Rochester, New York Footblog

cd · Post by cd » 16 Jan 2008 22:31

I can't. Work until about midnight. Weekend is good though. Is saturday or sunday better for you?

mikeanello · Post by **mikeanello** » 17 Jan 2008 08:00

No worries Chris. Saturday and Sunday are both good for me.

cd · Post by cd » 19 Jan 2008 00:41

ok. im more apt to play on sunday.

Paul Agostinelli · Post by **Paul Agostinelli** » 21 Jan 2008 17:14

well i finally have a new computer, ill actually be scanning and posting on the board again.

its a macbook pro!!!!

which also means ill be putting out footage soon, be excited, the RFA has begun a new chapter in its awesome history!

Paul Agostinelli · Post by **Paul Agostinelli** » 21 Jan 2008 17:14

double post

Darkshredder · Post by **Darkshredder** » 21 Jan 2008 17:34

he tells us to be excited. Two steps ahead of ya, Paul. Looking forward to that!

cd · Post by cd » 24 Jan 2008 01:24

mikeanello · Post by **mikeanello** » 24 Jan 2008 07:40

Chris,

Great post. Sorry your game hasn't been what you have wanted it to be. But, congratulations on your latest successes and thank you for giving me props too.

It would seem to me that you have reached a plateau that is common for a lot of players. You have worked really hard to get where you are. You have a great set of moves you can execute, some that are fairly new, and the rest are dialed. I am guessing what goes through your mind each time you get the bag nowadays is, "How do I string these moves together." On occasion you try something new or some new version of one of your existing moves, like alpha legbeater. But in most cases, you get the bag, dig through your bag of tricks, grab a handful of them, and shred.

Here is something that might help you. Understand that I consider you a far more advanced player than I am, but this idea may help you go even further. Think of a few combinations of moves that you do on a regular basis. Let's take blur > smear > dimwalk as an example. Instead of thinking of this combination as three moves, consider it a single unit, a combo. This combo is something that you can do fairly easily and with very little thought. Now think of some more combinations that you do regularly and hold them in your mind as unique combos.

What does this mode of thinking buy you? Well, for one thing, a lot more time to think. As soon you consider hitting the combo blur > smear > dimwalk and begin the blur, you have three moves worth of time to think about your next combo; and your next combo is simply another set of moves.

Thinking this way makes a string like...

blur > smear > dimwalk > ripwalk > butterfly > paradox whirl > barfly > barfly > paradox whirl > osis > butterfly > blizzard > ducking butterfly > blizzard > ducking butterfly

come to mind as ...

combo > ripwalk > butterfly > combo > osis > butterfly > combo

or even ...

combo > transition > combo > transition > combo

You may need to transition from one combo to another as shown in the above example. This is where personal preference and a little imagination comes into play. If you think about it, there are really only four ways to link combos together, toe to toe, toe to clipper, clipper to clipper, and clipper to toe. If you watch Vasek videos, and I'm sure you do, he almost always does dimwalk to transition from toe to clipper and blizzard to transition from clipper to toe. As far as stringing same surface combos together, again this is personal preference. If you watch Bila Lavice, notice that when Vasek transitions between combos that end in clipper to combos that start with clipper he either does osis > butterfly or ripwalk > butterfly. There are so many instances in Bila Lavice where these transitions are used to link big combos of his together.

Now put if all together and you end of with this; you think of 5 combos you want to string together - either before you start shredding or during - you have a few transitions you can rely on, you end up with a 20 contact string. Build on this and your strings become unbelievably long while in your mind they are nothing more than a few combos thrown together.

I have been playing footbag since December of 2000. It wasn't until 2006, when I changed the way I play and the way I think, that I progressed beyond an average string length of 5 contacts. This mode thinking has helped me develop a lot more strength and endurance, nearly quadruppled my old string length, and has made me a guiltless player.

Hope this helps.

Peace.

mc · Post by mc » 24 Jan 2008 11:10

I don't know if you guys noticed, but a YEAH video has been released

I even hit some fun stuff like alpine whirlygig in quantums. that was bizarre.

read your post chris, I know all about that kind of plateau. Something really important to remember is that VIDS LIE! most people play about a 10th as good on average as what makes it onto video, or rather, 1 run out of 10 will make it on to a video, for the average person. maybe even less.

You have a great variety of tricks and and great style. plenty of weirdness and super shreddiness. you're like a fat nate p with power crank minus the fat part! and you're bigger than him, too. you could take him.

So, remember, everyone's not as good as they look, and you're not as bad as you feel. how are you about pushing contacts on strength drills. how many repeats could you do on pdx whirl > symp whirl? ss diving symp mirages would be cool, too.

keep shredding, buddy. you're a great player and it's been a pleasure having you on the scene and being your friend for just about 7 years now.

mikeanello · Post by **mikeanello** » 25 Jan 2008 09:17

What do you think of this GRASS 2008 logo?

Paul Agostinelli · Post by **Paul Agostinelli** » 25 Jan 2008 09:44

i think the juggling club puts out its own logo for the juggle in and we should keep ours to footbag, i like the logo i just think the juggling props arent necessary

also, i wish someone had told me that grass plans had actually started, i was a little miffed to find a grass thread on the journeys page, 2 pages in, and nothing was said to me at all, i mean if you guys want to plan this without me, go ahead, i wont stop you, but i am the guy that goes to school here, i at least thought youd want my help

dont get me wrong, i hate hyping events, but i love planning and running them, so i dont mind about anything thats going on, i just wish that i didnt have to buy a new computer to find out about it, im just a phone call away

also, chris, nice post, but i dont see a lack of improvement as a reason to practice more than 3 times a week or quit. though that one nights session really did suck ass. you may not be where you want to be, but judging by the malcontent that is inherent in everyone's footbag game, not to mention how hard on themselves people in the limelight are, look at dave or jordens blog at any time and youll see what i mean.

dont get content, but dont get frustrated either.

Darkshredder · Post by **Darkshredder** » 25 Jan 2008 10:34

I agree with Paul that the juggling shouldn't be a part of the GRASS tshirt. It's a little distracting seeing things above and around a footbag player.

cd · Post by cd » 25 Jan 2008 11:36

Paul dont take that the wrong way. There's only three of us to plan what we expect to be a huge event... Mike was taking the initiative on a number of important things, and we discussed some of the preliminaries at the last session but you didnt happen to be there.

And besides, there's still plenty of work to go around, and tons of time to polish out a tshirt logo together. You have point a that the juggle-in will have its own tshirt so maybe ditch the juggling props, but we i like the idea of a simple recognizable icon representing the event.

Session on saturday afternoon??

mikeanello · Post by **mikeanello** » 25 Jan 2008 11:47

Paul,

Sorry you feel left out, that was not my intention. I mentioned to you last time we played together that I was going to put a post in Journies to the Tournies for GRASS 2008.

As far as the event goes, you can see from the thread that almost everything has been covered. I am working with Jeff Peden to get group hotel rates and to get Jorden Moir into the main show. I am going to start working on getting sponsors and endorsements next week. People are offering prizes left and right.

The goal I have is to get everything in place during the next few weeks. Februrary is going to be "hype" month where we generate interest and send personal invitations to get more people to come. March is going to be "leg work" month, which will include doing things like putting money down on hotel rooms, getting t-shirts ordered, placing advertisements in local publications, and getting more prizes if needed. By April 1 we should be able to do nothing more than kick back and wait for the big event to arrive.

If you can think of anything I have missed, please let me know. I'm on the internet at least 9 hours a day - it's my job. I do not mind taken on these responsibilities. In fact I am really enjoying the excitement of it all.

Peace.

mc · Post by mc » 25 Jan 2008 12:16

I vote for mike as king of GRASS! We started with my year, then aric took it, then paul (for 1 year or 2?), now let's see what Mike does with it.

I also think we should keep the shirt footbag-specific.

mike, I think a good high-contrast photo of you winding up for a ducking flail while the bag is right at it's peak (with a BIG bag, or maybe one that is made larger with computo-magic) against no background would look great for our grass logo... maybe over the grassy GRASS logo with the footbag that we used in '05?

just some ideas. let me know if there's anything I should do.

mikeanello · Post by **mikeanello** » 25 Jan 2008 12:19

Logo 2?

cd · Post by cd » 25 Jan 2008 21:13

i like it. i think the grass should be way higher though, and there should be a bag in the air. and can you get a more action-like silhouette of yourself maybe? this one of the danceman comes to mind:

mikeanello · Post by **mikeanello** » 31 Jan 2008 05:35

Regarding the logo, what I have provided is just a concept I had in my head. My body type is not quite the typical footbag type and therefore does not cast a good silhouette for our sport. If this group likes this design then perhaps we should capture someone else's silhouette and use that. In the meatime I will see if I can come up with other logos and share them with you for review. You can also provide your own creations if you like.

Regarding endorsements, Chris, have you spoken with Dan Canavan of XS Water? I have not heard from him. If he gave me a card when we spoke with him, I cannot find it. Does anyone have the local contact for Red Bull. If you send me that information I will get on that. If you can think of any other endorsements you thing we might want let me know.

Peace.

Paul Agostinelli · Post by **Paul Agostinelli** » 31 Jan 2008 05:38

845 596 6317
Katie cunningham
Red bull rochester

mikeanello · Post by **mikeanello** » 31 Jan 2008 06:00

Thank you.