Kam' Footblog

[kam]

[Edit]This topic was originally created in the Intros/Getting Started forum, but has been moved here so I can keep my intro and footblog in one place (for those who care to read about me ). [/edit]

hi everyone,

My name is Kam, and I joined the board a bit over a month ago. I didn't find an obvious forum just for Introductions, so I'm posting it here. I apologize in advance if this isn't the right place to post.

Well, let's see...I started shredding about...3 months(?) ago when I first met Queency and Matt. They've inspired me to give footbag a try and helped me got started before I got my own bag and shoes.

I also joined their shred group and met Abshire, who's been teaching me tricks every weekend. I am not that good yet because I only have time to practice once a week, but I am progressing steadly.

I've been able to pull the following, although they're not really consistent or being used in combos yet :/

Toe Stall, Inside Stall, clipper, Around the world, leg over, mirage, pixie toe stall, butterfly, osis

I'm currently working on: blurry set, double atw, and everything in the above list (since I'm not consistent with them)

I'm using a 32 panel amareta fearless 55 made by Abshire and a rod laver that's in the process of being modded (i've been having a hard time putting a blade through a fine pair of shoes...haha)

What else? ... hmmm... a bit about me?

I'm a fairly decent pen spinner. At least I hope I am, since I've been spinning for over 16 years now. I also do some card manipulation (XCM), rubberband manipulation, and a lot of other manipulations. You can check out my youtube channelif you are interested.

oh yeah...i'm also helping Queency with the new Nucleus shoe web site. So i'll be checking on that thread for everyone's feedback and think of ways to improve the site.

Anyways, i'll stop here for now. If you're curious, feel free to ask me more.

PS: I love the board. Although I would never have guessed that modified.in is a footbag forum by the name, I think the people here (from what I've read) are very friendly and helpful. I also found lots of useful information on bags, shoes, and healthcare. I have yet to explore all the areas of the forum though

My List of tricks/combos

Got it down (can do it on demand, multiple times in a row):

• Toe Stall
• Inside Stall
• Clipper Stall (R)
• Around the World (out>in)
• Around the World (in>out)
• Leg Over
• Mirage
• Pixie
• Butterfly (R)

Decent (fairly consistent, still miss from time to time):

• Clipper Stall (L)

Shaky (have done it multiple times, but it's hardly consistent):

• Dim walk (R)
• Swirl (R)
• Pickup
• Whirl (R)
• Ripwalk (BS)
• Legbeater (R)
• Paradox Mirage (R)
• Double ATW (R)

It happened, I swear (have pulled the trick at least once, but still needs a lot of work):

• Double switch over (R)

Almost (things I'm working that feel like it's almost there):

• Paradon (L)

Note: leg/side are indicated in parenthesis. If no side indication, it means both sides.

[sen]

Nice to see you aboard! Sounds like you're getting a good understanding of the basics and you have a great crew to play with. I'm jealous.

I would suggest making a footblog to track your progress in.

[crazylegs32]

pen spinning hmm? I bet you get more paid entrants to a pen spninning contest than a footbag one though - and footblogs suck ass the worst invention for a forum ever. Why limit discusions to a stupid ass blog? blogs are for dorks.\

if there was a downfall to .org it was steves program writing back in 2000 or so. and mods downfall was the blogs.

Dude- i learned footbag when I was trippin and saw one armed people palying footbag. If i saw one footed people doing pen spinning it may have changed my whole life path LOL

[T120y]

Dude no way! Ur a sick spinner! I used to spin too after this kid from my school showed me pen spinning (Scott shaputtis) Glad to see uve gone to footbag too
any ways welcome and I'm jealous too those ppl are awesome!

[Fade2black]

look forward to meeting you bud, me and Damon keep trying to hook up at the Oside Pier... but I have a new baby / puppy and my time is like severely tied up!

[Jazzkid]

Welcome to mod. Stick with Abshire and follow him as the guru that he is, you will one day be a bad ass sick shredder.

[kam]

Hey guys, haven't checked this in a while

Thanks for all the support

Let's see...it's been a bit over a year since I started...and I have improved a lot...but I'm still not happy....wish I was twice my level xD

But considering the fact that I have a full time job, side projects, plus other hobbies, I think I'm doing alright.

I can currently do a number of 3-ADD moves, and a couple 4-ADD ones. But I'm a lot more consistent on my 2-ADDs since I last posted.

I'm currently trying to get Rip Walk, Double Down, and some other tricks...but it's been hard. I feel like I have the leg speed, just lack the control.

Anyways...still kicking with Abshire every weekend...2 man 2 hour sessions are pretty tiring...but I love it...much better work out than picking up pens lol xD

What else is new? Oh yeah...i got a chance to meet a bunch of great shredders at the Vegas Jam this year, which was an awesome experience. It really got me motivated to get better. My goal for Worlds will be to not be the worst player there xD Which means I'll definitely need to train hard ^^

Also...last year I entered the Pen Modding World Tournament...and ended up getting first place (just barely...by 0.5 pts). I'm not trying to brag or anything...just pointing out that if someone has some crazy idea for bags or shoe modifications, I can probably be of some help.

I mean, I've made some pretty crazy pens in the tournament. I think I can adapt my skills to shoes and what not

[Donovon]

Man, You seriously designed and built those pens?
You should post a vid actually showing them off. Im sure there are more than myself interested in see the pens live.
Im just sure I cannot even comprehend it.
Perhaps you should start stitching too, lol.
~Donovon

[kam]

First of all, thanks to Moxie for moving this topic to the Footblogs section I'll try to keep a log of my progress here.

@Donovon: I don't have a lot of videos of my pens, but you can see a few on my YouTube channel.

I am not sure about stitching bags...I tend to like exploring new areas/possibilities, and it looks like you guys already got the science of making bags down pretty solid. And...all the needle poking on my fingers cannot be good for pen spinning lol. plus, I got Abshire for all my bag needs

But, I did mod my first pair of Lavers a while back...it only took me a month to get it complete xD. I'm currently washing those shoes, but will post a pic once it's dry and relaced.

[kam]

Edit: found a more appropriate place to post a pic of my shoes, so reposted/moved it there

[kam]

update:

Still feel like a noob, but i've been kicking a lot the last couple weeks (used to kick ~2 hrs /week, now I'm up to 6 or 7) and been making progress.

Last sunday 5/30 I did almost 3 hrs on a two man circle with Abshire, and finally hit a Whirl...woohoo

i know...it's not that hard of a trick, but I've been working on it all week, just drilling the motion and getting my legs used to it. So when I finally got it, i was super stocked.

Also, I got a set of rubber mats, and asked for a week time off from my job for Worlds....so it's time to get serious.

I've updated my first post with a tricks list. I intend to double that list before Worlds (shouldn't be hard, since the list isnt' long...haha).

Any advice is greatly appreciated

[kam]

So...on June 17th, I had a knee surgery done to remove an inclusion cyst that was growing on my knee. It wasn't bothering me, but it wouldn't stop growing after 2 years, so my doctor was worried it would eventually run out of space to grow and start affecting my muscles or cartilage.

Anyways, surgery went well, and I used the days that follow to rest (but build leg strength on my flip side, since that wasn't affected by the surgery).

Now it's been three weeks and I'm kicking fine...I can do most of my tricks except whirl (since it requires me to fold my knee very far and hurts a bit). But I figure in another week or so that should be no problem.

Oh yeah...and I hit a new trick with my pen...it combines the motions of a butterfly (footbag) to pick up a dropped pen laying on the floor I just need to get it consistent now.


In summary, I'm pretty much back where I left off (still a noob), but not much worse due to my knee surgery, so unless something terrible happens *knocks on wood*, I should see you guys at Worlds.

[kam]

woohoo....I finally hit Double ATW (or Double Orbit) yesterday for the first time...the feeling was great.

It certainly did not come easy...I must have been wanting/trying to hit that trick for months now.

I was totally shocked and not expecting to hit it, because my legs were pretty much worn out when I did it. Thursday, I did a solo session for about 1.5 hr...then another 1.5 hr session on Friday (which I wasn't planning on, but hanging out with Queency and her husband always end up in informal sessions). Saturday, Chad came down from LA to San Diego, so Richie and I shredded with him for a long time.

So...on my 3rd day, on my 3rd hour and a half...it finally happened. I'm super stocked and have found a new burst of energy to pick up new tricks and reinforce existing ones.

lesson learned: as much as drilling existing tricks can be boring and tedious...it pays off

next goals:

- get all 2 add tricks I know REALLY down and consistent (10 in a row)
- get all tricks I know on both sides
- new trick: Rip Walk

[kam]

It's been a long time since I posted on my progress, so I thought I'd take a break from work and do just that.

I'm at about 1 year and 9 months, and although I feel like I'm still far from being good, I have consistently improved.

I hit ripwalk on both sides 3 weeks ago (first one took me about an hour, flip side took me another 30 min, but I was super stoked that I hit them both the first time on the same day). Thanks to Abshire for keep pushing me to hit them. I've since hit them a few more times each session, but I still have trouble controlling the stepping set (sometimes it won't go high at all, other times it hits my chest and throws me off :/ )

I also been hitting legbeater on my good side for maybe a month. I love how fast and confusing your legs look to the laymen Trying to hit atom smasher next (after I hit legbeater on my flip side)

what else...double orbit (which I've hit before) is a lot more consistent, and I've hit double around (the opposite direction) last week as well. But all on my good leg.

Sadly, I still can't hit paradon or any double down variation...which really pisses me off. But I think I know why...I haven't really worked on getting my butterfly > butterfly down.

Oh yeah...on a completely unrelated note...I noticed that my pen spinning skills have greatly improved lately...thanks to footbag. I started applying techniques I learned from Vasek's Manual to pen spinning, and they work just as well. I should try to do the same and apply things I learned in pen spinning to footbag, as I'm sure it will be beneficial.

Speaking of pen spinning, I was in a couple TV commercials lately. If anyone is interested, here's a link (note that only my hands were used, they had to use green screen and other techniques to replace the guy's hand) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxP_aGMpYPA

During the shoot, I showed off some basic footbag to the directors and they were really impressed (even though I was wearing long pants and didn't do anything harder than a butterfly xD ). So who knows...maybe next time they do a commercial they might think of footbag.

Anyways, I'm going off topic already...i'll post more when I hit new stuff. I also plan on ordering Jorden's new video...I heard it's pretty sick.

[kam]

hit 2 new tricks last saturday:

- whirl (on my flip side...finally)
- blur (first time hitting it...then I hit multiple times after that)

working on:

- stepping ss mirage
- leg beater (flip)
- double orbit (flip)

I pushed hard this week (7.5 hrs compared to 5 hrs that I usually put in), and my body is feeling it. But it was all worth it when I hit that first blur.

Can't wait till I can hit things with those long ass names (lol) like most people here. Maybe then I won't feel like a newbie anymore.

[kam]

weather was cold today, so it was hard to shred. Managed to pull two new things:

-drifter
-butterfly > ripwalk

hit blur again at the end if the session, but was hoping for cleaner ones.

[kam]

2/26:
new trick - double atw (flip)

3/1:
new trick - dlo (good side)

3/2:
new trick -dlo (flip)
pdx mrg (bsos)

[kam]

3/5 - usual session with abshire and damon. I don't think i hit anything new.

First attempt at triple atw (requested by a 8 year old girl that watched us the entire session). Failed terribly, but at least I. Know how far I am from hitting it.

First time recording a session. It was good to see my form. I think I'll start recording more as I look nothing like I imagined lol

3/8 - 2 hr session. Did lots of clippers to try to get my flip side looking the same as my good side. Not easy.

New trick - open symposium down. Not sure what it's called. I really dislike how this looked, but might be useful for sometthing in the future. Is this a 5 add trick? Wasn't going for adds, but if it is...then this is my first.

[C-Fan]

New trick - open symposium down. Not sure what it's called. Is this a 5 add trick?

No common nickname for this trick, though you might hear it called "backside dimwalk" or "symposium dimwalk." The way you described it is fine too.

Generally, symposium down does not receive an add for the symposium, but this was never really justified clearly. If you double the down, then magically symposium does get counted. So whatever.

Good luck solidifying your two adds. Getting that foundation solid is key to developing well.

[kam]

Thanks for the clarification, Ken. I'm kinda glad that's not a 5 add. I hope my first one to be a triple dex move

3/10/2011: 2 hr solo session today.

Lots of 2 adds as warm ups.
Clippers, butterflies, osis. Lots of them.

I have negleted my osis in the past because my glasses would fly off ocasionally, but now I'm using a hook thing I made to keep them secure. I can finally start working on ducking and spinning moves.

After the first hour, I decided to hit as many tricks as i can.

Fairly consistent:

Pixie legover
Smear
Pdx mrg
Dimwalk
Double orbit (good side)

Not consistent, but still hit it:
Dlo BS
Ripwalk BS
Whirl BS (x2 on good side)
Swirl (I know, lame xD)
Legbeater
Barrage
Blur

New trick:
Paradon

Attempted:
Triple orbit (bad idea, knee started to hurt after 4th attempt)

Edit: btw, in case anyone is thinking that I should stick to basics first before trying hard tricks, don't worry...I know the importance of having good basics. I'm working on expanding my trick arsenal while building strong core tricks. The reason for that is because if I don't try new tricks once in a while, I won't feel challenged and won't get motivated to practice as much.