In typical Denver spring fashion, it feels like we traded snow shovels for sunblock overnight. March was as snowy as any month I can remember since moving here a decade ago. Unsurprisingly, that limited my shreds...I think I only played twice all month. We'll probably get one more snowstorm this month, but already I sense spring is here.
Landscape with Garden, by Oskar Kokoschka.
I haven't seen any firm dates for Worlds yet. That said, here's my rough plan for how I'm going to approach it:
April. Slowly work my way back into shape. Try to make a concerted effort to stay away from big tricks, and instead shore up my stamina and basics. Continue to use my old G-Units and bags which are falling apart. May. Switch to my new G-Units to break them in. Continue to use my old crappy bags as long as possible. Start drilling Shred30s and maybe even practicing links to feel out what works. June. New G-Units hopefully feel broken in, switch to my good bags, start filming for early rounds of all events. July. Hopefully made it to later rounds of events, push super hard and leave nothing in the gas tank by the end.
My driveway has proven to be a workable shred space. It's far from perfect, but it's good enough that I can get a workout and I save a ton of time not having to drive anywhere. Once I start training in earnest for Worlds though, I'll need to go back to the tennis courts where I won't have to worry about the flatness of the ground or walls if I leave a 6x6 square of space.
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.
It's a fascinating question... I'm not sure I know the answer. Maybe the online judges from last year would know best. I know it felt really different to me last year when I'd film a dropless. It felt like a relief, but none of the exhilaration you get when the crowd gets hyped after an in-person dropless.
Continue to use my old G-Units and bags which are falling apart.
Unfortunately, that happened sooner than expected. My last session, a chunk of the sole just popped right off. It was the basketball shaped circle on the ball of the foot, and it just fell off like a pancake. I'm still going to try and stick with my plan, and use old shoes and bags for the next month, break in my newer stuff in late May, and then have everything good and broken in during June and July.
I had 2 sessions of footage edited on my phone, but not uploaded to YT. My phone unfortunately locked and wiped itself (security feature from work) so I ended up losing both vids. Nothing crazy in there, and honestly I'd rather have that happen now and not while I'm actively filming entries for Worlds. Still sucks though... lost a bunch of family photos too.
Haven't been playing much lately because we all got hit with low grade fevers. We went in to get swabbed and were relieved it wasn't strep, covid, or flu. Still kicked our asses, and we're still recovering.
Bit of a bummer of a post, but hopefully things turn around soon.
Hard to believe April is almost over already. Had to check my journal to see if I even got in any shreds this month. It looks like I played twice, both within the first week of the month. In my defense, there were a lot of variables beyond my control that limited my playing opportunities. It was a very snowy month, plus we had some health issues hit the house. Thankfully nothing serious.
I saw in Dan's blog that Worlds is probably going to happen about a month later than it did last year. That makes me feel a bit less bad for essentially taking off all of April. Hopefully I can knock off some rust this month and start getting into game shape right as competition begins. On one hand I'm glad I have no pressure on me, as I did well at last year's Worlds. On the other hand, a little pressure might help motivate me. Maybe once I start training the fire will be lit again, but at this very moment I'm feeling a surprising lack of passion about competing. I'm sure it'll come back.
The other thing that differentiates this year's Worlds with last year, is that last year I felt I could (and should) focus all my energies on it. This year is a bit different, as my current passion is my gaming YT channel. It's still tiny, but I've had a really good time creating content and growing a small community. That community is used to me uploading 2-3 times a week, a pace that will be hard to maintain over the summer if I'm really taking Worlds seriously. If I'm smart, I will film and edit a bunch of gaming videos now and stockpile them so I can release them during my heavy training weeks. We'll see if I'm able to pull that off.
Haven't had much motivation/inspiration surrounding footbag lately. I had one session 2 weeks ago where I had one bag fail, and my best bag got lost in my rain gutters. Very frustrating and demotivating. I think I've only played once all month, and I still don't have a song selected for Worlds. It's funny though, even with this total lack of motivation...I'm still 100% sure I'm going to compete.
Shifting gears into a more positive mode.
TSG 18 is online this year, and open to international participants. I'm just happy that they've been doing this tourney for 18 years now. That is incredible and makes me so proud of them. My last session I hit a few of the request links just to show some support:
I'm hoping it'll be easier for me to participate in Worlds this year. My kid is back in daycare, which significantly opens my schedule and ability to play. I also theoretically could play inside a gym this year since I am now fully vaccinated. Neither of those were viable options last summer.
Kyle Cook is visiting Denver tomorrow so I'll head downtown to meet up with him for lunch and footbag. It'll be my first shred with another person since December of 2019. That is insane.
In terms of videos, I think 44/46 of my videos have been TF2. Part of that is because I know what drives views, and I'm still trying to build an audience (I have 262 subs, which is tiny). I'm not against making variety content down the line, but strategically it doesn't make sense just yet. I do play a bunch of other games though. Left 4 Dead 2 is another favorite of mine since there is a teamwork element and the ambience is amazing. I've also done a few puzzle games lately like the Rusty Lake Hotel games. Those have awesome art direction.
Were you there for TSG #1? I think you were there around 2003, so I imagine that checks out. It'd be up there with one of the longest running comps these days.
Were you there for TSG #1? I think you were there around 2003, so I imagine that checks out. It'd be up there with one of the longest running comps these days.
That is a great question. Actually, I think Ken started the entire scene in Japan, is that correct?
Crazy that it is one of the longest running comps...that is just incredible actually. Well done, Ken. And Japan.
Bumpy couple months on my end physically and mentally, so not much footbag and even less posting here. I got so stressed out with work and parenting that I seriously considered skipping Worlds entirely. Eventually I decided to register, but I'm still not sure to what extent I'll (be able to) participate. It feels unlikely that I'll be able to commit as much as last year, when I made Finals in all four events and finished top 4 in three of them.
Three factors ultimately pushed me to register and at least partially participate:
1. Low entry fee. Most years I participate at Worlds I make a donation to the IFPA that's bigger than this year's entry fee. I decided to look at this year's registration fee as simply a donation. If I compete in any event, cool. If I don't compete at all, then it's like I just made a donation.
2. Potentially my last Worlds. I really hope the world is in a better place with Covid next year, and the IFPA can go back to having Worlds in person. I have no idea if that'll be the case or not. If Worlds goes back to being in-person, then my days of competing are over. If next year we have another virtual Worlds due to COVID, I may have one more year left. That means this year COULD be my last chance to compete at Worlds, and I'd feel bad if I didn't at least participate in some capacity.
3. The ghost of Rippin. I still can't believe Rippin is gone. My last communication with him was almost exactly a year ago, when he texted me congratulations after Worlds and we had a nice long text chain about various topics. I think about that conversation, and how excited Rippin was for me, and I can't help but feel he'd be disappointed in me if I didn't at least try this year. That's super weird, but it's also the truth.
So where am I at with competition? Let's take stock.
Worlds ends in 23 days, good, bad, or ugly. That's a really short sliver of time, which I see as both a curse and a blessing. Nothing I can do about this at this stage. Physically my stamina is bad since I haven't been playing. But I'm not injured, so things could be worse. Shred equipment wise I'm in better shape than last year. I have 2 good bags in decent condition, and my shoes are in the process of falling apart but aren't completely dead yet. I don't have a single routine prepared, and I don't have a way to film and play music at the same time.
I am trying to convince myself that I'm playing with house money, and any participation (much less results) is a bonus for me. Worlds 2020 meant a lot to me in terms of redemption and my overall perception of my footbag career, and thankfully it went super well. When it ended, I told myself I could retire at that moment and feel good about my overall footbag career. That has not changed, and even if Worlds 2021 ends up being a disaster for me I can always hang my hat on Worlds 2020.
So what's my strategy at this stage? Since I don't have the stamina for routines, or probably even Shred30 at this stage, my hope is to use the next couple sessions just to play and get back in shape. Best case scenario, I'll fluke out a Sick 3 that's good enough to qualify for finals, and pick up enough decent clips I can make a credible ShredOff for the first real round. If this goes to plan, hopefully my stamina will be good enough that I can dedicate the next few sessions to routines and shred30.
Here's my seeding submission for ShredOff. My original plan was to make a parody video of Smashmouth's AllStar video, with 20 seconds of me singing the song and walking around the suburbs, and 10 seconds of shred wearing my Smashmouth outfit including glasses. Unfortunately my kid picked up a bad case of croup at daycare, which took him out for a week and then took my wife out for a week, so that killed that idea. At least I submitted something, even though now it's just super baffling as to why I'm dressed weird for most of it.
Croup sucks. I feel for me, and I didn't even have particularly good results last year, but I'm nowhere near as ready this time around. Hopefully other people are in the same boat and you just kind of fly by and end up going up the rankings!
I wish it was no news good news in your last post, but seems more like no news, some good news and some bad news.
I can confirm I am in the same boat; not prepped, less motivated, less prepared than last year. I didn't come up with good goals this time, and I reckon that is one reason. The pools have been posted for shred-off and routines. Ken you look in good position. Me? Not so much.
Anyway, I'm glad to hear that you and Daniel are in similar situations. We can doggie paddle together.
so we meet in routines qualifications pool ! and we are sort of in the same boat
I am out of shape, been playing very occasionnaly, and just had a new born two weeks ago!
but I have a routine prepared (in my head) and started trying it on the few times I can play, 9 days to go, I got a backup filmed but with drops so meh
not gonna push like last year due to time being an issue here
Still feeling unprepared for Worlds on my end. I baaaaarely got my Shred Off submission filmed for this round. My plan was to take Thursday afternoon off to do a dental checkup followed by shred. The dentist visit went badly though, and they had to do some emergency work that afternoon. So no footbag Thursday, and Friday I felt a bit weak due to no solid foods. I needed to get 30 more seconds of footage though, so I went out to play... but got rained out. Once the rain passed, I went out a second time so I could get footage...and got rained out AGAIN. We had a third thunderstorm in the evening, which is completely unheard of for Denver. Anyway, my footage wasn't great because of all this bad luck. I think you can even see the rain coming down in some of the clips. But what's important is I submitted something, which is hopefully good enough to make the next round. I feel like ShredOff is my best chance to do well this year, since I don't have the stamina to do routines or Shred30, and Sick 3s have not been clicking.
Here's my Shred Off qualifier that I sneaked in at the deadline:
Intense smoke covering Colorado this week due to the wildfires in California and Oregon. The AQI has been in the 170s the past 2 days, and look like they'll get worse. This basically makes it impossible to play footbag outside. I may try and play in a gym, since I'm vaccinated this year as opposed to last year. But I hate that I'm forced to weigh this kind of risk.
I also still have no plan for routines at all. I think it's even odds I scratch. That'd be awful, since this is one of my clearest paths to finals in 20 years, but I also can't see how I'm gonna get a 2 minute routine filmed in the next week either.
I also still have no plan for routines at all. I think it's even odds I scratch. That'd be awful, since this is one of my clearest paths to finals in 20 years, but I also can't see how I'm gonna get a 2 minute routine filmed in the next week either.
Same here (about the lack of a plan). I have like 5 days to do both sick three and routines. I'm seeded third in my pool, and based on the first and second seed, I will have to come up with something good to have a chance. Scratching has also crossed my mind, but I worry that I will feel worse not submitting anything, instead of getting a mediocre routine taped and submitted.
Shitty about the air condition there. Too bad pixie drifter doesn't repeat; you could do three in a row and see if it clears anything up (think Beetlejuice).
Too bad pixie drifter doesn't repeat; you could do three in a row and see if it clears anything up
While smoke doesn't loop with itself, you could do smoke-haze drill. That'd be pretty neat actually.
Anyway, I decided to try and play in the heat and smoke, mostly because I'm running out of time before the next deadline. Unsurprisingly, it's hard to play in air that's dirtier than Dubai or Nanjing. What was a bit of a surprise, was that the smokiness also impacts the video quality. So not only was it hard to play, what little I did film looks grainier than normal. Kind of a double whammy there.
my footage wasn't great because of all this bad luck. I think you can even see the rain coming down in some of the clips.
The good news is that my ShredOff qualifier was top 8 from that round, so I advanced. The bad news is I finished exactly in 8th place, which means I'm facing the top seed in the next round (Honza). I'd arguably be in better shape if I finished in 9th, 10th, or 11th place instead, as I'd have an easier pool. Don't get me wrong though; I'm not counting myself out at all. Yeah I'm out of shape, and yeah I have to play in 80 degree weather with unhealthy air quality. But I could still beat Honza if I can wring out one or two good sessions by Friday.
In other big Worlds news, I ordered a new speaker. It should arrive by Wednesday, so hopefully I can dust off an old routine and get something passable to squeak into finals.
In non-footbag news, today my gaming YT channel tied my footbag channel for number of subscribers. I have 415 subs on both. Not sure if I should be proud of how fast my gaming channel has grown, or embarrassed by how small my footbag channel is after like 13 years of existence.
Anyway, I decided to try and play in the heat and smoke, mostly because I'm running out of time before the next deadline. Unsurprisingly, it's hard to play in air that's dirtier than Dubai or Nanjing. What was a bit of a surprise, was that the smokiness also impacts the video quality. So not only was it hard to play, what little I did film looks grainier than normal. Kind of a double whammy there.
Smoke was less thick today (though the AQI still was high) so I decided to try and play earlier, in the hopes that the lighting would be brighter. I think it was slightly better? Unfortunately my iPhone overheated a few times and I had to wait for it to cool off before it would unlock. This basically was a death sentence for getting a routine filmed, and also made it risky to film for anything other than ShredOff or Sick 3.
The elephant in the room is why I'm not playing at an air-conditioned gym. The short answer is that while I'm fully vaccinated, my 4 year old son is not, and there's moderate/high caseload in my area. When you throw the delta variant into the mix, I just cannot justify the risk of going to a gym and potentially getting my kid sick. I couldn't live with myself if that happened. So that basically leaves me with my current set up, which is playing in wildfire smoke in the middle of a heat wave that shows no sign of breaking. Not ideal, but at least I have last year's Worlds' results to cheer me up.
April. Slowly work my way back into shape. Try to make a concerted effort to stay away from big tricks, and instead shore up my stamina and basics. Continue to use my old G-Units and bags which are falling apart.
