Team U!S!A!

Guest_2 · Post by **Guest_2** » 02 Apr 2006 17:29

Is this for real? http://www.teamusafootbag.com/roster/

andr00 · Post by **andr00** » 02 Apr 2006 19:04

join up, bro!

quadgun · Post by **quadgun** » 02 Apr 2006 19:36

HooD · Post by **HooD** » 02 Apr 2006 20:12

*shakes head* That is nonsense... I like how toe pickups...aren't even toe pickups on the video section. And DLO's are crispy. There is no team in freestyle, there is no nation, it's a world of freestylers and damn it...that was far leg over !! I'm going to let this alcohol sit for a while as I get some sleep.

cammel · Post by **cammel** » 02 Apr 2006 22:34

I agree with HooD. I dont think their mission "to provide a unified look for America’s top footbag athletes as they travel to footbag competitions outside the USA" is needed in any way. Why do you have to look united under one nation? i think the lavers on your feet and the footbag stalling on them is enough to unite everyone at a competition

Stoke · Post by **Stoke** » 02 Apr 2006 23:32

Hey if they start to get big sponsorship because the members appear to represent the USA at Worlds competitions in Europe... That would kick ass. The goal of the website would be achieved. And you know you'd be the first guy trying to sign up for Team USA.

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 03 Apr 2006 01:14

Yeah totally - I think the approach used for getting sponsors is an excellent approach and if they take things a little futher and market themselves then they'll definitely have some success. I think it's important to realise that what sells to sponsors is different to what sells to other footbaggers.

sidekick · Post by **sidekick** » 03 Apr 2006 05:14

Hell yes! I'm gona sign up as soon as I can get a vid together!

Outsider · Post by **Outsider** » 03 Apr 2006 06:00

HooD said:

There is no team in freestyle, there is no nation, it's a world of freestylers and damn it

and cammel said:

I agree with HooD. I dont think their mission "to provide a unified look for America’s top footbag athletes as they travel to footbag competitions outside the USA" is needed in any way.

Not needed in any way? Okay, sure, maybe it isn't "needed in any way." Its a funny thing to say about anything involved with the activity of juggling with your feet. I mean, whats really necessary about anything we do?

Anyway, that point aside, I disagree with you both. Team Japan all had cool matching jerseys at Worlds '04 in Montreal, and I thought it was pretty cool. Its not as though everybody wouldn't have been able to recognize them and pick them out from most of the rest of non-Japanese footbag players there, none-the-less, I thought the team thing looked cool at that time, and I don't think I was the only one who did.

Likewise, the Czechs have had team jerseys for several years, and I think they looked pretty cool too. I beleive that there were actually a couple of Americans who got their own Czech footbag jerseys too, and I wouldn't mind having one myself.

I don't think it all has to be about nationality either. For years I've been trying to convince my own footbag club, The Ministry of Silly Walks, to act a little more like a team at competitions. I simply thought that would have been pretty cool, to show up to a contest with a big team of shredders, to all compete and kick ass and make it seem as though we were a kick-ass team rather than just a random bunch of unrelated people. It wasn't about how to dress, though. I had tried to convince the rest of the club that we should all do routines to songs by the same band. I thought that would be pretty cool, if each of the guys in my club were introduced as being from that club, and each did a good performance, and each succeeding player from that club followed the previous performance with a different song from the same band. I don't know, it sounded good to me. But the other guys, well, half of them don't even like to compete, so they don't, and the other half just had their own ideas about routines and trying to get everybody in The Ministry together on this idea is like herding cats, so that not gonna ever happen, but I still think it would have been cool, especially since there would often be, like, five or six of us all traveling togethre to East Coast Championships or Funtastics. I mean, why not do the team thing. Oh well.

The only thing that has really been stopping me from joining Team USA is that, number one: I'm not sure if I'm going to make it to any over-seas competitions this year, and number two: I don't really like any of the merchandise they have for sale. The t-shirts are, well, boring, and I just think that the idea of a back-pack with wheels on it is really stupid. For now, I want nothing at all to do with any backpacks with wheels.

Caleb · Post by **Caleb** » 03 Apr 2006 06:32

I really like this idea. It's probably the one thing that would separate footbag from stoned out hippies the most. What's the second thing people ask about footbag after "Do you play soccer?" it's "Are you on a team?"

I think this is great. It could be tweaked...a lot. And I don't like the fact that i had no idea this was going on. It seemed to me that something as big as Team USA Footbag should have some more overall communication in its building process. Either I'm just out of the loop or this is one guy doing this on his own. Which is admirable, but the wrong way to go about it. Who's starting this? Scott Davidson? Props to him for getting something going.

Yeah, cool idea but selling stuff to directly support players may be sketchy too. How about we unify and support the team? That's what a team is right? And I'm with Jon about the bookbags with wheels. What next? Shoes that turn into rollerblades?

Zeb Jackson · Post by **Zeb Jackson** » 03 Apr 2006 08:52

man if i didnt suck i would so join this! I like this idea!

Caleb · Post by **Caleb** » 03 Apr 2006 09:07

Can you join? Where do you go to join?

footjam_heger · Post by **footjam_heger** » 03 Apr 2006 11:34

that's funny dude!
it's like representing your own nation. like the swiss do.

http://www.footbag.ch/viewer.php?type=photos&id=1481
http://www.footbag.ch/viewer.php?type=photos&id=1474

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 04 Apr 2006 01:12

I have one of the czech team jerseys it says "Ales" on it

.

Anyway I just wanted to add that the problem I see with the team us thing - especially when compared with say the czech team is that there is no US freestyle organisation - which means the idea of a team representing the US is fairly meaningless and illegitimate and I think could well effect their chances at sponsorship. I think I've said this in the past but some kind of national organisation would really help the US scene I think - and that of any country that doesn't currently have one.

sidekick · Post by **sidekick** » 04 Apr 2006 09:29

The Sole Purpose Footbag Crew has it's own Team jersy (kinda like the Czech team, only purple and white) with our individual names on the back, we have Pine Meadows Golf to thank for that and other things, and along with that we have our own cards with each players name and the main contact info (Red). That being said, I love all of those things. When we showed up to SJFF with are spiffy shirts I felt like a team, and when Noah, Brian, Sean and I were all shredding, we stood out as a team even if we were in different Circles. I also LOVE giving out my cards to people who ask about the sport, and I also have a habbit of giving out footbags or selling the ones I get from Daryl (for like 5 bucks even though I buy them for 6+s&h) and handing out those pamphlets that I get with the bags.

I don't know, it makes it look so much more professional, so I love to answer the questions like:

"Are you on a team?" = "Yes, here's our card!"

"Where do you get those bags?" = "Online, I aslo have X amount of them, if you'd like to buy one, they're $5. Here's my card, and a booklet on how to do the tricks"

"Why are your shorts so short?" = "It's so when I do a trick like this [Nick busts a Janiwalker] It doesn't catch on my shorts, or with my Jersy, it doesn't hit the bag when I do this [hits spinning blender]. Or when I do these tricks [Alpine Nemesis - Superdeeduperfly - Gangsta Part - Guantlet - rpt] I can do them without worring about my clothes being too baggy!"

Okay, so I got a little outta hand with that last quote, but you ge the gist, right?

sampotter · Post by **sampotter** » 04 Apr 2006 14:29

The above is how I believe teams in the US should be structured. At SJFF you got the vibe from both their interactions and their jerseys that they were a team. I could rant a little about what I think about Team USA, but I'm not going to kick any negativity towards this thread.

Zeke · Post by **Zeke** » 04 Apr 2006 14:35

I think I've seen those cards before... how old is this thing?

sidekick · Post by **sidekick** » 05 Apr 2006 11:31

How old is sole purpose? REALLY OLD! Red told me that Kenny Shultz set that up back in the day, but the cards are new (about 8 months). I need to get some more of those, I hand them out like candy... Most people probibly look at them once, and then throw them away considering I've never heard back from one of them, but I still like th efeeling of giving out my personalized shred card