Canberra, Australia via SCL - Daniel Boyle

[boyle]

It's been a little while since I posted. My next vlog I am going to do will be about the weekend gone by. My sister has been doing this martial arts training program and the final of it was on the weekend, fighting in a cage match. She won in the end, but got a few good kicks to the head before that.

Here's a run from today. The weather is coming good down, although that means it is also hayfever season which is not so good.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BoGD5QxAlsY

I dropped my phone and smashed it up a little bit recently. Not sure if that has any affect on the picture quality. If I spent more than one second on placing the camera that would probably do more for me. I had a few good long runs today, it was only a short session. I was out taking baby Jasmine for a walk but she was asleep long enough I could do a bit of kicking. Usually once I start up kicking she will wake back up.

I've been working on my routine a little bit, though I've given it a rest the last couple of days. I've been doing a bit with the ball as well, getting ready for the competition. Getting a bit more consistent with that. That being said, the most likely result is me losing to a young kid, but that's OK. I'm looking forward to the trip. I'm going by myself and have lined up to meet a few old friends.

My cousin and her boyfriend came down to watch the fight. I gave them both a footbag and they both seemed quite in to it. She was doing toe stalls after a while and he actually came close to legover. So maybe they will take it up. The scene certainly needs a boost in Australia...

[Ryan_Morris]

the most likely result is me losing to a young kid, but that's OK.

Story of my life since Nathan Bonslaver started playing

[boyle]

Haha, he's not so young anymore though. I have high expectations of coming up against someone fresh out of primary school and probably losing.

I had a kick with Dianne yesterday. This was some good training before the event, and a nice sunny day too. We haven't kicked since Khoa was here, which was about 6 months ago. Hopefully as the days get longer there will be more chance for a bit of kicking. Fingers crossed on that one.

I've been working on the routine a bit more. Sometimes it goes well, sometimes not. Hopefully I can give it a good run in front of a crowd at the event on the weekend. That's all come up quickly. I think this routine is one I can work on to do a good performance at Worlds. Let's see if that can happen, but I am hoping so for next year. Or at least some competition somewhere.

[boyle]

Well, on that routine subject. I did my routine dropless for the first time. That gives me a lot more confidence going into giving its first public performance. I did drop down the end. In the plan there is a motion sickness, but instead I did a spinning clipper to a spinning hand catch. I also think in a competition situation I wouldn't risk a drop there if I had got so far without a drop.

Here's a short clip from the same session. https://www.instagram.com/p/BoWnQ3wHZuD

Here's a monthly post I've been doing on a roundup of things people are posting on Instagram. http://sportslashlife.com/footbag-on-in ... mber-2018/

After I had done it, I actually came across this thing and it seems they are actually giving away footbags in some sort of snack. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but I came across a few posts on "mummy blog" sort of sites. I don't know if this is a promo that's still running, I will have to check next time I go to that particular brand of supermarket.

I've just fired off an email to them to ask if they are going to do any kind of promotional activities. https://www.instagram.com/hotshotsaus/ I'm a little intrigued. It could be fun if it actually leads to something, but I won't expect anything.

[Muffinman]

Nice blog post. That's a great idea to do a Instagram roundup. Especially for those of us who don't see this firsthand unless posted in the FB group.

Also, interesting about the promo thing. Curious about what you find out about it!

[boyle]

I've really enjoyed doing those Instagram roundups, it allows me to come across different people who I don't realise have instagram at all, and it's also enjoyable seeing people just doing hack circles and things like that too.

I didn't get any reply back about that promo, maybe it is already complete, I'm not sure.

It's been an eventful last few days. I went to Melbourne as planned, but I left early to catch an overnight bus as Jasmine ended up in the hospital for a few days with a skin infection. She's back home now, so that's good. Improving as well. We've been seeing doctors and things for a while about something on her head that may/may not be related, but it really got to serious point over the weekend.

Onto Melbourne, the trip was brief, but it was good. I was happy with how my routine went, it was the first time I've done it in public, as in a "performance". There were some drops, I think it was 4 in the end, but everyone I talked to had positive comments about it. Probably one more drop than I would have liked for a first time go (I had two drops within about 3 tricks), so I did actually have over a minute going dropless. That first drop was probably also because I made an error on the order of the tricks, and missed out probably the key part of the whole routine. If I can go to Worlds next year, I feel this is a good time to start preparing.

In terms of the freestyle football, I had a qualifying round and it was just terrible. I was not happy with that at all, but I was reasonably happy once I got into the battle. I had a lot more control and did a few good tricks. It's so hard to recover if you drop it and the ball rolls away though.

There was a guy from Seattle there, I think his name was Corey. He knew Justin Dale and Khoa. He had a footbag, we didn't really play at all, he was doing some juggling. I had to leave midway through the comp, it would have been nice to hang out longer. Even in the short time I was in Melbourne I got to see quite a few friends, but too bad we had the hospital news.

[boyle]

I hit a whole bunch of new tricks today, probably stuff I should have done before, may have even done them, but I don't believe so.

pixie weaving butterfly, fairy weaving butterfly (also with osis). I took Jasmine out for a walk and she had quite a long sleep so I was able to get in a session. These were all from my left foot, which is weak pixie, strong fairy. I also hit pixie weaving osis on the strong side, which I don't think I've done before.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bo7wZbugF6J

It was just short, but productive. I also sent in an entry for the Latino Big 1 comp. I don't really have any right to be in a Latino Big 1 competition, but they've invited me in. I know there are plans underway for a bid for Worlds 2020 in Medellin and that's something I really hope goes ahead. I've been there, the facilities are excellent. In reality they could put the tournament on tomorrow, everything is there ready to go, as the stadiums built for the South American Games in 2010 are all in one central area. Probably the only issue is that the stadium is not close by to the city, or where most of the hostels and hostels are, but the transport was very good when I was there.

I found it quite safe also. There have been quite a few players go there over the years and I have heard a lot of positive comments. There was some talk of Venezuela some time back, I think I might have still been in Chile then. So I kind of hoped for selfish reasons, but this was even before the current situation, but it was decided it would be too much of a danger, I don't think that's the case in Medellin anymore, though it definitely would have been.

Anyway, in terms of the big 1, let's see how I go. I did put in a 7 add, so it should be a contender I guess.

The Austrian champs looked really cool. That's something I'd like to go to some day. I've been in Austria a couple of times and stayed with Alex Trenner and had a great time there. Guys like Matt Kemmer and Ivan are just going around and popping up at different events here and there, and that's certainly something I have had in mind. Of course it's harder to tow a whole family along, and to come from Australia. That's also why I like the idea of Medellin, that one's been approved by the boss already!

[C-Fan]

Sorry to hear about Jasmine's unexpected hospital trip. Those are terrifying as a parent. Hope all is better now.

Interesting news on the potential for a Medellin worlds. I wonder how many people would go? I know not a lot of Americans have passports, and it could be expensive to get there. Hopefully it'd be cheap once players arrive there though? I'd love to go to something like that, but who knows where I'll be in terms of playing, work, and parenting by that point. Do you know if the Medellin crew is primarily a freestyle group or a net one?

[boyle]

Yes, it would have been harder for Francisca as I was away in Melbourne at the time of entrance. Once we were in the hospital though it was the right place to be, and it has improved really well, I went to the doctor yesterday for a follow up and she was very impressed.

Medellin scene is a mix of net and freestyle, probably a bit more net, but there are some good freestyle players in other cities in Colombia, and it seems they go to Medellin often enough. A lot of the players play both as well, so I think as a tournament it wouldn't be so focused on one or the other, like you see at other events some years. They do seem to be very active though, I always see photos and they are out doing workshops and things, so that's really great.

I'm not sure about flight prices, but cost of living there was pretty cheap when I was there. Much cheaper than Chile, though I imagine, just like Chile, that Colombia has risen a bit on prices. I guess on the flights, it mainly depends where you're coming in from. I think to fly from a place like Miami, there are a lot of connections and regular flights, but if you're coming from further north, where probably most players are, then it's going to cost more.

[boyle]

Just a short session today in the dinner break. It was useful though, because I hit paradox flux, I believe for the first time. Maybe also ss symp torque, but I'd like to film that, I have the feeling I was not doing it cleanly.

So Ken mentioned in his blog a project he had been thinking of. I had a similar idea and without consulting with him, posted something about it on Facebook. The basic idea is to go through a bunch of common tricks, get a little history, and tips from "experts" about to do it, including personal stories about how people learned the particular trick.

What I was hoping to do was get into the archive of the footbag.org listserve and have a wander round there, but it seems to be locked unfortunately. I also thought of the idea of finding out when the tricks was first hit on video or in a competition. A big undertaking, and I'm not sure if it's worth doing, but I think I will make a start on the background of it.

https://modified.in/footbag/viewtopic.p ... 108c81dd7a

This thread has some of the "best of" from the listserve, so that's something.

Speaking of these moves, the train going out to the competition the other day went past Croxton station. Ales Zelinka invented that trick when he was in Australia (2004) and he named it after that station. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAs5GmzDDJc

So I might plug away at that for a while. I think I should be able to find enough bits and pieces to find something interesting. The other idea I have to do is simply get all the little bits and pieces of tutorials that people have done, things like the Anz Trick Tips, Erik's Footbag Foundations, etc, etc - and put them all in one place.

There seems to be very slow progress on the footbag.org site (ie none), I will do these things on my own site and it can be something that can be put up on footbag.org in the future.

I just posted to ask if anybody is running the Joulukalenteri. It's coming up to December soon enough so hopefully someone is keen. I might do it again sometime in the future, but no time soon. What I would like to do is get my friend Ben to help me with a video. He's been working in TV for a while but just got a redundancy so he's not working at the moment, so we may be able to do a cool little project.

[Muffinman]

Just a short session today in the dinner break. It was useful though, because I hit paradox flux, I believe for the first time. Maybe also ss symp torque, but I'd like to film that, I have the feeling I was not doing it cleanly.

Nice! Symp torque feels so good! But I'm not sure how you'd do it uncleanly. Do you mean pulling the osis?

I also thought of the idea of finding out when the tricks was first hit on video or in a competition. A big undertaking, and I'm not sure if it's worth doing, but I think I will make a start on the background of it.

This is soooo hot. Like a footbag encyclopedia! I love this idea sooo much and I think it's totally worthwhile, especially if the sport is still around in like 50 years and our founders are long gone and can no longer tell their stories. Better get this stuff documented while we still can!! I can envision this like its own wiki where an article on a trick and its history can link to an article on the inventor of that trick, and that article can list all tricks that player has invented, what events they've won, what videos they've been in, etc. So much potential!! Would love to help out with this if you need it!

[boyle]

I was more concerned when I was trying to hit symp torque from toe. I'm pretty sure from clipper it was fine, but I realised from toe I was jumping up the air, not doing anything, then doing an osis.

I hadn't thought of linking to these people's competition history and video history, now that's something that would make a really cool project, and be worthwhile doing.

I had a really good session tonight, I was really happy to be playing footbag at all. So I already hit pdx flux earlier today, but now I hit, I guess you would say pixie ss dso (basically a magellan with an extra dex. This is the first toe trick I've hit with all three dexes on the same foot. It's made me think about putting Triple Around the World back on the agenda, which I've always thought as something I can't hit.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BpCQ5eQF5Se

I was mainly trying two other tricks, which I couldn't do. First was diving spinning clipper. At the end of the session I remember I have actually hit ducking spinning osis a few times. I feel I can probably hit some of these diving tricks - diving gyro mirage, diving vortex, for example. We'll see. Not today though.

The other one was backside blizzard. I really struggled with this one. I have seen on a lot of videos that most players do a much different dex on this kind of trick (it's kind of sideways, almost like a swirl in front of the body), but I was way off in that one. Maybe something soon. The other thing I've been working on is pixie spinning set, but that's some way off.

[C-Fan]

A couple quick tips on tricks you mentioned, in the hopes they may help you figure them out quicker:

For both TATW and pixie spinning, it's super important to do the first dex low and quick. Like, try and get the bag off your foot and that dex done below the height of your opposite knee. If you normally do your pixie sets with a high dex, you'll have to force yourself to do this dex a lot earlier/lower.

With diving spinning it's tempting to combine the two into a single motion. Don't. Do the dive a bit faster than normal, but WAIT for it to end before doing the spin. You'll think this wastes time, but it actually is the only way that ever worked for me. When you start combining the dive with the spin is when you lose your balance.

For TATW, the most important dex is the first. A common mistake is to set too high on the first dex. In reality, the key is to make the first dex as fast and low as possible without burning up too much energy on it. If you can knock out a tight quick first dex so the set doesn't go above your waist, you should be able to bang out the 2nd dex mid time and the third downtime.

Pixie spinning is weird. For me the weird trick that helps out the most is to set the bag to your side instead of in front of you. So if you're doing a right foot pixie set, you do a quick and low pixie set, but you try and set the bag slightly to the right of your body instead of in front of it. If you do the set fast, and you place the bag next to you, you should have time to turn for the spin and be there in time to do a downtime component. This probably makes no sense, but watch this video and see if you can see me doing this:

[boyle]

Thanks Ken, these are really good tips. TATW I don't feel very confident in, but the others I am progressing well. That movement with pixie spinning sounds about right. That will stop the bag from hitting me in the back.

I have been working on that still for diving spinning - two different movements. That's probably the one I'm closest to. The other thing I'm working on, which is not so far off, is pixie ducking DSO. That would be really cool to hit and I'm a little bit more confident that I can hit that at some stage, I would be really happy with that one. Last night was a lot of trying some new tricks, rather than going for longer runs and things, and I was happy with how the session went.

I've been thinking more about ideas for that project, I think it can be done, and done well. It will probably be an ongoing thing, but I like this idea of "footbag encyclopedia".

I had an idea some time back, that you could just update people's old blogs on Modified when they put out a cool video or hit a good move, won a competition, but that would be kind of weird to be doing it in their personal thing. However, if they had a "profile", which everyone has on footbag.org, but something that can show videos they've been in, all this kind of stuff, moves they invented, etc, etc.

The more I think about it, the more I think it's worth doing, and that I can do justice to the project. I also started on that idea of gathering the different tutorial videos as well, and that seems easy enough to do. There's actually quite a few around, so I think having them all in one place will work quite well. So I will just keep plugging away at that and see what kind of gaps there are once I have a collection of what's already been done.

[C-Fan]

I like your encyclopedia idea. One key decision will be determining how entries are created and updated. The wiki model is nice, in that it is easier to update and encourages community participation. It does have some risks though, including vandalism and being more open to incorrect info being posted.

Were you envisioning a footbag encyclopedia that primarily covers players? That could be a good start point, and if successful maybe it could be expanded to include events (I'd love to read the encyclopedia page about Funtastiks), clubs (NYFA, PSU, etc.), and tricks including history and demos.

For tricks, it'd be cool to see the following info:

Year of invention
Who first hit it
Earliest known video appearance
Consecutive record (if toe-toe, or clip-clip)
Add count/breakdown

For events it'd be neat to see:

First year held
Tournament directors
Winners of main events by year

For players I'd love to see:

Years active
Notable tournament wins
Club affiliation
Tournaments hosted/run
Notable trick inventions
Short bio

[boyle]

Yep, those are the general ideas I have, and a lot of (though not all) the information is available on footbag.org

Aside from those, I'm also thinking videos, but in this day and age, where do you draw the line on what's an "official" video.

I'm going to do on my Sport/Life site. That way if I want to have people help, I can give them access. It also has things like ease of posting Youtube clips for example, just post them in and they'll appear straight away.

I'm also not going to call the project an "encylopedia" at first, though in reality that will be the end goal. I'll just do some posts on the website, with this exact kind of information.

The only one I might not use is the "years active". Because how active is active. Even some players you would consider not active will come out and play every couple of years and blast out a couple of beasts, for example. The other player thing to put in would be media appearances in TV/newspaper/radio. Also if they've been on any "team tours", things like that.

I've been working on diving spinning and make good progress, using that advice of the two different portions. I've footed diving spinning clipper and diving spinning osis. That was also wearing hiking shoes, so I should be able to get the catch with Lavers on. We're off to Sydney this weekend. It's only going to be a short trip, don't think I will catch up with anyone up there in terms of footbag, I think Dyalan is overseas at the moment anyway.

[Muffinman]

I hadn't thought of linking to these people's competition history and video history, now that's something that would make a really cool project, and be worthwhile doing.

Yiiis. This is how my brain operates as a librarian. I want all of the information and I want it linked and catalogued! I would be so into creating a media-rich wiki for footbag, centred on tricks, history, and videos.

I did diving spinning clipper BSOS in this video (8:20) from forever ago, to give you an idea of how to do it. Ken's advice was basically how I think about it: dive fast, wait a split-second to ensure you actually got the dive, and then spin. It's sooo much easier to do clean than ducking spinning. I never thought to do something like diving vortex, but I'm totally trying that today now if I can remember!

[Tjuggles]

I love the encyclopedia idea! I wonder if we could get it on phones too?

[boyle]

If it's on the website then you could just get it on the browser through your phone, or do you mean like an app where it doesn't have to be connected to online sources?

[Tjuggles]

I was thinking an app.

By the way, do you ever meet up with Dan Ednie? I forget if I asked you that recently. Maybe I asked him. I spoke with him recently and he is living in Melbourne I think?