Got back from Footjam yesterday, but the competition was still going until Monday, which really sucks for me
I had booked my flights before they added the extra Monday of comp, so i missed Sunday night's Player Party and 30 Sec shred, and i assume all the mad shred that will happen now that competition is over and people can relax.
I posted most of the results stuff i could remember already in the Footjam topic in the Tournies section.
I got into Zurich after an hour delayed flight, and got to the Rote Fabrik by train, tram and bus at about 6.30pm i guess. It was cool, the first person i saw as i walked into the Rote Fabrik grounds was Ellis Piltz, unloading his massive video camera and stuff. I was given directions by a guy i later found out was Jose (one of the hard-working organisers) to find all the other players, and then i proceeded to get lost anyway. When i began walking back to try and find the place again i bumped into Max Jaeger and he showed me where everyone was chilling out, at this community centre thing near the lake. I dumped my massive backpack and shit and then walked back outside, and the first person i meet there is Bjoern Siefert, who i had been swapping PMs with and stuff recently. It was really awesome to meet him and other people from Modified, there were heaps of posters at the event. Its cool being able to put names to faces and to talk about footbag stuff and just whatever.
Bjoern introduced me to Daryl and Marcus, who were already shredding hard that afternoon. I also met Jochen Bauer here too, with whom i talked with alot about various footbag stuff and about the sport and players and whatnot, it was cool. More and more people were arriving all evening and we chilled and watched shred and stuff. I finally got to shred with someone else for an hour or two, that was really good after my long hiatus in Wales. I surprised myself by not playing too bad, my strings were short but i hit some stuff and began to feel like i was getting some stuff back. I mucked around a bit as it got darker and hit Neutron Smasher was really cool, and then Plasma (Quantum Double Down) a bit later on.
Friday was just like a meeting up kind of thing, drinking beers and having some BBQ food etc. I met up with Max B for the first time since January 04 which was really good, but he was already very drunk after his flight over to Zurich. Much comedy ensued (battling Klabautermann!
)
He introduced me in a very embarassing fashion to Vasek, and i didnt really have anything to say after that!
I met Felix when he asked me for some paper to clean his BBQ chicken which he had dropped in the dirt. He had been drinking all afternoon aswell i think heheheh
It was funny as when he came and joined our circle in the evening and was playing in other shoes and long pants, and said that he is always trying to see how drunk he can get and still play footbag
Yeah so we stayed up a while all drinking and talking and stuff.. well, i talked when i could understand what was being said heheheh Its a bit harder when i dont speak German/Finnish/Czech etc
After a fucking uncomfortable (and noisy! Who was snoring like a maniac that night?!
) night sleeping on a hardwood floor, we got up and moved to the Rote Fabrik itself for the Preliminary Freestyle competition. There was player registration (we got Players Passes on lanyards and Planet Footbag water bottle) then breakfast of fruit, bread, juice etc etc
Prelims took like 3 or 4 hours but it was good fun and there was a bit of a crowd of non-footbaggers and some TV crews filming.
I competed.
I was introduced as being from Austria hahaha It was a really shocking routine (as expected) and i didnt make semis (as expected), but i did hit Whirling Swirl as my finishing move which was pretty cool. Felix borrowed my CD player to choose his routine music (hahah like an hour or so before he had to perform it!) and i confirmed that it was up to standard hahaha
He blew minds in the prelims with a 2 drop routine laced with hard moves like Whirr and Ripstein, Symp Whirling Swirl etc and awesome spinning links and stuff.
After Prelims there was a dinner of Noodles and apple sauce, and general shred in the small theatre. I got to play with Kenny Schults
It was pretty dope, hes a nice bloke and we talked for a few minutes then and on Sunday when he signed some stuff for me. He hit some pretty good runs on Saturday with some double spinning stuff etc, but the icing (or should i say sauce) on the cake was him hitting Big Apple Sauce right next to me! I couldnt believe that shit.. all i could do was give mad props and giggle like a little kid
Finals night was amazing. A huge crowd (who were paying something like 15 CHF to be there) filled the big theatre and there was awesome lighting and all kinds of stuff set up, DJ Mad Madam on the decks etc. Semis and Finals were conducted on the stage, as well as extra entertainment like the Yoyo guy from Germany (fucking incredible!!) and the tap dancing guy etc. The was good crowd participation for the 5th Birthday of Footjam celebrations, and the crowd really seemed to enjoy everything they were seeing, including going crazy for Tina's routine and Vaska's routine. After the show had finished, a ragga/dance hall party continued until about 4am or so. It was a really awesome night, just drinking and talking to a bunch of people, and watching people like Andrew Grant and Ellis Piltz (i didnt get to meet him! Or Caro, Eric Wulff or Carol Wedemyer. The opportunity just didnt arise for me. disappointed...) shredding it up in front of the theatre.
My time is running out here, so more later!
hahah
Its gonna be so much fun, playing with all the big names and reprezenting O.Z.Z.I.E style at Worlds and Euros! Not to mention seeing all the different countries and cultures and meeting lots of ppl and footbaggers over there.
It still was great meeting you, a Footbag player from the other side of the world 
(I hope you get well soon!) Seems like everybody caught a flu. Except for me, at least until now...
