Edit: Nick Polini, 27 years old. Drumore, PA. Penn State graduate with Wildlife Biology degree/Minor in Biology. Biologist for Normandeau Associates, Inc. I'm in a circus and I'm an amateur stand-up comic.
Edit:
Major Influences/Inspirations:
Bob Riefer (Taught me everything I know about footbag, would definitely not be where I am without his help)
Drew Krause (First person to show me freestyle footbag in person, also would not be where I am without him)
Zach Hoffa (Good friend/shred partner of mine. We taught each other a lot.)
The Whole PSU Crew (Fucking awesome and fun group of guys and girls to shred with... Always a good time. Many students with a lot of potential.)
Jon "Outsider" Schneider (Love his unorthodox style. He is the biggest inspiration for my choice of tricks)
Mark Monistere (Awesome guy and has been very helpful to me with tips and whatnot. His style is awesome because he goes after tricks that look cool to him. I want to do this too, but I plan on incorporating much more [uns] tricks) Edit: I got to meet him and kick with him recently and he's the fucking MAN.
Matt Cross (Very encouraging to me as a young footbag player. Awesome guy and I love his choice of tricks and his weird style)
Brian Bear (Gave me some pointers on gyro and spinning at NYJ '10, and my spinning and gyro have greatly improved since then, thanks to him. Also I love his choice of tricks and how he likes to also use weird tricks that not many people use)
Lon Smith & Peter Irish (I love their spinning and torques, always been inspired by these guys)
Evan Gatesman I really like how he approaches the sport with a different head on his shoulders. He still shreds huge, but does some awesome stuff that no one touches… I'd like to be like that in the future.
Gordon Bevier (Never actually met him, but I love his crazy trick choices and his far out style. I had the opportunity to meet him at Funtastiks, but I'm an idiot. Hopefully soon) Edit: Finally played with him in Portland on business trip. Had a lot of fun. Owe him a beer.
Nick Landes Finally met him at NYJ '15 and he has opened my eyes more than many many others. He helped me see the light at the end of my tunnel and has helped show me how to get myself there.
I've wanted to do that list for a long time. To all of you guys, whether I know you or not, Thank you for pushing me to get better and better.
FIRST TOURNAMENT:
Funtastik Summer Classic '09 was my first tournament. In that tournament, I took 4th place in intermediate (YEAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!) Not the best, but I still yelled that when they announced my name. I won a Stally Footbag and a snow...boarding...shirt...? Yeahhh... Very cool though haha Someone at Funtastiks also commented on my style and said "he footbags like the world is going to end", which I thought sounded REALLY cool. My family and I have a luxury camper on the Susquehannah River, so we stayed there for Funtastiks. (PS: If you're going to Funtastiks this year, check out Ferry Boat Camp Grounds, and come party it up and kick with some friends and I at our site at night. We also have an island on the river that's perfect for flamebag use javascript:emoticon('8)') ) My parents really got a kick out of the whole tourney and really got to see what freestyle was all about. THE BEST PART OF THE WEEKEND: I was featured in the Harrisburg news for the segment about Funtastiks... I was the upcoming commercial, the intro to the segment, shredding behind Daryl Genz while he was being interviewed, and I ended the segment... a total of 32 seconds of airtime!!!! That was truly awesome. Oh and even better, Daryl and Sunny Genz both used one of my bags for their finals since Sunny forgot her's!!!!! I was honored. I met so many cool new people on this trip. Can't wait til this year's Funtastiks!!!
Edit:
2010:
In 2010 year's Funtastiks, I took first place in Intermediate Routines and Intermediate Circle Shred and I competed, but did not place and sucked, in Open circles at NYJ '10
December 2010
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/11302786[/vimeo]
-This was really my first time making a real video. Pretty awful. But everyone starts from somewhere.
April 2010
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/11600279[/vimeo]
-Local player, Corey Gerges and I made this video. We hit both of our first 5 ADDs in it! We were so stoked from that! I also was convinced that the Miraging Refractions I was doing were "Torques". I was such a dumb little fecal pellet.
July 2010
-This was a really sick session that my best non-footbag friend, Leon, filmed for us. Tyler is a doucher who doesn't kick anymore, unfortunately. Zach and I are friends again though! He was supposed to hit me up to shred around xmas break, but never did :/ But this session was great. Lots of fun. First time meeting Zach, then he later became my room mate and shred partner for a year.
September 2010: Funtastiks
-I was so amped at this tourney. I took 1st place in intermediate routines AND circle comp! This pushed me crazy hard and I remember I actually started training at this point.
2011:
I started hitting a ton of big tricks. Got my first 6 ADD and was really killing it. Then I realized that I was ADD-Hunting too much. I also drilled from time to time.
February 2011
-My first 6 :/ Big time ADD-hunter at this point. Was more interested in hitting big tricks that nice runs, until Bob, Kevin and others talked some sense into me.
April 2011
-This is the first time I actually started to practice BOPs, basically the end of my ADD-hunting days.
-This is a video I did with Stephan. He had a hell of a lot of potential, but bailed on the sport. Bummer.
November 2011
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/32795030[/vimeo]
-Cranberry Jam! This was a fun one. My girlfriend sat in on this one and you can hear he laugh during the intro. First time she actually saw me play.
December 2011
-This is the video that cost me most of 2012.. I wanted to get in this video so badly, and Mark Monistere kept encouraging me, but I pushed myself too hard and developed awful shin splints that lasted and lasted and lasted. It was a bad year. My "end of the world"..
2012:
I guess I should add some shit here since I've had a negative turn of events in freestyle for me. Well around xmas break 2011, I got hurt. Mainly from trying to get in that "Xmas Calendar Add Hunt video"... I got in, but I really fucked my leg up doing so. I regret that video so much. ANyway, took off 2 months from the sport and now I'm relearning my basics to hopefully be a better SAFER player in the near future.
Thanks to Erik Chan and Kevin Hogan for helping me deal with my shinsplints and for both being extreme inspirations to my future game. If they can overcome them and continue to shred hard, so can I.
February 2012
-As you can tell, I was trying to play through the shin splints here. Bad idea. Ended up costing me another 3 weeks recovery. My shin splints were due to bad form, fyi. So if you have pain in your legs that is bugging you on a daily basis, ask someone experienced to analyze your form. Matheiu GM pointed it out, and told me how to change it, which is the thing that saved my game. So thanks Mat. I feel bad that no one could have pointed his bad form out to save him from his knee problems that ended up making him quit the sport :/
March 2012
-This was stupid, but I was an idiot. Still had shin splints here, but hit this anyway :/ I'm smarter now.
December 2012
-Shin splints were still active during this, but not as bad as before. I love how Ivan edited this video. Played in G-Units for most of this, which was mainly to heal my shins. It was alright, but I hated G-Units. I think my above-average crank level didn't agree with them. I lost everything in those. You can probably tell from this video, that they killed my game and let me cheat on a lot.
2013:
It's been a great year for footbag. Life has been a little tough, but what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. Anyway, footbag-wise, I exceeded where I wanted to be by the end of the year. I now have so much bag control and it's simply because I started practicing basics, mainly learning proper Infinities and pushing my Infinity record. Worlds was my game-changer. After Worlds, I really wanted to stop sucking and learn how to shuffle. Matt Kemmer was a huge part of that aspiration. It worked though, because I went from having simple 4 contact shuffle at Worlds to being able to comfortably string around 10-15 contacts of shuffle. Strong areas have been Reverse Swirls/Blinks, Swirls, Stepping/Stepping Ducking, Blenders/Pdx Blenders. Torques/Mobii, etc... Areas lacking where I need to fill some holes: Drifters, Whirls, Double Downs, Atomic, etc... Here's to getting to a really fun-to-watch level in 2014.
September 2013
-Shin splints were more than gone by this point. Video to celebrate "World Footbag Day", the holiday which I created, that is accepted and celebrated by... some?
July 2013
-Another Ivan edit. I liked how he did it. He didn't
Regardless, this is the result of my training for my first World Championships. December 2013
-This was my split video with Kemmer. Had a lot of fun doing this one. I can tell I improved a lot since this point even. I think It's a pretty significant amount even from before to after Worlds.
August 2014
-This is my first video I've really actually considered "high level shred". Pretty stoked about this one. Clavens even talked to me about this and was impressed. That made me feel so accomplished. During that conversation, he helped me pave a bit of my future game.
April 2015
I was involved in my first renegade where I actually felt like I belonged.. I did a Renegade at Boston Jam earlier this year with Jim Penske but I felt like I had no business there. This video turned out great, thanks to Ivan... I've also got 2 of my inventions filmed in this video 1) R.I.P. (Aka: Ripstein Career-Ender) and 2) Flapper Nukclear ss Mirage
May 24, 2015
I accomplished my second biggest goal in footbag.. 10 Unique Fearless:
December 2015
Finally produced a banger of a video. I got crazy cool props from some of my favorite players and it felt in-gosh-darn-credible. Jay: "You may have blown the calendar's load early.."... Jorden: "Nice moves, Polini." Lon: "I didn't even read the comments yet. I'll be straight up Flabberghasted if this isn't my favorite video of the Joulukalenterini this year. There were tricks in there that really confused me and kinda broke gravity's timing like little wormholes." Rippin: "ok let's start the fundraiser for you to get to Worlds next year!? You, my friend are Exactly what Freestyle has needed." Just wow. Couldn't believe some of that stuff. But there were so many other awesome comments, too. Here's the video:
Dragonflyer> Rev. Swirl (Bob and I raced to hit it and it was neck and neck, but I took the cake!)
We kicked on and off, but for the most part, we were kickin. 
THAT'S IT
Go cut myself, beat off, and cry moar nao. 
