FOOT JAM 05
Ok, lets try this...how can i sum up all the beauty and intensity
of these sweet days in any convenient way ?
It was very strange to be in my daily environment again,
everthing was kinda dull and muted, i for once kept my excitement
to my self, didnt talk to anybody that can relate to my feelings yet,
just save the foot( food?)jam taste a little longer.
When i browsed modified on my first day back, nobody i know
in person was posting, and i wasnt up to it either.
48 hrs later, a lot my footbags mates (you guys felt like friends
at times, i love to see the future of this ! )wrote their impression
in various pms and blogs and all the important stuff concerning the
sequence of events, the big moves, routines and results and so on,
has already been said.
But when i read your posts, Alex, Bjoern, Charles, Hania, Hunter,
Ian, Jochen, Lise, Max and Verena EVERYTHING comes back to me
in rippling giggles of joy and fullfilment
Friday was a really difficult day for my perception
Bjoern already said, who the first group of players was, that we saw.
Wow. I mean, we all read the footjam flyers and stuff, but when i saw
Kenny, Ellis and the others, i gotta admit, i was thinking : autographs
( well, i'm 28 now...)
The setting was so perfect ; we were all in a great mood, the
landscape was truly awesome with the park, the big, deep lake
and the glistening mountains in the distant pre evening light.
The holiday feeling is very dear to me ( big up, working class
),
plus it had that school trip feel, but the subject wasnt history,
it was footbag...screw this, it was both !
Markus and me started to shred pretty soon, with Lise, Jason and Ian.
It was really nice to meet Ian from Australia - he is a very good player
with a well rounded game and a koool choice of moves and one of
the best peeps i've ever met .
My runs werent that great, like on the whole weekend, basically,
but i hit a new link ( driven by Markus hitting it first ) ; pixie clip>dlo !
As light failed and legs grew sore, the lust for food, beer and chats
took over and we all had a mighty fine time grillin and chillin.
I was in such a good mood - all the nice/funny/insane people,
wild skies, water, wind and moutains ( mountains , Gandalf ! ),
sweet beer and shred, not having to work but being on the brink of
having something like the time of your life !
And that was the moment when i had to go over to Ellis P, who was
checking his cam at the lake, to say hi and to thank him and all...
Bjoern, Max, Markus and Ian joined in and we all talked for ages.
Ellis was very accessible and warm hearted, and the circle we had
was full of genuine interest and energy, at the and of our coversation
he said to us : that type of talk i need on my camera, i hope this
happens again ! and it kinda did...
I was awake, drinking and talking with various peeps for a long time,
and when i finally decided to got to "bed", sleeping wasnt easy,
wasted swiss persians hooligans outside, and snorting footbaggers
+ ants inside, on a darn hard floor.
Saturday
Waking up destroyed and nautious, but that underslept grumpiness
subsided after washing and moving over to Rote Fabrik .
I gotta say i was very excited to see all the new players,
that just had arrived, with their tired, gleaming faces,
especially when i spotted Charles and the Paris crew and Hania
The day was really long and intense, i'm glad that most of it will
be on tape, so that i dont have to go off, describing all the great
circles and routines, not to mention the great party after
the finals !
Before, betweeen and during
all the routines, there was a lot of
shredding to be done, and i was blown away when i saw Tina Aeberli
shred for the first time - let me say this much - if she keeps on busting
the big tricks and tuff links with that perfect form of hers, and if she
adds a bit of showmanship, she will be world champion soon
I played with Viktor and Jakob May, then with French Crew and for
a short time i kicked some bag with the Wollhuseners and Kenny Shultz-
how can i even think of the word "motivation" when the greatest man
in footbag gives you props for string ( 4 what ever reason...lol..) ?
The routines were really interesting to watch and i felt so happy,
when Max and Markus proceeded from intermediate to open
After the great finals and all the celebrating, there was a big need
for a lot beer, and i had some good time with Markus and Bjoern,
he captured some of that madness on tape..
Later on, when Bea and me came back from checking out the lake,
sitting down for a chat, Ellis and Charles stopped by to make an
interview with us two.
I really got into it and rambled away, and again i was very much
inspired by Ellis over all amazingness .
I had a nice epiphany at one moment, when i realised that i was
with the three persons who are the live givers to my footbag world :
Bea represents everything good that's comming from my team,
Charles is my favourite bag maker and Flipsider gave me the love
for the technical and philosophical side of freestyle footbag
Ian and Hania, Vienna, Munich and Paris crew formed a drunk,
giggling party monster surfing on a huge beer wave, with a mind
full of mischief and a fat joint in his left hand !
Thanks for the great time;
Stefan, Andrew and Serge : i love your game
Another highlight was the nice and long conversation i had with
Hania
you have a really good heart and i had such a good time
finally talking to you about all these different things
I so look forward to see you soon again and hopefully Szymon
will be there too !
Sunday
No golf for me - only four square and SHRED
!!!
i kicked with a lot of people that day, but i was mostly impressed
by Jana ( great style ) and the circle with Pietere, Bea and Tina .
After 3 and a half hours of shred and
butter>dlo bs
under my belt, i felt pretty dead and went for shower and
a massage - yes folks, Jan and his crew thought about everything !
Of course i couldnt stop playing, and after some chatting to Carol
and Ian and vain attempts to sleep, i tried some bare feet atomic
sets .
They came along quite well, and after hitting some stuff out of it
bare feet, i grabbed lavers and Hania's bag and i hit :
muted tap and ATOMSMASHER
The best feeling single trick . period
I was glad that these werent one hit wonders, and was mad lucky
that muted tap and a half decent run were captured on tape .
At the same time, there were kool circles going on :
Lise, Hania, Caro, Rasmus or Max, Alex, Verena, Carol
.
Everything got filmed but this
Yves and Lise
I had the pleasure to play with Carol too and after that i headed
out to the lake.
The spot, where i came to the lake this time, was a little unlucky
aka full of ships, so i goodbyed the swimming plans and walked around
Zürich for a bit.
When i came back, it was already dinner time, and we all had risotto
while Vasek and Felix ripped shit up ...symp whirling swirling blender...
barraging ducking...wait for all the insane footage !
Although i was half dead, sleeping wasnt an option anymore, and around
10 we headed back to Rote Fabrik for players party and shred 30 .
What can i say, i took part in the shred, played with Serge, Jakob
and some swiss guys and saw Viktor hitting blazing mirage
Thanks to Ole, i went up on stage and all nervousness was blown
away, when i heard the drunk cheers of my buddies !
I did quite well at the beginning, then some drops, some tricks and
a lucky finish with ducking clipper in my last second
Competing is great and this was properly the most unorthodox
shred 30 ever : Max was being himself (= druuunnk ), Dexter
was dancing, Klabauterman was toasting and Vasek made a new
world record ! And again, wait for the footage and watch out for Ellis !
The rest of the night was insane shred, Jochen, Jakob and me kicked
for another 3+ hrs, i hit all my pixie and ducking moves,
blur, datw,
assasin, both dimwalks, all 4 dlo's and my first flipside parkwalk around 3 am .
On the way home, i felt so good after all these wonderful moments
and Mikes dry humor made laugh like there was no 2morrow
Ah, happy fuckin times !!!
Monday's tale is briefly told : nice breakfast, watching footbag net
live for the first time ever, flip side muted tap and a huge wave of
inspiration watching Jana, Bea and Pietere shred !
It was hard to leave, i cant tell ya, but as we say, this was only
the beginning of a beautiful friendship
see y'all soon .
A major shout out for your organization skills and the fabolous
line up - you guys let me meet footbag legends, the yougsters
in their prime and all the wonderful footbag players from all over
world !
Jan youre the shiznik, i still cant believe what i got for meager 30 franks,
and to everybody involved, thanks for creating what i will call one of the
greatest and happiest experiences of my life !
And my mother didn't hear neither the doorbell nor the phone 
