The Inshredible Bulk: Not Trending, Not Roll Spiking Either

Zeke · Post by **Zeke** » 24 Jul 2004 08:44

How I got my name.

I started kicking way back in 1990. I was a freshman at Lane Tech high school and my older brother was a senior at Gordon Tech, down the street. After school I would sit there and watch, often for hours at a time, as my brother and his friends would hack at the nearby McDonald's. I used to hate sitting there waiting until he was finished so he could drive me home. So one day, tired of watching, I decided to jump in and play. Everything seemed fine. I had been playing a couple of days when one of my brother's friends asked just who the hell I was. Somewhat intimidated, I managed to mumble that my name was Alex.

"Alice?!?! That's a girl's name, we'll call you Zeke." And I've used it ever since.

Zeke · Post by **Zeke** » 24 Jul 2004 09:31

I hate playing footbag alone. Its not fun. When I started hacking in highschool, I could walk outside on any given day at any given time and find 2-3 large circles of hackers. I could jump from one circle to another to kick and socialize. I loved it.

When I started shredding I found that there were fewer and fewer people that would want to freestyle with me. So I made it a habit to get the contact info and any other good kickers and begining (or any) freestylers that I came across.

At first it was me and 2 friends. We would kick at festivals and other busy public places. After my first tournament, Midwest Regionals, Jon Nagela started to come out to kick with us. Soon after Dan Klokow started to come out to play. After Worlds 1999 we started kicking with Tom Kotsakos. I then ran into a tall skinny short haired kid named Eric Reile at my old highschool. He brought his friend Tim Werner to a winter freestyle class. When spring of 2000 came along we all started to get together about once a week to shred.

I had been considering the idea of starting a footbag club since before Worlds came to Chicago in 99. But it never really got going because I didn't think there would be very many members. But now I had 5-6 people I would kick with on a regualar basis... all wanting to be serious shredders. Now that I've got the people what do we call ourselves? We could have very easily been the Chicago Footbag Club but it just seemed so uninteresting. I wanted something catchy. I got part of the name from X-men comics. I believe there was some group called the Hellfire Club. Within the club there was a smaller elite group who called themselves the Inner Circle. I thought it was beautiful. It described our little group, and the word circle was a perfect referance to our sport. Add Chicago to the begining and its a play on "kick".

So I sent out an *e-mail to the guys asking them what they think about starting a club. Everyone seemed enthusiastic and agreed to join. I'd like to think the club has made a nice little name for itself. We've been around for 4 years as of this post with the almost the same core members and hope to be around for some time... kicking, socializing (that is, talking a whole lot of shit) and loving every minute of it.

*

W'sup,

I've kicked around the idea of starting a club here in Chicago for
about a year and I wasn't really serious about it until now. I guess the
main reason for the stall was that I didn't think there would be enough
members. Thank God for the internet!! And quite frankly, I think it's
ridiculous that there is no club in Chicago at all.

Anyway, I just wanted to know who would be interested in it. I might
have talked to some of you already about this. My idea is to keep it
informal for now, like BAP, no president, no fees, nothing like that. ( I'm
well aware that's where the similarities end, A.I.) Basically we do what
we always do, which is get together and shred, but we just give
ourselves a name. In the future I hope to get a website set up to show
the pics we've taken of our jams, possibly video. Oooh! Oooh! Maybe
even an event at the beach!!!! Ok Im getting ahead of myself...

I've already thought up a name, Chicago Inner Circle- C.I.C. I was
thinking of putting the club on the club list on footbag.org and
describing ourselves as young, up-and-coming FREESTYLERS: no
hackers. Membership, I think, should be tight, those that can and will
get together on a regular basis to shred. I would appreciate any input
and ideas. Let me know what you think.

Laterz,
Zeke

zachatree · Post by **zachatree** » 24 Jul 2004 10:53

Nice story alex

quadgun · Post by **quadgun** » 24 Jul 2004 18:21

zachatree wrote:Nice story alex

dont you mean alice .... i mean zeke .... yea, dont you mean zeke?

Zeke · Post by **Zeke** » 30 Aug 2004 14:36

Emily has already moved out west to start school and Dan is moving to Florida soon. That's 2 very good friends that the club has lost this year.

I sprained my ankle pretty bad yesterday playing basketball. I knew it was really fucked the moment I heard it pop before I started falling. I woke up this morning to find that my ankle had actually disappeared under the swelling. Fucking great.

I'm too bummed out to do this...

Zeke · Post by **Zeke** » 01 Sep 2004 15:10

My ankle is feeling much better. It's not been as bad as I initially expected. There are still briuses but the swelling is going down and I got most of my mobility back. I'll risk hacking a bit this week at Jazzfest but I wont try shredding on if for at least another week.

I added a new gallery to my account on footbag.org for pics of footbags. I'll upload more images and edit the galleries tonight.

zachatree · Post by **zachatree** » 03 Sep 2004 09:21

thats alot of bags man ...

Zeke · Post by **Zeke** » 21 Jan 2005 15:06

Finally back. It was 85 (F) degrees when I left Manila and it was 17 degrees w/ 35mph winds when I got back home to Chicago 21 hours later.

I didn't kick much and I gave one pair f blue lavers and 3 of my footbags away to my cousins. I also lost a footbag at the airport

Moxie · Post by **Moxie** » 21 Jan 2005 15:58

Welcome back.

Zeke · Post by **Zeke** » 01 Mar 2005 12:40

Emily, it's too bad we couldn't all hang out when ya'll got back from CSS. Hope you had a good time at the event and that your flight back to Cali was uneventful

I'm starting to draw a little bit more. A few days ago I set Irfanview to do a slideshow of my shred pics while I did quick sketches in pen. I set it for 15 seconds just as a warm up and drew about 20 images. Then a minute for slightly more detailed sketches.

Then I did Kamil's Charicature and added it to the existing group shot. I also made a few variations as wallpapaers for my PC. I put up all the images on my account on footbag.org:
http://www.footbag.org/gallery/member/13150

I forget how relaxing drawing can be, even if its simple doodles...
<sigh>
back to work

quadgun · Post by **quadgun** » 01 Mar 2005 17:08

Zeke wrote: Kamil's Charicature

haha ...

Zeke · Post by **Zeke** » 24 Mar 2005 16:06

I have not posted this much nonsense in one day (3-24-05) since before the experiment thread reached 100, 000 posts

Zeke · Post by **Zeke** » 28 Mar 2005 21:28

New galleries added to my footbag.org account.
http://www.footbag.org/gallery/member/13150
I'll add captions soon.

mosher · Post by **mosher** » 28 Mar 2005 23:10

You have so many beautiful bags.

I just looked through every picture. I have done this before.

I love looking at 32's and imagining what they feel like or play like.

HooD · Post by **HooD** » 28 Mar 2005 23:17

Mosher, there is something about you, one word may possibly describe it best. *creepy*

Zeke · Post by **Zeke** » 29 Mar 2005 09:45

Heh, I almost feel like Heffner or Flynt, except without the wheelchair, money, hot women, mansions, viagra and ugly robes.

Now I'm depressed...

Moxie · Post by **Moxie** » 29 Mar 2005 09:51

I'm sure Tim could help you out with both viagra and ugly robes.

_______________
Emily Kulczyk

"I am a nobody. Nobody is perfect. Therefore I am perfect."

HG · Post by HG » 29 Mar 2005 11:57

ZING!

Zeke · Post by **Zeke** » 05 Apr 2005 15:29

Sore.

My legs are very sore.

It's been a long time since my legs have been sore from kicking. It actually feels kinda good. I kicked 4 times the past week and even freestyled a little on Monday. I have not shred much the past few months and my interest in freestyle has come and gone the last couple years. It's mostly due to the frustration when simple tricks or combos become impossible to hit. And that's because I just don't practice. I've never been one to enjoy playing alone.

When I first came to the realization that freestyle just wasn't as fun as it used to be, it hit me hard. I had been addicted and obsessed with it for so long that I've never imagined that I'd ever be so frustrated almost to the point of quitting it entirely. I've played through one horrible session after
another after another. Sometimes for weeks. Sometimes months. It was almost unbearable to play like that but at the same time I didn't want to stop. Eventually I would just end up going to sessions just to sit and watch the others play.

Then came 4 square. My new love. My latest addiction. It's so much fun. I can play being nice or I can play like a total ass. I can play straight up with nothing but kicks or I can score several points in a row using nothing but trippy serves. I can play with the basic rules or play against any rules players like to make up. The best part is that anybody playing any of the disciplines at any level, even cirlce kickers, can play together.

Footbag is fun again.

Zeke · Post by **Zeke** » 07 Apr 2005 11:07

A good friend of mine works as a counselor at a highschool near where I live. She sponsors a footbag club there. She e-mailed me asking if I can drop by after school so that I could teach them some basics about footbag. I usually jump at a chance like this. I love meeting new kickers. I've done formal demos and ran a small tournament (with the help of CIC of course) at her school in previous years and everything went well. But I've been disapointed time and again by the less formal open invitation to come kick with the school's club outside afterschool. I've stopped by (on the days the club meets) on many occasions only to find that no one was kicking.

Since it's likely that this is a completely new bunch of kids I have no reason to believe that they won't be there. But somewhere, in the back of my mind, I'm fully expecting to be let down again. It's cold and really windy today. It would be a good sign if they still go out and play in these conditions. I think it would show that they really want to play. It would be worth all the disapointment, though, if I could find at least one truely dedicated player with the will and imagination to become a freestyler.

The Inshredible Bulk: Not Trending, Not Roll Spiking Either

The Inshredible Bulk: Not Trending, Not Roll Spiking Either

How CIC got started