AnzBlog

[Anz]

This is my list:
-ATW: simply the best basic trick to practice Toe set, dexing and muted footwork/magic hop
-Eggbeater: it has both Illusion (hardest of LIMP), and Symple Legover
-Spinning muted Clipper: Spinning is important, and consecutive muted tricks are good for set precision and balance
-Infinity: simply the best trick to practice Clipper set and Clipper balance
-Ripwalk: Stepping set, basic shuffle
-Osis: base for many big tricks like Blenders and Torques, also an important bail for Guiltless (which I hate to admit)
-Swirl: consecutives good for Clipper fine control and balance
-Symposium Whirl: balance, set control, Symposium
-Whirr: great for Clipper set, footwork and double dexes

(Read the whole entry from previous page)

Good points risen:

I would replace atw with datw.
why swirl instead of reverse swirl? because you can do it uptime and downtime?
and I don't see whirr as very important although it is a super cool trick.

I did consider DATW, but ATW is better to do with different techniques, like keeping your support foot still. I can't do four DATWs that way, keeping my balance perfect. DATW is very good practice though.

Also with ATW and Swirl I ment both dex directions. So ATW i-o and o-i, and Swirl and Rev Swirl. Both good to practice for example by changing direction on consecutives.
I don't recommend doing Swirl uptime, unless you're practicing it for Ripstein. It's like doing ATW like Pixie Muted Toe, it's a technique that doesn't really connect with any other move. Also I personally dislike how uptime Swirl looks.

Whirr is the lonely double dex on the list. If there was another, it would be Barfly, but it's so similar to Infinity, I didn't include it. Toe Barrage is also pretty good double dex practice, but it doesn't serve wide trick selection. Whirr because it has an uptime element, and it needs good control.

Besides these reasons above, Whirr is good training for consecutives because of it's flow. It doesn't have a break, and where the trick ends, the next begins. It's quite demanding that way. Down Double Down doesn't change side, but it's more forgiving and lacks the flow because of the break in the trick where the bag peaks. I think Sidewalk is good for ss Clipper training (Some people listed Stepping Clipper), where you try to set straight and precise. Whirr is an improved version of this. You really need to control your set, your balance and your dexes.

I like the list, though I would replace Ripwalk with Blur/Blizzard. Ripwalks looks easy, are easy, are overdone by people and look ridiculous. With Blur, you practice Mirage and Pdx Mirage, which you need for DLOs, Drifters, Torques, Da Da Curves etc.

I chose Ripwalk over Blur because you can do consecutive Ripwalks, and it changes side. I agree that Ripwalk is easy and forgiving, but something like Blurry Whirl or Blurriest would be a bit too much. Blur is good training for plain Stepping set, but that's about it.
Also I want to point out that Mirage - in any compound trick, Pixie, or Stepping - doesn't really help for Drifter, Torque or Dada Curve. Mirage is just a "knee up, knee down" trick, when Drifter needs hips, Torque the whole upper body and Dada Curve is more about Symple Butterfly.


Like said, it's hard to list single tricks. I would probably make a different list in one year. But these are just single tricks. Drills like ones I put on Anz' Trikz a year ago are all good. If this trick list lacked Barfly, Pdx Whirl and Drifter, they're pretty good to train in a drill together.


Shin situation
I still can't play footbag because of my shin. A family friend of mine is a doctor, who took a quick look at it. Their thoughts aligned with mine, and they said only resting it will help. They also said I could go take an x-ray of it, but I don't think I will, because it's slowly getting better anyway. If it keeps on healing, at this rate I'll be playing in a couple months - I hope.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Thank you for the list.

I think people should make note that this list is "concepts to practice to have a well-rounded game" (I think? This is what it seems like, at least).

I have some questions:

Do you think it's important to have a well-rounded game or is it better to be well versed in only a few things, then just okay at the rest?

Do you think it's important to learn every set and every basic-to-intermediate trick? (For example: is it alright for a player to not practice Spinning, or for another player to not practice Pixies?) I know some people currently leave out certain concepts to get better at other concepts.

Which of the following do you agree with:

A) As soon as you learn a new trick, you should begin drilling it.
B) You should spread yourself thin at first and learn a bunch of different concepts, then figure out which ones you like best and begin drilling those.
C) You should not move on to new tricks until you have good consistency with the last trick you learned.

And finally, if a player cannot hit Whirr well, what do you recommend that they drill to get better at Whirrs?

[C-Fan]

And finally, if a player cannot hit Whirr well, what do you recommend that they drill to get better at Whirrs?

Whirl.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Yes, of course. But what if the player can already Whirl well? Symp Whirls, I suppose?

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

One more question that I was thinking about:

You said you implied that "Swirls" means Swirl and Reverse Swirl, same with Atw & Orbit. Is this reverse direction applied for all of these tricks listed?

ie:

Atw & Orbit
Eggbeater & DLO
Spinning Muted Clipper & Inspinning Clipper
Infinity & ??(Pdx Whirl?)
Ripwalk & ??(Blurry Whirl?)
Osis & ??(Frigidosis?)
Swirl & Rev Swirl
Whirr & Reverse Whirr


The questioned ones might be pushing it a bit.

Another thing.. Does this also imply that you should practice them all from every main set surface?

[Anz]

Do you think it's important to have a well-rounded game or is it better to be well versed in only a few things, then just okay at the rest?

It is very important to have a wide trick selection. Of course being "okay at the rest" is very relative. Working on your weaknesses improves the whole game.

Do you think it's important to learn every set and every basic-to-intermediate trick?

Yes. Every set meaning Pixie, Fairy, Atomic, Quantum, Stepping, Spinning, Ducking, and basic-intermediate tricks meaning LIMP, Butterfly, Whirl, Rev Whirl, DLO, Eggbeater, Drifter, Double Down, Torque, Blender, Dyno. (Might have forgotten something)
Then some more advanced moves, like Furious, Nuclear, Surging, Phasing, Swirling, Whirling, and Grifter, Flux - and so on - one can pick moves to specialize in, but I still recommend learning most of them on some level. Mastering them nears impossible, because it's so hard to keep such a wide trick selection.

Which of the following do you agree with:
A) As soon as you learn a new trick, you should begin drilling it.
B) You should spread yourself thin at first and learn a bunch of different concepts, then figure out which ones you like best and begin drilling those.
C) You should not move on to new tricks until you have good consistency with the last trick you learned.

All of these statements are kinda vague, so they're hard to agree with in general.

A) Depends on your level, the trick, and the extensiveness of said drilling.
If you just learned Whirl, then hell yes, you should begin drilling it.
If you just learned Food Processor, then it depends.
Also what is the definition of "learn". Everyone has slightly different views on that. If you hit Food Processor for the first time after trying it for ten past sessions, I'd call it a fluke, but you're getting close to learning it. Can do it 5/10 tries, I'd say you learned it. Can do it 9/10 times: you've learned it, but do you need to drill it for a while now?
It's about the want and need to get better at the trick or concept.

B) To me it would seem beneficial to the maximum level one can achieve, that they've tried to cover as many concept in their early game, as possible. This means ones game won't bloom for a few years, but it would seem to make good players in and out of competition. I see many "one-trick-wonders" who master a couple concepts, but struggle even with some basics. They don't make it far, and might lose interest in footbag after some time, when their game is progressing. Like said, the whole subject is pretty vague, and this is just my opinion. Personally I tried to learn all the basic concepts early in my game, and I think it was a good choice.

C) I don't agree with this. One can learn many concepts side by side, especially at a young age (< 20) and when early in the game. I find it better to cover more ground at first, and if necessary, get back to concepts to refine them. It's easier to bring back a concept than to learn it from scratch.

My next blog entry subject is probably along the lines of "What's good nowadays", and I'll try to cover all of this in it.


The best practice for Whirr is Whirr. It's one of those tricks that doesn't have good build-up tricks - other than Whirl of course. But once your overall Clipper game and Whirl are decent you can start working on Whirr. The motions might feel awkward at first, but hard work pays off.

Symp Whirl is not good training for Whirr, as the footwork is completely different. Compare Symp Mirage and Toe Barrage for example.

I did not imply that the Swirl and ATW in both directions applied to all the tricks, nor that they should be practiced from ever set surface. I hate getting repetitive, but I guess it can't be helped.

I made the list with tricks that can be repeated in mind. All the tricks on the list can be repeated. It takes 5 to 20 minutes to go through the list and do a few sets of consecutives of all of them. It should be easy to implement to a warmup or a cooldown routine, but it doesn't mean they're the only tricks you should do. And then you have the rest of the session for everything else. These are just tricks that I wanted to raise above others to give them special value, as they can serve as "short cuts" to working on a wide area of different concepts, footwork and setting.

I chose Eggbeater on the list because it has Illusion and Symple Legover. Illusion because it's hardest of LIMP, and it has a connection to other types of dexes ( most importantly Double Down). I don't value Mirage on it's own, or with any other trick, nearly as much.
Then of course the current level of the player decides what they can drill. DLO could be easier than Eggbeater to do in and out of tricks to start with.
I personally skool Eggbeater with some Pixie and Atomic links. A (onesided!) drill like
Eggbeater > Pixie Illusion > Eggbeater > Pixie Illusion > Eggbeater > Atomic Legover
is what I've done a lot.

Ripwalk / Blurry Whirl - why not. But that might by pushing it for some. I tend to do Ripwalk x20 once or twice for warmup and cooldown. And I sometimes do Blurry Whirl x10+.

Pdx Whirl / Barfly / Drifter are something that I used to do for warmup, a set of 20 each, but they're something that I won't put on the list. If you need to practice the trick, then dedicate more time for it during the session, just skool it on it's own.

Symp Whirl I tend to practice in sets of 6. One can go for bigger numbers, but it's more taxing and might lower the amout of sets you can do. I do minimum of 6 because it's a high enough number to show you if you have the trick under control. Remember to pay attention to landing and catching the stall at the same time with Symp Whirl. Lot's of bad executions out there.

What comes to Frigidosis, I don't see any good in skooling it for other than beginners, to whom it can do good in developing ankle crank.

When you look at the list, think about your own ways of implementing it to your game. I don't think it will be any good if I try to explain my thoughts on it any more. If someone stll wants to talk about the subject, it might be better to start its own thread for it.


Custom Made Electronics

Now that I'm writing here again, I might as well take the chance to promote my custom made electronics. I've been making some stuff that footbaggers might be interested in:
http://modified.in/footbag/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=23736

^ Here's an example of a bluetooth speaker with a footbag link generator I made.

[Anz]

My leg finally feels like it's alright. I played footbag today. 30 minutes of totally pain-free time with Lavers on. First time in ~14 months. It felt very nice just doing Butterflies and feeling no pain. Very shaky though. It's going to take some time and work to get back in shape.

I've been out of the loop for some time now. I haven't even watched any videos from the joulukalenteri, and haven't been in touch with any shredders for a while.

I might blog my progress on getting back in shape. I haven't decided yet. It might not be very interesting to write or read about. Anyway, I hope I can now find the motivation to play often enough to get my old trick selection and consistency back by spring.

[Asmus]

Happy to hear you are back brother.

All the best,
A

[Anz]

So 2015 is here, and I've had a couple sessions. My shinbone has started acting up again during footbag, but it's not aching when I'm doing something easier like walking up the stairs. So it's not well yet, but it's almost there. I'm going to take it easier and see how it goes. Maybe an easy 20 min session once a week, to at least get some muscle memory back up. No Symposium Furious sets.

I have no goals for the year 2015. I just want to play footbag again. Maybe my goal should be not to get injured again. I've had unrelated injuries one after another for four years now.

I've had a couple unfinished blog posts hanging on my desktop for like three months now. Maybe I'll watch some of the Joulukalenteri (still haven't seen any of it) to get some motivation to finish a proper blog entry.

I was thinking that I'd release some old videos in my blog. That would make something reasonable to post here. I made a DVD in 2010 (my last healthy year), but never made it public. There's like six or seven copies around the globe, that I handed out to fellow footbaggers. I'm not sure how many actually, I lost count. It's been five years now, and the footage is just outdated enough to put on YouTube. It's standard resolution and pretty much no production. In other word: bad quality. But it shows very well how I (want to) play footbag. Just what this blog needs. I filmed the first sessions in February, so I think I'll post the first video in February. Maybe one per week after that.

[max]

looking fwd to it anz

[Derek]

Would LOVE some unreleased Anssi footage. Cannot effin' wait.

[Asmus]

[Anz]

Ok here starts the little treat series.

1/7
February 2010
Double Dexterity Sessions
A video consisting only of Double (and Triple) Dex tricks. I had planned many combos before hand, and just tried to hit as many as I could in front of the camera on three sessions.
These sessions were filmed on three consecutive days. It wasn't such a good idea. My legs were mush on the third day, and I didn't play well at all, considering how short the video is for about 6 hours of total filming.
For five years ago some of the combos are pretty good, and I'm not sure if anyone could repeat all of this even now.
I played in Quantums back then. Those shoes lasted long, before the sole was busted beyond repair.

[C-Fan]

I think the reaper drill, and the flurricane combo both sides were my favorite.

Did you ever come close to hitting any single leg quad dexes? Not like arch nemesis, but a single motion quad dex like Quad pickup, quad mirage, etc.

[Allan]

So good.

[Anz]

Ken - I did come close to Quad Mirage, but haven't hit it (yet). I was actually drilling it before this shin fracture.

2/7
April 2010
Toe Sessions
A video consisting only of Toe tricks. Again I had planned some combos beforehand, and just tried to hit as many as a could for the camera, in two sessions.
What comes to Toe game, I've never really had an "ace up my sleeve", but my trick selection is pretty wide. There's nothing groundbreaking, but the variety is decent.

[Add Block]

Awesome trick consistency. Triaging Legover comes to mind for a 'trick up your sleeve'. Even if it starts on a clipper, it looks like a toe trick.

There's many toe tricks me and probably other players associate with your name. For example Enterrage, TATW, Flail, Sabotage, Triage, DSO, Chainsaw plus a very clean, controlled shuffle.

Thanks for the videos

[Derek]

YESSS... Love all the Dexes! Agree 100% with what Ken said about the first video. All them Toes made me real happy, especially those Bladerunners, oh my. Have you pushed for consecutives before, and if so, how far did ya push? Appreciate the side by side frames to demonstrate the both sidedness. Tapping Leg >Atomic ss Symp Illusion >Symp Egg BS is snazzy, and looks taxing on the knees. SO HAPPY that there is more to come, thank you.

[Anz]

I have hit Atomic Eggbeater x2, but not more.

3/7
April 21st 2010
April Session
Shred from one session, when Lauri Airinen was visiting Turku. I made an edited video of this session with footage from both of us, but it's not online anymore. Here is just raw footage.

[Kylescook]

Furious Far Blender is nuts. great video. top level shred. Edit: that triple whirl