Ivan I's Footblog

Keep a diary of what you're hitting, what's frustrating you, and your goals.
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Ivan I's Footblog

Post by isirc10 » 24 Jun 2012 18:56

So before I start my footblog I must thank Nick Polini. I saw him kicking on campus (PSU) one day and thought to myself - damn, that guy is good, I should try that. I was a casual circle kicker before that, but I had a pair of Rod Lavers because I read somewhere on the internets that they were good for toe stalls (which made me look good in the circle). This was back in October 2011. Over the past 6 or so months, I went to two competitions, became hopelessly addicted to footbag, and this coming school year will be rooming in the "shred house" with Nick and Nathan. So you could say that I enjoy this sport immensely.

Anyway, here are the things I have hit so far (I obviously missed a few here) :
toe, clipper, inside stalls
around the world, orbit (reverse atw)
legover, symp legover
pickup
mirage, pdx mirage, symp mirage, ps mirage (strong side only), blur (strong side)
bubba
illusion, pdx illusion, symp illusion
butterfly, infinity
eggbeater
osis
Just last week I nailed double down (strong side) and today I hit Paradon and Barfly (strong side).

Some things that I keep telling myself I will work on this summer - clippers, clippers, clippers! I don't have the strongest or most flexible ankles, so they were a massive pain to learn. Now I need to make them more consistent. Osis and stepping sets fall into the same category. I would also like to get down pixie sets (which I can do fairly well barefoot, but put on a pair of lavers and I fling the bag at the most expensive thing in the room on my first try). Ducking is also something I would like to try, but never get around to it. Oh yeah, and I cannot, for the life of me, hit DLO. Some tricks that I have toe'd but haven't devoted enough time to are toe massacre and blurriest but I think they will come with practice. The thing that I am looking to get out of my summer is to be able to hit all of my tricks with both feet. Anyway, that is my long introductory post. Hello Modified!
Last edited by isirc10 on 29 Mar 2015 17:36, edited 2 times in total.

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Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic » 24 Jun 2012 19:16

Glad to have you aboard homejawn!

Great first post!

You forgot you could hit Stepping Legover and Atomic sets :P

Looking forward to reading more!

I challenge you to post after every session!

See ya in a few months!

Our scene is gonna rip ass!... In an awesome way!
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"Yeah dude it's all mental. Then it's physical" ~Evan Gatesman

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Post by h0ag3yb3atZ » 25 Jun 2012 07:47

good stuff ivan. stoked to follow your progress.
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Post by isirc10 » 26 Jun 2012 19:26

Thanks for the posts guys.
Had a quick skype session with Nick today and was able to hit my first "clean" pixies with lavers on (as I mentioned earlier, I was hitting them fine with bare feet). Also drilled clippers after the call ended, where I topped both my left and right foot consecutive clipper records. I hit 67 on my right side and 31 on my left... so yeah, glaring difference. Guess I will have to keep at it with my left foot a bit longer so it can catch up. After that, I ran my daily mile and uploaded an avatar. Fun.
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Post by isirc10 » 02 Jul 2012 16:51

So, its been about a week since my last post here, so I figured I would write something up. I have a lot of thought running through my head at the moment, so don't expect anything cohesive or organised.
The past week, I haven't really had the chance to have a good long session due to work and probably a pulled muscle somewhere in my left ankle, so I spent the time thinking about footbag and what I wanted to get from it. I also read a lot of footbag related texts - Vasek's manual was among them.
Three days ago, I started reading Jay Boychuk's footblog, and to say that is it inspiring would be an understatement. I mean, as a relatively new footbag player, I have always enjoyed his videos on youtube (especially the slow-mo), but the footblog is 100x better. Then he came to the PSU jam, and I was kinda shell shocked and kept my distance, because he was freaking amazing, even though he didn't play as much there (and I was just a noob who dropped clippers). In the first few pages of his footblog, he wrote "perhaps one day I will be good enough that someone new to footbag will look at this footblog and be inspired..." and I found that those words stuck in my mind. I decided that even if I don't as good as Jay, I will put in as much time and effort into footbag as my schedule allows. Additionally, I remembered something that Nate Pipenberg told me after one of my disappointing sessions drilling osis - "some people are naturally good, others get good by working hard". I guess I will have to get good by working hard.

Anyway, while I was giving my ankle some time to rest, I did quick 5-10 minute sessions every day. I was able to finally hit clipper-ducking-clipper three consecutive times. Yesterday I had a longer session as I was feeling quite good, and hit paradon on my weakside after my fifth attempt. I also footed ducking paradon, but I decided I was not good enough with my ducking so I let that trick go after a few attempts. To close out the session, I stepped out of barfly.

Today I decided that my ankle was fine and played my first long session in a while. The goal was to drill butterflies and some stepping, but that soon devolved into drilling clippers and toe stalls. I got frustrated with myself after about 40 minutes, where I didn't play as well as I would have hoped to, so I ran a mile. Running clear my mind and gets my legs going, so I figured, why not... After my run, I came back and decided I would hit a string or two and then go back to drilling. The first string was nothing great, some mirages and a dropped illusion. The second one was probably the best string I have ever hit (in terms of variety and length).

:arrow: mirage>legover>(rpt)>illusion>legover>(rpt)>far clipper>far legover>ss clipper>far legover>ss clipper>pdx mirage>far clipper>pdx mirage>ss clipper>stepping far legover>ss clipper>stepping far legover> far clipper>blur>symp mirage>ss clipper>bubba>infinity>ohshitmylegsaretootiredtohitbarfly>drop.

Yeah. Water break. Enough fun for me, back to drilling. Its interesting, I can hit left clipper consistently in a string, but when it comes to drilling consecutive ss clippers, my clippers are appalling. I spent the next hour and a half alternating drilling consecutive left clippers and butterflies. butterflies got a bit farther than the clippers did, so I did some stepping out of butterflies. I spent ten minutes on my string side and thirty on my weak side. Hmmm... I wonder where this is headed?

:arrow: ripwalk>ripwalk

I hit ripwalk to ripwalk for the first time in my life. What an awesome trick to end a session on. It has a great rhythm to it (although I am sure mine is nothing compared to Nate's or Nick's...). I plan to kick again tomorrow. My legs are exhausted, but I have not had such a nice feeling about footbag for nearly three months now. Hopefully I can continue putting in time to play this summer so I will be able to look respectable when I play with Nick and Nate at PSU.

Edit: Random thing about frustration when playing footbag. Most of the time, I couldn't really care enough to get really frustrated, but today for some reason, it really got to me to the point where I was tempted to chuck the bag at the ground with every drop. What I found was really helpful in alleviating some of this frustration was stopping the drill I was doing and just doing alternating inside stalls. I suck at them. But they are simple motions that can really help with clippers and coordination, and allow me to regain a bit of confidence before attacking my drill again.
Last edited by isirc10 on 02 Jul 2012 18:34, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic » 02 Jul 2012 18:11

Ivan man, HUGE props on everything. I knew you were gonna kick ass when you started getting insane solid at legovers. Insane highlights. Toggle with that long string's jobs notation a little bit. Like I said, everyone messes it up at first. It's simple to get the hang of though. If you ever have a question about how to write something, let me know.

Keep it up man. Scary to think how awesome the shred house will be this year!

Looking forward to shredding in a few weeks when you come up to move your stuff in. Peace man.
Nick Polini

Footbag is good for the SOLE

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"Yeah dude it's all mental. Then it's physical" ~Evan Gatesman

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Post by isirc10 » 02 Jul 2012 18:24

Thanks for the help with the notation Nick.

Other news for today - my spenco insoles just shipped out, should be here by Thursday.
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Post by isirc10 » 04 Jul 2012 17:06

Sup Modified.

good news - insoles got here 2 days early, so I kicked in them today.
bad news - I kicked today, and it sucked. Kind of.
Before I go about complaining about how bad I played today, I will list the few things that I was actually able to hit, arranged in order of awesomeness:

:arrow: Blur>ss clipper (x3)
:arrow: Blur (weakside)
:arrow: Stepping symposium mirage
:arrow: Stepping ss legover bsos (schmoe?)

So these insoles... they are absolutely maddening. I ordered the size 10-11 ones, as my lavers are size 11. I get them and they don't fit very well, so I trimmed some of the toe foam out and tried them on - better, but the sudden appearance of an arch support made them feel weird. This arch support also kinda messes with my clipper surface, as there is now a bit of a ridge in the fabric where the insole ends. First I tried some clippers with them. Comfy. Then I tried butterfly - strong side it was a bit harder to do them, but I got used to it within 5 minutes. Weakside, I could not hit a single butterfly during my 2 hour session. Guess my weak butterfly wasn't strong enough to be able to adapt to the new surface. Oh well, I will work on it some more. Now you might be thinking - Ivan, all of your highlights include stepping sets? What gives? Honestly, I don't know why, but all of a sudden stepping sets just woke up today.

So why did this session suck? Well, I sweat like crazy, my shirt got really heavy, and my bag got filthy and wet and started rolling like crazy. I also couldn't hit a string with more than 7 contacts. I spent twenty minutes on osis and then just gave up, because I only managed to hit it 3 times. Oh well.

I went and lit up some M88 firecrackers to make myself feel better. It worked. This is why I love America.

Edit: So I was just talking to Nick and I told him about one of the tricks I accidentally landed (right after giving up on osis).
:arrow: Nuclear ss Osis.
I know I won't be able to hit this for at least two more months, but sometimes I just get lucky... btw, this was one of 3 osis that I was able to hit today. This session is just getting better and better... My first two 5-adds without even knowing it!
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Re: Ivan I's Footblog (PSU)

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic » 24 Jul 2012 13:59

C-Fan wrote:
Sick*Nick*Slick*Kick wrote: :arrow: pdx mirages b2b
Pdx mirage starts on clipper and ends on toe. It's therefore impossible to hit them "back to back."

Found this in my blog on page 5 I think :P See? It happens to everyone lol

Post those bags in your blog dude! Also on the stitching forum. They're so sick, people need to see them.. I'm amazed those are just your first 2. They look like my 30th and 32nd :P Can't wait to see your other ideas.
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Re: Ivan I's Footblog (PSU)

Post by isirc10 » 28 Jul 2012 12:09

Oh modified, how I have shunned you for the past few weeks... er. Oh. its been a month now! Wow, this needs to change.

Anyway, things happened.
:arrow: atomsmasher
:arrow: blizzard (both sides)
:arrow: atomic clipper
:arrow: far pickup
:arrow: stepping pickup
:arrow: stepping symposium pickup (both sides)

Let's summarize. I played a lot alone, and then spent a week at PSU with Nick in our apartment because I had to go help with a demo flight for the autopilot I designed this past year, and it was that weekend. I kicked almost every day that week and hit some cool stuff, and also practiced a lot of basics with Nick. He also taught me how to stitch footbags - BAD DECISION. I have been stitching for almost every day this past week and have made my first six bags, each one better than the last. I am *slightly* addicted. Anyway, the weekend of the demonstration, my group forgot to register me in the roster for those making the trip to the coast guard base for the demo, so I got to spend an extra two days kicking with Nick and the rest of the PSU crew, which is getting scary good. Needless to say, that was probably the best thing that could have happened to me, as the wings on the plane that our group used to carry our payload folded 15 minutes into the flight and it plummeted into a forest. It was obliterated. All of it. Except for my autopilot, which continued sending GPS coordinates of the wreck when the search for the plane began. Perhaps I should design the entire airplane next year?

But yeah, footbag. I have been drilling butterflies and pdx stuff recently. Stepping sets are still a bit nervous so I will make a greater effort to sink my clippers more and perhaps gain enough height to try some ducking. Oh, here is the link to the album where I am throwing all of my footbag pictures: http://photobucket.com/i2footbags
Sorry about the horrible organization of this post - I am watching the olympics at the moment... and if you people think footbag players abuse "giving props", look at women's volleyball... they give high fives and group hugs after EVERY POINT, even if they lost. On that note, I terminate this post.
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Re: Ivan I's Footblog (PSU)

Post by Anton » 02 Aug 2012 18:19

Great stuff Ivan! You da man! You're hitting stuff I have been struggling with for years!
You're super lucky to be apart of the psu crew! Glad to hear that you drill the flipside (very important)

Keep up the good work, I'll see you again down the road-you'll be a beast someday \m/ :twisted: \m/
\m/ichigan shreds

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Re: Ivan I's Footblog (PSU)

Post by isirc10 » 10 Aug 2012 08:06

Thanks for the post Anton! It was your style at PSU Jamps that made me start kicking my butt into shape.

Now for the fun stuff... Let me start by saying that I love illusions and legovers. The motion my leg makes is just so joyful and natural that I could do them all day long. I am also a fan of stepping sets. During my camping vacation this past week, I didn't kick much, and I stitched 3 bags - so when Nick messaged me and told me to kick a bit, I decided to try some cool tricks that I had not tried before.

:arrow: blurry eggbeater
:arrow: toe massacre
:arrow: blurry massacre

After that, I stopped kicking and messaged him and he freaked out and called me "weird". Oh well... I might have gone a bit far with my love for illusions and legovers...
In other news, this is what I did the other times I was not kicking, eating, sleeping, or doing other fun stuff: http://youtu.be/yzCbAqTz72A
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Re: Ivan I's Footblog (PSU)

Post by h0ag3yb3atZ » 10 Aug 2012 18:01

damn ivan. good tricks, i look forward till next time we get to shred.
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Re: Ivan I's Footblog (PSU)

Post by isirc10 » 10 Aug 2012 18:58

Thanks Kevin! I was mad I wasn't able to go to Boston with Nick & Co. so I guess I had a bit of a break out session where I said "screw drilling basics, I want to do some stupid stuff". With that said, I was lucky that I held that session on grass (I had been playing on grass all vacation) as I had some impacts that I wouldn't want to repeat on a paved surface.

Today I came back from camping and was tired from the four hour ride, but decided to have a quick session anyway. I drilled the hell out of illusions, mirages and clippers. Then Ryan came over and we drilled butterflies. I managed 150 on both sides, and for once, I felt happy with both sides. IMHO, that was a bigger achievement than hitting my big tricks a few days ago, because I know I probably won't incorporate them in my game for another few months at least. I got the same awesome feeling when I hit a drill that went: butterfly - stall 3 seconds - stepping set out of stall (rpt)

Anyway - I have tomorrow to sleep in, then I am going to Toronto for a week with work, and then I come back and it's back to PSU. This summer went by way too quickly. I hope I got better. I know I am not guiltless yet, and that my strings are too short for my own liking, but there was progress. In a few weeks, I will have been playing for a year, and no matter how far I progressed this year, it was a helluva lot of fun. With that, I say good night to you, O light blue modified.
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Re: Ivan I's Footblog (PSU)

Post by Nathan » 11 Aug 2012 09:23

Nice post. it's cool that you've been playing a year now. Just for fun, I went back and read some of my posts from 2004, to see what I was hitting one year in.

I had just started hitting symp mirages. I could hit ripwalk, but not b2b. I had just learned ducking clipper, and it would be three months until i hit my first 5-add, pheonix. In one post a highlight was 10 tiltless.

So yeah, one year in you're crushing me :lol: Keep up the good work and see ya soon

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Re: Ivan I's Footblog (PSU)

Post by rjadamson » 12 Aug 2012 22:35

Wow, those tricks a couple posts back are really impressive. I've been playing for a year now as well, and I have some big move achievements I'm happy about, but illusions and related concepts have never come naturally to me (and therefore aren't as fun to work on). It's good to see you've been careful about your leg health. Despite the geographic divide I've started talking to Nick a lot because of a certain injury we've both had to deal with. This week will be my first time playing since around the 4th of July.

Anyway, it's cool to see another dedicated player with about the same level of experience and skill. Sometimes it feels overwhelming being surrounded by so many pro footblogs. Though it looks as though you'll be joining those ranks quickly. I'll definitely be reading this!

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Re: Ivan I's Footblog (PSU)

Post by isirc10 » 25 Sep 2012 10:46

Well, college is a lot of fun. And a lot of work. Nobody really tells you about the second part. Right now, between trying to keep my GPA up where I want it and taking an average of 18 credits a semester, I am having the life slowly ground out of me. Trying to be an aerospace engineer isn't fun kids.

I have been kicking once a week for about an hour or two, and have stagnated. I find it incredibly hard to kick after doing five or six hours straight of calculus and physics, so instead I take an hour to stitch, which is not really getting me any better at footbag. Over the past month, I have hit these "new" tricks (mostly patching holes in my game)
:arrow: dlo (from clipper, opp toe, and same toe) bs
:arrow: rake (from far toe) bs
So yeah, I am writing this post under the influence of massive amounts of studying for this calc III midterm, but hopefully this will all wear off by the time I get to East Coasts. YES! I am going to forget all about school for a weekend and enjoy the shred. I can't wait.
:arrow: On the topic of East Coasts, I have made a 92 panel 3-stitch prize bag, and a few other goodies I hope to sell there.
'Later Modified
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Re: Ivan I's Footblog (PSU)

Post by C-Fan » 25 Sep 2012 11:06

Balancing school and footbag can definitely be tough. I sometimes wonder how much better I would have been (maybe none at all) had I gone to easier schools for undergrad and grad school. In some ways its easier to balance work and footbag, since usually once work is over you're truly free and on your own time. So yeah, while that balance can be frustrating, hopefully it pays off with a good job when you're done.

Anyway, mostly just wanted to say I look forward to meeting you this weekend and shredding.

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Re: Ivan I's Footblog (PSU)

Post by isirc10 » 25 Sep 2012 11:22

Same here Ken. And everyone else. I NEED this tournament BADLY!
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Re: Ivan I's Footblog (PSU)

Post by isirc10 » 28 Dec 2012 22:53

Well damn... this whole "post more on Modified" initiative failed on my part... no updates since ECFC? One might think that I got murdered in New York and never came back. Or broke a leg.

Well, nothing that exciting, just me being negligent. After having a great time at ECFC and getting my but kicked in comps (I freaking HATE sucking in circle and then 30 seconds after the comp is over going to a casual circle and hitting every freaking trick in my arsenal) I returned with a bit of a vendetta. After the competition I had a month where I was motivated to do things, and hit some stuff like swirl, a lot of flip stepping, and a lot of butterflies. Then school really kicked in and I got my ass kicked. Seriously. The combination of Calc 3, linear algebra, Statics, Strength of materials under stress (I swear that is the name of that course) and computer programming has a way of taking the life out of you.

And then a week before finals I had another collapsed lung. FUN.

Obviously footbag took a back seat and school continued to kick my ass, although I did have some fun sessions when I found time. Definitely enjoy having Jon Schneider and Mike Toolan joining our club to kick for a few sessions. Also had some two person sessions with Ryan which were good opportunities for drilling. At the moment, I haven't really been going after new tricks, but my flip stepping and butterflies are catching up, and I am putting some effort into atomics and pixies. Also, osis. Yeah, that trick that I can finally hit every now and then. On an unrelated note, stitching is picking up. I have made 2 orders for Dragonfly Footbags and have sold quite a few footbags locally. I am actually becoming content with my current level of stitching, which is nice considering I used to hate my bags so much that I couldn't kick with them, and others always have good things to say about them. Here are my 2 latest bags up for sale (#43 and 44): Image

Alrighty, now to end this highly unstructured post, I would like to go back and say thanks to everyone who has kicked with me, answered my (stupid) questions about footbag and stitching, and put up with me this past year. Big thanks to Bruce Dole and Barret for putting me and Nate up for the night at ECFC. Thanks to Hania, Waylon, Brian Sherrill, Matt Cross, and others who have given me stitching advice. Special thanks to Matt for unselfishly putting my prize bag as the first place award at ECFC, which really meant a lot to me. Lastly, a big thanks to all of the PSU crew - you guys are awesome! Nate and Nick, well, yeah. I don't think I shall thank you for anything just yet, there is still quite some time to enjoy the shredhaus.

With that, I say good night to you Modified, and may the new year bring lots of new tricks and footbags.
Ivan Iakimenko

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