Ben Skaggs

professor · Post by **professor** » 13 Apr 2005 16:21

Skaggs. Ben Skaggs that is. I'm new to footbag, relatively speaking. I've been playing for 1 year, 3 months, 2 weeks, and 3 days to be exact.

I've never been to a tournament, and I've only played with one person (Henry Griese) who doesn't play in Vegas. I mainly shred with Loren (a.k.a. Bum), who most people know, and others in the Vegas footbag club.

I'm a guiltless player, most of the time. I've dialed almost all the main downtime tricks, except drifters, DLOs, and eggbeaters. Recently I've been working heavily on stepping, whirls, and single leg double dex moves (Paradon, DOD, etc.).

Today started as a bad day of practice. I was having trouble with my ripwalks and spins. I couldn't get a decent run going. Then out of frustration I guess I started to do osis's (my best trick). I started counting and was trying to beat my record of 62. Well to make a long, tiring story short, my new record is 108; beat it on the first try. From then on my shred improved.

Some things I hit today:

108 Osi? Osis'? whatever you want to say
6 Pixie Legovers
4 Gyro Clippers
Blender > PS Whirl (Challenge by Henry)
4 PS Whirls in one run
PS Whirl > PS Whirl !!! (I was excited about this one)
12 Flipside Whirls

That's about it for today.

HG · Post by HG » 13 Apr 2005 16:24

Whoa Ben. Either i wasnt good enough to know what you were doing, or you have gotten A LOT better since Feb.... 28? Blender>PS whirl Nice!!!!

108 osis is insane. I remember the argument you and steven had over osii or osises. Haha. God Vegas footbag club is funny. How are Katelyn, Steven, Steven, and Andrew doing? Footbag wise and other wise.

professor · Post by **professor** » 13 Apr 2005 21:37

Steven and Kaitlyn are about the same footbag wise. Kaitlyn has improved her legovers, but Steven never practices so he isn't any better. Steve and Andrew are getting better every week I see them. They both can hit mirages and legovers on command. Steve hit clipper a few times last Saturday. Also Steve hit many pixie legovers on Saturday which amazed Loren and I. Otherwise everything else has been good.

Ya, I've gotten better since you came. When you came I was just coming off a reagrivated ankle injury. It had been hurting me for 3 or 4 weeks before you came so I didn't get much practice during that time. But ever since you came it's been fine, which means much more practice.

Oh ya, also I played some more today and I hit Whirlwind clean after about 5 trys, then footed flipside Whirlwind after about 10 trys.

FootbagginBum · Post by **FootbagginBum** » 14 Apr 2005 07:16

WOOHOO!!!

108!!! SICKTASTIC!!!!
Soooo glad you decided to make a blog too. Great stuff...it seems you play better without me around..

Stinging hand slappin props on the gyros and whirlwind, and I'm just blown away on the osisis....Worlds 06 is lookin better all the time.

Oh, and I don't know if you'll see this in time, but Andrew and Jeff (andrews step brotha who just started for all ya'll out there in footbag land) are gonna coe play at school with us today...they even said they'll pay to get in...maybe we'll just go outside though...

Go Vegas Blogs!

Peace

Bum

EDIT: Ben who...thats great

professor · Post by **professor** » 14 Apr 2005 15:56

Today was a short session. Only played for an hour. Nothing much to report on. I hit mobius bsos in a 10 or so contact run. Also I hit blur > dimwalk > repeat.

I didn't have enough time to get anything going today and after doing a few PS whirls my shins started to hurt, probably from yesterday's heavy workout. Hopefully I will get to play a lot this weekend.

I almost forgot I also hit Blender > Blender

professor · Post by **professor** » 17 Apr 2005 17:28

Ok so I went on a trip to California Fri. - Today. I went to a conference thing with my student group at church. Well, last time I went (2 years ago) I remember a lot of people circle kicked there. At that time I only could kick so this time I was so excited to be able to shred hard and show all the kickers what footbag was all about. So that's what I did.

I played when we first got to the church on Fri. for about 20 minutes, then I played during a 20 minute break in the middle of the session that night. On Saturday I played during 2 20 minute breaks and I also played 30 minutes after I ate lunch. I could really tell that my hard work the past couple of weeks has made an improvement. I didn't really try any hard tricks, but my string lengths were good.

Over the 3 days I hit about 10 20+ contact strings and probably 4 30+ contact strings. Most of them were totally guiltless. During one run I hit Symp. Whirl > PS Whirl in the middle.

The reaction from others was mixed. I actually had one circle that I wasn't in just stop playing when I started playing next to them. I was discouraged by that, but then a few guys came up and wanted to play. From then on I usually had 3 people I didn't know come up and play with me everytime I sarted a circle and almost evertime there were 20+ people standing around watching. I really wished I had some flyers and footbags to give to people. Next year I'll make sure and do that.

So overall it was a good weekend.

professor · Post by **professor** » 18 Apr 2005 11:29

Well last night after posting on here, I decided to footbag even though I was very tired. After I warmed up, my tiredness went away and I had a great session. I warmed up with my semi-broken in abshire and just decided to see what kind of things I could hit with it even though it wasn't broken in all the way.

I hit:

paradon > pdx mirage > repeat
swirl > osis > swirl > osis > swirl > osis > drop
DLO > ss butterfly > repeat
Toe set DLO and Eggbeater both sides
diving clip > weaving clip > ducking clip > repeat
torque > butterfly > repeat
13 ripwalks ( 3 less than my record )
ps whirl > ps whirl
whirlwind both sides!
blur > dimwalk > repeat

Then I switched to my fully broken in abshire and hit:

twirl > twirl
blender > ps whirl flipside on 2nd try
twirl > ps whirl both sides
barrage > ss butterfly > repeat x2

professor · Post by **professor** » 20 Apr 2005 14:44

Being sick stinks!

professor · Post by **professor** » 22 Apr 2005 23:23

Tonight I broke a lot of my single trick records. In a hour and 40 minute session.

Op Butterflys - 36
Flipside Butterfly - 32
spinning clip strong - 11
spinning clip flipside - 8
sidewalk flipside - 5
gyro clipper - 6
also as a warm down, left(flipside) inside kicks - 102

other good combos:

gyro? osis > osis > repeat x4
pdx whirl > ripwalk > ripwalk > pdx whirl
flipside ps whirl > ps whirl twice

That's about it, I quit early today to save up some good stuff for tomorrow's session.

HG · Post by HG » 23 Apr 2005 03:36

Hey ben, nice stuff!

Ps whirl>ps whirl is phat!

And i think "gyro" osis is Peeking osis. You kinda spin then go back the other way right?

Go vegas!

professor · Post by **professor** » 25 Apr 2005 16:02

Ok today was good and bad. First of all I would like to say that I hate stepping sets!

My ripwalks are very inconsistent. Not like I can only do them sometimes, but like one time I'll be able to do 10 ripwalks 4 times in a row, then all of the sudden I lose the ripwalk "feel" and can only do 2. I don't know what it is, I'm balanced one second and unbalanced the next. It's just very frustrating.

Anyways, other than my stepping, everything else was good.

Combos I hit:

torque > buterfly > repeat x2
diving osis > ducking osis > repeat directly to ducking butterfly > diving butterfly > repeat
pdx whirl > diving clipper > repeat
ps whirl > ps whirl > ps whirl!!!
mobius > butterfly > butterfly > repeat > dropped ps whirl

I also have been trying Henry's challenge of 45+ contact guiltless run with Ducking PS Mirage BSOS. I haven't been able to get 45+, but I have done many 20-25 contact guiltless and a few near 30 guiltless. (with Ducking PS Mirage BSOS of course)

So it was good and tiring session today.

professor · Post by **professor** » 26 Apr 2005 22:07

Today was a good shred day I guess. Yesterday during my session, my right(strong side) ankle flared up once again. It has done this for awhile now and everytime it flares up I have to rest it for at least a week or two. So being kind of an optimist I always find it a good chance to work on my flipside clipper stuff and toe tricks. So that's what I did today.

Some highlights of today:

flipside swirl > rev. swirl
flipside rev. swirling pickup
4 flipside symp. whirls
pixie legover > smear > repeat

251 left(flipside) inside kicks
flipside whirlwind

ready for this one, my first 7... flipside montage!!!

That's it for today.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 26 Apr 2005 22:17

Good stuff. Personally, I think stepping sets are over-rated. Everybody seems to want to learn them, but frankly, I`d trade my steps for spins. Maybe cause I got bored of steps. But yeah, just school whatever you want.

professor wrote: swirl > osis > swirl > osis > swirl > osis > drop

I really like that combo, that`s sweet. I also liked the other combo you posted, the peeking osis-osis repeat. Here`s a challenge: peeking osis-gyro clipper repeat.

Oh, and when you say flipside montage was your first seven... you mean it was your second right? Because if you`ve hit montage on the other side, then that counts as your first 7. If you`ve only hit montage on one side, then its not your flipside.

Keep up the good stuff.

FootbagginBum · Post by **FootbagginBum** » 27 Apr 2005 08:56

Wow. @ Ken: It's just that his main ps whirl wouldn't work at all, so he ducked his flip whirlwind. He could do main side even easier if his ankle worked. AND I STILL CAN"T DO IT

Ben seems to be skyrocketing like Evan did, its really great.

Hella props on the swirl>osis and twirl>ps whirl combos, I didn't know about those.

And everyone should give it up for Ben's 251 flip insides. If we all did that, none of us would have flip clips anymore (at least those of us who are bigfoot).

Can't wait til thursday, hope your ankle improves, try to rest it and ice it as much as possible. And easy slightly painful stretches and flexes every now and then are necessary to ensure it heals without losing flexibility.

Woo! Go Ben!

Peace,
Bum

professor · Post by **professor** » 27 Apr 2005 10:46

Ya, Loren had it right, my strong side ankle is messed up so I had to do my flip spinning - duck - flip ps whirl. So you are right Ken in that I don't know for SURE if it is my flip montage, but it's most likely my flipside. We'll see when my ankle heals up.

professor · Post by **professor** » 28 Apr 2005 16:42

Ok today was a good session. I was a little sore at first, but I was fine after I warmed up. My DLO's and eggbeaters were in fine condition today. My strongside ankle is still out of comission, so I could only work flipside again.

I hit:

Toe DLO > eggbeater both sides
Shmoe > toe blender flipside
Flipside whirlwind on 2nd or 3rd try
spinning eggbeater!!
Marius !!!!

418 flipside inside kicks

That's all the good stuff.

professor · Post by **professor** » 30 Apr 2005 21:24

Today was a good shred. My strong side ankle feels better but I still wanted to rest it so I continued with my toe and flipside work.

All Flipside Things:

ducking osis > diving butterfly > spinning butterfly
diving butterfly > spinning butterfly > repeat
butterfly > spinning butterfly > blur
symp. whirl > diving butterfly
whirlwind
diving butterfly > spinning whirl

Other Things:

pixie legover > smear > repeat x2
vortex bsos (easy)
scorpion tail 2nd try
symp. whirl > scorpion tail

I'm not entirely sure the last dexes of the scorpion tails were clean, but the motions were there.

Very good shred tonight.

professor · Post by **professor** » 03 May 2005 15:13

Ok, yesterday was a really frustrating footbag day. I couldn't hit anything I wanted to. I felt weak and offbalance the whole time. Luckily today was better. I felt pretty good. I'm still strong side clipper deficient. I need to ice my ankle like crazy this week so it will heal quicker. So project "remove my flipside" is still underway, which is a good thing I guess.

I hit some nice strings of things.
Some notable combos and moves:

pixie legover > smear > pixie legover > smear > repeat
flipside whirl > spinning pdx whirl
7 flipside spinning butterflys
98 flipside inside kicks without touching the ground with my kicking leg
Marius 4th or 5th try
I also worked on all my sets and did a lot of flipside blurs.

I worked on stalling every move for a few seconds before going to the next trick and it seemed to really work my flipside clipper a lot(helped with ankle flexibility, control, etc.). I used to do this a lot and I don't really know why I stopped, but Loren mentioned it and so I decided to go back to doing that.

professor · Post by **professor** » 04 May 2005 15:20

Today was a very good day. I'm finally seeing progress in my flipside and particularly my flipside blurs.

Some flipside stuff:

6 non-plant spinning clippers
10 diving clippers
diving butterfly > spinning butterfly > repeat x3
toe whirl > far legover > repeat x3
butterfly > blur > repeat x3
parkwalk > blur
symp. whirl > repeat (If you want to gain symposium strength, hold these catches until you gain perfect balance before completing another one)
butterfly > spinning mirage > butterfly > gyro mirage > butterfly > spinning legover > butterfly > gyro legover > repeat (except drop on last gyro legover)

other goodies:

paradox whirling rake
magellen > rev. magellen bsos
fairy legover bsos
fairy gyro mirage

Can't wait till' tomorrow's session!

professor · Post by **professor** » 07 May 2005 21:40

Ok today my ankle was feeling good and since there was an epic shred session planned today I felt it was the best time to use it again. It was fine for about an hour, but then it started to hurt. It still hurts, but in a different place then it used to and not as bad. I'm thinking it will be fine after a day of rest and ice.

Thursday I had a shred day. Only one side of course, but I managed to get 3 or 4 20+ contact runs. Today was good as well because I could use both ankles and had some ok size runs. My injured ankle was a little weak in its sets but that's because I haven't use it for 2 weeks. I'm sure my sets will get better very soon.

Some notables from today:

Whirlwind
Vortex
Mullet at end of run
whirl > pdx whirl > repeat