Sole Purpose Portland Footblog

[redshredz]

First Portland footblog

This is the first entry in the Sole Purpose footbag group's shred journal. We will be recording the highlights from our sessions throughout the week.

6/22/05
Team met in Pioneer Square, we have been doing a lot of demo work there ever since they re-opened it to footbag and hack. For those who don't know about Pioneer Square, it is the one of the original central footbag shred locations, if not the very first. For decades (since the early seventies) it has been the place footbaggers have gone to play. Almost any time of day, there is a hack circle happening. About a year and a half ago, we were kicked out for being a public disturbance. Two weeks ago, they reinstated footbag in the square. Things are back to normal, and we are doing demos down there for the crowds again.

Todays player:
Noah Jay-Bonn
Brian Cooper
Nick landis
Red Husted

Great shred session. Everyone was on, Noah has stepped up his game a lot, and is playing a lot more aggressively and confident. Nick is still messing with a lot of concepts sets. He has the best form of anyone in the group, hardly makes a sound when he plays. Brian is a machine, pure cardio. He has a high consistancy ratio. Each one of us has totally different styles. Nick is doing again a lot of cutting edge moves, sets and stalls, phasing set, doof stalls, reverse whirling moves and so on. I think his style is going to be more of the standard in the future, while the tradition style such as mine is going to be more dated. Nick is the innovator of the group, and turning moves I would have previously considered random into standard combination worthy tricks. Brian plays more traditionally, with a strong grasp on the technical. Much like Jim Penske, he hammers through stepping/atomic/quantum combos with easy. He is already beginning to master good tripless runs, but more importantly, he is opening up his game to a wider variety of moves, including a fair amount of spins and ducks. He has great endurance, and I believe he will be the next freestyler in Portland to hit Nemesis. Noah has upped his game a great deal, when we first started kicking, he was very much an uptime player. These days I see a lot of my own game in his combos, he has a pretty even mix of technical and spining/ducking/uptime/downtime combinations. His variety has increased greatly, he is going to start hitting 5+ fearless soon. Out of the new guys in Portland, his game has become the most big add. For myself, my game is back on track after about a month and a half of injuries, thought I was out there for a little while. I have a few goals now, I want to BSOS Blurriest Swirl, increase my fearless record, and get my Nemesis solid again, as well as get fury set completely solid on my right side again (had to stop because of knee problems with the set). On a side note, all the guiltless freestylers in the SP posse can hit fury set decently now. Brian is picking up his flipside now pretty easy. Great session again. The skill level of the group is high, I don't believe I would be kicking like I am without these kids pushing me. Our circles have a positive none competitive vibe, but for sure everyone is out to lay it down and get better.

Highlights from the Session:

Nick:
Lots of flip stuff including Paradox Barrage, Blurry Whirl, and Phoenix. Though it is not noticable usually, I am grinding him about working his flipside. Also will be pushing him on increasing his consistancy, though I understand when pioneering brand new moves linking in and out of them can take time. When all of that comes together though it will look super good. Also hit Blurry Blender both sides, one was brand new.

Brian:
Hit Blurry Blender as well, almost had it flipside too. Nailing smoke easily now, a huge jump from last week, when he was just picking it up. Long four add combos.

Noah:
Again, lots of stepping/ducking/spinning/uptime and downtime combos, with tons of 5s. Noah's game has definitely gone big add. Even a few themed combos. Nice fearless run, can't recall the exact combo though, good four in a row. Also hit Tomahawk to Spining Paradox Whirl as well, which I think was new to him.

Red:
New moves:
Flip Blurriest Swirl
Stepping Butterfly Reverse Swirl
New fearless, Phoenix-Blurry Whirl, Blurriest, Paradox Torque, PS Whirl drop.
Couple of themed osis combo. The one I can remember is right Paradox Torque-Paradox Mirage-Pixie same side Clipper-left Paradox Torque-Paradox Mirage-Pixie same side Whirl-Paradox Whirl-Paradox Mirage-Pixie same side Whirl.
PS Whirl back to back, not something I liked to mess with much (hard on the knees).

6/22/05 was a high energy session. We were missing a few players, Jake Wren in particular. The skill level of the group in general is rising quickly, we have been doing a lot of events lately, and everyone is excited about the Northwest Fest Jam!

[setman]

You're awesome
blurriest swirl is very hard stepping ss butterfly rev swirl too. Props on that moves and fearless run

[Senor Grommet]

by "fury" set, do you mean the furious set, or the triple dex move fury done as a set (barraging pdx mirage as a set)?

Props on having such a cool club with so many good players and a sweet hack spot!

[redshredz]

Fury=Furious set, I wish Furious miraging set, we call it Furium set around here, but that's a hard set, Vasek only as far as I know. Revision noted on that one. Thanks!

[ShredOnLawn]

Good to hear a Sole Purpose Footblog is now available.

I've never done either Blurriest Swirl or Stepping Butterfly Rev Swirl

Cool

[pill]

flip paradox barrage, sounds like a bail for nick =) good to hear all of your are kicking strong and they opened up pioneer square to you again, i remember you mentioning that they closed it off to footbag when you were up here. hopefully us seattlites will be able to make it down for northwest fest which should be insane.

[sampotter]

It's dope to hear that you're still going strong, Red. What is this, your 5th wind? I'm about to put the heat on to get Northwest Fest. I must get to this. It will be absolute insanity.

NORTHWEST FOOTBAG REP

[redshredz]

6/26/05
Shredders:
Noah Jay-Bonn
Brian Cooper

I was present at this shred, but a bit under the weather, so no kicking for Red. Brian bsos'd Jani Walker pretty easy. Noah hit a bunch of fives in his combos, and few new moves, but not sure which ones. Got some actions shots of Brian for website, will be updating that soon. Noah is schooling everyday now for the jam. Will be making a vid of him soon, he is hitting a lot of video worthy combos. Good school session for those guys!

[redshredz]

Personal Records:

These are my personal records that I have accumulated over the years. Each Sole Purpose player hopefully will post their records as well.

Red

21-22 Tripless

Fearless
6 Fives -Phoenix-Blurry Whirl-Blurry Whirl-Spinning Paradox Whirl-Scorpion Tail-Mobius-hand catch seal
5 Fives (Sealed, not counting drops off the last five)
Shooting Butterfly-Blurry Whirl-Blurriest-Paradox Torque-Tomahawk
Blurry Whirl-Blurry Whirl-Blurriest-Blurriest-PS Whirl

3 Sixes
Shooting Butterfly-Blurry Torque-Mullet
Shooting Bfly-Blurry Torque-Food Processor

Triple Dexes in a row, 4
Shooting Bfly-Bedwetter-Pixie Paradon-Blurriest

Quad Dexes 5 or 6
Nemesis (Left) 6 adds
Blurriest Swirl (Right) 6 adds
Blurriest Swirl (Left) 6 adds
Shooting Star (Left) 7 adds Variations off this one, including shooting motion 8 adds
Redwetter (Left) 6 adds

Moves named
Blurrier (Not sure which first gen BAPer hit this one originally)
Marius (first hit by Tim Kelly)
Superfly (First hit by Rick Reese)
Super Dupa Fly (First hit by Ryan Mulroney)
Spanishfly (Don't know who hit this one first, Ellis or Chad possibly)
Schmo (Stepping ss Leg-over) (Could have been anyone)
Mace (Stepping Diving Paradox Torque) (Red)
Bear Claw (Stepping Diving Down Double Down) (not sure, had not heard of anyone before myself on this one)

Invented moves (that I can think of offhand):
Shooting Star
Bear Claw (pretty sure now)
Redwetter
Mace
Red Scorpion (ducking Scorpion's Tail) - (pretty sure the first, was hitting it a long time ago '99-2000. Rick Reese was hitting it around that time as well, but I think I actually showed it to him).

Dropless Routines in competition
1 that I can remember

Dropless Shred 30
1 or 2, can't remember exactly, too many damn tournaments

Tournaments and Events attended
30+

[redshredz]

6/28/05
School session
Noah Jay-Bonn
Red Husted

Noah and I met up for a practice session. I am still pretty much under the weather thus basically backed Jay-Bonn up. He was hitting good stuff though. Most impressive was Stepping Whirl-Blurry Whirl repeat, he had been attempting that for the last couple of months. Also on a session of his own a couple of days ago, he hit Blurry Whirl-Tomahawk repeat so I was told. Just messing around I hit some fun random moves, lap stall to butterfly swirl, pinchers to butterfly, stepping knee bump to ducking butterfly. Also messed with quantum ss butterfly and Atomic ss butterfly, moves I don't usually think about. Noah almost sealed PS Whirl back to back as well, which I think is new for him. Back to back Tomahawks are getting pretty easy as well. His bedwetters are getting really smooth too. Good stuff! I may take a week off to heal up and work on other various projects including the event, website, video, and team shirts. Next team session is Thursday with Nick Landis.

[shreddaily]

Nice red! I'd love to start posting here but You'd have to change the name of the topic to "thats my fruit cocktail Nasty sole Purpose Pose" hahahaha. can't wait to have a showdown with Noah at the jam! I hit my first flaming tard today and thought of you guys. LESS THAN 3 WEEKS!!!

[sidekick]

Hey! I just got back from my trip to Talent for the 4th, and I decided to post all of my records and some new stuff I've done recently~

-=Records=-
Pixie Legover - 11
Legover - 39
Ripwalk - 5 (I'm sure I can do more now, that was in Feb)
Butterfly - 15 (again, haven't tried in a while)
Osis - 14
Drifter - 5
Pdex Whirl - 4
Ducking Clip - 8
Atom Smasher - 4
Most Tiltless - 30
Most Guiltless - 21
Fost Fearless - 2
First 4 add - Toe ducking butterfly
First 5 add - Barroque or Tomahawk, I can't remember which...
First 6 add - Mullet
First Tripless - Fairy Beater > Pdx Whirl > torque
Most Consecutive kicks - 582
Most Bop - 29 (that was this weekend)
I've also hit Fairy Legover (my favorite easy move) in 59 different places
I have hit 141 different moves over two adds (including my newer flip moves)

[brian relly]

http://www.portlandmercury.com/2005-06-23/mach.html

Talent Show Auditions

Got talent? Well, this August, the Mercury will be hosting an all-city talent show entitled "Pizzazz!" where Portland's most talented amateurs will compete to win fabulous prizes!

Whatever age, whatever crazy talent you have… tap dancing, ukulele playing, an 8-year-old singing the blues, jump roping, hot dog eating, juggling, magician-ing, breakdancing, "burp talking," mind reading, animal training, celebrity impersonating… you name it, that's what we're looking for!

Here are the rules: Your talent must take LESS than five minutes to perform. No more than four people can assist you with your talent. A CD player will be provided for singers and dancers (no complicated set-ups). The winner of Pizzazz! will win $1000 CASH and A TON OF GREAT PRIZES!

To become a contestant in Pizzazz!, you must audition, and these will be held on Sunday, July 17. Email zach@portlandmercury.com with your name, daytime phone number, and a brief description of your talent. We'll email you back an audition timeslot!

See? It's that easy! And winning the Pizzazz! Talent Show is your first step to stardom. So dazzle us, and enter today! WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY

http://www.portlandmercury.com/2005-06-23/mach.html

[sidekick]

that sounds great, too bad it's the same day as the last day of our event ... anyway, the last sesh I had with Red and Noah I footed fairy legbeater like 5 times, but my foot refused to stall it. I've also been working on my... well... I don't know what to call it... basically I'm trying to make myself land lighter and not hurt my knee so much. Red mentioned that he couldn't even hear my feet hit the ground when I was doing ripwalks and some other shuffle, so apparently it's paying off. Gong to have another sesh tonight with Red, after my INTERVIEW... I need a job so bad that it hurts.

[redshredz]

I am proud to announce that Sole Purpose has just gained a new member; Sean Wingert! For you younger freestylers, Sean was a strong promoter of the sport in the late 90s, a damn good freestyler, and made some of the original classic freestyle videos including Shredded Wheat (with a fresh faced kid named Red), and the Quam Jam -Worlds 98. Sean's a great addition to the group for sure. And with a few other good freestylers moving out here in the fall, I am very happy with the state of the Sole Purpose footbag group!
REd

[redshredz]

7/10/05
This was a great day for Sole Purpose. We met at Pioneer Square. The shredders included:
Noah Jay-Bonn
Andrew McCargar
Nick Landes
Sean Wingert
myself (Red)

We had a great deal of spectators, a little larger than usual from our usual sessions. This was Sean's first session as part of the Sole Purpose posse, and an old friend (Andrew) returned. Sean was shaking off the rust, but still hit some styley hard combos, complete with quantums, ps whirls, and ducks and dives. In a few sessions, he should be back to his normal shred. I spent half the session updating him about the current state of the footbag scene. Unfortunately, he will be out of town next weekend of the jam. He will be a strong asset not only as a freestyler, but as a promoter for the group as well. Noah was going off as usual, he hit blurry whirl to tomahawk bsos in one run. Plus a bunch long strong combos. Noah will be in good form for the jam next week with all the practicing he has been doing. Nick went off both days, it's funny, he is very receptive to advice, we told him a couple of months ago to work his flip side more, and he opened it up. Not long ago, I advized him to work on his consistancy and go for long contacts, and in the last two days of kicking, he has totally stepped it up, pulling out much longer but still creative combos. Good work, and again, amazing form! The real surprise was Andrew, who has not been kicking much in the last three months, layed down some really strong combos. I was not completely convinced he has not been kicking. At the end of our session, he hit Food Processor to ripwalk bsos. Hopefully this weekend will motivate him to come out again more often. This guy still has game. As for myself, my downtime break officially ended two sessions ago, and I have been very happy with the state of my game since my return. Taking time off to heal up always seems to bring me back much stronger. I am pretty stoked on this upcoming weekend, hopefully I will have time to kick with everyone between handling the responsibilities of the event. We just got our temperary Sole Purpose shirts done, when the event is over we are going to design a detailed logo for the next team shirts. I am very thankful for the amount of support we have out here, last week we did two photo shoots, one interview, and a random video shoot for an upcoming snow boarding video. We even ran into a guy today who did sound work at the Beaver Open (local footbag event) and knows Mag Hughes and a few other old schoolers. I found out recently that the business I work at once supported John Stalberger back in the day for T shirt work. Not even the days of SF did I run into so many footbag friendly people. Again, support is very high out here. We will be working next to get official sponsorship, and will probably set up school shows for next year. Anyway, as for today's session, everyone was on, Straight A session.
REd

[sidekick]

I finally hit my first Fearless (three contacts, but still a combo) it was:
Fairy Ducking butterfly -> Tomahawk -> Paradox Torque

I alos finally sealed the Fairy atomic butterfly with a hand catch... woot!

[redshredz]

Alright,
Today's the day! Lon and Bevier are flying in this afternoon, and Daryl, Sunny, Jim, and Cameron are driving in tonight. Not sure if we are kicking today or not. Lon wants to see the Fantastic Four, but we'll see. Tomorrow, Ahren and Jorden fly in. Should be fun. Just picked up the Vancouver Columbian, made the front page, as well as a large shot in the life section to aid the article about John Stalberger and the local footbag scene. I hope I will not be too busy this weekend, and can get some good kicks in. At CSS3, I did not play at all. We will probably have a few homies sessions though, so I am good to go. Sunday I will play a lot I imagine. Still have a few things to set up though. Well, back to business.

[redshredz]

Haven't posted for the team footblog in a while, been busy with other projects since the Portland event ended. It was a huge success, and we are going to try to recreate it next year.

Of recent, I took a week off from shred after the event, I think everyone in town did pretty much. Got a chance to update the website, put a couple more guys on the team line up. We all met up again Tuesday (7/26/05) for a photoshoot and interview with a journalist/photographer for the Oregonian, a local paper. About 12 SPF members showed up, including Matt, a new 11 year old shredder with Lavers. His dad John plays as well (he also attended), and was associated with past incarnations of the group. The shoot went well, it is our third in a month. I am now handing out flyers, short promo DVD's, and sand bags to interested people. Next week I am getting cards for the team made up.

As far as shred is concerned, Noah, Nick, and Brian are becoming even more technically advanced. Their consistancy is up, and the length and strength of their combos has increased. Landes apparent came close to finishing Rubberman 2, a very hard combo. He keeps getting smoother and sharper with every session. By the time he gets to Germany, he will be off the hook. Brian's add ratio keeps going up, today for the first time he hit spinning ducking osis, and Ducking Paradox Blender (6 adds!) both sides. His fury set is amazing, and his frontside Jani Walker is sweet. Plus his toe eclipse in and out of sets is pretty sweet (I am learning it from him!) For myself, I am still convinced that opening up my game and getting away from the more traditional play of freestyle is the way to go personally. After watching Jorden, all new ideas for tricks, sets and combos started bouncing around in my head. Again, a lot of stuff that doesn't quite have an exact place in the add system. It's pretty exciting to practice new concepts, makes everything seem fun and new again. Ironically, a footbag player joined us today who was pretty smooth and stylish, turns we both attended the same tournament (The Ozark Open, both our first competition) in Missouri ten years ago. Anyway, today was a mix of long runs and new stuff. For the new stuff, I hit pixie knee stall drop down to butterfly, a lot of g freeze combos including spinning ducking osis g freeze to reverse walk over). Messed around a lot with waffle iron stalls (bag pinched between toe and sole). Lot's of hop overs into steps, as well as hop over swirls. Messed with a few zen spins g freezes, but there is only so much my ankles can take. Worked the cloud bump and stall moves, and hit quantum pinch, that was fun. A few sets into lap stall combos as well. There was a lot of other stuff, but I don't really have a good description of what they were, so to video they go. Even got to practice some breakbag, though I only have a "move" down solid. More traditionally, schooled frigid and zoom combos a large amount, bumped up the gimping combos a fair amount, practiced the rake stuff, and even threw in a few flyers. My goal is to develop a game that is a balanced mix of traditional technical (big add combos) and creative outside the box stuff. It would be cool to mix hard tripless and fearless moves with weird random tricks and combos all in the same run. Anyway, that was the last couple of session. Going to Seattle this weekend to kick with Rain City Shred and hang out with family. Should be fun!
R

[redshredz]

PS
Congrads to all the finalists at Worlds, especially to Peter Irish, I believe he now holds the record for consecutive finals in a row (14 or 15). You'll always be the man Pete.