Fanzine

Keep a diary of what you're hitting, what's frustrating you, and your goals.
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Re: Fanzine

Post by randomcrayon » 13 Jan 2021 13:40

Love the air guitar>flurry!!
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Hacky 2021

Post by C-Fan » 22 Jan 2021 08:27

Hacky new year Modified!

I'm happy to report I've played twice in the past few weeks. That doesn't sound like a lot, but considering I basically sat out October through December with an injury that counts as progress. My left ankle feels mostly healed. Sometimes it feels a little weird during warmups, but once I'm warm I can trust it. I still avoid moves where I land hard on it or push off quickly, but I probably should shy away from those kinds of tricks anyway.

Despite it feeling like a slow footbag start on the year, I'm not horribly off pace. I have 2 sessions under my belt in January so I could close out the month with 3-4 sessions. That would be ahead of pace of the past few years. I also feel pretty good about where I'm at equipment wise, which is something I couldn't say last year. My shoes are still holding up, and even if they start deteriorating again at least I know a shoe guy with a proven track record. I also have more bags than I did at this point last year, including a new Littlefield bag which I'm loving.

Here's footage from my first shred of the year which is also my first shred ever with Derek's bag:



It legit required zero break-in time, which is awesome.

There have been some rumblings on Modified that Footbag Worlds 2021 may be online again. Honestly, that's not surprising. Hell, the Tokyo Olympics are considering canceling altogether and most parts of the World are still dealing with big outbreaks, the US included. For me personally, I'd be fine with another online Footbag Worlds. They did a great job last year, they have that experience under their belt to make things even smoother this year, and frankly an online Worlds is way better than the alternative (no Worlds at all). As a potential competitor I don't want to get ahead of myself with goals or strategies at this point. I'm guessing Worlds would be in the summer again, so that's still several months off. That said, it does give me incentive to continue taking my ankle rehab seriously. Even if that just means spending 20% more time on stamina and fundamentals and cutting out some bigger tricks that could have a big impact. Worst case scenario Worlds either doesn't happen or I don't compete, but even then it won't hurt me to have spent more time on stamina and less on big tricks.

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Re: Fanzine

Post by boyle » 22 Jan 2021 12:14

You had very good strategies for last year I thought. It will be interesting to see if we get a few more online competitions and people can have more specific training towards giving an online show etc. That bag is looking good, especially coming pretty well straight out of the box.

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Short, medium, long term good news

Post by C-Fan » 25 Jan 2021 08:50

Pleased to report good news developments in the short, medium, and long run.

Short Term good news:  I got in a shred on Saturday.  Weather was borderline good when I started, with sun and temps in the low 50s.  Then the sun ducked behind a cloud, temps dropped to the 30s, and I legit thought it might snow.  I played through it though since I really needed the exercise and the mental break.  Was proud I stuck with it and kept a good mental game.  Here's the footage:



Nothing crazy in there, but I'm happy that my flip spinning clipper is feeling a bit more natural.  Hopefully over time that develops into more flip spins generally.  I've also been throwing symp whirling swirl a bit more, which is a trick I almost never do.  It's not that hard and it feels cool, so I'd like to start incorporating it more.

Medium term good news:  I found another pair of G-Units on eBay in my size.  The "buy now" price was $75 plus $12 S&H, which was a bit steep for me given they were used.  I put in a bid of $44...which was accepted instantly.  Kinda made me wish I had bid like $30 to see what happens, but at the end of the day I can't really complain.  Getting G-Units in my size shipped to me for under $60 in 2021 is a minor miracle.  Hoping to receive them in the next couple of days.

Long term good news: the IFPA YouTube channel essentially confirmed that Worlds 2021 will be online.  Obviously, we all would have preferred an in-person tournament in a world where the virus is defeated.  Sadly, the world is not at that stage yet.  For me to attend an in-person Worlds in any capacity (e.g. competitor, judge, commentator, spectator) the following things would have to happen: 

1. I get vaccinated.
2. My wife and kid get vaccinated, whether they come with me or not.
3. I feel good enough about the COVID situation at home to leave the family for a week.
4. The country holding Worlds has COVID under control.
5. The country holding Worlds allows travel from the US.
6. I feel confident that items 3-5 won't change drastically, to the point that I make flight and lodging reservations.

That's quite the list, and it doesn't even begin to touch on issues the organizers would have to deal with.  The benefit of the IFPA making their announcement this early is that it tempers expectations.  Nobody is holding their breath (or funds) for the slim chance of Worlds happening in-person anymore.  Players who want to compete virtually now have several months to get in shape and start preparing for events. I have a bunch of thoughts on my personal preparation, but I'll save that for another post.  

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New Shoes, Arctic Winds

Post by C-Fan » 30 Jan 2021 21:17

Tried to play today, but the weather turned on me bad. In the 10 minutes it took me to get to my shred site we went from t-shirt weather to icy winds, and I couldn't warm up even with long sleeves and gloves. I couldn't even get through a warm up it was so cold. Very frustrating. On one hand I want to give myself credit for trying to play, on the other hand my heart rate never got elevated. Most years I would just go to a gym if the weather turned on me this badly, but of course that's not an option with COVID.

In more positive news, my eBay G-Units arrived. They look to be in pretty good condition. I haven't modded them or broken them in yet. I should probably start thinking about Worlds and develop an equipment plan. Like, do I have any really good bags that I can hold into reserve until Worlds starts? Do I have backup bags? Should I take my current shoes to my shoe guy to pre-emptively reglue the soles?

On the Worlds note, I haven't given a ton of thought to what events I'll be doing. No matter what I decide though, I feel like I'm playing with house money. Last year I felt pressure to redeem myself (in routines particularly) and to get the bad taste of Worlds 2017 out of my mouth. That helped motivate me, but was also a bit stressful too. Thankfully, I made finals in all events and did surprisingly well. That takes off a lot of the pressure for this year. I feel like that gives me the luxury to pick and choose what events I want to focus on, and even if I don't make finals in anything, I still feel like I avenged 2017 last year.

Here's another video with the Littlefield bag:

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4 Shreds in January

Post by C-Fan » 01 Feb 2021 10:10

Happy to report I got in a proper shred yesterday.  The weather was doing its typical wild fluctuations, but I got lucky with my timing and managed an outdoor shred during the 1 hour of good weather we got.  I tried out a new spot on my driveway.  Most of my driveway is on a steep incline, but there's a small patch maybe 6 feet by 6 feet which is flat.  It's not ideal, since there is an indented groove down the middle, it's right on a wall (garage door), and if you step out of the small flat area you quickly end up in the inclined driveway.  But it does have the advantage that I don't have to drive anywhere, it's clean, and I have easy access to water and a bathroom.  The small space would likely make it impossible to shoot a routine there, and even Shred30 I could see it getting annoying.  But for periodic warm ups and drilling it works.  Probably for Sick3 as well.  In any case, just nice to know I have another option available.



Yesterday's shred meant I closed out January with 4 shreds total.  Considering I pretty much didn't play from October through December, that's pretty good.  I'm hoping I can get 4-5 shreds in February as well.  My main goals for the next couple months are to avoid injury and stay in shape.  If I can start working on Shred30 links and routine ideas, that's just icing on the cake.
C-Fan wrote:
30 Jan 2021 21:17
I should probably start thinking about Worlds and develop an equipment plan.
 
This just got a bit more urgent since my Littlefield bag popped a stitch yesterday.  I feel like the 2 most common issues with footbags are:
1. they pop a stitch
2. a panel develops a hole

Players who can't stitch prefer the second problem since we can patch a hole with glue or bandaids, but we lack the skill to rethread a bag.  Stitchers prefer the first problem since they don't need to recut any panels.  But yeah, I was pretty bummed to end the session with the popped stitch, since I was really digging the Littlefield bag.  

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Re: Fanzine

Post by Derek » 03 Feb 2021 06:52

Shucks about the bag, but I knew this would happen. Mwahahaha. Honestly, surprised you were able to shred it hard that many times. Sorry to make you my guinea pig. Those were my actual first attempts with lead, and now I don’t make them as large/loose(much deeper bite).
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Re: Fanzine

Post by cammel » 05 Feb 2021 06:52

C-Fan wrote:
01 Feb 2021 10:10
Yesterday's shred meant I closed out January with 4 shreds total. Considering I pretty much didn't play from October through December, that's pretty good.
Yea! Been stoked to see all the new videos from you, glad your recovery is coming along well, if slower than you'd originally hoped. Loved that stepping whirling swirl! So clean!

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Ivan Driveway

Post by C-Fan » 07 Feb 2021 23:36

Thanks Gray!  I'm about 4 months out from when I got injured and the ankle still feels a bit stiff.  While that's not ideal, I remind myself of the following:

1. I still have several months before Worlds competition begins.  As long as I don't reinjure myself, that's extra time for the ankle to heal more.
2. Even if don't heal any more between now and Worlds I should still be able to compete. I'd rather be at 70% health with a 100% chance of competing, than be at 100% health with no chance of competing.  I've had my fair share of Worlds where I was in good health and felt I could have done well in comp, but for whatever reason could not attend.  
Derek wrote:
03 Feb 2021 06:52
Shucks about the bag, . Those were my actual first attempts with lead, and now I don’t make them as large/loose(much deeper bite).

Interesting...for a long time I've favored bags that are notably heavier (and slightly bigger) than what I see others use at tournaments.  I wonder if there's an upper physical bound of bag weight, after which it puts too much strain on a bag's stitches.  I bet there is and I bet I've been flirting with it for a while.  The bag you gave me did feel on the heavy side, which was a big reason I liked it so much.  It was notable that it was super-playable from day one.  No break in required at all.

I had another driveway session last week when the weather was nice.  I used my Ivan bag from Worlds, though I'm wondering if I should hold that one in reserve for this summer.  The weight and number of panels took some adjusting too... it's weird how little things like that affect things like trick selection.  The two downsides to my session were that my portable speaker died, and I didn't stretch down enough. My legs are still a bit sore even a couple days later.  



I really want to focus my next few sessions on drills and stamina and not chase big tricks or combos.  My stamina still feels like it hasn't recovered to pre-ankle sprain times.  Building that back up will be critical for getting through Worlds, much less doing well in comp.

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Re: Ivan Driveway

Post by cammel » 08 Feb 2021 18:18

C-Fan wrote:
07 Feb 2021 23:36
Interesting...for a long time I've favored bags that are notably heavier (and slightly bigger) than what I see others use at tournaments.  I wonder if there's an upper physical bound of bag weight, after which it puts too much strain on a bag's stitches.  I bet there is and I bet I've been flirting with it for a while.  The bag you gave me did feel on the heavy side, which was a big reason I liked it so much.  It was notable that it was super-playable from day one.  No break in required at all.
I can comment on this having pushed the limits recently. I also feel like I prefer bags to be larger and heavier than I think is normal. I was doing some stitching and so I got 1lb of tungsten shot. I also was given this footbag from amazon as an x-mas gift https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XCCV2CC/. This thing is huge, about the size of a racquetball (or lacrosse ball?). But its super light, making it pretty much useless for freestyle. But since I got this and my tungsten at the same time, just for shits and giggles I opened it up, poured out the sand or whatever was in it, and put the entire 1lb of tungsten in and sewed it back up :lol: The bag comes weighing 22.68g (0.05lbs), so it was 20x heavier than its supposed to be, weighs more than a soccer ball.

It actually played really nice, and felt like a super well broken in right away. I guess what makes a bag feel really nice and floppy/broken in is probably the ratio of the weight of the bag to the softness of the material/looseness of the stitches? The material in this bag is pretty thick and stiff, and the stitching is really heavy duty, but when it weighs a pound that seems to come out to a really nice floppy bag. You're not really going to be kicking a bag that heavy, but it stalled really well. It seemed pretty stable to me because its much thicker than the normal ultrasuede, and they do some crazy stitching on these, i think they go twice through each hole or something? I couldn't really figure out what was going on, but I could close it back up.

I played with this for a couple sessions, but actually started worrying about how heavy it was, I felt like it was starting to hurt my knees.. not really soreness like my muscles were aching, but in the joints. Didn't love that, so I ended up taking it apart, and I put 0.5lb of it into a slightly smaller dragonfly footbag I had lying around, which is also thicker material and more sturdy stitching. Thats what I've been playing with for the past couple months and I really like the extra weight and it feels really sturdy and broken in.

tl;dr: I made a 1lb (450g) bag, it hurt some, so now I play with 0.5lb (225g) bag.

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Re: Fanzine

Post by Tjuggles » 09 Feb 2021 13:51

Holy shit; that is a heavy-ass bag! I don't know anyone who plays with anything that heavy. The bags I make are about 60g.
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Re: Fanzine

Post by mtoolan » 09 Feb 2021 14:54

I made an oversized 32 panel for Dustin and since it was a new pattern for me I kept the prototype for myself. Dustin only wanted his filled to 70 g but I cranked mine up to 95. It's made of ultrasuede soft, so it's still breaking in, but I know it's going to be a good one.
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Re: Fanzine

Post by Tjuggles » 09 Feb 2021 17:38

Wow, maybe it is just me using way-too-light bags? Have I gone soft in my old age?
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Re: Fanzine

Post by cammel » 09 Feb 2021 22:19

Had to check today in lab since I just guessed when I was filling it :lol: (sorry to hijack your footblog with bag max weight discussion ken!). Digging all the videos you're posting, really like the barrages you hit from op toe set. Atomic DLO > double switchover is rad.

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Re: Fanzine

Post by Derek » 10 Feb 2021 12:59

The key term isn’t heaviness, but density of fill. Bags I make are always around 64G, but with things like lead, compared to steel, it will feel heavier only cause it’s more dense. Have a bag that’s 67G steel and feels light and fluffy after using a 63G lead bag. Thought I preferred heavy bags too, turns out, DENSE was the proper response. The main reason the bag died was cause I didn’t bite deep enough, but that’s also what made it so juicy. If a bag has a low total fill percentage, it will also put it at risk. Typically, more so than the weight. That bag was nearly the size of the show bags I make, but not nearly as full.

If you’re interested, I can sell you another bag that you will most likely like. And if it busts before Xmas, I’ll send another. Can even break it in a bit for ya, if you want.

200+G bag is straight bonkers, though. My show bags are 80-90G, and think that’s right at the edge of efficiency.
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That's a heavy beer!

Post by C-Fan » 14 Feb 2021 08:26

C-Fan wrote:
07 Feb 2021 23:36
I've favored bags that are notably heavier ... I wonder if there's an upper physical bound of bag weight... I bet there is and I bet I've been flirting with it for a while. 
cammel wrote:
08 Feb 2021 18:18
Hold my beer.
Derek wrote:
10 Feb 2021 12:59
The key term isn’t heaviness, but density of fill.
Image

Derek wrote:
10 Feb 2021 12:59
I can sell you another bag that you will most likely like.
Yes please! DM me or email me so I know how to pay you. My physical address is still the same.

No footbag news on my end. It's been fricking freezing lately (-8 F this morning) with snow on the ground, and I don't have indoor options due to COVID. Just need to be patient.

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Re: Fanzine

Post by C-Fan » 02 Mar 2021 22:30

Winter weather limited me to two shreds in all of February.  I did sneak in a driveway shred before our last big snowstorm:



While its a shame I only played twice in Feb, it was not for lack of trying.  I'm not overly worried about it.  Once we start getting spring weather in April/May, I should be able to ramp up my sessions and hopefully peak during Worlds.

I don't have any solid goals for Worlds other than participating. I think just having Worlds as an excuse/motivation to play regularly will really help me out physically and mentally.  It's been a hard patch lately with work being stressful and my kid going through a bad tantrum phase, so I could really use the therapeutic aspects of footbag.

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Re: Fanzine

Post by cammel » 06 Mar 2021 16:42

Awesome stuff Ken! Loved the pixie double pickups and ducking backspinning? osis.

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Snowy Spring

Post by C-Fan » 17 Mar 2021 22:40

Spring snowstorms have hit hard this year in Denver.  We got over 2.5 feet in the last storm, and then got a dusting of snow the next couple days after.  I can't remember shoveling more snow in my life.  Worlds feels super far away, but I know we're probably only a month or so away from spring weather.  I haven't done much prep for Worlds but I also don't feel super unprepared.  My new Derek bag arrived and looks great, I have a new pair of G-Units I need to mod, my left ankle has recovered pretty well, and I don't have much self-imposed pressure this time around.

I don't think the IFPA have announced the events for Worlds yet but in all likelihood I'll register for all of them.  Similar to last year, I'll likely dedicate different amounts of effort to each event and I'm not above scratching if I lose interest in any of them.  It would be cool to make finals in every event again, though I expect that will be harder in Circles.  I definitely benefited from some good luck in that event last year, so I'm glad I took advantage of the opportunity and snagged a silver while I could.  

Assuming Worlds has the same events as last year, here are my half-baked thoughts and goals on each:

:arrow: Routines. This was the most important event to me last year, as I felt I needed to exorcise the demons of 2017 Worlds.  Thankfully I did, so this year I feel all the pressure is off.  I'm not sure if I'll do something super silly or super artistic, but either way I want to do something original here.  I'd rather finish in 8th place with a routine I love, than do a Shred 120 style routine with no artistic and get another bronze.  I have a few songs I'm considering, but haven't committed mentally to anything yet.  
:arrow: Shred Off.  I didn't know what to expect with this event last year, but it ended up being the most fun for me.  I'm definitely going to participate again this year, and see if I can skew more in the unique direction and less in the shred direction.  I think one of the reasons I liked this event so much is that it was the only one that didn't feel "all or nothing."  Like, if I was filming a Shred30 or a routine and had a drop at any point, I'd feel like the clip wasn't usable.  In ShredOff there's a lot more freedom to go hard until you drop, since you can just segue into the next clip.  
:arrow: Shred30.  There are aspects of this event I really like; no subjectivity from judges, and really just pure execution and planning on your part.  There's also things I hate about this event, like the aforementioned "drop and you're done."  I think I'd much prefer this event if the "30" in Shred30 was 30 contacts, instead of 30 seconds.  
:arrow: Sick 3. This was my most disappointing event last year, so I kind of want to redeem myself.  That said, I think what hurt me in this event last year was the fact I was trying to film content for every other event too.  That will likely be the case again this year.  Maybe if I scratch out of one of the other events I'll have more time and energy to do well here.  Or maybe I can fluke out 2 good combos in the summer and that's enough to get me on a podium.  It could happen!

Here's footage from my last session in my driveway:


I was hoping to focus more on drills and stamina, but I predictably devolved to chasing big tricks and fearless.  Hopefully I'll be more disciplined the next time I play.  I want to be strategic about building my stamina and consistency in the months leading up to Worlds.  We'll see how that goes.

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Re: Fanzine

Post by boyle » 18 Mar 2021 14:14

I know someone else in Colorado, not sure if they are in Denver but I saw something on Facebook about endless snow shovelling. They seemed to be enjoying it though, I don't think that would be my scene.

The official events in Worlds will be the same. I'm also going to be running some sideline events, mainly aiming at possibility of competing for anyone. I think there will be some more information in the rules, so that things are a bit more clear, I believe Matt Kemmer is working on that.

I said it last year, but I think this online format is great for you, because you've been filming, uploading, preparing etc for years, so it's just more of that to a set schedule - in the shred off you also have a good mix of variety and big tricks within your "bag of tricks", and that variety probably got you over the line in the one against Pawel, which I thought was the closest of the "battles" that I saw.

Good points about that all or nothing, that was kind of good on the shred off, you just think, that was a decent run, I might use that. The others have that sinking feeling of a drop and then it's all over.

Do you find the song choice is different for doing a routine in video as opposed to doing something up on a stage? I've been thinking of routine choice songs of lately and that's been something that's been on my mind.

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