Length of BAP careers

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 25 Jul 2011 09:18

The other day I wondered: once a player reaches an elite level of play, how long do they stay in the sport? Since it's hard to uniformly define an elite level of play, I thought it might be interesting to arbitrarily use BAP induction as a starting point, since it is generally accepted that if you are a member of BAP, you have reached a level of play consistent with the best players in the world at the time.

This is obviously going to be imprecise, since it doesn't take into account players who took time off and then came back (Red has retired from freestyle like 4 times, for varying periods), or players who still play, but are no longer as serious about the sport as they used to be. I'm also aware that there are several players who play at this high level and are not in BAP (e.g. Olaf), or who would have been BAP in their primes (e.g. Risden). That said, I am curious about what is the average career length of a freestyler, and this is a starting point.

Feel free to posit other theories/estimates about the average freestyler's career length, and/or correct any mistakes you see here.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 25 Jul 2011 09:30

This is a start, and not meant to be comprehensive.

1st wave of BAP: 1993? 1994?

Of the original members, I think only Rippin and Pete Irish still freestyle. Unless Kenny does? Rippin's last Worlds was 2003, and Irish's last worlds as a competitor was 2005.

2nd wave of BAP: 1995

Scott Davidson: Still plays. No significant time away from the sport. 16+ years.

Tuan Vu. Now a net player. Last freestyle comp was Worlds 2005. 10 years.

Eric Wulff. Now a net player. Last freestyle comp was in 2002. 7 years.

Third wave of BAP: 1996

Ahren Gehrman: Last tournament where he was serious was Worlds 2003. I saw him playing at the Santa Cruz invitational in 2006, but he was no longer serious about playing. 7 years.

Daryl Genz. Still plays. No significant time away from the sport. 15+ years.

4th wave: 1997

Ryan Mulroney: BAP in 97, last tournament was Worlds 2003. No longer plays, as far as I know. 6 years.

Chad Devlahovich. Last I saw him, he still plays. Does not go to tournaments as far as I know, and never competed, so it's hard to say when or if he ever stopped. 14+ years.

1998 and later:

Yacine Merzouk. BAP in 2000, last tournament was Worlds 2004. Doesn't really play anymore. 4 years.

Scott Bevier. BAP in 2001, still plays. No significant time away. 10+ years.

Sebastien Duchesne, BAP in 2001, now plays net and freestyle. 10+ years.

Honza Weber: BAP in 02, still plays. No significant time away from the sport, still playing at peak. 9+ years.

Kozlov. BAP in 2006? Last tournament was Worlds 2008. 2 years.

Nick Laroche. BAP in 2004. Fell out of freestyle in 2006? On the comeback? 2-3 years.

Sunil Jani. BAP in 1999. Last tournaments in 2004. 5 years.

Matt K · Post by **Matt K** » 25 Jul 2011 11:38

Both Chad and Sunil were at Worlds 07, and Chad was in Oakland as well.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 25 Jul 2011 11:50

When you saw Sunil, did he say if he still actively plays? I ran into him in DC in 2008, and he said he wants to play, but hasn't had time in quite a while. It certainly didn't sound like he plays regularly. He used to compete at tournaments, and I'm pretty sure his last major tourney where he competed was Worlds 2003.

As for Chad, i got the impression that he does still play regularly. Again, since he never really competed, it's not as easy to draw any conclusions from his lack of tournament appearances in the last few years.

Old freestylers often show up to random tournaments, and sometimes even play some, but I feel that's pretty different from continuing to play regularly. Sort of like when you see NBA players do charity games after they've retired.

Again, I don't expect to get any solid conclusions from this thread. It is interesting to me though to think about the varied lengths of top players' careers. Like, what makes a player stop once he becomes one of the best? Do they find something else they like better (Felix)? Is it injury (Yacine?) Why did Kozlov quit? Do they get bored? On the flip of that, what makes players with long careers keep going?

janis · Post by **janis** » 25 Jul 2011 12:34

Kozlov busted his knee iirc

dasreen · Post by **dasreen** » 25 Jul 2011 13:08

olaf is bap! his nick is anaconda. jakob, however, is bap level and has never been away from the sport :>

richardabshire · Post by **richardabshire** » 25 Jul 2011 13:13

I still shred several times a week. Made BAP in 2001. Will turn 40 on the 30th of July.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 25 Jul 2011 13:25

dasreen wrote:olaf is bap! his nick is anaconda.

When did this happen?

Richie: glad to hear you are still active. Would love to see video!

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 25 Jul 2011 19:02

C-Fan wrote:When you saw Sunil, did he say if he still actively plays?

I saw Sunil playing at East Coasts last year. He actually is still into it. He lives in Philly and has been wanting someone to shred with. Myself and some of the PA Crew is trying to take a trip down to visit him and kick for the day sometime soon. He shreds every now and then, but he's a brain surgeon now (I believe?) and as you could imagine, his time is sparse.

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 25 Jul 2011 20:01

I think there are different degrees of "in to it," and this topic, if I understand correctly is about time at an elite level, rather than just still having irregular kicks. Do you think Sunil could have hit tricks like nemesis first attempt on both sides when you saw him? - Because that's how good he was when he was competing.

Phil Morrison is still very active, although been injured lately. I'm not sure when he was bapped. 2005 maybe?

Johnny Murphy was bapped in 2004 I think, but I don't know if he ever competed after that? There was a NZ championships about that time I think, that he won, and Phil was the impressive up and coming player, but that would have been the last big NZ event. He did win some kind "Hacky Sack" competition a little while later, held by a company (perhaps a retail store?) that had no idea freestyle footbag existed, and got a free trip to the states I think.

Dylan Fry was bapped in 2004, I'm not sure when he last competed, but I think he stopped playing regularly in 2007, although I understand he still has the occasional kick.

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 25 Jul 2011 21:06

I think "into it" just means that they still have an interest in playing. And Sunil still has interest in playing. Sure, maybe he's not at his peak anymore, but he still rips.

g00d33 · Post by **g00d33** » 25 Jul 2011 22:07

I honestly can't remember if Sunil threw down a nemesis or not at east coasts, but he was hitting his janiwalkers no problem, if I recall correctly.

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 26 Jul 2011 02:04

Interesting list.
for some reason "bapped" translates in my mind to "bap-tized".

Tuukka · Post by **Tuukka** » 28 Jul 2011 01:09

Finns:

1999:
Mika Koistinen quit playing after an injury around 2004

2003:
Tuukka Antikainen -> active
Felix Zenger -> somewhat active, is really busy
Jere Vainikka -> quit after back injury around 2004 or so

2004:
Jere Linnanen -> quit around 2005-06, plays still really inregularly with his brother I heard
Lasse Salmenhaara -> quit around 2005, still shred's with you are visiting Turku and want to have a shred
Toni Pääkkönen -> still active

2005:
Juho Marjo -> still active
Mikko Lepistö -> still active

2006:
Aleksi Airinen ->still active

2008:
Anssi Sundberg ->still active

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 29 Jul 2011 10:30

Kiitos Tuukka.

Radek · Post by **Radek** » 03 Aug 2011 07:29

Olaf isn't in BAP yet he has a nickname Anaconda because it's commonly believed he is able to do more with his spine than Anaconda :p

Also Olaf not being invited to BAP several years in row since 2008 when everybody expected it makes me ask: 'if BAP is really an elite group of players who took their game into really really high level or it's just an elite group'.

Actually I don't imagine situation that he isn't invited again.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 03 Aug 2011 07:41

Radek wrote:Olaf has a nickname Anaconda because it's commonly believed he is able to do more with his spine than Anaconda :p.

You sure you have those letters in the right order?

RipWalker · Post by **RipWalker** » 03 Aug 2011 08:01

Haha, Ken -- it's amazing to me that you're able to see those letter swaps so quickly because it's been something that you've enjoyed doing.

I'm voting for typo.

Radek · Post by **Radek** » 03 Aug 2011 09:48

Hahaha Ken you made my day :D

Anyway I meant a bone.

THE BACK BONE YOU SICKO :D

Ohios1 · Post by **Ohios1** » 04 Sep 2011 04:27

i member east coast when sunil was there. i was in a circle with him and we was talking about the nemesis. He footed it in 3 tries and if i recall, he also tried it on the other side. maybe about 6 tries all together. didnt really give it effort thou. im very sure that if he gave it about 5 more tries it would of been sealed on bs.