TMNT Have Nothing On This Shredder

Keep a diary of what you're hitting, what's frustrating you, and your goals.
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Derek
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Re: TMNT Have Nothing On This Shredder

Post by Derek » 21 Aug 2017 20:44

Just A Quickie

Highlights and stuff:

"If Derek doesn't smoke me out, then I know I'm in a dream; cause that's not real." -SkyLon

Cass visited the fam.

Long drives.

Favorite circle was with Aleksi, Juho, and Petey-B. Pawel also tapped in for a few.

People thinking I'm about the same level as Adam Keith.

Meeting Mark.

Meeting Bonsleezy.

Jim thinking I'm consistent.

Everything about Flash.

Playing with Canadian money.

Various salt trips to the car.

Hotel pool. Went end to end 3 times on one breath.

Boatz and his fidget spinners. Plus his timidness about smoking in public.

Meeting K. "datswassup" Crow.

Meeting TJ.

Meeting Manna.

Meeting Olav.

Party nights.

Jake Wren.

Having a moment to catch up with Landes.

Almost no alcohol consumed.

$10 from Vasek.

Meeting James Risden. Dig his steez.

Allowing Bonslaver to play ColdPlay.

Johnny, MAnton, and B.

Mass amounts of blazing.

Warm up circle with my Circle. Adam, Bruce, and Kyle.

Meeting Cory Allen.

Rory and Kat.

Shreds with Kemmer. Talks with Kemmer. Kemmer.

4 Square with top level players. Darryl, TJ, Tom, and others.

Alone time with Cass.

Meeting/shredding with Pawel.

Polini having a good time.

Hoag being himself.

Getting too low with Ken.

Selling all my bags.

Alex and Ally.

"Bought a cider, and chilled in the bushes. Jumped out yelling 'Footbag 2017'. " -Ally

Seeing Christian win.

Watching Sean hack away.

Meeting Timo.

Ryan Morris is good at bags.

Most people enjoying my 14 panels.

Denny's being actually good.

Seeing Khoa.

Kendama with Blotsky and Warren.

People knowing my form, that I didn't even know.

Bob in proper form.

Jack "She watches".

Meeting Kevin Regs.

Dan Greer.

Gatesdoodle.

All the dope lady friends.

Matt Emmings' baby, Nina!

Skyler being Skyler.

Peeps vibin' to my tunes.


Sure I missed a bunch, but meh. The few regrets were shredding too early everyday, not stitching with Ivan, and not keeping composure from time to time.

Played for a total of 21 hours during Worlds.

Some of which was very on point. I tend to forget people like to teach and learn from other shredders. I'm a fan of learning, but at events I'm in shred mode. Also, too many circles became 5, or 6 people.

Took Aleksi and Caroline to a favorite camping ground of mine in McCloud. Jumped off a waterfall. Then went with them to explore the Yuba river with Skyler as our guide. Later, showed them some local spots, and hiked a mini mountain. Mush life.

As I've said, left out a lot. Thanks to Dale and Dean for keeping things smooth, and rocking my world.

McEggbeats is my name on things.

Getting ready to fuck shit up in the realm of dexes. Maybe I'll post again. Good day.
Live, Love, Footbag

Derek Littlefield

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Re: TMNT Have Nothing On This Shredder

Post by Asmus » 21 Aug 2017 23:16

I like that. I really like that.
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Derek
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Re: TMNT Have Nothing On This Shredder

Post by Derek » 22 Aug 2017 09:06

Thanks, Moosey.

Also, also. Find it annoying that shredders of old, who aren't currently in the scene, keep trying to dictate where Footbag goes. Forgot those peeps. Footbaggers are typically on the better spectrum of people, but I'd be lying out of my ass if I said they were all great. The amount of non accepting and high school style behavior is still fairly strong. I think a lot of people try to not see that, because they are Footbaggers. Whatever. Shred till ya dead.
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Derek Littlefield

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Re: TMNT Have Nothing On This Shredder

Post by boyle » 22 Aug 2017 13:30

That's an interesting comment on the "old school", and not the first I have heard a similar comment on the same lines. It's true as well that not everyone is going to be a great person, though having that common (very small) interest will give you a common starting point. Do you think because it was in Portland and having all the "historic connection" made more of those kind of people come out?

Sounds like a pretty good time. Would have been good to go. Maybe next year.

This was my highlight from your points

"Bought a cider, and chilled in the bushes. Jumped out yelling 'Footbag 2017'. " -Ally

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Re: TMNT Have Nothing On This Shredder

Post by Cass » 22 Aug 2017 15:20

Don't you know you better not guilt, but at the same time you better bring back flyers mmkay? :P

Thanks for getting some key points that I forgot in my write-up. So many good people (along with the less good ones).

I envy how much you shredded. Maybe next time I wont compete so much..

Come back to Canada already ;)

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Re: TMNT Have Nothing On This Shredder

Post by Cass » 22 Aug 2017 15:21

<3

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Re: TMNT Have Nothing On This Shredder

Post by Derek » 23 Aug 2017 19:03

Dan: Yeah, I think because a fair bit of old school peeps are on the West Coast, so that's why so many came out. 'Twas the best. If you watch the Legends of Footbag talk, they straight up talk about the things they hated, and go on to do the almost exact things they hated. It's a fucking joke.

Cass: "you shouldn't juggle, cause it's lame .... but flyers, do flyers". "Without the ADD system, Footbag wouldn't be where it is, today."

Bunch of old cooks. Your write up was far more in depth. Yup, don't compete means all the shred.

September 30th <3
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Derek Littlefield

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Re: TMNT Have Nothing On This Shredder

Post by h0ag3yb3atZ » 25 Aug 2017 06:21

Cass wrote:
22 Aug 2017 15:20
Don't you know you better not guilt, but at the same time you better bring back flyers mmkay? :P
this made coffee shoot out of my nose. so good. do love me some flyers though.

great seeing ya derek (i don’t think we played that much :twisted: ). reading between the lines of a few of those bullet points makes me smile though.
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Re: TMNT Have Nothing On This Shredder

Post by h0ag3yb3atZ » 25 Aug 2017 06:28

double posts of our lives.
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Re: TMNT Have Nothing On This Shredder

Post by Derek » 08 Aug 2019 06:22

Something Short and Nonsensical

Need to puke my opinions on competing/why I even play Footbag/things no one cares about. My gut was telling me to scratch from everything I competed in, but I didn't listen and ended up having a bad time. I utterly hate comp, that's never been my reason for playing, and in all honestly, I find it pretty whack. Just wish to play to my heart's content with others. Comp has always taken away from sideline shred. Do you know how many times I've been asked to stop playing to watch some shit I literally don't give a fuck about? Too many to count, and my memory is grand. Understand and respect that some people love to compete, but when it interferes with my ability to have fun, it's super deterring. Like, I travelled 15+ hours to play/hang with some people only once, and others not at all. Now, I get the inverse that some of these heads travelled equidistant to try and win. That's why I'm so torn about wanting to go to events that aren't Jams. The upsides are times when people are demanding/asking that you play. Blau had just shown up at the end of the shred day, and was itchin' for a shred. Was still drying off from the shower I had after shred when he asked if I would be down to play. No one else wanted to, and I'm a sucker for peer pressure. The other moment was playing with Jakub Worek. We had finally got a shred in, and I wanted to save some for the after finals shred, so I popped off my shoes. Worek looked at me and said something along the lines of, "No, you die in this Circle". So hype. Put my shoes back on in a heartbeat. Stuff like that only happens on the sideline.

Also, think I differ from most shredders and why they wish to play. I don't want to use my brain when I play, just wanna zone out and go. "Zombie Mode", as I call it. So many people wanna tell me rules of how to shred in Circle, or why I should use more Clipper so I'm not limiting myself. The more I have to think about shred, and I mean actually ponder, not just blink about a couple tricks, the poopier I play. Yes, that's on me, blah, blah, blah. But my shred career has been filled with people trying to tell me what to do, with little to no reasoning. Sans competing(Only way to compete seriously is with a Clipper game). With so many people telling me that, it makes me feel like I'm one of the few whom just plays this for fun. There's nothing spectacular about my style, my runs are all similar, prolly can't hit any request you give me, and I can't even do basic Open level tricks. My only saving grace is endurance and the fact I rarely THE tricks. Even with all that, I FUCKING LOVE to play Footbag. Don't require any validation from others, nor have I wanted it(Though props can be nice). In moments of frustration over not being able to hit something, I still often smile about it. The moments of uttering to yourself, "I'm fucking garbage', as you fail at something you find to be a basic component, are frequently met with joy. This is not an absolute, as you can simply be in a rut in life, but for the most part.

All in all, wouldn't listen/read the things I say, as I'm full of nonsense and can have a hard time accurately portraying how I fell. Maybe I'm just a salty wiener cause I don't do Osis. Realistically, Worlds had some of the highest highs, matched with only a few lows. Got to meet and shred with Anssi, which was such a huge deal for me. Getting into the mind of Cod was also great.

Couldn't help but be salty about being ranked 25th in Circles, especially given I finished 4th in 2016.

Wouldn't mind BAP dying/people being voted out. The thing about BAP is you would think it would encourage people to sideline like crazy to flex their stuff, but everyone's level is so fucking massive, that I'm sure it's extremely taxing on the body. And I don't know about you, but breaking one's body to join some culty popular club seems lame. At some point I did try breaking my body to get too good to join said club, and it's a super regretful decision(Please stop asking me to learn Atomics, been there, almost mastered it, and nearly ended my walking career because of it). Partially why I dislike BAP, but also because of the members themselves. Red has talked about making some kind of guideline for entry, so it's a bit more transparent, but no one was into it. Then you have people like Jim, whom summoned a meeting of 2 current shredders, and 5+ old heads whom I personally wouldn't even watch old footage of(quality is a deal breaker), to BAPtize someone without the consent of the 6+ modern BAPsters in attendance. All because, to quote Rippin, "Jim is sick of the entry level of BAP being so high that no one gets in". Footbag is so kooky.

But again, don't mind the things I've written. Just some bunk ass Toe player whom is jealous of all the Clippers and can't help but throw shade. On a serious note, those who say I've mastered the toe game, or I'm a top level Toe player, y'all trippin'. Most non Toe heavy players can do the things I do, and Jakub Worek is like 10 times the Toe player I'll ever be. He's hit Goliath *3, challenged him to Pixie DSO >Bladerunner, he did it both sides, and Sailing ss Illusion >Pixie ss DSO. His Toe Fearless record is like 5.

Pardon all the gibberish, and sorry for wasting your time.
Live, Love, Footbag

Derek Littlefield

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Re: TMNT Have Nothing On This Shredder

Post by Muffinman » 08 Aug 2019 08:32

100% on that first paragraph.
Competing myself is stupid because it limits having fun not only at sideline shred, but even scheduling sightseeing outings! But even just going to an event without competing is so frustrating because competitors want to save their bodies and sometimes only play as warm up for events. I think Worlds 2014 Montreal was my last Worlds, and it was difficult to find anyone playing on most days! Like the gym was empty. There were more freestylers watching net than playing footbag. WTF. Why bother going at all?

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Re: TMNT Have Nothing On This Shredder

Post by boyle » 10 Aug 2019 14:41

Great to see you posting on here. That's exactly the thing here with the footblogs, spew out some stuff and hopefully some it makes sense.

I think you are pretty right on most of the points.

I think something cool would be going to Europe to some of the smaller tournaments - like a Swiss or Austrian champs, whatever. I think it that kind of thing there's more opportunity for everyone to play, compete, party whatever and they are not holding themselves for a particular moment.

I think the idea of BAP in years gone by, let's say when Phil Morrison got inducted, it was the he just shredded all day everyday, at a "BAP level". His results were not great in routines, though he did come 3rd in sick 3. In these recent years it's been such a wild guess as to if anyone would go in, what's the idea to get in and it comes out as much more of a "cool club". I saw something mentioned that were too many great players to go in. If that's the case, put them all in. I don't think anybody would be up in arms if Rafal, Pawel and Mariusz all went in (especially after a few years of blank names being added to it). It's their cool club, but personally I would make somebody go in every year. I think it's certainly not true that nobody is pushing hard enough to get in. It's never been something too much on my radar as I am not one of those people pushing hard enough to go in.

I think it's really impressive how much you've developed on this pixie ducking stuff, and big pixie stuff in general. It may be from a limited set, but you are still making quite a lot of variety out of it, and you're doing longer, denser runs. If you're adding more, then you are probably going to look at tricks that you have a lot less confidence with.

Jakub Worek is really good, though you don't really see too much of him in videos etc. 5 fearless on the toes is massive, I don't know if too many people could do that.

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Re: TMNT Have Nothing On This Shredder

Post by SlashC » 18 Aug 2019 11:56

More and more recently I find myself less excited to goto tournaments. The training required and style of play to do well at competitions or get into BAP is for me a 1-way train to injured/burnt out town. I understand the zombie feeling. Sometimes I like to play that way too. My favorite thing when I play though is to play to music and try to match my movements to the beats/melody/lyrics. Like I'm dancing. I can barely motivate myself to play if there isn't some kind of music playing. I'm perfectly happy to hit outside stalls on the beat and just can't get excited to hit blurry whirls to try and impress people anymore (unless it fits the music really well). I'm not opposed to competing in principle. Like if the rules changed significantly to be more in line with the way I like to play then I might be more inclined, but for now it seems unappealing.

I've also done the thing where I'm injured or don't feel like competing, so I opt out, but then I often get asked to judge which can sometimes be more stressful than competing. I live in the the middle of the prairies and so it takes a really long time for me to travel to the jam and is very expensive. I have limited vacation time, so its hard to justify paying so much to go somewhere where it will be stressful enough that I will need to take a 2nd vacation when I get home to recoup.

Also, in line with what Erik mentioned I also wish there was more time allotted for hanging out or sight seeing. One of my favorite things is actually just to hang out with footbag players. I think I'm at the point where it is as much to hang out as it is to actually play and now that I'm older I can't play an entire weekend anymore, so its great to also fit in some other stuff.

In the last little while I've tended to prefer flying over to where other players live for small jams or for video projects. One of my favorite trips was when Mathieu and I met up to goto Japan and then got to kick with all these new players and hang out with them and TJ. We shot a lot of video while we were there and will hopefully eventually release like a classic multi-video shred session DVD. I would be down to do more stuff like that in the future. Like we all decide on a location we want to visit and meet up there to kick, hangout, and maybe make a little video.
Rory "Tophat" Dawson

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Re: TMNT Have Nothing On This Shredder

Post by boyle » 20 Aug 2019 13:40

Well, Australia is a very nice place to visit...TJ could come across from New Zealand too.

I think the value of Worlds if you're only going to one tournament in the year, is that is where you will find the most people. If you're going to compete, that's the one with the most "value" if you talk to people. You kind of have a rank in the world (even though it doesn't really calculate with how much you are the best player or whatever).

I feel there used to be more time allocated for hangouts. I remember in Berlin there was a walking tour organised one day, and it wasn't like you had to miss out on part of the schedule - it was in the schedule. With the lower player numbers there seems to be less days allocated to the event.

But yeah, I like that idea of going to a destination and just hanging out. It's something I've thought of trying to run some competitions over the years, but maybe a better idea would be to choose a destination, and say - ok we're going to Hawaii, or China, or Thailand, wherever come hang out, this is the recommended place to stay.

That's a very good point on judging. I've always thought I haven't known enough to judge, although that's probably changed now (it's been too many years since I've been to any footbag), but it's true it is a huge pressure situation.

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Re: TMNT Have Nothing On This Shredder

Post by acxel22 » 20 Aug 2019 16:45

I get the competing thing vs playing with people. I did thr save energy to win strategy a couple times and won, and regretted not playing with people!
Now i play my ass off, and whatever happens, then a little salty about my results.. eh. But in the end I have more fun! Played 11am until 6pm saturday then 7:30 pm until 1 am in the morning. I dropped more tricks then I have hit in the second sess but playing with everyone is priceless. Competing is a sideline for me the more I think about it. Lon and me had good talks about this and he says its about being lucky to just be together and play, he gets it!
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Re: TMNT Have Nothing On This Shredder

Post by Derek » 21 Aug 2019 08:29

Erik: It also didn't help that that was one of the more poorly attended Worlds in recent history. To me, seems the general vibe of going to Worlds for a lot is for travel purposes. Also, Finns, Germans, and French peeps are super respectful about net/support their native team. Which I obviously find lame, but to each their own.


Boyle: The hard part about trying to do an European tour is vacation time, cause that means a lot of travel. Not the biggest fan of travel. The saving grace of Worlds is that it's a week long, which is VERY hard to match. BAP topic is such a headache. Purely assumption, but I think some players are slightly salty about their long wait for induction and feel fine excluding others, cause I agree, it's a blatant lie that someone isn't pushing like crazy. Also agree that they should at least do something every year, and the more I think about it, voting people out seems super hype. Realistically, if I continue to play/progress at the rate I've been, I'll definitely achieve a "BAP level" of play in the coming couple years. My age also helps with that. But I'm pretty sure most of the BAPsters at this point know my stance on such things.

Thanks, man. Just trying to have some fun. I'll touch more on this on my actual blog post. Worek was posting pretty consistently for a while, not always to the group, though. He was raised by COD. The Polish feel like they are kinda hated on for no reason, and while I want to believe that it's just in their heads, think there is some truth to it.

Pt.II: Almost all the points you brought up on your second post are things I also want to talk about on my main post.


Rory: Vibe to that a lot, music is a necessity. Can easily make the mundane turn to excitement. As one Toe player to another, the Clipper cult makes it hard to play any way that isn't acceptable in comp. Look at Flash. 1000% on the judging aspect. It's not entirely the hardest, but the pressure to make the right call can be daunting. Mainly feels wrong to me. I'm also the harshest judge... don't ever let me judge intermediates, full points will barely be awarded. Cass says the same thing, she needs a "real" vacation after the stress of Worlds/tournaments. Chillin' is probably what makes/breaks events for me. Would really enjoy if their were more pop-up events like that, but so many people are busy with their lives, that something like that is hard for more than a couple parties. My cousin was teaching English in Vietnam, and now helps run an AirBnB in Bali, and is dead set on trying to host an event there(Cause he knows that'll guarantee my visit). Downfall of that is his location is the most convoluted/annoying to get to. That being said, he's a 7 minute walk from a very secluded beach/beautiful nature preserve. Keep that on your radar.....


Matt: Yeah, not one to save energy. Shred till ya dead. That sounds like a little too much shred, but I count shred time very differently than others. The only reason I'll compete in Circle is cause there is a chance that might be the only time I play with those people. Random, but does no one respect Skyler's wishes of not wanting to be called Lon? SkyLon's opinion on competing is funny, as I couldn't convince him to go to many events that he could have easily gone to(and I can be VERY persuasive if I want to), solely because he did not wish to compete. But hopefully that has actually changed.



Sorry if I failed at responding, not really good at such things, and a lot of topics I already want to talk about.



Deeper

I really need to be working on the review of Anssi's books, but there were some things that I wanted to touch up on. Firstly, if it comes across as negative, it's only partially how I feel, as in all honestly Worlds was so great. Something I didn't like was there was a shitload of comp squeezed from Wednesday to Saturday. I've never heard of Freestyle starting halfway through the week. At first I was hyped, like yo, no comp till Wednesday, let's kick it/shred/party up until then. Most people didn't even show up until Tuesday/Wednesday. Eat a dick, I wanna kick it, and now you've taken away like 4 solid days of such things. Most people also dipped on Sunday morning, which was also salt inducing. The venue was also hot as fuck, I can handle heat like a champ, but when you are trapped in a swamp, that's not something I know. Had to puke(super dehydrated) after Battles cause the night before was little to no sleep, and it started at like noon. Most food places weren't open(especially breakfast places) until 9-10. I'm usually up by like 7:30, fucking HUNGRY. So that was a big adjustment.

Enough with the weenie-ness, though. On to the goodies. Kicked it with Anssi quite a bit, which itself trumps almost all events hands down. then, actually shredding with him tops all, regardless of his current level(his GF is also a superb person). Often explain that Anssi is my Footbag dad, and Brian is my Footbag mom. Brian taught me everything, raised me/did all the hard work, but still hold the ideals of Anssi as Godly(to an extent). Rados was also a big unexpected positive. Feel there are very few people that I see that eye-to-eye with shred-isms. Down to the fucking bone. Just fucking shred, and fuck the rest. KURWA. Shredded with him quite a bit, and he's so fucking good for rarely playing anymore. Though, there was rumors of a resurgence, but that may stay a rumor. The other massive awesomeness I left out was meeting Chinsen, Christopher Schillem. We clicked right away the first time he walked up to hop in the circle. Dude just knows how to be so cool, and his shred also plays into that. Was also the only person whom came up to me and was like, "how the fuck are you ranked 25th for Circle?". Our Battle in comp was slightly uneventful, but our Dance battle at one of the party spots was the pinnacle of quality.

It's so hard for me to pick a favorite Polish shredder. For a while it was unmatched with Mariusz, but after shredding/meeting Damian, he may have snuck in there. It's not often I'm so easily outdone on toes/someone can hit the niche dumb toe combos I wanna see. Obviously, Worek falls into that category, too. But the steez of Damian is so pretty. I also think I shredded with Mariusz the most. Wish one of us was better at the other's language, but regardless of talking, always have such a good time shredding with him. And the words we do exchange always mean so much more. This was the first event I talked a bunch with Filip. Like, damn. He's also an encyclopedia of Polish knowledge. Was glad to be able to help him out as much as I did. Filip is super cool. I didn't get to hang/shred much with the remaining Polish heads. Only played with Pawel a bit, same with Arkadiusz. And I didn't get to play with Rafal, but luckily, got to exchange some words with him here and there. Same with Jakub M. Didn't get to play with Maciej, but he stayed in Toronto a while, and will be making a visit in the future. Rados and Worek were already touched upon.


Quick summary mode for the rest:
All the after parties were hype, but I think the best was just kicking it at the event site food area. Granted, I give little to no fucks about dancing/loud music, just wanna chill. They were serving food/drinks until 3AM almost every night. The makeshift Pass the Pigs arena I came up with was dope, also showed them the ways of never keeping points and trying to throw 100 in one go.

That being said, the Luna Park party night will be something I remember for the rest of my life.

Weed is super illegal there, 1 gram = 1 year in prison. I literally only smelt it in public only once, at a party spot, and I was bloudhounding that -ish at first as it was a few days before we copped. Cass wanted to smoke the last day before their session. Tried to tell her she HAD to ghost it(hold in until there is nothing to exhale, not healthy, but safer), as we were in a very public spot. She took too big a rip and couldn't. Within 5 minutes there were 4 sets of cops, one of which was a K-9 unit, walking around the area. So sketch. Luckily, Christian and I were the only ones to notice.

Pretty sure I played with Kemmer the most, but Mariusz, Andy, and Taishi were pretty close.

It's so weird the amount of compliments I was getting for my game. Especially when certain heads I can remember them bitching about me learning Clipper. I'm not understating when I say I'm pretty sure every Freestyler gave a compliment, and a compliment as genuine as my shred. Much prefer when everyone hated/told me to learn Clipper. Trenner probably gave me the best compliment, which surprisingly, was so nice. Always had an admiration for his game. But, for real, stop supporting me. Don't feel like developing an ego.

Long chats with Ivan.

Seeing the Denmark crew was so hype, wish we coulda chilled more. And that lil' hoe Moosey would have showed his face <3

COD watching me play, and his monster of a baby. Railing Legover for the win.

First night party in Caroline's room with Anssi and the Japanese crew.

Sleezy in top form.

Actually conversing/hanging with Sergio and Paloma.

On the plane, there was some sort of incident that required fully armed guards to rip a child/old man from the plane. Mass sketch. Smelled like some human trafficking, but not the most well versed.

Panic attacks after getting accidentally ditched with people's stuff at the subway at the end of a LONG day.

The random net heads coming up to me saying how much they loved The Bog.

Shredding in the new Quantums for like 40 minutes.

Tuomas is mad friendly.

Taishi is the coolest.

Andy may be my favorite person, ever. Epitome of chill.

Kemmer's MK lessons.

Long chats with Maciej about people's poor taste in bags.

4 square/2 square with Szymon. Very few people I know play such games properly, and take things so serious. His style/etiquette remind me of Bear so much.

Meeting so many new people. Doesn't happen much, especially this point in my career. Feel bad that I can't list all of them, or the impact they left on me.

Incessant shit talkings with Breakdown.

Random dick grabbings of Anton.

Anssi showing his.... to Sleezy.

Hearing Vasek tell Bonslaver, "shouldn't someone call your parents", as he got wasted. Also force feeding Bonslaver heaps of water so he didn't have a poopy time the next day.

Really enjoy all the conversations I've ever had with Genzu.

Probably a shitload I left out, but something I wanted to touch on before transitioning to missing out on USO. I feel like Europeans don't experience the same hardships as US heads, at least the ones I have interacted with. Understand my life hasn't been the typical highlight reel of white folks, but I feel there were some moments I made weird just by being real. And it's hard for me, cause those are times I feel safe being real, and can't help diving into things. But some of the wide eyes I got, and general uncomfortable vibes that were commonly associated with certain topics, I am sorry. Now, not everyone is the same, and I should gauge the room before blurting, but yeah. (I wasn't even being THAT real......... :? )



USO

I love Worlds, cause there are so many Europeans I love. But, I don't get to see them nearly as consistently as the heads of NA. Something I have come to terms with, and one of the reasons I'd choose NA over EU when it comes to events. If I had a choice, would have chosen to only go to USO, mainly cause of cost/travel, but also cause of the people. I know them/they know me so much more. Now, had the opportunity to got to both, only after convincing Cass. But things don't always go as planned. Just finished packing, and was working on wrapping the bags I made for Cass' B-day. Went to stand up, and knew I was fucked. Gratefully, it wasn't the extreme variation, so I could manage if Cass went on without me. When I say I hurt my back, it's just a symptom of my condition. If you go too hard/don't take care of yourself to the utmost, the baby balloon that protrudes inbetween my L3-L4 disc swells up. It's not the end of the world, especially when there was no clear indicating 'pop' that typically comes before such things(if that were the case, I'd be out for a month or 3, this is more like a week or two, though). But it means I'm pretty immobile for about 72 hours. The best way to describe it is a charlie horse in the spine, just a much more extended version. Big bummer. Was too hyped, but can't be in control of everything. Thank you to those who reached out while I was somewhat bed ridden and to everyone who copped a bag(people in the US love my bags, EU not so much. 32 prep weenies). The main downside(outside of missing out on people) is losing out on the $400 for the ticket.

I'll be back soon enough. Back to trying to keep up with Boyle in reppin' Footbag on Insta the hardest. Expect some big things in the future. No promises I'll stick with this, but felt obligated with the Worlds tradition. (Though spewing nonsense can be great for my brain)
Live, Love, Footbag

Derek Littlefield

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Roll Safe!

Post by C-Fan » 21 Aug 2019 08:44

Derek wrote:
21 Aug 2019 08:29
BAP topic is such a headache... the more I think about it, voting people out seems super hype.


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Re: TMNT Have Nothing On This Shredder

Post by boyle » 22 Aug 2019 00:02

I think Instagram is such a perfect platform for sharing those short, sharp videos. The beauty for me is a lot of the time I'm only playing for 10-15mins in my break at work - if I can get a cool clip within that time, that's great. Though I'd like to get some more clips with great backgrounds.

Keep me in the loop if anything goes on in the Asian region. Going to Bali doesn't really hold that much attraction for me, as it full of the same idiots that you can find in Australian beaches, however some kind of event over there would be cool.

On that point of people rocking up midway through the week - would that have meant some people didn't compete in routines or other events so they could get there another day later? Or was it just that they didn't want to do the routines? Because there were only about half as many in routines as in some other events.

I was ranked really low in Circle last time I went to Worlds. Maybe even last in the whole thing. Felt good to win the first pool. Not sure how I would go in the rankings again, probably pretty low because I haven't got any recent history. I think these seedings put too much weight on competitions and not enough weight on the "eye test" and how players are going at the current moment - especially when the competitions are so few and far between.

Great to see you posting on here, keep it up - these last couple of posts have already generated some good thoughts about how some of us feel about playing/competitions etc.

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Re: TMNT Have Nothing On This Shredder

Post by Asmus » 27 Aug 2019 00:46

Thanks for the write-up. Great read. Worlds write-ups are the best and worst when you are not there.

I was reading this and thinking I hope he mentions me and then I thought "Don't be an egomaniac you wasn't there" and then you did. Haha.

Love you bro. Sorry I missed it and you.

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Re: TMNT Have Nothing On This Shredder

Post by Derek » 02 Aug 2020 03:09

Virtual Worlds Write-Up


Timely tradition of the Worlds post, seems this is the 3rd of the page. Not going to be vomiting as many words onto the page, but have a few things to share. This event was pretty hype, and I almost completely passed on doing Shred-Off. Given I typically film my sessions, and play 3-4 times a week, would have been foolish to not try. Some people were also good at gassing me up, to edge me into doing the deed.

Won't post the first round video, as it wasn't anything I really tried for. Will say I was torn between the two runs I posted, and a single 48 contact run. Got seeded with Anton, Landes, and TJ for the quali round. Anton and I have a habit of being in the same circles for comp. Fairly confident in my ability to move on to the next round, but wanted to make moves for the highest seed possible. Knew Landes was in the midst of a multiple state move, so I assumed whatever he posted may be a lite version. Didn't know that he wouldn't scratch if he knew he couldn't do it. Instead, he scratched the day of, so all of my efforts were essentially for nothing. Literally blew my entire load on this round trying to take down a Mantis. He narrowly has been escaping my clutches since NYJ 2019. Other than being salty about that, this is one of the best videos I've ever put out. Normally, not one for ADD hunting, but this event heavily encouraged it, so it was quite the change of pace for me. Went from having up to 20 minutes to warmup(calibrate) down to 5-10 minutes, and jumping straight into the action. The heat was a bit of an issue, especially being in a swamp, but my previous scorching desert lifestyle gave me enough attributes to cope decently well. Only poopy side is the 'professional' description for the Shred-Off category, so I felt obligated to wear a shirt as much as possible. Was often bringing 3 tops to counter all the sweatiness, and even then, would melt right through them all. Overall, mad pleased with Diving Smog B2B. Think it's my 5th 5 >5. Knew something massive was going to be needed, so I spent an entire session trying to hit that. The amount of times I footed the combo was such a tease, lost count after about 20. Pig war >Smog war has become a staple in my game, can pretty much hit it every shred. Symple Alpine Magellan >DSO rpt was 100% for Asmus, as he was a judge, and he had made previous comments on liking Symple stuff, and deep DSO's.



Noticed quite a bit, that a sign made people far more likely to approach and interact with me. Damn, was I not a fan of that. Not, nor will I ever, be a busker. Granted, there were some cute moments of polite children coming up and asking to watch, in which case, pulled up my shorts and shredded them into the ground. There was a run I posted to my Insta that I didn't end up using for Ro16, where I had a crowd, and a little girl clearly says, "is he ever gonna drop?", to which their mother replied, "I don't know, maybe he won't", and then I go on for another 10 contacts to handcatch. Those highs were met with some deep lows. So many times people would blatantly gawk, and proceed to talk about me as if I wasn't there. Some old lady and a couple kids watched me for almost 15 minutes, and wasn't taking the hint I wasn't about it. Ignored what they said, turned up my music, faced away from them on breaks. Had to spark the joint in my backpack to get them to clear out, and they tried to leave me money before dippin'. No thanks. Normally, people rarely go to the bog, but COVID times changed that, and it's now often packed. The amount of times I had to clear out people hanging in the shred spot with a smoke-screen of ganja is actually quite hilarious, and super effective. Man, cannabis being legal, and treated like cigarettes, instead of alcohol, is next level. With the amount I was frequenting the bog, there were a few heads that were recognizing me. Kinda weird. Some kid was so stoked to see me there a few times, each time with a new family member to introduce me to. Luckily for them, heat wave was top tier at this point, so any reason for a breather was welcomed. Anyways, knew that I wouldn't beat Taishi, regardless of what I hit(we don't live in a time where toes beat clipper), but still wanted to not look totally flaccid. The heat wrecked all of my intentions. I'm an early morning shredder, prime session time is 10:30 AM, and by then, it was already 90 out with 80%+ humidity(more if you factor in the bog), without fail. Took the week off of work, and literally played 6 days in a row. Of those 6 days, 5 nabbed me a clip, and only 2 involved Footbag. For 3 days I dabbled with the Alpine Smog >DSO rpt, with the same problem as Diving Smogs, so much footed. Dante ended up hitting me for a shred, as we're both competing, and he's about an hour away. He works at a local YMCA, so he had access to all the training rooms that were closed for cleanings and such. A/C with some false safety, about it. We killed it, such fun times, and a proper way to end the week/event. Ended up cruising out for a Round 2 the following week for his Top 8 entry. Woot.



Surprised with the feedback I got from this, Taishi even messaged me thinking that I may have won. Like I said, knew I wouldn't win, but heads were fanning the flames pretty hard, so there was a spark of hope. Was also a common assumption that I lost cause of the smoke break mid-vid, where I have no idea how that spawned into reality. All in all, dope times. Only things I wished were different is the damn code words. Osis was the only manageable one. Despised the Freestyle Footbag one, as it made it look like busking. Words like 'Dex', 'Shred', 'Clipper' would have been much better, in my eyes. I also think the once a week time frame was a little too tight, especially seeing as some judging results weren't announced till Monday. 10 days would have been spot on. Super fun all around, though. That live-stream was hot fire. Even if that's somewhat standard in other scenes....

Disappointed that Boyle didn't win the director position. Utterly loathe most of the things Arthur wants to do. Shucks.

Shoutout to Rippin', sending me 2 bills for my footbaggery.

Stoked for Kaleta, but slightly peeved they couldn't do it last year. Ya know, IN POLAND. And are they ever gonna get honorable mentions under wraps, feels like repeats happen every year. Still playing a lot, trying to not get caught up in the post worlds slump. Slightly confused about what to do with my game(not taking requests), as everything I've wanted, I can do. Sans, you know, big clipper stuff. These days, my goals are pretty outrageous, but have a feeling that as long as I stay healthy, they may all get achieved. On a health note, I'm beyond on top of taking care of myself these days. Figured out what tricks hurt, and what doesn't, and that's the main reason you see me pigeonhole myself with Pixie's. Fuck you for requesting shizz that'll probably hurt me. Kemmer brought up a point about how Footabggers are too into pushing, and not so into having a good time. Too real. Especially when it comes to others and stuff. Blah.

Goals:
-Alpine Pixie Everything
-20 Unique Tripless
-Alpine Smog war

(20 unique replaced 20 tripless, as I hit 17 during the 2nd shred with Dante)

Currently uploading a video to youtube, so I'll edit it onto the page when it's done.
(Edit)


Know I don't reply a lot, but YouTube loves to hide comments from me.
Live, Love, Footbag

Derek Littlefield

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