Fanzine

Keep a diary of what you're hitting, what's frustrating you, and your goals.
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Muffinman
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Re: Fanzine

Post by Muffinman » 03 Jun 2020 12:22

I have no interested in participating in competition or watching most of it, but reading your thoughts on strategy is pretty interesting! I'm curious how much thought less-seasoned competitors put into these same calculations

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Re: Fanzine

Post by Tjuggles » 04 Jun 2020 16:41

I wonder if Ken puts in more thought than others. I guess it is difficult to know though since others could be planning in different ways, e.g., not writing their thoughts out on Modified. I think newer players especially would benefit from seeing this process though as it can gives them ideas.
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No TPP! Erik!

Post by C-Fan » 05 Jun 2020 20:12

What a tease!  I saw Erik got top post in my blog so I was super excited to see what awesome art he'd post, and wondered if it would be somebody I knew.  But nothing!  Erik!  Rectify this!

As for the topic of competition strategy, I think the 3 key things to consider are: quantity, quality, and results.  Let me elaborate.

1. Quantity.  Competitors can put in a ton of thought on strategy or very little.  You can obviously do too little strategy and have that bite you in the butt (e.g. miss a deadline, don't follow the rules and get DQed, etc.).  You can also sometimes overthink things.  You can ask a lot of questions but if they're not the right questions then it doesn't do you much good.  I write my thoughts out because it helps me process things.  I wouldn't be shocked if a great player like Vasek doesn't think at all about strategy because he's so good it does not matter for him.
2. Quality.  For competition strategy, more seasoned players often have more nuanced insight since they can draw on their past competitive experiences.  This year is a little different since the format is different, but I'd argue even here a seasoned competitor will have more insight on things like what judges have rewarded in the past.  If a competitor spends relatively little time thinking about their strategy, but their analysis is of good quality, they're probably better off than a new player who spends a ton of time on strategy but doesn't have the same quality of insight.
3. Results.  Talking strategy is interesting, but if at the end of the day it doesn't yield good results in comp...then who cares?  That may be a bit harsh, as other factors can impact results even if your strategy is rock solid.  But I always caution myself and others to look at results when considering the value of advice.  If somebody is giving you tips on how to hit nemesis but they've never hit it, then maybe take their advice with a grain of salt.

Anyway, I'll continue posting my goals and strategies here with the hope that it keeps me on the right track for Worlds submissions.  If it helps others that's great, but I also completely understand and respect if people disagree with my analysis and have different strategies they pursue.

Quick update on my 2020 goal of playing more.  When 2019 ended, I reflected that I was happy I played much more than in 2018.  2018 was like a hangover year from 2017 Worlds and probably the least I had played over the course of a year since I started back in the 90s.  2019 felt like a bit of a bounce-back and I wanted to keep that trend going in 2020.

In mid-January I wrote: 
C-Fan wrote:
20 Dec 2019 10:31

In 2019 I averaged just over 2 shreds a month, and I'd really like to push that to 3 in 2020.
Now that May is over, we're over 40% done with 2020 and I'm well on pace to exceed that goal.  I've published 20 videos on YT so far which averages to about 4 shreds a month.  In reality I'm a bit over that, since I had a few sessions where I was chasing either Age 40 or Worlds goals and therefore didn't release footage.  I'm obviously hoping to maintain the frequency of my sessions at least through Worlds.  Even if I revert towards the mean in the fall, I'm hoping to still average out to close to 4 shreds a month.  

Looking at the Worlds schedule (https://footbag.online/player-info/schedule/)the first real deadlines are coming into view.  We're just about a month away from the deadlines for Shred Off seeding (no cuts, so doesn't matter), Sick 3 qualifiers, and Routine qualifications.  As I mentioned in my last post I'm set for the first two already but I need to get serious about routines.  I found my old speakers I used to practice with back in the day, but I haven't been able to find my iPod.  If I can't find a music player before my next session, I'll probably use my phone to play music and practice without filming.  Obviously that's not ideal since you learn so much from watching your choreo on video.  That said, I don't feel comfortable putting off routine runthroughs any longer.  If I have to practice routines without filming I will focus more on the stamina aspect than choreo, and use those sessions as training myself back into the "2 minutes, no drops, ration your energy" mindset I need to do a good routine.

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Re: Fanzine

Post by acxel22 » 06 Jun 2020 06:34

for the music I don't even use speakers anymore, I put my phone next to my camera and put the music on phone speaker, it's loud enough and since it's next to the camera it's all good.

Also for finals we will probably ask players to send us their music file + their routine so we can make it perfect sound
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No routine progress and clock is ticking...

Post by C-Fan » 08 Jun 2020 21:22

acxel22 wrote:
06 Jun 2020 06:34
for finals we will probably ask players to send us their music file + their routine so we can make it perfect sound
Makes sense. I'm also assuming for the final edits of most rounds it'd also be easy for the organizers to cut out the password at the end, so it doesn't get repetitive and weird fast.

Feel like I've backslid a bit in terms of Worlds preparation lately.  Thankfully not due to anything serious like injury or equipment so I'm optimistic I can get back on track.  I just need to carve out the time to get back on the rails and hope the weather cooperates a little. Work has also been really tough which makes for less time and more stress, which isn't helping either.

My last real session was 8 days ago.  That was my first session in my repaired Units, and thankfully it was a good one.  I banked a 240 pt Shred30 and improved my ShredOff footage.  I still hadn't prepped or practiced a routine yet but I had 34 days until the first submission was due so I felt good.  8 days later I still don't have a setup for music and I've used up about 24% of that 34 day cushion with little to show for it.  To my credit, I have been actively looking for my old iPod and also studying potential routine songs but I really would have hoped to be further along in the process by now.  If I can't find an MP3 player by my next session, I think my best bet is to at least practice routines by playing music off my phone even if that means I can't simultaneously film.

I mentioned the weather has been an issue lately.  Over the past week it's been pretty consistently hot and windy.  I'd say 3 of those days the wind was so bad I didn't even consider playing outside.  Apparently Denver experienced its first ever Derecho wind event https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derecho.  On the least windy day I did go out to try and play.  Unfortunately the wind picked up shortly after I got to my spot, to the point that I decided not to practice routines or shred off since I knew it would drive me crazy.  I considered abandoning the session entirely when I remembered I had my Q4 prototypes in the back of my car.  I figured the gusting winds were less likely to screw up a single trick as opposed to a 2 minute routine so I spent the session chasing quad dexes in the Qs.  While it was probably dumb to spend a session doing stuff that doesn't help me for worlds (e.g. didn't build stamina, won't use these tricks in events, I'm not even using these shoes for Worlds, etc.) at least it was fun.  I could easily imagine a scenario where I tried to practice routines in the gusting winds and it being much worse for me mentally.  

Anyway, I was happy to hit a couple quad dex tricks in the Qs.  Mostly I'm just glad that I didn't get frustrated due to the weather and I didn't injure myself. It did take some adjustment getting used to the different shoes, mostly due to the weight and the insteps.  The insteps feel very similar to lavers and the old quantums, but for me that's a big adjustment since I've played in G-Units for 15 years now.  I mostly only notice the difference on osis tricks like torques and blenders, but its significant enough that I won't risk playing in them for Worlds events.  The other big adjustment is the insanely light weight.  I was chasing quad dexes to take advantage of this, but initially I actually found myself overshooting dexes because of it.  I guess that's a good problem to have.  

  

While it was fun to hit those tricks and mess around in the new shoes, I'm going to put them away until Worlds is over.  I really need to get back on track with training generally, and routines specifically.  Hopefully I hit on a music solution soon and can start banking routine runthroughs soon.

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Re: No routine progress and clock is ticking...

Post by Tjuggles » 09 Jun 2020 14:25

C-Fan wrote:
08 Jun 2020 21:22
I just need to carve out the time to get back on the rails
Glad to know I'm not the only one. It is hard to consistently find the time to prep this year. That being said, we only had something like 2-month's notice for World's being held online. For those of us who didn't plan on attending in person, that is not a lot of time to get prepared.

Nice work on the quads. I have hit only one so far; pixie paradon swirl.
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Re: Fanzine

Post by cammel » 11 Jun 2020 11:01

Glad to hear that the shoe repairs held up for the first session! Its a little disappointing to see that there isn't a reliable footbag-specific shoe available and we still just have to monitor Ebay constantly to try and find equipment. I was hoping the quantums would be a more permanent solution to that.

I was trying to look up what the current status is with the quantums, I found some social media posts about the Q4 prototypes from over a year ago, but can't see to see anything official about them being released? Any idea what happened with them?

Nice quad dexes. Absolutely love clown face.

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Re: Fanzine

Post by boyle » 11 Jun 2020 14:41

Looks like you've adjusted well to the Quantums if you're hitting quad dexes in them! That is not something I've been able to do so far.

I think you have to look on the positive of how much you have already done so far, but it's hard to focus on that when the time just vanishes away very quickly.

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Music to my ears!

Post by C-Fan » 12 Jun 2020 11:50

Thanks for the comments guys!  The quads were fun, but yeah:
C-Fan wrote:
08 Jun 2020 21:22
I really need to get back on track with training generally, and routines specifically. 
Thankfully I got a bit back on track last night.  I'm not proud of the fact that I went 11 days between real sessions especially with so little time left before first round routines are due.  That said, I am proud that I pushed myself to play last night to break the streak.  It was a stressful week at work, I had a job interview on the phone earlier that day, and I felt physically and mentally drained by the time the kid went down to sleep.  I was super tempted to just melt into the couch but when I looked out the window it was still blue skies at 7 pm.  I pushed myself to play, and I'm glad I did.  It's always a bit risky to play when tired, as that's usually when I'm most prone to injury.  Thankfully I didn't push too hard, I cleared my head of some stress, and I got a bit of exercise as well.  I think it helped that it was close to sundown, as it was nice and cool.  I didn't work on anything specifically for Worlds (i.e. no routine practice, no Shred30 attempts, etc.) but I did feel like I kicked a little rust off.  My hope is that my next session will be productive due in part to this tune-up session.

 

On a related note, I have a lot more optimism on the routines front.  Haley found my old ipod a couple days ago, which I hadn't used since 2017 Worlds.  Unfortunately I couldn't find a charger cable for it so we had to buy a new one online.  It arrived today, and I am thrilled to report it works!  I feel like now there's nothing standing in the way of me getting a good routine booked.  Such a relief.
cammel wrote:
11 Jun 2020 11:01
Glad to hear that the shoe repairs held up for the first session!
Oh man, me too.  I now have 2 sessions under my belt with the repaired shoes and so far so good.  Honestly, even if I only get like 3-4 sessions out of it I will have viewed it as worth the repair cost.  Hell, if any one session yields me a usable video clip for Worlds then that alone justifies the repair cost.  I also feel more confident knowing that even if the current pair breaks again, at least now I have backup pairs I can use in a pinch.

On a related note, I recently found my old Quantum 3s in a shoe box.  I only played in them like 3 sessions total before the sole came unglued and I basically gave up on them.  Now that I know a shoe repairman who did good work on my G-Units I'm thinking I may take the Q3s to him in the future and get them repaired.  That'll probably be well after Worlds but is still an intriguing thought nonetheless.

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Re: Music to my ears!

Post by Tjuggles » 12 Jun 2020 14:33

C-Fan wrote:
12 Jun 2020 11:50
It was a stressful week at work, I had a job interview on the phone earlier that day, and I felt physically and mentally drained by the time the kid went down to sleep. 
I feel like a semi-common theme in these posts over the last x years has been about jobs, notably job interviews. Those are stressful for sure. Not sure about how stable your jobs have been, but in my case I apply for jobs because the ones I have aren't permanent. That being said, my current role is permanent but I am still looking around just to see what else is out there.
C-Fan wrote:
12 Jun 2020 11:50
I was super tempted to just melt into the couch but when I looked out the window it was still blue skies at 7 pm.  I pushed myself to play, and I'm glad I did.
I feel glad to have kicked more than 99% of the time when I am in that same position. I think the 1% when I am not glad is when I either hurt myself (as a result of being tired going into the session, as you mentioned), or when I am ill (but even then I am often glad I kicked).
C-Fan wrote:
12 Jun 2020 11:50
Thankfully I didn't push too hard, I cleared my head of some stress, and I got a bit of exercise as well.  I think it helped that it was close to sundown, as it was nice and cool.  I didn't work on anything specifically for Worlds (i.e. no routine practice, no Shred30 attempts, etc.) but I did feel like I kicked a little rust off.  My hope is that my next session will be productive due in part to this tune-up session.
I feel that for sure. It is slightly worrying knowing how close deadlines are, but after a no-kick streak sometimes it is just better to brush off the old adds, enjoy the shred, and just have a good time. Looks like you managed all of those based on the video.

Also, great to hear you have a music player now!
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Re: Fanzine

Post by acxel22 » 15 Jun 2020 08:44

how is your doubles routine entry going?

I was curious why you are registered in this event and never mention it :D
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Routine Practice

Post by C-Fan » 15 Jun 2020 12:20

acxel22 wrote:
15 Jun 2020 08:44
how is your doubles routine entry going?
:lol:

I have a couple cute ideas for it, but I'm still so behind in my singles routines prep that it's obviously a much lower priority right now.
Very proud to report that on Saturday I finally got in my first routine practice of the season!  I was pleasantly surprised with how the actual runthroughs went, but even if they had been a disaster I still would have felt happy I got to do routines.  After all the shoe failures, leaky bags, missing ipods, bad weather,etc. it felt like such a massive win just to be out there with music and a chance to film entries.  

Gonna break down my session thoughts across various categories.

Shoes: I used the same pair of repaired shoes I used in my past 2 sessions and they held up fine.  While I find routines to be more difficult than Shred30, Sick 3, or Shred Off, from my shoe's perspective routines are probably the least stress and impact.  The other events tend to have a lot more trick density and higher impact tricks, which put a lot more stress on the shoe itself.  Still, I don't take it for granted that the repair has held up for 3 sessions and counting now.

Music setup: The new cable enabled me to charge the ipod and so far it's working great.  Given that it's 11 years old and went 3 years without being used or charged that's a minor miracle.  My speakers are also working fine.  It's not as loud as I'd like, but it's enough for me to hear the cues and for the camera to pick up.  That's all I need for a submission.  I am still experimenting with where to place the ipod.  If I have the speakers right by the camera (iphone) the sound picks up better on video but it also means I need to start my song and then dash to my playing spot to get in frame.  I'm hoping I can find a set up where I can place my music somewhere the camera audio still picks it up, but closer to me so I'm less out of place at the start of my song.

Stamina: As expected, practicing routines is still brutal for me stamina wise.  Drawing from past years' experience, at least I was mentally prepared for this first routine practice of the season to be the hardest.  That helped me control my frustration.  One of my main goals of the session was to get through at least two full routines regardless of how many drops I got.  Like, a 12 drop routine that went the full 2 minutes would be a bigger win than doing several 1 minute dropless segments.  Similarly, a 2 minute runthrough full of bails and rest pauses would be preferable to a 1 minute segment where I hit all tricks and cues.  I just wanted to force myself to push through the full 2 minutes a few times, since there's no shortcuts around doing this to get you prepared.  I'm pleased to report I did end up getting 2 full two minute runthroughs all the way complete.  The intense heat during the session made it especially grueling, so I was doubly proud of this feat.

Discipline: In past years, it's always been tempting to only spend part of a session on routines and then do fun stuff with the remainder of the time.  With the clock ticking for submissions, I don't have this luxury.  I'm happy to report that at least for this session, I spent the whole time JUST on routines.  If I can stay disciplined for a few more weeks, hopefully it will pay off in subtle but meaningful ways.  One negative side effect of being disciplined during routine practice: no new footage for YT videos.  

Safety submission: One of my secondary goals of the session was to film one runthrough that went the full time and was decent enough that I could "bank" it as a safety submission.  Obviously I wasn't expecting to hit a perfect submission on my first day, but I was also aware that I went into the session with no usable submissions.  If I got injured or sick and was unable to play or film for a month I'd have nothing to submit for routines.  Happily, I did manage to bank a safety routine. It was even dropless, albeit with low difficulty and some awkward rest pauses throughout.  I fully expect I'll get a much better submission taped before the first deadline but at least now I have something I can submit in a pinch.

So overall I was very pleased with the session.  Don't get me wrong; I still have a lot of work to do.  First round submissions are due in 19 days and I still haven't even decided on a song to use.  That said, I feel a hell of a lot better than I did 2 weeks ago when I didn't have usable shoes or a music set up.  I'm hoping I can get 4-6 sessions in over the next 19 days.  Even if I don't get usable routine submissions at each session, if I keep improving my stamina and consistency with routine tricks (e.g. juggling, uns surfaces, freezing tricks on cue, etc.) I should have something decent to submit on July 4.  Just as importantly, it will also hopefully give me a stronger base for putting together a stronger routine for finals.

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Re: Routine Practice

Post by Tjuggles » 15 Jun 2020 13:41

C-Fan wrote:
15 Jun 2020 12:20

Discipline: In past years, it's always been tempting to only spend part of a session on routines and then do fun stuff with the remainder of the time.  With the clock ticking for submissions, I don't have this luxury.  I'm happy to report that at least for this session, I spent the whole time JUST on routines.  If I can stay disciplined for a few more weeks, hopefully it will pay off in subtle but meaningful ways.  One negative side effect of being disciplined during routine practice: no new footage for YT videos.  
One thing I enjoy about practicing for comps is just this. It forces me out of the normal sessions that I have. My last session I spent about 10 mins warming up, and then spend the entire session on sick 3 and planning shred30. It feels nice breaking out of the normal routine.

Glad to hear you are making progress.
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Re: Routine Practice

Post by C-Fan » 16 Jun 2020 10:39

Tjuggles wrote:
15 Jun 2020 13:41
Glad to hear you are making progress.
Thanks TJ.  I need to remind myself that progress isn't always a straight line moving in an upward direction.  Indeed, progress is often uneven and choppy.  When I have a rough session leading up to Worlds I need to focus on the overarching goal and not fixate too much on the specifics of a single session.

Perfect lead in for recapping my session yesterday.  The good news is I got in a routine practice session at dusk last night. The bad news is I didn't get any usable submission footage.  I left the session feeling very frustrated and demoralized, but I'm hoping this blog post can help me re-frame my perspective and mentally set me up for a better session next time.

I'm going to re-use the categories I used in my last post about routine practice albeit re-arranging the order.

Safety submission:    
Let's start with the worst one.  My goal for the session was to film another safety routine, ideally better than last session.  I didn't achieve this.  The optimistic perspective here is that even if I had filmed one it probably won't be as good as my routines next session, and the lighting would have been poor anyway since I played so late in the evening.  Hopefully the work I put in yesterday grinding choreo will help me with this goal the next time I play.

Shoes: 

The current repaired pair of G6 made it through another session so that's a win.  I did see a bit of the sole getting loose on the side, but it's not the same part of the shoe that was repaired.  I'm hoping it's nothing and even if it is I have backups available.  Still, I'll breathe easier once I have all my Worlds submissions completed.

Music setup: 
Mixed results here.  The low volume was a bit more of an issue yesterday, as ambient noise of passersby and dogs made it harder to hear my song and focus on cues.  I think as I get more familiar with my routine though this will be less of a problem as I can rely more on my brain than my ears for hitting cues.  The good news is I picked a first round song so I can drill down more on the cues and really start carving it out.  One positive of the song I chose is it has a long intro before the first cue so I have plenty of time to get to my filming mark after hitting play on the ipod.

Stamina: 
This is supposed to measure how well my energy and consistency hold up through the 2 minutes.  The problem yesterday was I never got a run that made it past the first minute, so kind of hard to measure.  But I think that speaks to one of my problems yesterday.  To improve my stamina I need to force myself to complete runthroughs, even if I pick up a lot of drops or get frustrated.  It's one of the hardest things for me when practicing routines, but I need to push through and just do it.  Hoping I do better with this next time.

Discipline:  
Mixed results here again.  I give myself some credit for squeezing in a session even when I knew conditions weren't ideal.  I also give myself some credit for spending the whole session only on routines.  I'm also proud that I did throw a lot of attempts at the wall even when I was getting frustrated at the end.  The main negative for discipline is what I said in the Stamina section; I need to force myself to complete 2 minute runthroughs even when I get tired or frustrated.  

Objectively, the session did have some positives.  I got exercise.  I dialed in some of my choreography and saw outlines of a solid routine taking shape.  I didn't get injured, and my body feels good the day after.  My shoes held up, my bags didn't fail, and my music player was serviceable.  If I manage to film a strong submission in my next couple sessions, I think I will look back on this "bad" session as a needed step that helped me get there.  

I'm also trying to remind myself that I don't need perfect video submissions in the early rounds of Worlds.  If my first round routine is 70% of what I want it to be, it is still probably good enough to make Finals.  If I push myself super hard and get a video that's 99% of what I want, what does that actually get me?  I'll be prouder of it, sure.  But seeding doesn't matter much in a format like this and ultimately I only care about my finals routine.  This is easier said than done, since I know what I'm capable of and it's anathema to me to half ass anything.  But if I can internalize this idea and it helps me get more usable submissions, then I need to do it.  If I get a drop at the one minute mark, I need to push through and finish the routine even if I end up with 3 drops.  A 3 drop routine with good cues and difficulty may be good enough to make finals.  It's also objectively better than not having any submission.

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Re: Fanzine

Post by cammel » 16 Jun 2020 12:38

Sorry to hear it was a frustrating session, but sounds like you got some good practice on the choreography, that should help next time!

Too bad for us your discipline is cutting down on YT videos, but I've been going through old videos on YT recently (have 10 years to catch up on!), and found this one of you. :lol: totally awesome combo.


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Low turnout thoughts

Post by C-Fan » 17 Jun 2020 20:50

I laughed out loud when I watched that combo as I had  ZERO recollection of hitting anything like that.

If I got to choose any single video of me from the past 10 years to show somebody, it'd be this one:


If that wasn't my playing peak, then it was close to it, and Ivan's editing is the best of any video ever made of me. It also has more interesting backgrounds and filming angles than 99% of my videos. Oh shit!  I just noticed that 2 of the 3 bags that appear in the opening shot of that video are the bags I'm currently using!  Yikes, no wonder they're falling apart...that video is 6 years old.  On a related note, it sounds like the original bags I ordered from Ivan got lost in the mail, so he made me a second batch which hopefully arrives soon.  

17 days ago, Dan noted:
boyle wrote:
31 May 2020 22:47
Interesting to see the entries so far, there's only 12. Pawel Nowak is probably the highest profile entry so far.

There's still 3 more weeks, but you would hope to see let's say 10 real genuine finals contenders. At the moment there are only 3 who have been in finals.
At the time I responded: 
C-Fan wrote:
01 Jun 2020 17:52

I'm optimistic we'll end up very close to that; it's still super early in the registration process. 

We're now 9 days away from registration closing.  By my calculations, the registration period for Worlds 2020 is about 42 days so we're about 80% through it.  We're now up to 23 entries, but still not a lot of big names. There's still time for us to get more entrants and I'm crossing my fingers we do.  I am a bit surprised by how few we have at this point.  There are 3 main reasons I would like to see more top players participate:

1. More excitement.  In recent years participation at Worlds has been lower due to a variety of factors. Now that most barriers to participating are gone, this Worlds has the potential to be star studded like an All-star game.  I could easily imagine a Finals where it's all top level BAP pushing technical limits.  When's the last time we had that in person?  2015?  Honestly, not to insult myself here, but wouldn't you be excited if you learned I DIDN'T make finals in any event?  That'd mean every Shred30 is over 240, ever routine is likely dropless, etc.  I mean, it'd suck a bit for me, but it'd mean we'd have a great finals.

2. More sense of community.  This is going to sound a bit hippy-dippy, but one of the reasons I was so excited to learn Worlds 2020 was happening was that it felt like a middle finger extended to Covid.  Like, despite all the awfulness of the current moment, at least the footbag community can come together and show we're still here.  While we don't necessarily need top players to do this, it also wouldn't feel as complete a picture without them either.

3. Higher level of play from top players who are already registered.  Bear with me on this hypothetical.  Let's pretend the current registrations for Open Routines don't change at all, and that podium goes something like: Landes-Gold, Pawel-Silver, Cerny- Bronze.  Now pretend that instead a ton of top players registered for Open Routines in the next week.  Even if the final results remained the same (Landes, Pawel, Cerny on podium), don't you think the mere presence of the other top players would push them to do better?  I know for me I've started looking at my qualification routine and thinking, "how hard does this REALLY need to be for me to still qualify for finals?"  If I saw there was a murderer's row of top players registered, that thought wouldn't even cross my mind.

Hopefully we get more top players registering and this ends up being a moot point.  

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C-Fan
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Baaaaaaaaaaaags!

Post by C-Fan » 19 Jun 2020 14:23

Quick entry just to share a couple pieces of good footbag news.

The official Worlds intro screens for videos were released for download yesterday!  I had already edited my first round submissions for various events, so I just needed the official intro clip to make official submissions.  I was very pleased that I was able to download them on my phone and do the needed editing all on my iPhone.  Last night I uploaded my Shred Off qualifier to YT and this afternoon I sent in my Sick 3 qualifier as well.  There's something about submitting videos that makes me feel like I'm now officially competing.  It finally feels real.

My Ivan bags finally arrived yesterday!  The first package got lost in the mail, but thankfully Ivan tried a second service and they arrived super quick.  I haven't had a chance to play with them yet but I already feel more confident that I'll be able to submit higher quality entries for Worlds now.  It was just a couple weeks ago that I had no good bags (all old and leaking), no usable pair of shoes, and no sound system for routines.  Now that I have good options in all three categories, I feel like there's nothing stopping me from achieving my goals.  Just such a confidence boost to have quality bags again.  

I haven't talked much here about my goals for Worlds.  Part of that was due to the aforementioned equipment challenges.  It's hard to set a goal like "dropless routine" when I didn't have usable shoes or any music set up.  I also think part of it is adjusting to the new format of the competition.  After 20 years of competing in person, I understood my own game and mindset enough that I could set ambitious but realistic goals for in-person tournaments.  I could also make predictions for how I expected other players to fare in the same environment, and consequently set my expectations for how I thought I'd do in the final standings as well.  With the new format of Worlds, I'm not sure I know what to expect from myself, much less from any of the other competitors.  If you told me Patrik Cerny with unlimited time and attempts at a routine is completely unbeatable, I have no basis to disagree with you.  On the flipside, I also am not sure what I am capable of with unlimited attempts either.  Sure, there are some basements and ceilings I feel pretty certain about.  I fully expect both my routine entries will be dropless, but I'm also pretty sure I couldn't crack 270 in Shred30 even if my life depended on it.  But the format makes it impossible to predict what people are going to do.  If you told me I did a solid dropless routine for Finals but so did EVERYBODY else in finals and I therefore finished 8th, that wouldn't shock me.  

Climbing out of that rabbit hole for a minute, I think the TL;DR version of my Worlds goals is: submit a video I'm proud of in every event, for every round I make it to.  I'm just thrilled I'm getting to compete this year, and Worlds 2017 will no longer be my last memory of competition.  No matter what I submit this year or how I place in the final standings, it should leave a much better taste in my mouth.

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cammel
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Re: Low turnout thoughts

Post by cammel » 20 Jun 2020 13:42

C-Fan wrote:
17 Jun 2020 20:50
I laughed out loud when I watched that combo as I had  ZERO recollection of hitting anything like that.
Haha, that was my reaction as well. It certainly wasn't what I was expecting.
C-Fan wrote:
17 Jun 2020 20:50
If I got to choose any single video of me from the past 10 years to show somebody, it'd be this one:
Awesome video! Paradox illusioning symposium eggbeater?? So cool. Pixie flurry was super impressive, downtime flurry is seems like such a hard component to get right. Great editing. Thanks for posting it!

Glad to hear you got new bags!

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Re: Fanzine

Post by boyle » 20 Jun 2020 17:30

It's been great following along your progress - excellent to hear about the equipment too. With that shipping, does that mean there are some Ivan bags floating around in the postal system somewhere, then he's sent you more, or the package ended up going back to him?

There's getting to be a decent amount of players registered, I think it's 25 in most events now. I would still like to see a few more in the top tier though. Hopefully gets some last minute additions like you Penskes and your Vasek, Milan etc. Cool to see Dylan Fry will be in action. Imagine if this was the big comeback event for someone like Ryan Mulroney. There's no reason why some of those older players don't jump in and have a go.

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Re: Fanzine

Post by Muffinman » 21 Jun 2020 16:11

Great video! So many huge tricks, it's nuts!
I think Worlds this year will be exciting. Everyone will be pushing and hitting stuff that wouldn't normally be able to, and for a spectator that should be a lot more fun to watch! I am curious how BAP induction(s) will work. Though who can argue that Jakub Worek should be baptized?

I don't remember the story. Why did you decline BAP? Just the TLDR is fine if you don't want to write a bit thing.

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