Aric's NC blog

KronoKicker · Post by **KronoKicker** » 25 Jul 2009 20:14

Figured it was about time I started my own blog on here, now that I am trying to get back into full swing and start a new scene in NC.

Most of my progression in the sport is due to the RFA, and miss being able to kick with them on frequent basis. Although I will alway be an RFA member, I will hopefully build a new scene to belong to in NC.

I consider the start of my freestyle career in spring of 2004, even though I have been kicking a ball or bag around since I was about 8.

The peak of my abilities was in fall of 2006. I was doing well in net, and was beginning to break another plateau that I had been on for about a year. That thanksgiving I injured my ankle pretty bad, and things have gone downhill since then. After taking a 3 month break to recooperate, I then started to play infrequently, only to move to NC for a co-op in late winter. My personal life and career have been in the way since then.

Freestyle progress:
Prior to the last couple weeks, I have not been very consistent in playing since 06. I have not played more than 15 hours / year since hurting my ankle. I have a lot to work on, but hopefully the blog and potential growing scene will help me focus.

I set a record this week and have played 4+ hours in 3 days. Which is sad, as I used to solo session 4 hours in a day at one point.

I played today after work, and for the most part I dedicate at least 40% of my session to just drilling tiltless runs to help build stamina/control through longer runs.

I have been really focusing on my weak downtime components, especially double downs, which are still non-existent flipside. Trying to work a lot of illusions, out-in ATW, and legovers every session.

The one drill/string that I was most proud of:
toe > butter > blur > DATW (in) > (rpt) > butter > pdx mirage > DATW (in) > butter > (rpt).

Prior to this month I have hit DATW on my flip maybe 3 times, and I hit it BSOS 2x. Aside from the BSOS, I was consistently hitting the flip DATW, which was nice.

NC Scene progression:
Sent emails to people listed in the area on footbag.org
Joined meetup.com, and tryed contacting the people listed as interested in footbag
Also PMed David and Alan who are hopefully still in the area and kicking.

Hopefully someday NC will be another east coast scene to reckoned with.

mc · Post by mc » 28 Jul 2009 06:06

aric, glad to hear you're back in the game! you had a lot of success with pushing the technicality higher in the RFA, I hope you can do the same in the NCFA! I also have seen a big slide downward in my game in the past few years, but worlds has been big inspiration to get myself in gear again!

actually, I am in berlin right now, relaxing at paul cronjaeger's house. I get back on the plane tomorrow...

I look forward to playing with you again! see ya!

KronoKicker · Post by **KronoKicker** » 29 Jul 2009 19:12

Watched some really old RFA videos today. Always good times to watch you and Mike back in the old days. Worlds looked like a hell of a good time this year, I hope you made it back to state side without any problems

As for the NCFA, I have already found a lot of potential!

David W. confirmed he is still interested in playing.

I have found Jordan in Fuquay, who is likely a circle kicker, but there is always potential there. Found him through .org, and has already responded to my first email.

From meetup.com, an Adam from Cary recently posted. He has several friends and mentions tournaments in his bio...!? I just emailed him yesterday, so possibly a lot of potential there.

I unfortunately won't be able to kick for the next week or 2 as my glasses got busted at a concert... My current glasses are very fragile, and need to make sure they last until my new ones are ready (hopefully by next week). So that kind of sucks.

Tripp · Post by **Tripp** » 30 Jul 2009 03:55

Which concert?

KronoKicker · Post by **KronoKicker** » 04 Aug 2009 09:03

Chimaira, can't remember the openers... glasses were broke the band before chimaira so I was blind when they were playing, which kind of sucked.

-NCFA-
Confirmed Jordan already has basic kicks down and can do some freestyle tricks. Also he is still in high school, and says there are a ton of kickers in his school

Andrew from Cary is also interested in freestyle, and has a friend both currently casual kickers.

Huge potential for having a decent club in NC.

Trying to organize our first session this weekend. Hopefully will have my new glasses by then.

KronoKicker · Post by **KronoKicker** » 09 Aug 2009 20:29

Unfortunately no one could make it out this weekend. Everyone was out of town, or busy working.

I played for a while both days. Played for a while saturday.

Lots of double legovers saturday, hit whirl > pdx whirl > whirl > pdx whirl > (rpt) x3, torque bsos a few times. Then near the end of the session,
blubberman > butter > butter > pdx mirage > rubberman > some shuffle

2nd time hitting blubberman, and was able to almost go straight to rubberman which was cool.

Today was really hot, so didn't play too much. Hit some new/semi new stuff.
clip set legeater bs
clip set merlin bs

Footed frenzy > frenzy 4 or 5 times, should have been able to hit it, but tired out. Next time I play I should be able to hit, and hopefully do it on video.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 12 Aug 2009 08:21

KronoKicker wrote: Footed frenzy > frenzy 4 or 5 times, should have been able to hit it, but tired out. Next time I play I should be able to hit, and hopefully do it on video.

Please do; that's a hard link I'd love to see.

KronoKicker · Post by **KronoKicker** » 12 Aug 2009 20:47

frenzy > frenzy is something i have been trying off an on for about 3 years now. I was soo close last night that I am going to dedicate at least part of most of my sessions to hitting it. Unfortunately, I played with my camera a little today, and the quality is horrible. Cisco just bought a new company that makes cameras (Flip), so I am going to get one of those. It will be a HD camera so won't have to worry about the quality.

It rained today for a while, but thankfully it cooled everything down. I found a dry spot late tonight and played for about 40 minutes. Worked on hitting some symp stuff.

Mostly new.
flail bs, then bsos
pdx flail bs, then bsos

Need to work on my landing with flail. I land way too hard.

beta smear bsos
phoenix > blurry whirl, bsos never tried this on flip before
toe ss drifter > pdx illusion (rpt)... this is a fun one
For 2 simple concepts it took me a lot of tries to finally hit it.

I've noticed that my flipside has gotten quite better through my long break, which is a nice surprise. Still no sign of double down on flip though..

This weekend I get to kick with one of the new guys Jordan, and hopefully some others. So that should be fun.

KronoKicker · Post by **KronoKicker** » 27 Aug 2009 20:30

Been really busy lately, but I did manage to kick with Jordan as planned.

We talked and kicked for 2 hours or so in parking lot next to a ball park. Typical circle kicker, has good controlled kicking with one leg and toe stall dialed. Already started to harp on him to work his left side kicks and stalls. He seems very eager to learn, so I think if he sticks with it he will grow into freestyle quickly.

I haven't hit much over the last few session. Its been really hot even at 9 at night, so my session have been less than an hour most of the time. Been just trying to drill lots of downtime stuff.

Worked pdx dlo, dlo, drifter, pdx drifters, rev whirls, and some other random stuff.

Last week it took me at least 20 tries to hit drifter > pdx drifter (rpt), which was kind of sad. Last night I was able to hit it first try, so that was good.

Came very close to frenzy > frenzy again. First one was nice and controlled, 2nd set was beautiful and had plenty of time for mirage. I completely stopped short, and just missed stalling the bag... so horrible.

Some less common stuff I hit a few times:
terrage bs
bubbabeater bs
phoenix > superfly
darkwalk > ps whirl

I find it very sad that I can hit superfly on my strong side, but I have yet to hit a single clean double down on my flip

I work illusions, out to in atw every session, so I am working to finally hit one.

KronoKicker · Post by **KronoKicker** » 30 Aug 2009 04:45

Played last night, worked on random drills that came into my head. Had a couple long strings with 30+, and a couple tiltless near 50. Every session I've been working toe rev. whirls, and I tried some new stuff today. I also work dlo a lot now, and my flip is coming along nicely. Hitting it far more consistently, will start working eggbeater soon.

Phoenix > blurry whirl, bsos
flip far symp. rev whirl (hit it first try, and sealed it with far symp. rev whirl)
flip blurry rev. whirl
flip rev. whirlygig

KronoKicker · Post by **KronoKicker** » 30 Aug 2009 17:36

Very satisfying session today. Lots of long varied guiltless strings. Some new stuff, but may have overdone it this week, my legs are really tired.

Started a string with toe symp rev whirl bsos, hit far symp rev whirl bsos, some ducking, drifters, whirls, and some other stuff

new stuff
egg > plo (rpt)
flip pixie rev whirl midstring
flip pixie symp swirl
flip muted pixie swirl
flip reverse reactor (will need to hit pdx rev reactor... wish i thought of it while I was playing)
far symp swirl b2b
flip merlin

flip voodoo many times but don't think the symp mirage was clean on any of them..

KronoKicker · Post by **KronoKicker** » 09 Oct 2009 15:46

Too way to long to play again. Got sick for awhile, took some time off from work, and just didn't find time to play. Then for the last 2 weeks when I had time to play, and wanted to play it rained...

Finally got to play twice this week, and it was depressing... I haven't had such a terrible time trying to hit stuff. My stepping was gone, I couldn't string at all even when trying tiltles..

Tonight was almost as bad, but managed to hit a few strings, and some new combos. Don't know what made me try this, but I randomly found that i have a new set. I managed to hit quasi ss butter twice, and equally as excited I almost have the set on flip side. Managed to get a few clean sets on flip but none were quite high enough to hit anything.

Unrelated, but anyone that likes rock/metal you need to see Mushroomhead. Got to see them last month, and they by far the best band I've seen live.

KronoKicker · Post by **KronoKicker** » 17 Jan 2010 20:17

October 9th my last post.. horrible.

Bought a house, holidays, and a lot of drinking = no time for footbag apparently.

I've started running, and now that the weather is getting nicer I'm going to start playing in my garage. I played tonight for a while with some surprising results. Strings are obviously horrible, but i managed to hit a few guiltless strings 20+, and some mixed guiltless/tiltless that went 30+. DLO was working very well, both sides. Hit several pdx, lots of BSOS toe and clip set. Hit pixie ss dlo > pixie dod first try which was cool. Followed it with fog > smog > pixie dod (2nd or 3rd try), which surprised the hell out of me. Ended the night with blubberman took only 2 tries to hit and a long string (around 70 contacts) of butter, ducking clippers, and some pdx mirages. Very tired at the end, erractic breathing. The running will help clean that up and get my stamina back where it used to be.

some new stuff
flip dimwalk swirl (1st or 2nd try, ever)
flip parkwalk swirl

Life has me busy, but hopefully won't be 3 months until my next post.

KronoKicker · Post by **KronoKicker** » 26 Jan 2010 08:19

Took longer to play again than I had hoped, but managed to play last night for an hour. Tried to spend most of the session drilling, but kept trying random drills. Still working on a consistent schedule, but I have been running 3-4 times a week and want to get at least 2 or 3 days of footbag in as well. The running should help get my endurance back where it used to be. I have set some goals... sub 5 minute mile, sub 12 min 2 mile. Surprisingly after only a week or 2 I'm running 2.5 miles around 19 minutes consistently.

Highlights from last night.
pdx whirl > pdx dlo > ss butter (rpt) 1st or 2nd try
quantum pickup BSOS... don't think I had hit that trick on either side before
nice BSOS string... flip matador > bops > strong matador > ducking clipper > matador > ducking clipper > string with BSOS tap, slap, tripwalk, atomic butter
several flip tomahawks, all no plant, which i think is new
couple flip ducking pdx dlo, definitely new. almost BSOS

mc · Post by mc » 26 Jan 2010 12:17

"nice BSOS string... flip matador > bops > strong matador > ducking clipper > matador > ducking clipper > string with BSOS tap, slap, tripwalk, atomic butter "

SICK stuff dude! glad to hear you're still kicking ass! no pun intended.

KronoKicker · Post by **KronoKicker** » 26 Jan 2010 20:19

Thanks Matt, slowly getting into the swing again. Have a couple trips to NY planned for this summer, will hopefully get to stop by Roch for one of them.

Played again tonight, over did it, but quite happy. Managed to hit several strings of 20+ mix of guiltless/tiltless. Managed to hit flip reverse mullet a couple times, and footed b2b. Lots of good shuffle and ducking strings.

New drills/combos
pixie whirl > pdx dlo (rpt)
pixie ss whirl > dlo (rpt)
pixie ss drifter > pdx dlo (rpt)
smoke > dlo (rpt)
pdx egg BSOS
one of anello's bread and butter drills pdx illusion > egg > butter (rpt)
ducking clip > diving clip > far symp rev. whirl (rpt) Took too many tries.

KronoKicker · Post by **KronoKicker** » 21 May 2012 07:44

It's sad to read this lol. I played a couple times this month, and I'm out of shape! Strings are short, easy stuff isn't so easy any more, and sessions don't last long. I used to have 4-hour long solo sessions in college, now I struggle to get to 30-45 minutes before having to quit.

I've started exercising again, and will get footbag back into my life. Need to work on a consistent schedule...

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 21 May 2012 11:27

I look forward to following your progress again

http://www.fourkast.com/media/videos/ar ... c-mcintosh

Pyroman924 · Post by **Pyroman924** » 27 May 2012 07:54

You still in the triangle area?