Up 'n' Comers of Footbag

Talk about your big add moves and concepts in here.
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F[uns]tylin' Eclectic
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Up 'n' Comers of Footbag

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic » 24 Apr 2014 07:57

I thought it would be cool to see who the community thinks are the up and comers of Footbag right now. A thread was made, very similar to this one, a few years ago and my name was mentioned, which pushed my game so hard, so I thought it might be fun too do it again and push some of the newer players, as well as older ..

List as many as you'd like.. Give reasons our not.. Tiltless players going toward guiltless and/or guiltless going toward elite. I'll add my 2 cents in once this thread gets cookin'...

If your name gets left off of this list, just push yourself harder, analyze form, and drill your consistency.

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Re: Up 'n' Comers of Footbag

Post by Derek » 24 Apr 2014 12:16

-Nathan Bonslaver. He is rippin' with some good string length, doing things I cannot. Plus, he hasn't been playing for too long, and is still young.

-Sebastian, MetZelRio's son. ss Mirage is a DOPE first dex. He is very young, and his father plays, quite a deadly combo. As long as Paul stays at it, I see Sebastian taking off in the coming years.

-Dominik P(whirlwind, I believe). Haven't seen any footage of him and his brothers(?), since that castle shred viddy. Those kids were phenomenal.

-Ivan Iakimenko. The latest video I recall was with him and two other PSU peeps(Kat and Ryan?), his strings were mighty dense. Plus, he is a pretty boss sewer, and has hosted an event already.


Oh, and Steven Lanza. Once he stops add hunting, and focuses on consistency, his repertoire should be pretty fat.
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Re: Up 'n' Comers of Footbag

Post by Vraidave » 24 Apr 2014 16:30

I was gonna say Nathan Bonslaver as well. I've been talking to him, and since we're around the same age, and somewhat similar skill level (he does have me beat) we've challenged each other to hit new stuff. Great at the sport though.
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Re: Up 'n' Comers of Footbag

Post by isirc10 » 24 Apr 2014 18:56

Just came back from work, time to post my thoughts:

Nathan Bonslaver - Yeah, kid's got potential. Performs under pressure.
April Tou - Surprised me this year with how much she has improved, watch out for those ankles! Very refined dexes.
Kat Cryan - Learned stepping three days ago, can hit almost every basic stepping trick BS now. The real deal.
Derek Littlefield - Your toe game is scary good dude. I expect to lose to you at a tournament in the near future.

These are just my observations for now - I hesitate to post what I think of the people getting to "elite" status because I don't think I can gauge their game very well.
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Re: Up 'n' Comers of Footbag

Post by etphonehome » 25 Apr 2014 08:51

The kids out of Slovenia are unreal! I got a chance to play with them over the summer, and believe me, these kids are going to blow your mind the next time a video comes out.

Dominic Polanc, Lovro Grabner and Rok Pražnikar.

Count on it.
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Re: Up 'n' Comers of Footbag

Post by C-Fan » 25 Apr 2014 18:31

Anton Britting.

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Re: Up 'n' Comers of Footbag

Post by krustykrakk » 27 Apr 2014 11:23

I think everyone from PSU is doing extremely well. With that being said, I must push my bias towards April Tou. I clearly favor her over the other PSU players (no offense to anyone else in the club) but her learning process is awesome. She doesn't have the normal problems that typically plague newcomers. She never rushes tricks. Instead, she concentrates on timing. She always has relaxed shoulders, rarely hunches, and rarely clenches her fists/contorts her arms. One more thing about April is that she went from alternating toe stalls with the occasional inside stall to tiltless strings incorporating butterfly and osis since the end of December.

Edit: No one has mentioned him specifically, so I will. Khoa Nguyen. Both-sided pixies, datw, longgggg strings and fun-to-watch style! Footbag proficiency aside, Khoa is a super energetic guy who brings up the morale of every session. He is genuinely excited for what he does and equally what others do, every time. When I joined the club last April, he was practicing consecutive clippers, but now is working on achieving a solid tilt less/near-guiltless game.

Also, this guy from Czech Republic. According to the post on Facebook, this video was made after his first year with footbag.

http://vimeo.com/90352450
Last edited by krustykrakk on 30 Apr 2014 08:29, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Up 'n' Comers of Footbag

Post by acxel22 » 29 Apr 2014 16:27

If all goes well in the next couple of weeks, maybe I can add a new player here if she stays hooked!
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Re: Up 'n' Comers of Footbag

Post by anhkhoashevakt » 29 Apr 2014 19:36

Nathan Bonslaver: need more to say? This guy is just ripping stuff up with his insane rate of improvement. Ripwalk - Ripwalk B2B at only about half a year? That's insane!


All PSU member:

Kat Cryan: she has the most consistency with clipper tricks I have ever seen. She learned to step last week, and now she's doing ripwalk both sides.

Ben Babyak: his game is improving like crazy in just the last couple months. Now he's hitting some really long strings.

April Tou: she has spent a lot of time perfecting individual tricks, and that's why she's improving so fast at stringing them together. The first day she learned stringing, she hit 8 legovers! Definitely one to watch out for.

Ryan Morris: not mentioning this guy would be a huge mistake. He might not be improving as fast as some of the guys up there, but he has the most consistency in hitting long strings than any of them, and I do mean it. With time, he can become as formidable as anybody, because as we all know, knowing large tricks isn't everything. How you string them together, that matters as well.

Ivan Iakimenko: what can I say? Allrounder. Improving in both individual tricks and long combos. I can't wait to see what he come back with from summer.

Though I feel Derek and Aidan might be some good candidates as well, they should work on some basic issues first!
Derek: his injuries. He had a lot of them during this year and it was not pleasant for him. Besides, he is pretty one sided due to the injury on his other leg. If he can manage to improve this he'll be a force to be reckon with.
Aidan: still need to master clipper tricks! His toe tricks are top notch due to freestyle soccer, but his clipper tricks still is a little behind.

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Re: Up 'n' Comers of Footbag

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic » 29 Apr 2014 20:14

Alright, I'll write a few of mine now I guess. It's been long enough. I definitely agree with all these people who have been listed. Can't wait to see what that "Whirlwind" kid that Mikie mentioned is up to. I strongly agree with all of these so far. Also, stoked to say that several of them are/were my footbag students!

Nathan Bonslaver. Yeah, I have to. I found him around Thanksgiving and we met up for the first time. He could only do Mirage on one side then and clippers… And he just hit Ripwalk b2b this week. He's really been surprising me. And.. he's only 15. In a year, he's going to be incredible if he keeps playing.

The entire Penn State Footbag Club. All the core members (ABC order: April, Aidan, Ben, Derek, Ivan, Kat, Khoa, Marc, Ryan) in the club are definitely under my radar. I'm watching them and if I can't see them, I get updates from Ivan. This club, as a whole and as individual players, is going to be ridiculously awesome and very fun to watch in the future. Plus they keep getting new members. Some members may need to work on basics and fundamentals a bit more, but the core group is really looking to run the world in the future.

Jackson Raap. My student/good friend. Very on-off with footbag in the past, but ever since being a newfound Christian, he's really taken to footbag more than ever before and he's improving a lot every session. I see so much potential in his game.

Mikie Etlinger. This kid has come a wicked long way. I remember I taught him spins in 2011, and recently at NOLA Jam, the bastard taught me Atomic Drifter. So much potential.

Dave Remillard: Not too many people know him right now, just some of the East Coast, but he has a natural talent for shred. He's going to be awesome if he keeps practicing.

Anton Britting. Yeah. Seriously agree with this one. Anton just keeps getting better and better, quicker and quicker. I'm always stunned… no.. floored with how much improvements he's made every time I see him.

Johnny "Breakdown" Sarah. Met this dude for the first time at NOLA Jam. Really understands his body and how to make it work with shred, and learns new concepts very quickly. His body is made for shredding.

Antonio Pirrotta. Never met him, but I saw a few bronze badges he completed and his form is great and he's also got some great tricks up his sleeve. He's going to be very fun to watch one day if he keeps practicing.

Brandon Turner: Met him at NOLA. Really solid tiltless game. Working from bottom to top, just like he should. I see him getting good.

Paul Gressett. May be an older player, but his improvements have been pretty remarkable. He's been really fun to keep up with. Once he gets himself into shred shape, I really see him getting awesome.

Derek Littlefield. Crazy awesome potential. Some say he needs to do more clipper stuff, but I think he should do what he wants because his toe game is shaping up to be pretty unbelievable. I actually really enjoy how he does all the toe stuff.

David Moutard. Brand new on the scene, but seriously killing it with his tiltless game so far. I see him going far.


Players that need to work on their foundations/form a lot, but I see lots of potential: Mac Deboer, Steven Lanza, and Kenny Hensley


Players that I can see going elite in the future:

Matt Kemmer. Already super sick. But I think he's busted past his peak and his game is the best it's ever been. Definitely going to be crushing the world with his game if he keeps playing.

Kevin Hogan. He's capable of some ridiculous things and he has incredible style. If he keeps practicing, I see big things in his future game.

Mark Monistere. Once he narrows his footbag game and starts being more consistent with a few more of his components, he's going to be scary good.

Adam Greenwood. This dude is crushing it. Such good style, unusual tricks, and just really fun to watch. His game has hit a very slippery spot along the trail and he's sliding past so many hot milestones in the sport.

Dante Diotallevi. Just keeps getting more and more sick every time I kick with him. Wish he filmed more. But Dante's game is composed of surprising/difficult links, great style, and just pure intensity. Damn.

Brian Bear. If he's been playing with the Stanford Club this whole time, then I can't imagine how sick he is now. He's already wicked awesome, but getting better and better.

I know I listed a lot, but that just means that there are great things in the sport's future.

And for those I left out, I know some newer players that are certainly showing glimmers of awesomeness, but it's still too soon to tell. However, I will list one of them.. Vince Richardson. Still newer to Freestyle, but the dude has so much passion for the sport. He reminds me a lot of myself, actually. I didn't pick up on tricks super quickly at first, but my passion drove me to become better. I think that is going to be Vince's story as well.
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