why do I suck?

[Aspiring Hacktor]

Hello,
I've had a frustrating past few days playing footbag. I'm not a very good player. My credentials are as follows

mirage>legover>mirage>legover avg of 4 touches, best 7
clippers 3 in a row
illusion ok good side, always 'the' my flipside
butterflies sometimes
atw shitty

anyway, I shred at least 5 times a week for half an hour to an hour each time. I've been on this pace for over a month and I just don't seem to be improving. It may be that I get to frustrated not hitting one trick so I move on to the next never spending any time on anything. Or it may be that I suck. Anyway any advice would be great.

[Juice]

It would be good if you spent time on the trick thats bugging you and school it so you can hit it with your eyes closed. It's important to school these basic moves on both sides so you have a stronger foundation for when you move onto the harder moves.

Just keep at it you will improve.

[JFootbagger]

http://www.modified.ca/footbag/viewtopic.php?t=10077

read that, it might give you some advice on focus and what tricks to hit etc.

Just keep drillin' and schoolin' each and every session.

[mc]

play with the Toronto crew, and contact Jorden Moir ("Jorden", on this forum), who lives about an hour or so north of TO in Dundas. He's one of the greatest players this sport has ever seen, he's a good coach, and he plays ALL the time, so he'll be available.

stick with it. The more time you spend playing with others, the faster you'll improve. be open to advice.

[jon]

COME OUT TO SUMMERS END SHRED ON SUNDAY IN TORONTO!!!

PM me for more details

[mosher]

hey Hugh, I am so glad that you are still at this shit!
It thrills me more than I can convey in words.

You said you normally play for a half hour to an hour?

Have you ever had a session where you keep drilling and drilling and drilling until you are soaked and feel like you're on the brink of death?

Start trying to have those as often as possible.

Also, when you are practicing here is some stuff you should think about.

When you try a trick, if you hit it or not, you should really think about what the reasons were that you did or did not hit the trick.

Try changing little things about your technique on a trick if what you are doing isn't working. Try out the new style for a bit and then put thought into whether or not it is a good change you made, then decide from there to either remember to do it everytime or to go back to the old way that was working better.

You're far too incredible of a human to ultimately suck at fcotbag, I know your insane potential that lies awaiting to be tapped.

I INSIST that you become friends with the Toronto crew and start shredding with them regularly, they will be a good influence.

To get that ball rolling I am mailing you 4 footbags, two are for you, two are for Camille, this way you guys HAVE to get together soon!
Coming up, 2 moshers and 2 vidas!

The most important thing is that you focus on having fun, don't do one thing that is frustrating you tooooo much or it will just kill your vibe.

have fun and shred hard Hugh!

remember, drill>think>rpt

peace

PS GO TO THE SUMMERS END SHRED!!!
It's at the buskerfest and there will be all the wicked people from the area that you have to meet there shredding and having fun, go join!

[Jeremy]

Nice Tom - that's cool.

Something worth considering when you're drilling is that you don't always have to work on linking moves. Especially when I'm starting schooling a move I will hit it hand catch every time - rather than making any effort to seal it at all. I keep doing this until I can hit it solidly with a nice set out. Then I will try hitting it over and over but with toe stalls or clipper stalls as the only other moves. For example yesterday I hit torque>toe>clipper>torque>toe>clipper (changing torques) etc. for some time. Only when I'm happy that I can hit the move as a single move did I move on to hitting it midstring with hard links etc. Now I have hit hard torque combos midstring before - so I knew that I could hit the move already. However I drop it probably more times than I hit it - or at least I drop it too much and it feels uncomfortable for me a lot of the time. Hitting a move is only a very small step in the process to mastering a move so I felt that working on just that move would be the most helpfull thing I could do.

Of course every body is different and different training techniques work for different people - this is just one example of how I train.

[Aspiring Hacktor]

Footbag and I are friends again.

I just came back from a sweet shred with Tom Mosher. He was coming through toronto to go to some wedding shindig so we met up at the train station and shredded for an hour and a half. He figured out why I was "theing" my flipside illusions, and inspired me to hit some new tricks: pick-ups BSOS, flying toe stalls, symposium mirage (once, not yet on the flipside), and some other cool stuff. He also dropped off some sick 32s one of his and one from Vida. I can't wait to start breaking them in!

I am really excited for summer's end at buskerfest this sunday in toronto. Thanks footbag, and thanks Tom.

[mosher]

That was a great session Hugh!

Don't forget that you also hit guay both sides and flying toe stall>flying toe stall. I know that last one doesn't sound that big.. but there are probably only a couple other people that have hit that before! big ass props!

I was really happy to see how far you've progressed. You've got great style and confidence, it was so great to see you shredding and busting out new shit.

I really liked seeing you go from having never hit pickup before to chucking them in your strings. So phat.

max props!

[Wasabi]

Can't say much for my progress, but I'm getting there on my own pace. Good to hear some of the tricks you're pulling off, and I can't wait to see you flaunt them in front of the NYFA crew whenever you come down to NYC!

Props man.