Jon: Kicky Sack Memoirs

[jon]

Hello Modified,

Here is my third attempt at starting a blog and hopefully this time I will stick with it. I will try to post what is new and exciting with my footbag progression and anything else that comes to my crazy mind. Part of the inspiration for giving this whole blog thing another chance is the arrival of my first ever video camera.

With that being said I plan to start making short videos/high light reels of my sessions and thought a blog would be the best place to put them. So far I have only taped one session and edited only one video, but I guess I have to start somewhere.
So without further ado here is my first ever video, enjoy:
(sorry about the lack of music)
http://www.footbag.org/media/690/jon-june-05.wmv
updated link that should work properly

Let the blog begin ...

[stva]

Dang dude, all hail king drifter.

[jon]

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Footbag background:

1) First experience with Hacky Sack was in grade four when it was a fad at my school for a month. Got up to 11 consecutive kicks with my right inside.

2) Start playing again in the fall of 2001. It was my first year of university and a good buddy of mine had a hacky sack. I start to kick a bit and then went online and found footbag.org and flipsider.com

3) Flipsider was my launching board into the world footbag. Over the winter break I went home to Toronto and bought a pair of Adidas Stan Smiths. I went on to learn clipper on my left side over the next four months.

4) At the end of second semester (mid spring) I met Chad Allen and Will Little. Chad showed me the butterfly the week before the end of my first year of school.

5) Over the next four months of a summer semester I played a bit but was still just working on clippers and moves that were far to hard for me (ahem mobius :p)

6) When the fall came I moved to Victoria and ordered my first pair of Lavers. (My family moved to Victoria half way through the summer of my first year) I met and played with most of the Victoria crew that fall. The person that stands out most in my mind was Dylan Fry but I also played with and got to know Matt Emmenings and Jeremy (sorry cant remember your last name). I also remember another footbagger who I recall being in a movie with guy from Dawson’s creek but can’t seem to remember his name either.

7) I came back to Guelph in the winter semester with a renewed excitement about footbag. I starting to practice on my own in my dorm and started to learn some more of the basics. At this point I had still refused to learn anything on my flipside. Looking back I really wasted much potential footbag growth turning my first year. But then again what are mistakes for if not for learning valuable lessons.

When the spring came I start to play with Chad and Will more and learned a few more moves like whirl and swirl. I was still very much one sided and couldn’t string to save my life. This is also when I think I first had the opportunity to meet one Jordan Moir. I am not sure how old he was at that point but I remember being so impressed to see him hit PS Whirl among many other insane moves, which at that point I still could not recognize.

9) During the summer semester I headed back to Victoria to get a job and make some money while living at home. This was the summer when I started to play a lot more with the Victoria crew and met Allan H. for the first time. Over that summer I laid down much of the groundwork for my game to come. It was also the period where I made many of my most foolish mistakes. I was too worried about trying to learn a 5 add. Didn’t care about strings or my flipside. I was making progress but slowly. The highlights of that summer was learning DATW but the mistakes of not absorbing the experience and wealth of knowledge in the Victoria scene was a mistake that I believe set my game back.

10) In the fall I returned to Guelph for my third year of University and this is where I believe I actually started to play footbag. I hit my first 5 and realized it wasn’t so important. I soon learned what the vets had been telling me all along, it’s all about the strings. From there I started to practice more on my own and play more with the Guelph crew.

Since then I have been progressing at a fairly slow rate due to lack of practice. Up until last summer when I was getting ready for my first real tourney, Worlds 2004, I never practiced on my own more than once a week. Since then I have been working a lot on my consistency and variety (I still have a long way to go) and have come to realized many things about the game and the community I didn’t really know or appreciate in my first year(s). I realize I am still very much in the learning phase and have a long way still to go.

Tourneys that I have attended:
One day of the Vancouver Canadian Open in either 2002/2003 (forget which)
Worlds 2004
Glass 2005
TOFU Canada Jam 2005

Since beginning freestyle I have met so many great people. The Ontario scene is exploding and everyone is so nice. The Brantford crew (especially Johnnny), Jordan, the Toronto Crew (Andrew, Camille, Paul, ect), the Guelph footbagers (Chad, Will, Jason, ect), Tom, the Ottawa Crew. I have been lucky enough to have had the opportunity to play with many great shredders at this point in my game and every time I get to shred with someone new I learn something.

So this is where this blog comes in. I hope I can use this space to track my progress and understanding of the game and use this as a place to voice what every wacky ideas I can come up with. My opinions and ideas are always changing so it will be interesting to look back and see my thoughts change over time.

Thanks for reading so far!

[jon]

Tuesday, July 12, 2005 continued …

What I use to film:
JVC GR-DV500U MiniDV Camcorder
For lighting I went out and bought a 500 watt halogen light. From reading Camcorderinfo.com (possibly the best site in terms of camera purchasing knowledge) I learned that the closet thing to professional lightening at a cheap price is regular old quartz halogen light. To get the diffused lighting effect all you need to do is simply place a dryer sheet over the light. This semi-pro :p set up cost me a net total of $18 Canadian dollars.

Thoughts on videos:
I need to get and learn how to use Adobe Premier.
From now on I will try to wear a shirt when I film myself. I almost didn’t release this video cause I thought I looked foolish playing half naked in it. I used to be so pro no-shirt but now I think I realized why many of today’s pros where a shirt when they play. It looks better, its less distracting to newbies, and I also don’t want to come across this videos 20 years from now and think, “What the hell was I smoking?”.
Note: about the video posted at the beginning of the blog, it was just a drilling session, it is not really representative of my skill or normal style of play. As everyone knows videos can be very deceiving.

Some more background on me:
Entering my 5th year of a Bachelor of Computer Science degree at the University of Guelph.
I am currently taking 8 months off school (I have three courses left and then I am graduated) and am working at Research In Motion. (they are the guys that make the blackberry)
After I am done I am unsure about the direction my life will take. I plan to right the LSATS (law school entrance exams) in October but I am also interested in pursuing a masters in English (English is my minor, although you could never tell from the way I write and my long run on sentences) or maybe even a Masters in Computer Science although the only area I am really interested is human computer interaction. Really the more I do with computers the less I want to use them. I have no real set path that I intend to follow at this point. All I know is that I want more education and am not ready for the real world and the 9-5 grind.
Outside of school and footbag I also enjoy rock climbing, and exercising. My current kick is pull-ups, and try to do 150 + a day.
My time seems to be so valuable these days and I am always so busy. Between work, my girlfriend, exercise, and hanging out with friends I have 0 hours in the day. I will still however endeavor to make as much time for footbag in my life as possible.

At the moment I am super excited about going to play footbag in Toronto this weekend and am trying to get in as much practice time as possible before then. These days I am very lucky if I can get 2-3 hour and a half long session a week. But even with this time I see improvements in my game and I hope that my new camera will help me correct some flaws in my technique and style.

… So that’s the end of my first huge blog entry. I will try posting fairly consistently and try to not make all the posts so long. Thanks for being patient with me and expect more videos to come.

[jon]

Four More Tricks

[Nathan]

Yay, videos from Jon! Nice tricks, especially the paradon swirl.

[jon]

Yay, videos from Jon! Nice tricks, especially the paradon swirl.

thanks, that was actually the easiest of those four tricks for me

[jon]

Friday, July 15, 2005

Short session yesterday with no video footage. Mostly drilling basics except for the last 15 minutes of an hour and half long session.

Drilled:
Consecutive kicks
- did 300 or so alternating insides
- drilled insides to outsides
Consecutive Same Legovers / Same Pickups
Consecutive ATW's
Consecutive Legovers / Pickups and schooled alternating them
Consecutive osis, and far osis
Tried to school zooming :p
All that stuff took a bit more then an hour

Then I just worked on some other guitless stuff like ducking, whirls ect
Did a lot of consecutive butterflys and I think I am in the midst of changing how I do them again, this time trying to remove unnecessary motions
Also worked on a new secret move for five minutes, but will post the video if and when I hit it (not sure if its been done before but dont want to give it away :p)

It was nice to have a nice layed back session. I dont practice the basics near enough and found doing them to be relaxing and fun. Will have to start doing it more often.

[jon]

Saturday, July 16, 2005

Note: The links to the two videos posted so far in my blog have been fixed and the videos are now hosted on footbag.org

Had a final session before I leave for Toronto tomorrow. Hope I didnt overdo it, I dont want to be sore for tomorrow.

Worked my toe flicks again, they are coming along nicely
Also schooled atw more, and datws. I would like to start stringing doubles both sides and both directions mid string. Right now I mainly just hit out to in datw on my strong side to start strings but worked on both sides both ways midstring today which I think really helps.
Besides that just did some bops, ducks, stepping, atomic, drifters and paradox drifters, dynos.

Highlights:

Linking paradox drifter > dyno a few times, gonna start to through that in my strings alot

in to out atw > ss mirage [repeat] x 3 > out to in atw > ss mirage [repeat] x 3 > then alternated in to out and out to in in the same way till I dropped - it may not sound very impressive but I was very happy with it

sidewalk > ripwalk [repeat] - I have never actually hit this before, so I was very happy with this

I will hopefully get some good video from tomorrow's session in Toronto. Update to follow.

[jon]

Monday, July 18, 2005

Well another phat session went down yesterday in Toronto.
Started the day by waking up late. Had to catch a cab to the bus station but made it on time. Took the bus to Toronto and arrived around 11:30. Since the shredders were not meeting till 1:30 ish. I wandered around the eaton's center until it was time to play.

The first footbagger I met was Hugh from Toronto. We did some titless shred under a shitty shelter while it rained and rained. After 20 more or so, another footbagger arrive, Colin Kennedy! and the shred continued. After a bit more time shredding Camille arrived and we left for the next shred spot.

Once we got there other players start to show up. The Toronto crew, the Waterloo crew, and finally the superman himself, Johnny S. After about 30 minutes, Colin went for a midstring paradon and came down hard on his ankle. It made a funny noise and Colin was out for the rest of the session (on a side note, there were a bunch of chairs around so I went to grab one so we could elevate Colin’s leg, but some cranky old man said I couldn’t use the chairs because he needed them to hold his bags, screw you! whoever you are)

We eventually got kicked out of the spot where we were playing, Nathan Phillips Square, by a stupid security guard. So we went around back where absolutely no one was and played for 30 more minutes. Then the stupid guard came back and threatened to arrest one of us if we didn’t leave! I guess public property doesn't allow for footbag. FOOTBAG IS NOT A CRIME! So we said ok and left.

We moved across the street to a nice location and shredded the rest of the day away. The session was chill, as all the Ontario gatherings usually are. There was lots of great shred, and even lots of hand catching of passes and self-serving, as well all laughed about the recent discussions on modified. The circles flow was, I am glad to report, not irreparable damaged by any of this :p

I did a bit of filming but I doubt I will do anything with the footage because I didn’t take much. Everyone was playing really well and it’s good to see everyone progressing. In particular, I was very impressed with how Owen T.’s game is coming along. I also wanna give props to Andrew, Camille, and Aaron who shred hard! Go Ontario!

Johnny S. was insane as always. Stuff like barrage > quantum drifter midstring, genesis, and I believe quantum-ducking butter. At one point he left to get some water, and by the time he got back I had imposed a CIRCLE LOCK so he wasn’t allowed to shred with us anymore. After a quick laugh he walked into our rubberman circle (we were all trying rubberman) and hit rubberX3 on command. He did his normal insane fearless links and I believe did something like 8. Go Johnny.

Highlights for me were some ok stepping strings, and my usually boppy guiltless play, but I did manager to hit nuke muted xbd rake for the first time ever on my second try!

After lots of shredding, attempts at doing planches (here is a link to explain what we were trying: http://www.dragondoor.com/cgi-bin/artic ... icleid=229) so fun, and some group schooling we grabbed some pizza and I headed for the bus station. As I sat on the bus, Camille, Andrew, and Johnny came up along side my window and waved and yelled at me while I sat there trying to hear them through the glass. After a few window kisses and goodbye waves my bus rolled away as Camille helped up a sign saying they loved me. I LOVE YOU TOO ONTARIO SHREDDERS!!!!

The whole day was fantastic and easily one of the most fun sessions I have ever had. Thanks go out to everyone (even those I forgot to mention by name) for making it so great. Ontario rocks! Everyone better watch out cause Ontario’s skills are about to explode.

So now I guess I will go back into schooling and training mode for out next encounter Ontario. Hopefully using some tips Johnny gave me I will be barraging soon and stringing long more genuine stuff. And I promise, the next time you see me, I will hit rubberman! Till then ….

[Camilleon]

I liked your description of the day. It was so fun! Thanks for comin Jon! You are one of the funniest people in footbag. You always find a way to make us all laugh, thank you. I hope I see you soon! Before you move out west again!

Keep up the good shredding work! You rock.

[jon]

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Thanks Camille
Don't worry about me leaving Ontario anytime soon. I am here till atleast April of next year.

Had a short sessions yesterday (20 minutes or so). I thought it might make my sore legs feel a bit better then doing nothing. So I went outside and played as the sun was setting and clouds started drifting across the sky. As the sun set, the sky grew dark, and some soft rain started to come down I played and watched the lightening and heard the thunder roll off in the distance. I love footbag when sessions are as peaceful and relaxed as yesterday, thank you footbag.

[TheHostAgeSystem]

dear jesus..I love the butterflys... i have been working on mine because i dont have good flipside butterflys yet..But when i dont..ill make a vid..and personally for you on the Butterflys

[jon]

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Sessioned today. Went to a school yard that is end of my backyard with a boom box and played from 7:30 till 9:30. Listened to the grey album while I played. Worked consecutive atw’s, legovers, pickups, clippers. My toe flicks are also coming along. Before soon I was just doing runs. Nothing to exciting but overall they are slowly getting better.
I had also worked a lot on my stepping tricks and atomic tricks. I decided to try doing multiple 5’s in runs which is something I never do. I managed to get a run with blurry whirl and mobius and then my first 5 > 5 blurry whirl > paradox torques. I worked a bit on bothsides whirl > p. torques. for a while. I dit ducking sym p mirage for the first time in awhile and next session I am gonna try to link a pardox torque into it, but the foot work is kinda tricky :p I worked spinning on my flip a lot. Hit spinning clipper bsos > 25 infinities > spinnging drop. I decided to try a 5 move combo to end my day. Decided to try to hit ss butterfly > ripwalk > drifter > spinning clipper > mobius. Hit it first try

edit: also made a thread describing how I fix bags.

[HG]

Props on that last combo! Its phat!


I listened to grey album and then i realised i am white

[jon]

Monday, July 25, 2005

My last session was actually Saturday with Chad in downtown Guelph. It was my only session this weekend, which kind of sucks, but I just don’t have the time to play as much as I would like to. Anyways … the session was so so. I realized that when I play with other people my sessions are far less relaxing and zen like. When I play alone and I miss up its no big deal and my sessions are usually very positive. When playing in front of people I get angry and usually start cursing.
I ended up with some good strings although mobius was giving me trouble all day. I had a string with strong blurry whirl and both p torques. I hit flip blurry whirl first try and I havn’t even tried that trick in months. I hit ps whirl first try out of a ripwalk. Besides that crap I really worked on my rubber man links and doing so is helping my stepping game I think. I really want to play tonight but I have stupid soccer practice. I don’t really like soccer that much, my team is terrible (worst in the league), and I would rather be playing footbag. I have no choice though because the guy that drives me to and from work everyday is on the team and I am a slave to his schedule. If I do get to play tonight I am gonna work on my 2’s!!!

[jon]

Sunday, July 31, 2005

Played yesterday from around 7:15-8:30. It was so relaxing and zen like.
Did lots of two's. Think I did two's for around 20-30 minutes. Then I just started spinning . Now normally I can't (read don't) spin on my flipside but today proved to be different. All of a sudden my flip spinning clipper was more controlled and reliable. I then went on to hit:
spinning clipper bsos over and over
spinning osis bsos over and over
gyro pickup > drifter bs
gyro ducking osis (strong side)
spinning ducking clipper (flip )
gyro mirage bsos
spinning p mirage bsos

mobius (flipside!!!)

I hit mobius on my strong side about a year ago and it has started to become much more reliable lately. It was so satisfying to hit one of my first dream moves on my flip.
GO Footbag !!!

[jon]

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Had a weird session yesterday. I was full of anger and rage at my computer. My external drive decided to die on me, although I think the problems are related to some advice my housemate gave me trying to fix another computer problem. I really needed some files off it, namely pictures of me and my gf that I want to get printed to use in one of her bday gifts. It was all gonna be perfect, I would get the pictures, go get them developed, make a photo albumn ect ect but when I got home I was greeted by a shitty ass dead drive.
Anyways ... after two hours of trying to get it to work I got a program to recover my files and let that run, which is did for about 2.5 hours. While it was doing this I decided to at least get some footbag in, so out I went to the school yard behind my house.
I did no warm up, no two's, just started shredding. I did put a little focus on my flip spinning but it wasnt as good as the last session. Full of anger and engergy I just started going for bigger moves. Mullet, gangsta party, gaunlet, dolomite, ect ect, stuff that I really cant even foot. I did end up hitting ducking paradox whirl both sides for the first time which was kinda nice. Hit spinning clipper > blurry whirl (flip whirl) and ducking butterfly > blurry whirl (flip again). I think my flip bw is better than my strong cause my stepping still sucks. With that in mind I did lots of ripwalks and rip x 3 > whirl on both sides.
When I was done I was not calm as I usually am but rather still kinda full of angry energy which I relieved with lots of pullups (which I now do with 15 pound around my waste). I was up till 1:30 in the morning getting the photos of my computer and only really got them nice and pretty and ready for printing a couple of hours after getting to work.
So today, instead of going to my soccer game, I have to skip to go get the pictures printed in time for her bday tomorrow. Well at least it all worked out in the end. Not sure when I will session next. Might not be till next sunday.

Also not sure if anyone really reads this blog but whatever ... thats not why I write in it.

[QuantumBalance]

oh yes we do. props on your flip blurry whirls and your tomahawks!

good luck with photo album
and may i recomend taking off the extra weight and just doing more pullups

-samurai

[HG]

Wow ducking butter>blurry whirl sounds like a hard link! i have trouble just stepping out of blurry whirl.


Sucks about your hard drive, i am having computer problems also....