Well, I finally decided to start writing one of these things.
I am taking this semester off of school to spend more time doing the things that I want to but don't have time for during the regular school schedule. Hopefully during this time, I'll be able to get my game back to at least something I think is decent. My clippers have gone all gimpy, and with them, my ability to string. I'm going to try to start playing for at least an hour or two each day. Anyways, let's get on with it...
Iowa Footblog
-
wolfpac444
- Your Friendly Admin
- Posts: 1890
- Joined: 24 Mar 2003 00:07
There is not much of a "scene" here in this corn state. Awhile back, I saw that this guy, Adam, form my hometown registered on footbag.org. I was pretty excited to say the least -- kicking alone can get tedious at time (but at other times I really enjoy it). He is a sophomore at the local university here. Since I'm sitting in on a math class up there, I gave him a call this past Wednesday, and he was more that happy to get together and kick the sack around.
When I got there, to my surprise, there was a circle of three guys kicking. I introduced myself and hopped on in. They all had really good kicking foundations. I imagine we would get at least 50 contacts each time around the circle. Over the course of us playing, more and more people started wandering past and joined in (prime dining hall location!). Here, I was thinking that there would only be one guy here just learning basic kicks, but instead there is a whole mob of people who kick up here.
Adam was probably the most advanced freestyle-wise of the group. He could he toe stalls, clipper kicks/stalls, atws, and butterflys on both sides. I showed him what mirage and legover were and asked him if he had ever hit those. He said no. After a few attempts throughout the "session" he hit both tricks on boths sides. I was impressed.
Adam and some of the other guys seemed interested in learning for freestyle stuff. They are trying to organize a club (and possibly get funding) at UNI. I'm really glad that there are some people around here that enjoy footbag as much as I do.
When I got there, to my surprise, there was a circle of three guys kicking. I introduced myself and hopped on in. They all had really good kicking foundations. I imagine we would get at least 50 contacts each time around the circle. Over the course of us playing, more and more people started wandering past and joined in (prime dining hall location!). Here, I was thinking that there would only be one guy here just learning basic kicks, but instead there is a whole mob of people who kick up here.
Adam was probably the most advanced freestyle-wise of the group. He could he toe stalls, clipper kicks/stalls, atws, and butterflys on both sides. I showed him what mirage and legover were and asked him if he had ever hit those. He said no. After a few attempts throughout the "session" he hit both tricks on boths sides. I was impressed.
Adam and some of the other guys seemed interested in learning for freestyle stuff. They are trying to organize a club (and possibly get funding) at UNI. I'm really glad that there are some people around here that enjoy footbag as much as I do.
Mike Hansen
-
wolfpac444
- Your Friendly Admin
- Posts: 1890
- Joined: 24 Mar 2003 00:07
I woke up this morning, rolled over, looked at the alarm clock, realized it was 10:46am -- I was going to be late! I quickly got the stuff I needed from my computer, made a couple delicious peanut butter and jelly English muffins, burned some music for the car, and rushed out the door. The drive down was about 2 hours, but it went both quickly and smoothly.
I parked on the side of the curb, knocked on the door, and was greeted my none other than James Risden. We went upstairs and chilled for awhile. I saw little James ( who looks a lot like his dad ) bouncing around in his little baby bouncer. James rounded up his things, and we were out the door. He pulled his car away from the curb/snowbank. Just as I was about to get in, I forgot that my Lavers were still in my car. I ran out, grabbed them, and returned to the car. We were set to go... until James realized that he too had forgotten his Lavers. Things were getting off to a good start ;-] Eventually, we made it to the spot.
We sneaked in to one a former racquetball court, now dance studio and warmed up. The floors were a little slick, but the mirrored wall made up for it. I didn't not play particularly well and can't think of anything super memorable. My clipper bothered me throughout the session. Oh well, one more thing to work on.
James was a little slow getting started. He said this was only is 4th or 5th time he had played at all since the end of June (the night session on Reile's new video). He still managed to hit some pretty cool stuff (of which I remember only some):
bs whirl first try
bedwetter bsos on first attempts at bedwetter
blubberman
blurry whirls all over the place
a nice long 20 or so contact string with spinning, gyro, diving, ducking, and zulu clippers.
blurry grifter off his foot on his only attempt
final run started with diving legover > pixie ss cliper > diving whirl > ps whirl > vortex > ...
He seemed pretty enthusiastic about playing again and was going to try to start playing a lot more. So, we should see more good stuff in the future.
I parked on the side of the curb, knocked on the door, and was greeted my none other than James Risden. We went upstairs and chilled for awhile. I saw little James ( who looks a lot like his dad ) bouncing around in his little baby bouncer. James rounded up his things, and we were out the door. He pulled his car away from the curb/snowbank. Just as I was about to get in, I forgot that my Lavers were still in my car. I ran out, grabbed them, and returned to the car. We were set to go... until James realized that he too had forgotten his Lavers. Things were getting off to a good start ;-] Eventually, we made it to the spot.
We sneaked in to one a former racquetball court, now dance studio and warmed up. The floors were a little slick, but the mirrored wall made up for it. I didn't not play particularly well and can't think of anything super memorable. My clipper bothered me throughout the session. Oh well, one more thing to work on.
James was a little slow getting started. He said this was only is 4th or 5th time he had played at all since the end of June (the night session on Reile's new video). He still managed to hit some pretty cool stuff (of which I remember only some):
bs whirl first try bedwetter bsos on first attempts at bedwetter blubberman blurry whirls all over the place a nice long 20 or so contact string with spinning, gyro, diving, ducking, and zulu clippers. blurry grifter off his foot on his only attempt final run started with diving legover > pixie ss cliper > diving whirl > ps whirl > vortex > ...He seemed pretty enthusiastic about playing again and was going to try to start playing a lot more. So, we should see more good stuff in the future.
Mike Hansen
-
wolfpac444
- Your Friendly Admin
- Posts: 1890
- Joined: 24 Mar 2003 00:07
-
Senor Grommet
- Post Master General
- Posts: 3394
- Joined: 18 Oct 2002 20:25
- Location: Greater Santa Cruz, CA
AZ
Well, now that you are taking some time off, I suggest you make a 2 day road trip to Arizona and come and stay with me in Tucson. The offer is on the table. Not one person that I know through footbag has visited me in Tucson in more tan 18 months of me living here. Pretty sad realy, who will be the first?
My name: Jeremy Mirken, AKA Chocolatey Shatner, AKA jerk enemy rim.
I kick it with trunk chef elf and liz luck key my.
I kick it with trunk chef elf and liz luck key my.
-
wolfpac444
- Your Friendly Admin
- Posts: 1890
- Joined: 24 Mar 2003 00:07
I had a small hour session tonight just to keep in the habit of playing everyday. It was mostly simple tiltless stuff, trying to get back in the rhythm of things. I also did some work on flip fairy set and flip torque -- they are getting a lot closer to not being completely incompetent. The one string that I felt best about was ss clipper x8 > op clipper [rpt x 7]. Less than two weeks ago, I could barely get more than five.
Plan for this week:
--Two small sessions a day: an hour in the morning and an hour at night
--Kick with the UNI guys on Wednesday. Check with Daryl about getting a bunch of reject sandbags and footbag flyers. Help them register a club. Possibly schedule more "meetings".
--Get infinity record back up to above 10.
--Shred with James on Friday for hopefully a good 4+ hour session.
--Try to round up some money to get to CSS6.
We'll see how it goes.
Plan for this week:
--Two small sessions a day: an hour in the morning and an hour at night
--Kick with the UNI guys on Wednesday. Check with Daryl about getting a bunch of reject sandbags and footbag flyers. Help them register a club. Possibly schedule more "meetings".
--Get infinity record back up to above 10.
--Shred with James on Friday for hopefully a good 4+ hour session.
--Try to round up some money to get to CSS6.
We'll see how it goes.
Mike Hansen
-
wolfpac444
- Your Friendly Admin
- Posts: 1890
- Joined: 24 Mar 2003 00:07
Short little session tonight. Highlights:
--spinning osis > gyro clipper bsos
--spinning osis > spinning clipper bsos
--gyro osis > gyro osis bsos
--41 "strong" ss clippers!
--63 "flip" ss clippers!!
Man, I really feel good about playing everyday. I may start having to make time for two sessions a day. I'm looking forward to kicking with the guys up at UNI tomorrow. Maybe I'll bring them a footbag DVD to watch.
Until then...
--spinning osis > gyro clipper bsos
--spinning osis > spinning clipper bsos
--gyro osis > gyro osis bsos
--41 "strong" ss clippers!
--63 "flip" ss clippers!!
Man, I really feel good about playing everyday. I may start having to make time for two sessions a day. I'm looking forward to kicking with the guys up at UNI tomorrow. Maybe I'll bring them a footbag DVD to watch.
Until then...
Mike Hansen
-
hacksterbator
- Washed-Up Child Star
- Posts: 4141
- Joined: 12 Jul 2003 18:33
- Location: Winterpeg, Manisnowba
- Contact:
man playing every day is the best. i have been fourtunate enough to play alomst every day since new years. i notice i am also sleeping like a baby. i get so tuckered out from the sessions and work and such that as soon as my head hits the pillow i'm out.
isn't it interesting when you work your flip side so much it becomes your goodside? wacky! keep kicking mike!
isn't it interesting when you work your flip side so much it becomes your goodside? wacky! keep kicking mike!
A.G.
-
wolfpac444
- Your Friendly Admin
- Posts: 1890
- Joined: 24 Mar 2003 00:07
Hey Amelia! We usually play on the second floor in Tower Center (between the two tower dorms). The guys I'm kicking with are just random students there; I think most of them are sophomores. It is mostly kicking and not as much freestyle at the moment, but hopefully that will be changing in the future.
Ughh... I had to cancel two sessions with James due to weather and road conditions. We should have a session and start breaking his new Lavers in on Monday and Friday this week. After that, I'm up off to Madison...
Looking to be a fun week.
Ughh... I had to cancel two sessions with James due to weather and road conditions. We should have a session and start breaking his new Lavers in on Monday and Friday this week. After that, I'm up off to Madison...
Looking to be a fun week.
Mike Hansen
-
wolfpac444
- Your Friendly Admin
- Posts: 1890
- Joined: 24 Mar 2003 00:07
I had a pretty good session today with James. My game is starting to feel a bit better; butterflys are not so awkward playing into/out of. There was one string in particular that I was pretty happy about -- it had some infinities, spinning clipper bsos, spinning osis bsos, and dropped on spinning butterfly bsos. I also think I re-figured out my pixie set. I hit magellan twice on both sides in a string.
James got a brand new pair of magic blue lavers. He was impressed with how much cushioning and support they offered compared to his old non-China Lavers ;-] The first bit of the session was sort of a warmup / getting used to the new shoes. After a bit, James was looking like he was getting used to them. His strings were much longer than they were last time we played. He had a couple big strings with about 6 or so unique 5's. Oh, and he learned a new set: symp quantum (wonton). He was hitting frontside toe blue a lot midstring in combos like toe blur > fs toe blur, blur > fs toe blur, and blizzard > fs toe blur. Some highlights that I remember:
-- rev. swirling symp whirl, first attempt
-- whirling whirl
-- fs toe blurry whirl
-- janiwalker > flurry
-- blazing butterfly numerous times midstring
-- more that I forget...
He said he felt a lot better this session. He is going to play again on Wednesday night at his gym, and then we are going to have another session on Friday before I head up to Madison.
Footbag is fun!
James got a brand new pair of magic blue lavers. He was impressed with how much cushioning and support they offered compared to his old non-China Lavers ;-] The first bit of the session was sort of a warmup / getting used to the new shoes. After a bit, James was looking like he was getting used to them. His strings were much longer than they were last time we played. He had a couple big strings with about 6 or so unique 5's. Oh, and he learned a new set: symp quantum (wonton). He was hitting frontside toe blue a lot midstring in combos like toe blur > fs toe blur, blur > fs toe blur, and blizzard > fs toe blur. Some highlights that I remember:
-- rev. swirling symp whirl, first attempt
-- whirling whirl
-- fs toe blurry whirl
-- janiwalker > flurry
-- blazing butterfly numerous times midstring
-- more that I forget...
He said he felt a lot better this session. He is going to play again on Wednesday night at his gym, and then we are going to have another session on Friday before I head up to Madison.
Footbag is fun!
Mike Hansen