for such a simple weapon.
Somewhere around 400 meters or so. With a Longbow being around 200.
This is 100% the guy who gives out side quests
I am from Mallorca and this video is a really good way to learn how to throw the "fona", congrats mate :)
Thank you for reminding me that I needed to make a new sling and relearn the art. I loved it as a kid. This is a good hunting weapon if the SHTF.
okay... this is the very best description of how to do something that has ever been on TH-cam... I am NOW a subscriber! I needed to know how this thing worked to show my kids at church the weapon that David took into battle! I am so blessed I found you. This is perfect!
I have no idea why TH-cam thinks that slinging was a knowledge I should acquire, but here we are!
Also David Morningstar looks exactly like I imagined someone called David Morningstar would looks like!
Subscribed and Shared!
I've no idea why this video popped up on my feed, but now I'm inspired to learn how to use the sling I brought back from Peru!
I was 10-11 yrs old when my family lived on Mallorca. Dad made a sling for me out of and old leather boot with the laces as the strings. I spent many hours down on a deserted rocky beach slinging rocks out to sea. I got pretty good with it as attested to by the plastic bouys we had to pay to replace after I broke them and they sank.
We did the same thing in the other sound area of Washington State! Best sling ever came from a boot 😁
@@JRMorris That is why the sea is full of floating plastic
@@maozedung7270 what are you on about? Who are you replying to? 🙄
Maybe ease up on the sauce eh?
I needed this demonstration video of how-to-sling at 2:30 AM. Your voice is very relaxing! I love it!
If only I had an infinite supply of tennisballs in my pocket
I love this, playing fetch with a dog would make an amazing practice opportunity
Interesting style you show here. For better or worse, my children and I migrated from the general spin-and-release approach to the slinging style of Larry Bray that we saw in a video ~10 years ago. It kind of blew us away the first time we saw it. In essence, the stone does a large figure-8 before release. It's a very quick move that relies heavily on muscle memory.
I sling with many styles but this one is easy to teach and also has the Balearic connection to make it interesting.
A good example of Larry Bray's style is done by another slinger in my video 'Long range slinging in the Balearic islands', you'll spot it immediately.
@@davidmorningstar Thanks! I'm going to check that video out right now. Sounds very interesting. :)
Man I was always a huge fan of the Rhodean Slingers in Rome Total War.
Slinging is so much different from a slingshot, always wanted to learn slinging and how to make one. Kudos!
Forgive me for being off topic, but you remind me so much of a very good friend I lost about a year ago. A spitting image for real, he even dressed like you and let his hair and beard grow the same way. His name was Arvid, and he will be greatly missed, although if they have TH-cam in heaven, he's probably watching you and having a good chuckle up there :)
When you consider that a slingstone was typically the size of a tennis ball, then the story of David and Goliath becomes believable. Good video.
That wold be a really big slingstone for short range heavy hitting. Golf ball size is more normal for greater range.
@@davidmorningstar Yes...but as the story goes, the two were much closer and range was not the issue. An article on the history of weaponry did indicate that slingstones were indeed larger than a golfball when used in a war conflict.
Excellent David. I enjoy military history, as well as playing senior softball. Can see more than a little similarity in the physics and mechanics of releasing either projectile!
I’ve always been intrigued about slinging but didn’t know how to get into it, so thanks for making this video.
David and Goliath really not far fetched!
It was the weapon of choice for late bronze age shepherds.
Slingers were considered more valuable than archers. They often fought naked or in skins. To equip a unit of slingers was very cheap and yielded great results.
Goliath never had a chance.
a guy who looks like a badass exorcist, swings like a badass ancient soldier... and is a perfect gentleman when speaking/teaching =)
Thank you!
Wow! Somehow this came up on my hubbies feed - no real interest before now - but DAVID - what a GOOD teacher you are!! Clear and concise.
traveled with the SCA and various folk groups for a while. one ov the guys I traveled with was named Doc. used to do suspension and read aroundthe campfire. was getting a doctorate and his thesis was on 'Numerology in the Roman Legion: From Hadrian to Nero'
anyway. he had a saying 'i can teach any man, woman, child, or other primate how to use a sling in 30 min... anyone except my assistant who will hold the shield now."
I was the assistant. he hit the buckler ov the legion shield every time.... i.. wasn't allowed use a sling since I took out a window. a tent, and wounded a milk cow.
Wise advice with the tennis balls! Thanks for looking out for us all :) Thanks for the instructions and God bless you
Simple, intersting, entertaing and well explained and nice voice.
He didnt teach the magic of holding so many stones in the pocket tho.
It’s good to have a dog to play fetch while practicing with tennis balls
It is exactly how I did it, We both enjoyed every bit of it. There's nothing like a Border Collie, finest dog I ever had around.
Apparently it's better to have a cat because cats are way more intelligent than dogs.... so cat owners always tell me, anyway. 🙄
@@sunnyjim1355 Nothing's stopping you from having both.
@@sunnyjim1355 i have a cat and i love her, but a cat could never replace a dog. Cats have more of a mind of their own and don't follow orders. My cat helps me greatly by catching all the mice and rats in the house and garden and is also a great companion, of course.
As much as I love cats, dogs will always be better for helping humans and physical activities. I love dogs, but one cat is enough for me.
Leon the Wise.
What a great instructional video! Thanks for keeping the lost art alive! I used to use a sling when I was a kid. Got pretty good at it, as in rabbit-hunting good. It just takes know-how and practice. Now I am old, retired, and have taken up disk golf. I SUCK at it and don't have years to devote to learning it. You thinkin' what I'm thinkin? I think I could hit that basket in a couple of tries with a tennis ball & sling. Wonder what all those Frisbee Flingers would think of that. I just might see if an old dog with a couple of old tricks can branch out into a whole new approach! (Pun intended) Hehe!
I've pulled my sling out on the course a few times, once to shoo a fox away from my disc, got it to within a few feet of him from about 60 yards out. I've never thought of flinging tennis balls at the basket or tone pole, that sounds like it would be a fun game.
I watched some kids in Kabul whipping snowballs with brutal effectiveness with one of these slings. It was quite scary hearing the whop they made upon impact, and just left you thinking about it only being snow rather then something much more dense.
you need to have a retriever with you, this would make a very happy dog.
Thanks for the great tutorial David. I made a couple of slings about a month ago and have been experimenting with limited success. Watching your video taugh5 me exactly where I was going wrong - swinging my whole arm. Slings are so much fun.
This is wonderful! I'm going to add this to my other "projectile" hobbies.
Funny thing. I have been thinking of learning how to use a Sling for a while but had no idea where to start, then your video suddenly appeared on my feed and cleared everything! Gonna buy a sling and some tennis balls now. Thanks!
The last dude in the black hoodie really captured why facing a hundred enemy slingers was so scary for ancient and medieval troops. Imagine getting bombarded with a hundred golf ball sized stones going really fast from 100 meters away. And having to walk through like three or four volleys before you can even close ranks with them. Forget that.
Greeks and Romans used lead bullets with their slings, so they are much smaller for the same weight. These have less air resistance and so fly further and hit harder, piercing the flesh and lodging within the body from 300m away. They outranged archers and had the greatest mobility of any foot unit on the battlefield.
The slingers of the Balearic Islands were elite troops for the Carthaginian and then Roman Empires, serving from Britain to Persia as mercenary auxiliaries.
Awesome!! This was extremely well done David!
Slingers are some of my favourite units on Age of Empires 2, they're so versatile and good to use. I've always wanted to try slinging myself.
When i was a kid we'd make slings out of old boots. Better than a sling shot, and someone was always tossing out a pair of worn out boots.
I like how you include very specific instructions for loading. Very important for muscle memory and training. Do this, this, and this. Simple.
Thank you so much for making this video. Ive been practicing slinging for about a year now and i cant seem to group any better than a 6ft diameter at around 12 yards.
i always take my sling on hike trips ... fun to sling over the water!
skimming stones on the water would be fun with a sling
I dont know why the youtube algorithm showed me this video today, and I never thought about collecting and using ancient style weapons and such as a hobby. You explained this so well and made it seem very accessible, plus it looks incredibly fun! I live in rural United States and think you've inspired me to pick up a new hobby. Thank you! (I love the exquisite attire in your earlier videos, by the way.)
The algorithm brought this to me after watching Invicta’s video about the original Balearic slingers. Had no idea their 2,000+ year old tradition is alive to this day.
When I was a kid I made a sling and messed around with it for awhile. I found it to be trickier than it looks. If you don't time the release properly, the stone will go in an unexpected direction, sometimes even straight up! Then you cover your head with your arms and hope for the best.
No doubt I should make another sling and try it again, starting with the basics, and using tennis balls.
That was a perfect instruction video. Loved it. great job.
The power comes from your hip movement, I like it.
This ought to be an olympic sport.
*""Stones are live ammunition""*
CSI episode: The victim was shot in the head with a bullet that hadn't been fired. There are no rifling striations to match it to any gun. There were no reports of a gun shot despite the suburban setting in the middle of the day.
I loved the simplicity of your video Sir, good instructions for beginners. Not everyone cover this step to such lengths as this. I enjoy the simplicity of the sling, and it makes me able to use all kinds of different ammo types, what other weapon can do that?
Well, that's the most awesome thing I've seen on the internet in ages! Thanks for sharing!!!!!!
Paracord slings are 1. good way to practice your handicraft skills 2. a cheap and traditional weapon to practice even hunting with.
Clear, concise and entertaining. Beautifully done! Enthusiastic thumbs up!
Thank you!
Brilliant video. Very informative and well presented.
I made two slings out of Paracord but they're too short, about 18" from the end to the pouch on each side. I started with 11' of cord but now I think I have to at least double the length. I haven't tried it out yet and have never used a sling before. Your video is a wealth of information on how to use the sling. Thank you.
18" is short but usable with a quick snappy style.
Look at bit.ly/slingfaq for lots of sling designs.
Balearics was one of the most important roman auxiliary troops
How did you make the paracord sling? That is really cool!
slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1614017065 is a link to how I made it
It's amazing how much you can do with some rope and a small pouch. After my first 100-200 stones with this (barely an hour, lol) I was getting no less than ~50m on every throw and as much as 80m by my estimations. Pretty good for keeping small animals and cattle from doing stupid things.
If you get good enough you can outright kill small animals with it
I don’t know anything about slinging other than this video but that is a mighty fine form sir. Very nice and efficient technique for reloading.
David, this was an excellent presentation. No nonsense, no goofiness, no comedy, just straight out information. And thank you that you did not add an annoying, inappropriate, and deafening background music track. Five stars, friend.
Thanks!
Great video David! Tons of good info in a concise and entertaining format. This will be a must-watch video for all beginners.
Hi Andrew how are you doing, nice to meet you here 😊
Thank you, what an awesome lesson, I always wondered how slings were used 😁
Hi Gary how are you doing, nice to meet you here 😊
I've been curious about this. Thanks David for the tutorial. Thanks TH-cam for the suggestion
6:20 slow-mo slinging looks like someone holding a stiff rope and casually twirling it around
Far too many years ago In rural Montana I made a sling in a leatherworking class. Needless to say I spent a good many years plinking cans and getting good enough to knock a sparrow off a powerline. Everything in this video about the throw is both intuitive and correct.
careful of who you tell about the sparrow lol but honestly that's some damn good accuracy
"The only way to defeat your enemies is by letting go."
Excellent tutorial easy to follow, cannot ask for more.
Thank You for Teaching Me Step by Step.
Aloha sir, you just made my day, good evening to you.
When I was a kid we kinda devised our own techniques. I throw more vertically than horizontally and I rotate forwards instead of backwards, more like how you would throw a stone without a sling. My friend did it all different again but we all hit our targets after practising a few weeks.
Have you seen the figure-8 slinging style? I have some videos about that and there are some by other people too. My recent slo mo slinging video has some figure-8 action in it.
Totally off topic, but I have that same Columbia jacket in tan. Great jacket, comfortable, functional, and I get a lot of compliments. I like that olive green color, too.
Californian here to learn how to protect myself from criminals with guns, without using guns.
totalwar brought me here! great content 🙌🏼