Fanzine

Keep a diary of what you're hitting, what's frustrating you, and your goals.
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Tjuggles
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Re: Dance in the Rain

Post by Tjuggles » 08 Apr 2020 12:51

C-Fan wrote:
07 Apr 2020 08:48
I think that if I'm going to make it through this pandemic, I need to approach every session with this mindset.
I agree Ken, and agree that it is especially important during the pandemic. As I continue to progress in my footbag career I find that a calm mindset, that is, one without anger, has become more and more important for my well-being. Thank goodness that we have footbag eh?

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I hope that its ok not to have a painting. This is Fred Graham's "Tāne and Tupai", made from Kauri and Totara. Tāne is the Māori God of the forests and birds, and Tupai was a high priest who was granted the guardianship of the gods of the heavens (among other things).

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20 Panels Less

Post by C-Fan » 09 Apr 2020 08:22

Tjuggles wrote:
08 Apr 2020 12:51
 As I continue to progress in my footbag career I find that a calm mindset, that is, one without anger, has become more and more important for my well-being. Thank goodness that we have footbag eh?
That's the key right there.  Having a calm footbag session is such a valuable asset for maintaining our mental and physical wellbeing, that it feels doubly wasteful when you lose your cool during a shred.  Like, some people don't even have the chance to relax/exercise/recenter with something like footbag.   If you get frustrated and upset during a session, its like you're wasting an opportunity that some people don't even get.  Of course, keeping and controlling that calm mindset during a shred session is often easier said than done.
C-Fan wrote:
07 Apr 2020 08:48
Even though I found a usable 32 panel I'm thinking maybe I save that bag for after my birthday.  If I use my crappier 12 panel bags in the interim, I should be able to stay in shape and destress
I think this is a good plan.  Yesterday was my first session in ages using a 12 panel and it was definitely a challenging transition.  Going into it I would have thought the main difference would be the size of the bag interfering with dexes.  Instead, I found the biggest difference/challenge was that sets feel a lot less consistent.  With a 32 panel I can usually put the bag anywhere I want, or close enough.  With the 12 panels I often found the bag would set at unexpected heights, or leave my foot at strange angles.  I think that's due to the fact they have so much more surface area.  The other side of the coin though is that the 12 panels are more forgiving on stalls.  That's the main tradeoff I found from switching from 32 panels to 12.  Less consistent sets and slightly harder dexes, but easier stalls.  I anticipate this will impact my trick selection, likely moving me more towards spins and ducks and away from my more normal shuffly style.

Here's video from yesterday.  It was my first session switching from 32 to 12, and I was feeling some time pressure too since I snuck this in during a lunch break:



I hope and anticipate that future sessions with the 12 panel will be easier as I get more used to it.  If I am going to start spinning more with the 12 panels, I think it would be fun to continue exploring those peeking tricks I was doing towards the end of the video. Feel like I don't see those very often.

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Re: Fanzine

Post by Muffinman » 09 Apr 2020 08:24

For vlog topics it would be interesting to hear your thoughts on the Chinese scene. Comparisons to the Japanese scene, why you think some countries don't have a single player (especially those with huge soccer culture), what it would take to get other Asian countries involved... Would love to see more vlogs! Would also be interested in hearing about what the scene was like when you first started, especially since you were so involved and connected to the top players at the time.

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Re: Fanzine

Post by Tjuggles » 09 Apr 2020 14:14

I love the increase of videos you are putting out. I should start recording more again. As mentioned, the biggest issue for me is that as it stands, I can shoot video OR listen to music, but not both at the same time. Don't think that is the best excuse...

Love the peeking mirages. Will try some the next time I shred.
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Re: Fanzine

Post by boyle » 09 Apr 2020 14:53

That's something interesting about the Asian scenes at the potential there. Especially with so many of the other kicking games like takraw, jianzi, chinlone etc. Something I have thought about for a while is to do some kind of Asian competition, with a few different events in the different countries. Obviously not the time to do it right now, but it's something I'd like to look into in the future.

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Q4 suuuuper early impressions

Post by C-Fan » 13 Apr 2020 12:12

Spring snowstorm dumped a good 8 inches of snow overnight. In a weird way I welcome it since it almost makes us feel like we have a good reason to be bunkered down and staying home. It's also a change of scenery, which I do not take for granted. Yesterday marked the one month mark for staying home from the office for me. That also probably means its been close to a month since Griffin has gone to daycare. All told, we're weathering the pandemic well. A big part of that is luck and fortunate circumstances of our life, though I will also credit us for making conscious efforts to be patient with each other and this situation too. Staying positive is super important right now.
Tjuggles wrote:
09 Apr 2020 14:14
I love the increase of videos you are putting out.
Thanks TJ. Again, this is a byproduct of Haley and I prioritizing our mental health during the current situation. For me, the best way to manage my mental stress is by playing footbag. As is often the case in Denver we knew spring snows were coming so I made it a point to take advantage of the good weather that precedes them. I also made it a point to try and control my mental game as much as possible when I did play so I wouldn't waste the opportunities. I really appreciate both the fact that Haley enables me to play and also that I have a partner that understands how important it is to my mental health.
Tjuggles wrote:
09 Apr 2020 14:14
the biggest issue for me is that as it stands, I can shoot video OR listen to music, but not both at the same time. Don't think that is the best excuse...
I get it. I use an iPhone and haven't found a good workaround for it yet myself. Its pretty common for me to use my phone to play music or podcasts while I warm up, then switch to recording video with no tunes. In past years when I needed both functions (i.e. filming routine practice) I had other workarounds but that was so long ago I don't even know where some of that equipment is.

My last session was divided pretty neatly into 3 parts. The first was warmup, where I used the Quantum 4 betas for the first time ever. The second part was my actual session, where I used the G-Units. The third part was my cooldown, where I skateboarded and really tried to focus on improving my ollie. Overall each part of the session went well. Here's video of the G-Unit part of the session, as well as my best ollie:



Just as I had hoped, I felt a bit more comfortable with the 12 panel this session than last. I think even once I start working on my age 40 goals I may continue to use the 12 panel for warmups, or even for the 40 contact goals. Heck, it could probably work for the Shred30 goal in a pinch too. For fearless, quad dexes, and beasts though I will use the 32 panel. I just don't think the 12 panel can give me the precision I need for those. The biggest surprise from this shred session was hitting a badger (symp butterfly swirl) which is a trick I hadn't done in probably over 8 years. Predictably, it feels just as awkward and funny now as it did back in 2012. What a strange trick. The other thing that stood out from my session was that I put in some attempts at flipside whirr. I didn't have any super promising attempts but I'm determined to keep working on it. In general I feel like my whirls are pretty even on both sides, so in theory I should be able to whirr on both sides. Something to keep working on.

On a related note, I also had some decent looks at double spinning clipper-whirr, which has been a dream combo for me since I first saw this Felix video like 12 years ago:


Keen observers may object: "But Ken, Felix never hits that combo in that video! Maybe you were thinking of Four Aces or something?" To which I reply: "Fuck you. I know in my heart he hit that link that day, and after watching that video we can all imagine perfectly what it must have looked like." :lol:

Skateboarding was a nice way to end the session. I still haven't hit a great ollie, but I do think I'm making slight improvements each time. I'm hoping that over the course of time I'll make enough incremental improvements that one day it'll click into place. At least now I'm not falling off the board, and the back wheels are coming up off the ground more than in the past.

My warmup with the Quantum 4s probably deserves an entire post of its own. Here's a real short version:

:arrow: The shoes were as light as I hoped. I haven't played in Q3s in over a decade, but they felt similarly light. There were many times where I overshot my dexes because I wasn't expecting the shoe to be so light.
:arrow: The toes were weirdly worse than I expected. I remember thinking the toes of Q3s were the best of any shoe I played in. The toes of the Q4s felt really different. That said, I only used them during warmup and I was using a floppy 12 panel bag. If you told me I used a 32 panel in my next session and the toes felt great once I was warmed up, I wouldn't be shocked. The more I think about it, I bet this can be chalked up to the bag. My toe game with this bag isn't great even in my g-Units.
:arrow: As expected, the clipper pocket is tighter and less forgiving than the G-Units. I haven't played in Lavers or Quantums in years, so I knew this would be an adjustment. I think it may take me a few dedicated sessions in the Q4s before I can do them justice.
:arrow: The cosmetic touches on the outsteps do not get in the way of dexes the way I feared. I don't want to give away too much, but I was worried some of the flashier cosmetic details of the Q4 (at least this prototype model) might snag the bag or slow movement. They do neither, which is a big relief.

I definitely don't want to draw too many conclusions off of just a 10 minute warmup, especially considering the bag I was using and the fact that I've pretty much played exclusively in G-Units for over a decade. They undeniably have potential, if for nothing else just for how light and fast they play. Even in my brief warmup I hit whirr-ps egg so its not like they're terrible or anything. I do want to spend a few sessions using a 32 panel and just getting used to the clipper spots some more before I either render any judgment or make a video.

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Re: Fanzine

Post by boyle » 14 Apr 2020 04:01

How's the quality of the material feel? Will they last a bit longer than the previous Quantum models or is it fairly similar?

It's really important to keep that exercise going for a bit of refreshment during this weird lockdown time. I probably haven't actually done as much footbag as I would have expected, but I've got out and about to do "something" each day, which has been really helpful.

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Re: Q4 suuuuper early impressions

Post by Muffinman » 16 Apr 2020 20:01

C-Fan wrote:
13 Apr 2020 12:12
Tjuggles wrote:
09 Apr 2020 14:14
the biggest issue for me is that as it stands, I can shoot video OR listen to music, but not both at the same time. Don't think that is the best excuse...
I get it. I use an iPhone and haven't found a good workaround for it yet myself. Its pretty common for me to use my phone to play music or podcasts while I warm up, then switch to recording video with no tunes. In past years when I needed both functions (i.e. filming routine practice) I had other workarounds but that was so long ago I don't even know where some of that equipment is.
My solution to this has always been that I always keep my last iphone, and I use it exclusively as an MP3 player for footbag sessions. That's all that's on it. So my current actual phone I'm using is a iPhone XR, but I still have an iPhone 5-something kicking around (would still have a 7, but it was stolen off of me in Europe last year). Surely you guys have old phones kicking around? Or maybe you recycle them when you get a new one? Anyway, worth holding on to the old one when you upgrade next!
C-Fan wrote:
13 Apr 2020 12:12
Keen observers may object: "But Ken, Felix never hits that combo in that video! Maybe you were thinking of Four Aces or something?" To which I reply: "Fuck you. I know in my heart he hit that link that day, and after watching that video we can all imagine perfectly what it must have looked like." :lol:
:lol:

Great stuff as always, Ken. I'll second that it's great to be seeing so much video from you. Also, good to hear that the Q4s seem promising!

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Whirr is my mind?

Post by C-Fan » 17 Apr 2020 11:15

Hit a couple notable milestone recently.  The first was just over a month ago when I hit 2 years of no booze!  I failed to mention it in the blog because of all the COVID craziness, but I did want to note it because it does feel like an accomplishment.  I've kept it going so now I'm at 25 months, though I don't really have an end goal in mind.  

The other milestone is that I turned 40 yesterday.  Celebrated by going to an NBA game, followed by a fancy dinner at a restaurant, then dancing at a soul club.  OK, so COVID made it impossible to do a big celebration and I had to telework all day, but I still felt it was a good birthday because I spent it with my family.  The one thing I did hope to do was footbag, but unfortunately it snowed all day.  I'm hoping it warms up in the next week though and then I can get started on my age 40 goals.  It would be smart if I spent some time in the evenings to patch up my bags to give me a better shot at achieving those.
boyle wrote:
14 Apr 2020 04:01
How's the quality of the material feel? Will they last a bit longer than the previous Quantum models or is it fairly similar?
Hard to say really.  I only had one pair of the Q3s, and the sole came off one of them within 2 sessions.  So I don't know that I have much of a baseline to compare it to.  The Q4 soles appear to have more tread, but I honestly don't feel qualified to pass judgment on the quality of the materials.
Muffinman wrote:
16 Apr 2020 20:01
My solution to this has always been that I always keep my last iphone, and I use it exclusively as an MP3 player for footbag sessions. Surely you guys have old phones kicking around? Or maybe you recycle them when you get a new one?
That's a great idea.  Unfortunately, all my phones for the past 7 years have been issued through work so I've had to turn in the old ones every time I get a new one. I'm not complaining though, since this also means I haven't paid a phone bill in 7 years either.  Considering my phone is what I use to film and edit footbag footage, I really really can't complain.

For my age 40 goals I'm thinking I will spread my attempts out over several sessions.  This is so I don't get hung up and frustrated on any of them.  Like, rather than spend an entire session chasing a beast or a quad dex, my plan is to have several "normal" sessions where I occasionally pepper in attempts at beasts, quads, 10 fearless etc.   If this works, my hope is that I'll get one or two goals each session.  I can save those in a separate folder until I'm ready to make the age 40 goal video, and in the interim I hopefully have enough other footage from my shreds to make "normal" videos.  We'll see how that goes.  

  

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Age 40 shred

Post by C-Fan » 21 Apr 2020 08:38

:arrow: Good news: I played footbag for the first time since turning 40!
:arrow: Bad news: I had a pretty awful session due to a mix of bad luck and poor preparation.

Typical Denver spring weather lately.  It snowed on my birthday but after 2 days the sun returned, most of the snow disappeared, and it was shorts weather again.  I jumped at the chance to play footbag since I could finally take a crack at my age 40 goals I set so long ago.

Things got off to a bad start when I went to my usual shred spot... and there was a middle aged lady kicking a hacky sack there?!?! I recognized her as somebody who had seen me play there before and commented how she used to play hack back in the 80s.  I was instantly annoyed since I don't have much time or opportunity to play. Even in non-pandemic times I wouldn't have the time to teach a newb with low ceiling potential, but under the current social distancing requirements I wouldn't even be able to if I wanted.  Knowing that, why would you steal my playing spot?  Argh.  I went to a new spot to play at a different park which took a lot of adjusting.  It was flat enough, but there was chalk, dirt, and concrete dust on every bit of the surface.  I also backed into a pillar during one run which really hurt. 
C-Fan wrote:
17 Apr 2020 11:15
 It would be smart if I spent some time in the evenings to patch up my bags to give me a better shot at achieving those.
Yeah, that would have been smart.  Unfortunately I didn't and that ended up frustrating my session even more than being forced to play in a new venue.  I ended up using 4 bags over the course of the session.  I warmed up with one of my 12 panels and was surprised when it started bleeding badly within a few minutes.  I switched to the 32 panel I hoped to use all session, and then a single panel just blew out entirely.  I switched to a second 32 which lasted a good 15 minutes (most of my good runs came with it) before it also blew out.  The fourth bag I used had a single hole in it and it spat beads consistently for the rest of the session.  That was distracting and annoying but at least it was usable.  The other 3 bags were bleeding too badly to use at all.  

The combination of unreliable bags and a new location really frustrated me mentally.  Its a minor miracle I hit enough stuff to make a video at all. 

    

 
C-Fan wrote:
17 Apr 2020 11:15
  
For my age 40 goals I'm thinking I will spread my attempts out over several sessions.  This is so I don't get hung up and frustrated on any of them.   If this works, my hope is that I'll get one or two goals each session.     
I still like this plan and I think it would have worked well if I had a single usable bag at my disposal.  I'm going to do my best to do this strategy over the next few sessions.

While its unfortunate I had a bad session at least I got some sun and exercise.  I also recognize that the things that contributed to it being a bad session (bleeding bags, normal spot taken) are not permanent and I can take steps to address them.  I've already patched up 3 of my 32 panels, so hopefully between the 3 of them I can get through a session without going crazy.  It also seems unlikely that my spot will be taken every time I play.  I also take comfort in the fact that my body felt good during the session.  My equipment and location held me back but not my stamina or springiness.  If you told me the weather is nice tomorrow and I got to play in my usual spot with my repaired bags, I'd feel good about my chances of having a solid session.

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Shred 30 practice

Post by C-Fan » 24 Apr 2020 07:11

Got in a shred a couple days ago.  It was perfect weather leading into the shred but then a cold wind picked up during my warmup and it also blew clouds over the sun.  Of course, weather went back to perfection AFTER I was done which is par for the course for Denver spring footbag sessions.  I also had to take a work call in the middle of the session, which functionally ended the session since I was too cold when it was done.  While it was pretty bad sessions conditions I guess it was better than nothing?  Feel like I'm due for a good session soon.

On the shred side I was happy to see my patched bags held up pretty well.  My primary one re-sprung a leak, but only at the very end of the session.  What little time I did have to play I spent on my Age 40 goals.  I had a bunch of close looks at beasts but didn't manage to seal any.  Quads looked promising but not a lot of traction there.  I am feeling encouraged though by my shred30 attempts.  I've had a few where I'm in the mid-20s for contacts with a good add ratio and mostly uniques.  

 

The last run in that video starts with 26 uniques and an add ratio of 4.  If I had handcaught after the 26th contact and just stood in place for the remaining 5 seconds of the timer, that would have scored 210. If I had hit the pdx torque and then waited out the remaining time, that would have scored 220.  If I had just done non-unique 3s and 4s for the remaining 5 seconds of the run I'm in the 240 range.  While my original Age 40 goal for Shred30 was 200 points, I think 250 is a better goal and not unrealistic at all.

I'm hoping the weather is good this weekend and I can get in a better session.  At least work won't interrupt things and I really think its just a matter of time and luck for me to pick up a few of the Age 40 goals.  It'll be nice when I start getting enough clips that I can put them in a folder and start editing them.  Just need to stay positive and not get discouraged.
 

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Re: Fanzine

Post by Muffinman » 24 Apr 2020 14:49

Great to see you so active.
I know you dropped from FB mentioning that the Footbag group was the main reason you’d stayed for a while. Looks like the Footbag Discord is really blowing up! So now you can come join major footbag discussion again without having to be on FB ☺️

https://discord.gg/kRyw4d

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Re: Fanzine

Post by Tjuggles » 25 Apr 2020 00:54

Muffinman wrote:
24 Apr 2020 14:49
Great to see you so active.
I know you dropped from FB mentioning that the Footbag group was the main reason you’d stayed for a while. Looks like the Footbag Discord is really blowing up! So now you can come join major footbag discussion again without having to be on FB ☺️

https://discord.gg/kRyw4d
THANKS for this! I (re)joined discord. Finally, footbaggers.
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Re: Fanzine

Post by Tjuggles » 25 Apr 2020 01:40

Tjuggles wrote:
09 Apr 2020 14:14

Love the peeking mirages. Will try some the next time I shred.
Can't remember if it was actually 'next' time, but I managed one side. I think my heel hit the ground, but I was happy with it for now. :)

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Re: Fanzine

Post by boyle » 25 Apr 2020 03:28

It's interesting in shred 30 that once you get to that point with a good run, you are better off just standing still and not dropping down your ratio with non-unique tricks. I don't think I've ever seen anyone do that in competition though.

Looks like you've got 200 easy, so 250 is a pretty good goal, although maybe 240 would be more in keeping with the 40 age goals. Looks like you've been pretty active lately, which is great.

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Peeking & Shred 30 thoughts

Post by C-Fan » 27 Apr 2020 18:45

TJ: Nice work on the peeking mirage!  It was notable to me how low your set was compared to mine.  I've found that peeking tricks are very similar to gyro tricks, in that set height doesn't matter too much if you're doing something like osis/mirage/butterfly.  But for harder downtime components like dlo/drifter/torque, you CAN'T do them unless your spin set height is low.  So while I find it easier to do peeking mirage with a high set, for things like peeking dlo your lower set height is an asset.
Muffinman wrote:
24 Apr 2020 14:49
Looks like the Footbag Discord is really blowing up! So now you can come join major footbag discussion again without having to be on FB
Interesting.  I know in the past I've been invited to use discord for gaming, and I avoided it because I was worried about security flaws in the program (specifically the possibility of getting malware through RATs).  Maybe its worth taking another look at it to see if they've patched those out.
boyle wrote:
25 Apr 2020 03:28

It's interesting in shred 30 that once you get to that point with a good run, you are better off just standing still and not dropping down your ratio with non-unique tricks.
Yeah, it's possible but it's definitely pretty rare.  95% of the time if you're down to the last few seconds of a Shred30 and you are out of energy/ideas, you're best off by just bailing to BOPs and hoping some are unique.  While they may hurt your add ratio, they do also add to your raw add total so that tends to still be a net gain.  One nice bonus to aiming for a Shred30 that's all uniques is that it makes the calculation super easy.  A completely unique Shred30 can be calculated by just adding up all the adds, and then doubling that number for the score.  So if you did 30 unique four add tricks, your score would be 30 x 4 x 2 = 240 points.
boyle wrote:
25 Apr 2020 03:28
Looks like you've got 200 easy, so 250 is a pretty good goal, although maybe 240 would be more in keeping with the 40 age goals.
Oh man it completely depends on the day.  If I have a day where flip pixie or flip stepping is slightly off, forget about it.  Overall though they haven't felt bad.  Just like a real Shred30, the key is usually the last 5 seconds where I'm either physically tired or mentally scrambled, and a drop often happens.  Drops are poison in Shred30 from a score perspective but I also want to avoid them for video aesthetics too.  When I eventually make a video of my Age 40 goals, I want the Shred30 to be a 30 second clip somewhere in the video where I'm not bailing, chasing, or dropping.  Ideally it'll be 31-32 well executed tricks ending in a handcatch, and then flashing a score in the 250 range at the end.  I still haven't made it dropless through 30 seconds yet but I'm optimistic I will.  

My last couple sessions there's been an annoying, pervasive wind.  Shredwise its discouraged me from going for long strings since random gusts are likely to screw me up.  I've been chasing quad dexes instead since it seems less likely a wind gust will screw me up for those.  Beyond the impact the wind has had on my shred, its really played havoc with my filming.  A few knockdowns of my camera, but a lot more annoying are the times it just slightly moves it and messes with my framing.  I've had to reshoot a bunch of clips because of that.  While that's been annoying, it has felt reassuring that my legs are still fast enough to hit tricks I've never seen any other 40 year olds do.

  

Weather is supposed to be nice this week so hopefully I can get in at least 2 sessions.  I really want to focus on just playing for exercise and fun, and not spend more than 20% of a session on the Age40 goals.  Knowing myself though I know that's easier said than done.  If you told me my next few sessions those percentages got flipped I wouldn't be surprised at all.

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Re: Fanzine

Post by boyle » 30 Apr 2020 12:52

I find void really hard, barely ever hit it. I haven't seen you do nuclear sets so often I don't think, saw a little bit of that in there.

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That's not nuclear, Dan

Post by C-Fan » 01 May 2020 12:49

boyle wrote:
30 Apr 2020 12:52
I find void really hard, barely ever hit it.
 

Same here, on both counts.
boyle wrote:
30 Apr 2020 12:52
  
 I haven't seen you do nuclear sets so often I don't think, saw a little bit of that in there.
Actually no; that was in fact a prairie dog.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prairie_dog

Had another session a couple days ago.  I didn't hit any of my Age 40 goals but I nonetheless felt like I was making encouraging progress towards them.  I had a Shred30 attempt that started with 25 unique tricks and a 4 add ratio.  I also made a few minor tweaks to the order of tricks which I think will make the overall combo a tad easier.   I also felt a bit better with my fearless.  That goal is a bit farther away than the Shred30 one, but I'm slowly feeling a bit more comfortable with some of the links and energy management.  So even though I didn't come out of the session with any usable clips for my Age40 goals, I feel like I put myself in better position to achieve at least one of them in the next couple sessions.

  

Some good updates on the equipment front for me.  While I'm still making do with patched up old bags, I've patched up enough of them that now I can make it through a session and not worry about running out of usable bags.  I also have a ray of hope on the horizon, as Ivan has made me 2 new bags and sent me photos of them.  Apparently shipping is still crazy expensive from Germany due to the pandemic, but hopefully those prices go back towards normal soon and in a month or two I'll have 2 brand new Ivan bags.  Can't express how excited I am for that.

The other good equipment news, is that I found G-Units in my size on eBay and snapped them up.  The last 2 times I used eBay to hunt for G-Units, it was a super long process that dragged out over several months before I found anything in my size.  I was therefore extremely surprised when I found a pair on the very first day I searched.  Literally the first search I did on the first day of looking, a black pair of 7.5s showed up.  They are used, but the photos look like they're in very good condition, and they were under $50 including shipping.  They should arrive in the next couple days, so fingers crossed they are shreddable.  

https://www.ebay.com/itm/362966419523  

One final positive milestone of note.  I think I played 8 or 9 times in the month of April, which is easily the most footbag I've done in a month in close to 3 years.  I'm pretty sure the last time I was playing anything close to this amount was in the leadup to Worlds 2017.  My sessions definitely varied in quality throughout this month, but I'm proud just of the fact I played that much in a month.  I try and remind myself that even if I come out of a session with no highlights or good clips, its still good for me mentally and physically that I played.

boyle
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Re: Fanzine

Post by boyle » 03 May 2020 03:14

That's awesome that you've been playing so much lately. Have you done any video kicks with anybody? I've been kicking with Dyalan each week the last couple of weeks and had a kick with Rory Dawson yesterday. I was saying to Dyalan he's probably kicked more this month than in the last few years.

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Rekordy Polski
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New Units!

Post by C-Fan » 06 May 2020 11:21

boyle wrote:
03 May 2020 03:14
 Have you done any video kicks with anybody? I've been kicking with Dyalan each week the last couple of weeks and had a kick with Rory Dawson yesterday.
I haven't, but I also haven't really looked into it.  How are you doing yours?  Facetime?  Is there a way to record them?  Do you drag a laptop out with you or just use your phone?  If there's an easy way to record Facetime, I wonder if I could revive my old podcast series...

My past few sessions have been a bit frustrating and not very productive for my Age 40 goals.  I think some of that is stress from work and life leaking into my sessions, but I also think fixating on the Age 40 goals has not been helping.  On one hand I feel like I just need one strong session to get me back on track, while on the other hand I feel like it could be smart and productive for me to "take off" the next couple sessions and intentionally avoid any attempts at Age 40 goals.We'll see how I feel the next time I play.

  

I've been happy to see all these online competitions popping up lately.  I'd like to participate in them just to up the turnout.  Maybe that could be a good way to take a pause on the Age 40 goals?  The consec kicks in 1 minute seems like it could be a good warmup though I bet its a lot harder than I think.

In very good footbag news, my eBay g-units arrived yesterday.  Our mail protocol since the pandemic started is to transfer packages to the garage for a day or two before we open them.  It felt like my g-units were Schrodinger's Cat, where they were both in perfect condition and also completely beat up simultaneously, and that they'd only become either of them once I opened the package up.  I finally did this morning and was thrilled to find they are perfect.  They're the right size and they appear to be in even better shape than the photos on eBay led me to believe.  The seller had listed their condition as "good to very good" which seems modest to me as they really appear in excellent shape.  The tread on the bottoms doesn't look worn hardly at all, and there's pretty much no scuffs anywhere.  Of course, who knows how they'll react once I take the knife to them, but at least there's no apparent flaws to them right out the box.  I'm hoping though this buys me another year or two of playing before I need to relearn the Quantum 4 insteps.

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