Day 1 (Thursday, 12.07.):
at 22:00 o´clock we (inga, my girlfriend, my brother, me) met to go to the main bus station. departure was 22:30 at the busstation in dortmund. after noticing, i hadn´t really eaten anything
that day, i bought a döner and ate it as quick in front of the bus as i can. after some language problems between the polish busdrivers and me, we we´re allowed to pack our bags in the bus. not that they are unfriendly, but kinda strange. they didn´t feel responsible for any baggage, nor wanted to help in any way. hmm ok, we entered the bus, after teaching the driver, what we wanted.
the busdrive started really annoying. a little child sat behind us and can´t really fall in sleep. it giggled and kicked against the chair. i thought to myself: "yup, that will be a nice ride" the mother entered the action and started to tickle her kid. after 10 minutes of doomish sounds from the hell, i recognized, there was no giggling or laughing anymore!? the mother did that nice trick, to make the kid tired and quiet. i had give her some props for that, but stopped because i moved myself into the mothers and decided, that it would be kind of strange, when a person turns around, with a silly, but satisfied smile and says: "Yo mama, props for you!!!! Bigge up!"
i fall in sleep a few minutes later, while listening to my burned cd, with all the tracks on, i would play my routine to.
in the middle of the night, maybe it was 02:00, i woke up by loud noises. i opened my eyes and saw, that two benches in front of us, two polish men were beating each other
the right one had his hands around the other ones throat and shook him. the left made ugly sounds and said some polish dirty words (dirty words are almost the only i know in polish, so i recognized them) one guy that sat on the left side of the bus went through them and cutted them. after that small fight, they were friends again and continued drinking their beer. NOTE: fuck you, damn alcohol!
inga got a shock too from the right aggressor, when she woked up and he watched her and told her in bad german: "Don´t watch me with your view!!!!" she was confused and didn´t really know, it he really meant her... crazy shit, we experienced!
at any time in the early morning, we entered the polish border. no problems there and the drive went on.
Day 2 (Wednesday, 13.07.05):
we arrived in wroclaw in 09:45, 30 minutes later as announced. i printed the informations with the accomodation and event site adress and the way to the hotel gem before, so we should not had any problems, to find the location.
well one thing i regret, not many people in wroclaw speak english. it was hard to get the right ticket, after asking several persons standing around.
finally we found the tram no. 17 as said and were on the way to hotel gem to register ourselves. on kochanowskiego stop we left the tram and had to walk the "street down, second street left( glowzynksi or so) and then to the end..." well, after a 15 min walk, with full bags on, no glowzynski showed up. a motel, which was on the way, gave us the opportunity to get some help, finding the way. next street left! ok, so we headed on and found the hotel gem after a nice, hot 30 min walk with all our full-packed bags. antek showed up and introduced himself. i said: "hi. we are here to register and get the keys for the student house!
". antek did a smile and told us, we are too early (remember! we arrived at 11:30 at the hotel gem. registration should start at 12:00). there is no chance to register before 17:00 o´clock! You must go to student house, but i can´t promise you, if you can go in room or if you got beds there!
we were like:
No WAY! we have a tiring 11 hour bus drive behind us, then we had to search this fucking site with a bad bad description in the hot sun, with all our stuff on and now we have to walk again? antek: yes, you can go to the student house or wait here till 17 o´clock.
wow, polish footbag association, what a nice first impression!
i was really pissed off, when we started to go to the student house. after 15 more minutes we arrived at the adress, that was written on the homepage. the housekeeper just made a face like
when we told him, we wanna stay here for the european footbag championships. he transfered us to a building that is a few hundred metres far from this. noone was really clear, if he understood us and so we were all like a giggling party, when you have a feverdream, because of all these stupid weirdness. my shirt was wet over and over and my feet wre just walking. no more thoughts. i felt a bit like moses in the desert...
we went right out of the school building, next street right. and then, i thought its like a fata morgana, what happened there. i viewed footbag players. and not only any players, known players from aachen, germany. YEEEEHHHH, the rescue is near. justin guided us to the house and told us, that he has an extreme week of footbag workshop, drinking in the evening and studying hard in the day behind him.
well, the student house looked like a jail inside (i have nothing against jails. everyone who has ever been to "koleje strahov" in prague, knows what i mean. they are fun), but it was a boarding school. the people had vacation, so they rented the rooms for other people.
entering the house was good. it was cold inside and i said hello to some people.
we went to room 241 to registrate and get the key for our room. 120 polish schloddis for 5 sleeps. that are 7-8 euros per night. not that much, but more than the usual "westprice" for accomodation, i.e. in berlin on the gfo 05.
well, what happened then..? i think, we went to the city, drove with a tram, that just came along and watched, where this will take us. the main train station came and we went out to find some food. after exploring the area around wroclaw glowy a bit, we wanted to eat polish food. sadly noone can´t read the eating map and viktor and anna (both polish friends from dortmund) will come tomorrow, we decided to get food, we know: McD ... hrhr, the lifesaver all over the world. if you don´t know, where to go, watch out for the big /\/\.
after that healthy food, we went to the gem, to finally get registrated. as i expected (and how it of course fitted in the whole situation) registration wasn´t on and started at 19:00 or so...
i watched the shredders and gave some inofficial awards. the "youngest player"-award goes to a sick 12 year old polish kid, who busted torque on and on. the "unusual haircut"-award was given by myself and matthias schmidt to the (as i found out later) finn, riku ahoola. it looked a bit like a mix of a usual irocese, but instead a portion of "leningrad cowboys" flowed in. BUT it was close to a haircut by a canadian footbag player. he shaved his head to 4 arrows, showing in each direction.
as we had finished our registration ( i decided to play intermediate freestyle and golf), inga and me went back to student house. on our way back, a guy was walking behind us and i realized that it was matt cross.
wow, what an honour, i thought. i have so many movies of him on my pc and really really like his awesome style and now he is in person in front of me. as i thought before, matt is a really uncomplicated and friendly guy. we arrived at the student house and i went to shower.
viktor and anna came later and saved themselves a nice sleeping place in the Gym.
in the evening i had some beer and fell asleep immediately as i laid down.
Day 3 (Thursday, 14.07.05)
it started with another wonder. "What? There is no food or water or anything for the players???" "No, but there is a supermarket, two bus stations away. Or you go to the gas station..."
wow, my feeling that this tournament is maybe not so good organized came more and more true.
the intermediate preliminaries started at 12 o´clock, so viktor and me had not enough time to go with the others, get some breakfast. eli, julian, anna and inga went to the supermarket and bought us bread and breakfast stuff. thanks for your support!!!
i was listed as the fifth player in the third pool. viktor was fourth in the fourth pool.
i kicked me warm and did some soft links to keep in form. when my name was announced i was very nervous. i had not schooled a routine. i just took a nice music and improvised the most. i started with easy 2add links and went on to a safe guiltless part. i became more and more safe in my routine, dropped it maybe four times and hit finally pdx flail as my final move!!! WOW, what a nice feeling!!! i smiled much and was very proud of myself.
viktor also had the probably best routine he ever did (as i did for myself). he had planned it trick for trick and hit nasty combos like: blizzard > quantum mirage. he was really satisfied, too.
after some time the results came up and we were both listed for the next round as the best in our pools!!!
Yay, GREAT!!
i felt very good with my routine and wanted to do a good one tomorrow, so i didn´t play anymore that day.
for that successful day, we decided to go eating in the city centre and met stefan siegert and renato zülli in the tram. they had also hunger and joined us by searching a restaurant.
we stopped at a texas-saloon-styled bar, where you can eat hamburgers, nachos and steaks without beans... that restaurant was located next to a club, where lots of steroid-polish went in. we checked the password (go to the left massive gorilla. give him a handshake while doing a bad face) and decided, to check it out later...
stefan, reni, vik and anna went to the party and we other 4 went back to the schtudent haus. lots of people were standing around, chatting and laughing. i had some nice talks (with one exception: the confused berlin guy, who was doing a report!?!) and went later to bed.
Day 4 (Friday, 15.07.05):
the day started with a breakfast at the korona supermarket. the polish cookies are awesome. what a great choice of different things and fillers. but liked it more lustly and bought a baked panini.
we get some water (cause there won´t be any there...) and headed to the gem.
my semifinal routine was more bad than my first. i haven´t really switched anything, but i felt maybe too safe. i had two tries on fairy eggbeater, but missed them both. i had more drops, maybe 7-9, but a higher add rate i think. all in all, i wasn´t that satisfied with myself, but it was ok. i felt good, that i am in the next round.
viktor looked like the young horse again, as he likes to do. he had shivering knees and lots of drops. he wasn´t in good shape, as he said, because of partying too much, last night. i told him the day before, that he should not party that much, if he wants to play good. but yeah, maybe next time.
later on, the open preliminaries happened, but i chilled a lot outside at the net area. it was a bit windy and so it was very comfortable to sit in the shadow, getting a cool breeze and just hang out.
when the hall slowly ran out of people i sat outside on a stand and talked with my crew. then i saw the mosher running around and decided to say hi. we had a nice shadowhacking in which he hit: whirlygig > stepping whirling swirl > nemesis. maybe the last dex on the nemesis was the, but it was too fast for my eyes and i can´t now really rememeber exactly. i hit chainsaw massacre after a few tries. what a good feeling!!!
in the night, there was also a players party, which was every night, at the "Klub Ibiza". i went downstairs to the club and cruel technomusic came to my ear. i drank one beer and went back. i didn´t really like that club, too hot, too loud and music, i can´t take any pleasure in. we (eli, julian and me) picked up cory from chicago to get a taxi to the student house.
Day 5 (Saturday, 16.07.05)
the big day for me. intermediate finals and golf competition. the finals were announced to 13:40 o´clock, but for my luck. they had a short delay. we were eating breakfast as ususal at the korona market and stehn took the wrong bus. it was a fast bus, which stops not on every official station. so we did a short trip through wroclaw. i arrived at 13:45 the hall and was happy, that the open preliminaries still happened.
i began to kick myself warm and started to play soft. i was more bervous than the days before, because, well these are the FINALS!! i felt good today and tried all the moves i wanna do that routine and everything was ok. i had not watched any routine of my competitors, cause i don´t wanted to be distracted.
when i stepped up in the middle, my knees were shaking a bit. i started as the same before. doing easy 2add tricks to get more safe and then try different things i wanted to do. fuck it, i always dropped the paradon! it was really good before, but in this routine-hectic, i dexed too fast and slapped the footbag away. i ended my routine with a pdx flail, which made me smiling, cause is like that trick and i think it´s pretty hard.
after that, all the moves came in my mind, which i wanted to do, but forgot. i sweated a lot and did the tiger-like walk, that vasek also often does. i watched the two other routines after me and found out, that i could be third, when the ones before me were worse than me.
just five minutes after playing i went to the golf site with some people. we founded a team (inga, anna, justin from aachen and me) and started the gold parcours. big props to jakob and the others, who did it. it was awesome. located in a beautiful park with a river in the middle, the parcours was high leveled. the river made it dangerous, not to kick your bags in the water.
i started the first two holes with very good 3 shots. in the end i had 20 shots, par was 17. justin got 27, inga 35 and anna 55 kicks.
i walked with justin back to the gem to watch some net games. at 18:00 o´clock golf finals should have been and i wondered, where i get some informations about my place. i talkes shortly to seb, which came from the golf site and he told me, if i am under 27 shots i´m in. i said, i had 20 shots and he made big eyes like:
and said: so, then you´re the leader. i did some big eyes
too! wow, i hadn´t expected that.
when i returned, viktor, stefan and jakob were juggling and waiting for tomek from poland and charles from france. 20 minutes later we started the golf finals:
first shot was worse than the first round. i had 5 kicks for the first hole and jakob was coming nearer and nearer. on the second hole, viktor kicked his ilja bag in the river!! we searched after it, he went into the water, but in the end, he gave it up. 25 euros away...
the golf game got better for me, but with the first 2 holes, i had kicked myself in the arse. jakob now had the same amount on shots and it was a close race.
the last hole was deciding. if i would do that with one shot better, i´d be first, if not jakob would win. a hole-in-one was very possible, so i concentrated myself. i scanned the surrounding, saw the river in the middle and watched the tree above me. then concentration on the hole. i picked my hania bag. one step back and SHOT! the bag had a good grade, it went straight in front of me and in direction to the hole. it went deeper, oh jesus, will it be???? Crash, the tree prohibited the hole in one. fuck it! jakob had a good shot too. he served as near as me. we went over and everyone was putting in. i ended that hole with 2 shots. if jakob now would need one more, we had to split the crown or do one game again.
he observed the hole and putted in easily
! well, good game. and props for the first place
wow, that golf awesomeness was really nice! i will be a progolfer now! now more freestyle or net attempts! JUST GOLF!!!
when i went back from the golf site, i got many kisses from my girlfriend for my hot ass routine
we decided to go to the gas station, buy some beer and then see, if we´ll enter the party or not.
i noticed, i was really tired that day and so we sat in front of the student house with tomas from france and watched the crazy drinking game, some net players did. meanwhile a group of polish players came by and said, they will start 4 square in the eating room.
after some beer, i went to them and started foursquare. i hadn´t really recognized, how that match was gone excessive. first as the sun raised up and the dark outside went by, i realized i played for some hours wihtout a break. thanks to Cod, christoph and crazy kamil (who did spikehammer on command in the game at 04.00 o´clock in the morning). we had an unusual game, cause someone mentioned, that we are too loud. everyone was just whispering right now. people that came across, wondered, what we do!?! well, all i have to say is: twoja matka jest gruba bulaczke z´cosciem!! (right pronounced?) and i won´t forget Cod´s voice that says: KILL CHIM! Che has 15 points!
we ended that match and i went to bed.
Day 6 (Sunday, 17.07.05)
the final day was very lazy. we started with a nice breakfast at korona market. i bought a half chicken and some pizza. well, i was just out of vitamins, so i needed that!
after that, we went back to the student house to pack our stuff, cause our bus back to dormund will drive at 21:30 o´clock. i realized, that i lost my dexdo-shorts, which were so helpful to me. well if anyone find them, i´d be happy, if there´s a way to get it back! my brother lost his glasses and viktor, as said before, his ilja bag. POLAND YOU OWE ME WHAT!
we finished packing our bags and went by foot to the gem-site. i met tomas and started shredding with him. he started playing footbag just for a few months and has a great ability to stitch bags. i really liked his own!!
the day proceeded with playing footbag, watching the routines, shred30 and the insane net games.
it ended for me with the award ceremony. first award, that is given by, was GOLF! ohh, i didn´t know, golf gets a medal or so... well, charles entered first and got handshakes and kisses. then i came up and was really happy about standing there and being good in something
i congratulated the others and we got another medal !?! noone really knows why, but now, i have two medals. one says: "Open Golf, 2. place", the other says: "European Golf, 2. place". well, winning in one competition and getting two medals, isn´t that bad, or?
then my second expectation, the intermediate freestyle. i knew before that i am under the top 5, but the exact position was been hided. Ali´s voice came up: "Third place in the intermediate freestyle category goes to:" well one polish guy... i can´t remember all those names, there were just too many!
when i saw, which polish did the third place, i knew, i wouldn´t have made second. that guy looks a bit like ilja and he shredded hard and was better than me.
then second and first place also went to some polish players.
after that, we had to go, cause our bus won´t wait. i said goodbye to people, i reached and we went back to the student house. everyone was a bit hectic, cause there was just one hour left and on sunday, the buses and trams won´t drive like on a normal day.
we reached the bus station on 22:15. 15 minutes till the bus is on the road. the driver and the crew was much nicer, than the first one and we drove on without any problems.
the bus need a bit longer, cause we stand in a traffic jam for 2 hours, so after 13 hours busriding (which i slept 12 of it), we arrived tired, but happily dortmund.
big thanks to all the people i met there, old and new ones. YOU ARE AWESOME! (oh yeah, and dear reader, thank you for fighting with my cruel english and winning the battle with it)
all in all my opinion about this tounrmant is splitted. i really enjoyed the people and the vibe, that was there. the weather was great. i liked also, that i met some modified people.
but the surroundings were not okay. this were the european championhips. if you look one year before at denmark, that level of an organized tournament was not been kept. what i heard from other people, that have been last year in kopenhagen, the opinion was the same. that tournamnent was one step back.
i cannot understand, that some basic requirements, like and water and food are not existant. for what have we paid so much?
it is not ok, that the next supermarket is so far away. players need breakfast and living from the gas station can´t be right!
i cannot understand, why there are so many promoters on the flyer and we (the player) have nothing from it. red bull gave a tent, ok. dosdedos(?) gave some journals (which are in polish language... this is a european tournamnt! the stuff, that will be provided, should be in english language, so that everyone has something from it! i also think, that this aggressive promotion-commercial by red bull with the cars and the megaphone was really strange!)
well, i just think, it all could have been done much better! i don´t regret, that i was there, cause i also had much fun! but that fun came not by the tournament, it came by the people.
i am looking forward to lausanne 2006!
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