To anyone who was at SummersEndShred and is reading this, I hope you guys had an awesome time! No doubt you did, it was a beautiful day. How'd it go? report!
Jon: Kicky Sack Memoirs
I think I'm going to try and take more breaks during shreds.. I've gotten out of shape. It was awesome shreddin with you again Jon. I'm off all this week too so any weeknight I'm good for shred.
To anyone who was at SummersEndShred and is reading this, I hope you guys had an awesome time! No doubt you did, it was a beautiful day. How'd it go? report!
To anyone who was at SummersEndShred and is reading this, I hope you guys had an awesome time! No doubt you did, it was a beautiful day. How'd it go? report!
"Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow." -Hans
Summer's End Shred 3
Monday, August 29, 2005
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SUMMER"S END SHRED 3 REPORT
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Woke up around 9 am. Showered, ate some crap, got in the car and started the drive towards Toronto. Parked at yorkdale mall and took the subway to downtown Toronto. I got to the agreed upon meeting spot at 10 to Noon. Everyone was supposed to be there at 12 but there I was all alone
So I decided to walk around and check out the rest of the buskerfest that was going on. After 15 or so minutes of walking I ran into Tom Mosher
Tom and I decided to warm up infront of this musical group from Australia. They had an awesome sound that went well with footbag. We both got lots of compliments on our warmup titless strings from passers by, which was nice
The next shredder to arrive was Andrew, followed by Johnny and Adam from Brantford, then Ryan from Ottawa and the rest of the order I forget. We played on the street for a while and the sun was sooo hawt! (I got cooked like a lobster, I hate sunburns!!!) I decided to grab some water from my bag when I noticed my old middleschool principle walk by. I talked to him for a while and it turns out hes not the CFO at some company. He seemed impressed with my current job and also by the footbag. I played a bit more after that but soon ran out of water. So then Johnny, Ryan, and I decided to grab some water from the grocery store near by. We ended up each getting 10 liters each (for a grand total of 30 Ls ) In the checkout line Johnny tried a planche As usually this none shred event was one of the most humours of the day.
We headed back out and found a better shred spot that wasnt directly under the sun. Everyone eventually joined us there and the circles continued till around 5 or 6 pm. My legs were dead by 5 so I stopped playing. 5 hours of pretty much straight shred is not bad
Lots of really cool stuff was hit. Of course Jorden and Johnny were insane. Tom, Andrew, and Ryan were also hitting some tight links. Camille had some nice strings, and all the shredders had noticibly improved since I played with them last.
There were lots of crowds watching the whole day and Tom had an awesome little teaching session with a few people. A highlight at the end of the day was when Johnny and Jorden raced to see who could hit irish cream first. J... won
After that a bunch of us went to get some food at the wendy's across the street, where Jorden destroyed a lot of food After eating, people started leaving and Tom, Jorden, Camille, Andrew and myself hung around for a while and talked before eventually heading back to wendy's for more food. I ended up leaving Wendy's around 9:30 ish and got back to Guelph around 11 pm.
I don't know how to compare this year's SES to last year's. Last year I had an awesome !!! time. I loved shreding in the cool zone and wonderland. But this year more people came out and more people watched. They were both great in their own respects.
The best parts of this years session were (at least for me) the none shred moments. The times I was just chilling and talking to people. As for my actually shred .... Lets just say it was so so. Wasn't super excited about any string or tricks I hit but then again I didn't suck either(at least most of the time). I do realize I need to stay more postive while I shred, afterall no one likes a downer :p Also there should have been more "That's what she said..." comments and more talk of spooning. Maybe next year...
I am gonna take today off from shred to let my legs rest up a bit. They feel fine but a day of rest can't hurt and also I have a three hour class after work today I hope to play tomorrow for a while.
Thanks goes out to all the ontario players for making the event so much fun and esp to Camille and Andrew for setting it up this year. GO ONTARIO!!! Go footbag!
---====================---
SUMMER"S END SHRED 3 REPORT
---====================---
Woke up around 9 am. Showered, ate some crap, got in the car and started the drive towards Toronto. Parked at yorkdale mall and took the subway to downtown Toronto. I got to the agreed upon meeting spot at 10 to Noon. Everyone was supposed to be there at 12 but there I was all alone
So I decided to walk around and check out the rest of the buskerfest that was going on. After 15 or so minutes of walking I ran into Tom Mosher Tom and I decided to warm up infront of this musical group from Australia. They had an awesome sound that went well with footbag. We both got lots of compliments on our warmup titless strings from passers by, which was nice
The next shredder to arrive was Andrew, followed by Johnny and Adam from Brantford, then Ryan from Ottawa and the rest of the order I forget. We played on the street for a while and the sun was sooo hawt! (I got cooked like a lobster, I hate sunburns!!!) I decided to grab some water from my bag when I noticed my old middleschool principle walk by. I talked to him for a while and it turns out hes not the CFO at some company. He seemed impressed with my current job and also by the footbag. I played a bit more after that but soon ran out of water. So then Johnny, Ryan, and I decided to grab some water from the grocery store near by. We ended up each getting 10 liters each (for a grand total of 30 Ls
) In the checkout line Johnny tried a planche As usually this none shred event was one of the most humours of the day.We headed back out and found a better shred spot that wasnt directly under the sun. Everyone eventually joined us there and the circles continued till around 5 or 6 pm. My legs were dead by 5 so I stopped playing. 5 hours of pretty much straight shred is not bad
Lots of really cool stuff was hit. Of course Jorden and Johnny were insane. Tom, Andrew, and Ryan were also hitting some tight links. Camille had some nice strings, and all the shredders had noticibly improved since I played with them last.
There were lots of crowds watching the whole day and Tom had an awesome little teaching session with a few people. A highlight at the end of the day was when Johnny and Jorden raced to see who could hit irish cream first. J... won
After that a bunch of us went to get some food at the wendy's across the street, where Jorden destroyed a lot of food
After eating, people started leaving and Tom, Jorden, Camille, Andrew and myself hung around for a while and talked before eventually heading back to wendy's for more food. I ended up leaving Wendy's around 9:30 ish and got back to Guelph around 11 pm.I don't know how to compare this year's SES to last year's. Last year I had an awesome !!! time. I loved shreding in the cool zone and wonderland. But this year more people came out and more people watched. They were both great in their own respects.
The best parts of this years session were (at least for me) the none shred moments. The times I was just chilling and talking to people. As for my actually shred .... Lets just say it was so so. Wasn't super excited about any string or tricks I hit but then again I didn't suck either(at least most of the time). I do realize I need to stay more postive while I shred, afterall no one likes a downer :p Also there should have been more "That's what she said..." comments and more talk of spooning.
Maybe next year...I am gonna take today off from shred to let my legs rest up a bit. They feel fine but a day of rest can't hurt and also I have a three hour class after work today
I hope to play tomorrow for a while.Thanks goes out to all the ontario players for making the event so much fun and esp to Camille and Andrew for setting it up this year. GO ONTARIO!!! Go footbag!
Jon's FootBlog
MSN: [email protected]
"It was clean enough to be thin..." - Andrew W.
MSN: [email protected]
"It was clean enough to be thin..." - Andrew W.
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Thanks for posting in my blog guys, I appreciate it.
I have been soo buzy lately and really stressed out. I think the stress is from having no time to exercise, which for me is a need and not a want. I find my self getting down at work and super angry on the roads!!! I know the solution is more footbag but I have no time. My LSAT course is taking up 15 or so hours a week and I am still working a full time job, from which I dont usually get home till about 6. I really miss shredding outside but there are less and less usable hourse of sunlight to be had now.
In happier news I have been using my new gunits for the last three session (I still havnt used my new ultra modded green lavers once!) I know only three session since summer's end shred is terrible but its all the time I have had. Those three sessions have actually all been in the last three days!
Day 1:
Went to the tennis courts to try out the new shoes. It was a fun shred till the sun ran out. The shoes were still a little stiff but playable, much more so then new lavers. Nothing worthy to report. I found the clippers on the units better than lavers but the toes lacking compared to them. Then again they still need time to break in.
Day 2:
These annoying kids came up and wanted to play. I gave them a few pointers and then they eventually gave up and started smoking cigarettes and calling their friends on their cell phone. I swear they must have been 12 years old. A goal for the session I was trying was p. whirl > spinning clipper [repeat] but no dice.
Day 3:
Played for about an hour. The shoes are getting really nice (toes still not as good as my old lavers). The highlights of my session was long strings!, a new 5>5 spinning ducking butter > p torque I hit it a few times till I was happy with it, a run with both p drifters, a whirling swirl then 30 infinities > whirling swirl, and 103 ! infinities!!!! Happy day! Was also getting close to whirr. I would like to be able to hit it by kickass.
Also I have started drinking a post shred workout shake after each session. It should provide me with 27 grams of protein to substitue my terrible diet. (I need to eat more food and more different things !) Also my buddies came up from TO yesterday. It was a lot of fun seeing them again. I played 8 holes of golf yesterday and had a syrup drinking competition with my friend today
Thanks for reading :p
Thanks for posting in my blog guys, I appreciate it.
I have been soo buzy lately and really stressed out. I think the stress is from having no time to exercise, which for me is a need and not a want. I find my self getting down at work and super angry on the roads!!! I know the solution is more footbag but I have no time.
My LSAT course is taking up 15 or so hours a week and I am still working a full time job, from which I dont usually get home till about 6. I really miss shredding outside but there are less and less usable hourse of sunlight to be had now.In happier news I have been using my new gunits for the last three session (I still havnt used my new ultra modded green lavers once!) I know only three session since summer's end shred is terrible but its all the time I have had. Those three sessions have actually all been in the last three days!
Day 1:
Went to the tennis courts to try out the new shoes. It was a fun shred till the sun ran out. The shoes were still a little stiff but playable, much more so then new lavers. Nothing worthy to report. I found the clippers on the units better than lavers but the toes lacking compared to them. Then again they still need time to break in.
Day 2:
These annoying kids came up and wanted to play. I gave them a few pointers and then they eventually gave up and started smoking cigarettes and calling their friends on their cell phone. I swear they must have been 12 years old. A goal for the session I was trying was p. whirl > spinning clipper [repeat] but no dice.
Day 3:
Played for about an hour. The shoes are getting really nice (toes still not as good as my old lavers). The highlights of my session was long strings!
, a new 5>5 spinning ducking butter > p torque I hit it a few times till I was happy with it, a run with both p drifters, a whirling swirl then 30 infinities > whirling swirl, and 103 ! infinities!!!! Happy day! Was also getting close to whirr. I would like to be able to hit it by kickass.Also I have started drinking a post shred workout shake after each session. It should provide me with 27 grams of protein to substitue my terrible diet. (I need to eat more food and more different things !) Also my buddies came up from TO yesterday. It was a lot of fun seeing them again. I played 8 holes of golf yesterday and had a syrup drinking competition with my friend today
Thanks for reading :p
Jon's FootBlog
MSN: [email protected]
"It was clean enough to be thin..." - Andrew W.
MSN: [email protected]
"It was clean enough to be thin..." - Andrew W.
Wait, you mean we're supposed to eat something other than protien shakes and multivitamins?
Colin Kennedy
[email protected]
[email protected]
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Gonna make this short.
Played monday for 30 minutes. Nothing special. I just need to remind myself it important to play everyday even if only for a short time.
Played today. Went to the gym first, the first time in a long while. Squats made my thighs sore! Played for about 1 1/2 hours. Skooled most of the time. More focused then usual.
Schooled:
ripwalk > butter [repeat] x 2.5 > ripwalk > butter [repeat] x 2.5
pdx whirl > butter [repeat] both sides
pdx whirl > ss butter [repeat]
barfly > butter [repeat] strong
pdx mirage > paradon > butter [repeat] weak paradon
pdx mirage > tap > butter > pdx mirage > legbeater [repeat] both sides (still getting used to the toes on my gunits, that drill would be so easy in lavers)
whirl > ripwalk [repeat]
repeat from the top ... repeat repeat repeat ... the whole session
Gonna make this short.
Played monday for 30 minutes. Nothing special. I just need to remind myself it important to play everyday even if only for a short time.
Played today. Went to the gym first, the first time in a long while. Squats made my thighs sore! Played for about 1 1/2 hours. Skooled most of the time. More focused then usual.
Schooled:
ripwalk > butter [repeat] x 2.5 > ripwalk > butter [repeat] x 2.5
pdx whirl > butter [repeat] both sides
pdx whirl > ss butter [repeat]
barfly > butter [repeat] strong
pdx mirage > paradon > butter [repeat] weak paradon
pdx mirage > tap > butter > pdx mirage > legbeater [repeat] both sides (still getting used to the toes on my gunits, that drill would be so easy in lavers)
whirl > ripwalk [repeat]
repeat from the top ... repeat repeat repeat ... the whole session
Jon's FootBlog
MSN: [email protected]
"It was clean enough to be thin..." - Andrew W.
MSN: [email protected]
"It was clean enough to be thin..." - Andrew W.
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Very fun session today with chad and will. Played in the park on a perfect day. I really needed this footbag session to release some stress. Very stressfull weekend caused by a very dumb mistake that I hope and now promise myself never to repeat. Everything worked itself out though and the shred was a nice finish to it all.
My strings were ok and I was able to hit a lot of the stuff I was trying. I don't really remember what I hit while playing with chad and will (I guess if you wanna see what I can do you will have to come to kickass :p)
After Will let, I played with chad for a bit longer. At the end we tried infinites. I got to around 60 something twice but nothing higher.
After they both left I played a bit more on my own. I was able to hit flip barfly for the second, third, forth ... time (not really sure how many). I also hit barfly > barfly for the first time (started on my strong). I hope to hit barfly > barfly starting on my weak in the near future.
I came close to some new tricks. Although I didnt hit them I will still post what they were because in a blog who cares. I had marius on my foot about 5 times with no seal, spinning pdx blender felt close many times, and pdx whirling swirl seemed very doable (the dexs are no problem at all, it getting my swirling leg back far enough after the dex to seal the trick, I know I will hit it eventually because the I had time after my dexs if I can just make my legs do what I want them to do). Then I hit 14+ ducking clippers in a row and called it a session.
Not sure how much I will shred over the next two weeks. I have studying that needs to be done and at this point is more important than footbag. I plan to study until my LSAT on oct the 1st then skool like a mad man until kickass. Wish me luck.
Very fun session today with chad and will. Played in the park on a perfect day. I really needed this footbag session to release some stress. Very stressfull weekend caused by a very dumb mistake that I hope and now promise myself never to repeat. Everything worked itself out though and the shred was a nice finish to it all.
My strings were ok and I was able to hit a lot of the stuff I was trying. I don't really remember what I hit while playing with chad and will (I guess if you wanna see what I can do you will have to come to kickass :p)
After Will let, I played with chad for a bit longer. At the end we tried infinites. I got to around 60 something twice but nothing higher.
After they both left I played a bit more on my own. I was able to hit flip barfly for the second, third, forth ... time (not really sure how many). I also hit barfly > barfly for the first time (started on my strong). I hope to hit barfly > barfly starting on my weak in the near future.
I came close to some new tricks. Although I didnt hit them I will still post what they were because in a blog who cares. I had marius on my foot about 5 times with no seal, spinning pdx blender felt close many times, and pdx whirling swirl seemed very doable (the dexs are no problem at all, it getting my swirling leg back far enough after the dex to seal the trick, I know I will hit it eventually because the I had time after my dexs if I can just make my legs do what I want them to do). Then I hit 14+ ducking clippers in a row and called it a session.
Not sure how much I will shred over the next two weeks. I have studying that needs to be done and at this point is more important than footbag. I plan to study until my LSAT on oct the 1st then skool like a mad man until kickass. Wish me luck.
Jon's FootBlog
MSN: [email protected]
"It was clean enough to be thin..." - Andrew W.
MSN: [email protected]
"It was clean enough to be thin..." - Andrew W.
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Had a sweet session with Owen, Aaron, and Jeff in Waterloo on tuesday. Played for around 2 hours or so. Everyone was playing well. Owen's game rocks imho. Aaron had a lot of sweet spinning runs, with a good dose of inspinning and some nice blazing tricks. After the whirling tricks we talked about whirlwalk, which I said was whirling paradox whirl but aaron said it couldnt because all walk moves in butterfly
Jeff had some nice links and strings.
I hit a lot of random things. My game is rather predictable however and consists of hitting something on one side, then do a couple of tricks then hitting it on the other side which I feel can get boring. Highlights that I can remember were tomahawk midstrong, rip > rip > spinning whirl > string, legbeater > p drifter bsos, both bw's in strings, ps whirl first try midstring, blurry drifter first try (never hit that one before ) and just a bunch of other crap. Wasn't able to hit spinning blender, marius, or pdx whirling swirl 
maybe next session.
Goals for next session include legbeater swirl, which I had never even considered trying before I read about it on the forum, it doesnt seem that hard though Not sure when the next session will be ... but hopefully I will get a chance to school this weekend. I have also been trying to think up some doable sick 3's and my first 5 > 5 >5 (although this might just be a waste of time). For sick three I am thinking:
whirling swirl > barfly > p torque
for 5 > 5 > 5
matador/blurry whirl > spinning ducking butter > p torque (now that I think about it, I am pretty sure I could hit it with blurry whirl with a few attempts)
Next session I also wanna try and learn janiwalker so I don't get too skooled by tom at kickass! I think I will also try whirr again.
In other news, work and studying are lame. My boss is lame and is getting on my back to get in earlier and leave earlier. Today I woke up at 7 to get into work at 8:15 and probably wont leave till 5:30 ish. I can't wait till this LSAT stuff is done so I can shred more. I will also hit the gym tonight. Peace modified.
P.S. please post in my blog
Had a sweet session with Owen, Aaron, and Jeff in Waterloo on tuesday. Played for around 2 hours or so. Everyone was playing well. Owen's game rocks imho. Aaron had a lot of sweet spinning runs, with a good dose of inspinning and some nice blazing tricks. After the whirling tricks we talked about whirlwalk, which I said was whirling paradox whirl but aaron said it couldnt because all walk moves in butterfly
Jeff had some nice links and strings.I hit a lot of random things. My game is rather predictable however and consists of hitting something on one side, then do a couple of tricks then hitting it on the other side which I feel can get boring. Highlights that I can remember were tomahawk midstrong, rip > rip > spinning whirl > string, legbeater > p drifter bsos, both bw's in strings, ps whirl first try midstring, blurry drifter first try (never hit that one before
) and just a bunch of other crap. Wasn't able to hit spinning blender, marius, or pdx whirling swirl maybe next session.Goals for next session include legbeater swirl, which I had never even considered trying before I read about it on the forum, it doesnt seem that hard though
Not sure when the next session will be ... but hopefully I will get a chance to school this weekend. I have also been trying to think up some doable sick 3's and my first 5 > 5 >5 (although this might just be a waste of time). For sick three I am thinking:whirling swirl > barfly > p torque
for 5 > 5 > 5
matador/blurry whirl > spinning ducking butter > p torque (now that I think about it, I am pretty sure I could hit it with blurry whirl with a few attempts)
Next session I also wanna try and learn janiwalker so I don't get too skooled by tom at kickass! I think I will also try whirr again.
In other news, work and studying are lame. My boss is lame and is getting on my back to get in earlier and leave earlier. Today I woke up at 7 to get into work at 8:15 and probably wont leave till 5:30 ish. I can't wait till this LSAT stuff is done so I can shred more. I will also hit the gym tonight. Peace modified.
P.S. please post in my blog
Jon's FootBlog
MSN: [email protected]
"It was clean enough to be thin..." - Andrew W.
MSN: [email protected]
"It was clean enough to be thin..." - Andrew W.
Monday, September 26, 2005
Played yesterday night for a bit after a day of studying. My session had a big gap in the middle as I was sucked into an msn converstaion mid way. Anyways ...
Highlights:
31 ducking clippers in a row
ducking legover/pickup > whirl/ss drifter bs
pdx drifter > drifter [rpt]
drifter > pdx drifter [rpt]
sym ss butter > sym butter [repeat]
dso > paradon > barfly (very very close to dso > dso > paradon > barfly - just missed the seal)
I was also playing around with some new styly stuff. Hit ducking non planting clipper [repeat] both sides. Spinning clipper > ducking non plant clip > sym butterfly. Was trying for spinning muted clipper > ducking non plant clip > sym butterfly but it was too hard, as was spinning ducking muted sym butterfly. Also legbeater swirl was too hard, as was whirling swirl > barfly (my flip barfly sucks), and dso X 3.
That about covers my session.
Played yesterday night for a bit after a day of studying. My session had a big gap in the middle as I was sucked into an msn converstaion mid way. Anyways ...
Highlights:
31 ducking clippers in a row
ducking legover/pickup > whirl/ss drifter bs
pdx drifter > drifter [rpt]
drifter > pdx drifter [rpt]
sym ss butter > sym butter [repeat]
dso > paradon > barfly (very very close to dso > dso > paradon > barfly - just missed the seal)
I was also playing around with some new styly stuff. Hit ducking non planting clipper [repeat] both sides. Spinning clipper > ducking non plant clip > sym butterfly. Was trying for spinning muted clipper > ducking non plant clip > sym butterfly but it was too hard, as was spinning ducking muted sym butterfly. Also legbeater swirl was too hard, as was whirling swirl > barfly (my flip barfly sucks), and dso X 3.
That about covers my session.
Jon's FootBlog
MSN: [email protected]
"It was clean enough to be thin..." - Andrew W.
MSN: [email protected]
"It was clean enough to be thin..." - Andrew W.
Tuesday, October 2005
Back to shredding again after a week long break to study. My LSAT was this past weekend in Windsor. I drove down friday afternoon, stayed overnight, and went in at 8 am to write it. I think it when ok. I may have to write it again but I still think all the preparation and all the time spend studying was productive and overall benifical.
Now I can focus on footbag again. I will be playing as much as possible untill kickass (which is now less than two weeks away). I am driving down in the accord, which will be at full capacity: Me, Laura (she gets shotgun!), Johnny, Ryan, and Dan. I think it will be a lot of fun and a very memorable weekend. I still need to work out accomedations for the weekend though as I want to stay with Laura and I doubt she would feel comfortable in a room full of smelly pothead footbaggers (sorry for the broad sweeping generalization) so we will need to get a room for just us two.
I played footbag the last two days already. I have been sick since last Thursday so it put a damper on the sessons. Sadly, I have already lost some of the skills I had before I took the break from shredding. My strings are very short again and I don't feel as confident. On monday I had planned to work on double dexs, stepping, janiwalkers ect. I am unable to barrage and the janis didnt work out. The double dexs were sluggish and the stepping was also off. Near the end of the session I almost twisted my ankle doing a paradox whirl, but my shoe was soo loose I was able to twist my foot in it and kinda stand on my shoe with my sole half on the bottom and half on the outside. It hurt a big but didnt roll, something I am very thankful for. While I worked on things I tried to keep in mind what Andrew Grant posted about not just trying things over and over again. I would stop, think about what I was trying, why it was not working, and how I could fix it. I did manager to hit part of Andrew W. spinning drill: spinning clipper > spinning butter > spinning clipper > spinning ducking clipper > ducking clipper > spinning clipper (that was as far as I got into the repeat). I was also trying paradox miraging inside > whirl > spinning ducking inside > whirl, but didnt seal it. At the end of the session I felt like puking. I think it was because I was sick.
Yesterday I played outside for a while. Again my game was off. The only highlights were hitting paradon > gyro mirage > paradon twice and aslo first try hit: spinning clip > spin butter > spin clip > spin duck clip > duck clip > spin clip > spin butter (only four moves away from finishing the drill). I have been doing a lot of paradox drifters lately which I find really fun. I just really like drifters and I am not sure why.
I plan to play tonight. I think I am also gonna start taking creatine. This might be crazy and in the past I was totally against any supplements, but I have been reading more and more about body building lately and I see little to no downsides to it. I think it will help my footbag game as it increases recovery time and helps endurance. I will try and track any progress I am able to make while using it. I also believe it will help my working out which I have been getting back into and finally have a well designed plan to follow for the next few months.
I am really excited to get better at footbag. I know I am not very good at this point but believe I have the ability to be better than I am. I know I will never be truely great but I enjoy playing and hope to get better. I would someday like to be third best in Ontario and although that might seem foolish as footbag is not about competition, I still feel setting goals is important. I also realize that in most other areas of the world I would be no where near third in the area. Ontario has some really awesome shredders but realistically the skill level is low compared to other places in europe. canada, and the us. I am inspired by the skill I see in videos and believe that if others can progress so quickly then I should be able to as well.
My stress level has dropped so much now that I am done the LSATs. Everything in my life seems much better again. Footbag makes me happy, working out is exciting, I am gonna start climbing again tonight (which is something I really love doing), and most importantly, Laura makes me happier then all those other things combined. I look forward to returning to school for the winter semester and really want to skool all winter. I am thinking of maybe keeping my progress a little private over the next few months in the hopes that I can surprise a lot of people come next summer. I will see how it goes though and then decide how to proceed as I progress.
All the great footbaggers on this forum have inspired me and I want to someday inspire other new shredders. I want to develope a style to call my own and one that I am happy with. I want to play more, be more focused, and more thoughtful when it comes to practicing. I happily look forward to the months to come. Wish me luck.
Back to shredding again after a week long break to study. My LSAT was this past weekend in Windsor. I drove down friday afternoon, stayed overnight, and went in at 8 am to write it. I think it when ok. I may have to write it again but I still think all the preparation and all the time spend studying was productive and overall benifical.
Now I can focus on footbag again. I will be playing as much as possible untill kickass (which is now less than two weeks away). I am driving down in the accord, which will be at full capacity: Me, Laura (she gets shotgun!), Johnny, Ryan, and Dan. I think it will be a lot of fun and a very memorable weekend. I still need to work out accomedations for the weekend though as I want to stay with Laura and I doubt she would feel comfortable in a room full of smelly pothead footbaggers (sorry for the broad sweeping generalization) so we will need to get a room for just us two.
I played footbag the last two days already. I have been sick since last Thursday so it put a damper on the sessons. Sadly, I have already lost some of the skills I had before I took the break from shredding. My strings are very short again and I don't feel as confident. On monday I had planned to work on double dexs, stepping, janiwalkers ect. I am unable to barrage and the janis didnt work out. The double dexs were sluggish and the stepping was also off. Near the end of the session I almost twisted my ankle doing a paradox whirl, but my shoe was soo loose I was able to twist my foot in it and kinda stand on my shoe with my sole half on the bottom and half on the outside. It hurt a big but didnt roll, something I am very thankful for. While I worked on things I tried to keep in mind what Andrew Grant posted about not just trying things over and over again. I would stop, think about what I was trying, why it was not working, and how I could fix it. I did manager to hit part of Andrew W. spinning drill: spinning clipper > spinning butter > spinning clipper > spinning ducking clipper > ducking clipper > spinning clipper (that was as far as I got into the repeat). I was also trying paradox miraging inside > whirl > spinning ducking inside > whirl, but didnt seal it. At the end of the session I felt like puking. I think it was because I was sick.
Yesterday I played outside for a while. Again my game was off. The only highlights were hitting paradon > gyro mirage > paradon twice and aslo first try hit: spinning clip > spin butter > spin clip > spin duck clip > duck clip > spin clip > spin butter (only four moves away from finishing the drill). I have been doing a lot of paradox drifters lately which I find really fun. I just really like drifters and I am not sure why.
I plan to play tonight. I think I am also gonna start taking creatine. This might be crazy and in the past I was totally against any supplements, but I have been reading more and more about body building lately and I see little to no downsides to it. I think it will help my footbag game as it increases recovery time and helps endurance. I will try and track any progress I am able to make while using it. I also believe it will help my working out which I have been getting back into and finally have a well designed plan to follow for the next few months.
I am really excited to get better at footbag. I know I am not very good at this point but believe I have the ability to be better than I am. I know I will never be truely great but I enjoy playing and hope to get better. I would someday like to be third best in Ontario and although that might seem foolish as footbag is not about competition, I still feel setting goals is important. I also realize that in most other areas of the world I would be no where near third in the area. Ontario has some really awesome shredders but realistically the skill level is low compared to other places in europe. canada, and the us. I am inspired by the skill I see in videos and believe that if others can progress so quickly then I should be able to as well.
My stress level has dropped so much now that I am done the LSATs. Everything in my life seems much better again. Footbag makes me happy, working out is exciting, I am gonna start climbing again tonight (which is something I really love doing), and most importantly, Laura makes me happier then all those other things combined. I look forward to returning to school for the winter semester and really want to skool all winter. I am thinking of maybe keeping my progress a little private over the next few months in the hopes that I can surprise a lot of people come next summer. I will see how it goes though and then decide how to proceed as I progress.
All the great footbaggers on this forum have inspired me and I want to someday inspire other new shredders. I want to develope a style to call my own and one that I am happy with. I want to play more, be more focused, and more thoughtful when it comes to practicing. I happily look forward to the months to come. Wish me luck.
Jon's FootBlog
MSN: [email protected]
"It was clean enough to be thin..." - Andrew W.
MSN: [email protected]
"It was clean enough to be thin..." - Andrew W.
Wednesday, October 5, 2005
Went climbing last night, played some freestyle, then went over to Laura's.
Climbing was great. I havn't climbed in like two months but the gym at school is EASY and thus I crushed all the routes I tried. At the end of the climbing session I walked up to the fingerboard and laid down 16 perfect pullups WOOT!
The shred was SOO fun. I hit so many of the things I was trying and my flip spinning was feeling so strong. I even hit 5 flip spinning clippers in a row and spin clip > spin butter > spin clip > spin ducking drop (flip). Hit spinning ducking clip > butter [repeat]. Hit spinning ducking mirage > legbeater (strong). Hit a SICK STYLY drill! ducking butter > paradox drifter [repeat], did lots of paradox whirls in and out of everything I could think of. Footed rev whirl > paradox drifter > whirl > paradox drifter > rev whirl (strong side) and hit whirl > p drifter > whirl > p drifter > whirl (flip). My stepping was great too! I really focused on keeping my stepping foot low and hit stepping same clip > butter [repeat] starting on both sides, sidewalk > rip [repeat] starting on both (one side I almost hit repeat x 2), and a lot of consequtive rips . Also hit a cool drill i thought up: atomsmasher > legbeater > paradox whirl > butter > p mirage [repeat]. I forgot to try double dexs but I will focus on them tonight, and I hope I can skool more barflies both sides tonight as well. I always seem to play well my third session in a row . I am starting to gain some confidence for kickass. The only thing I found hard was consequtive atomsmashers, and I think its still just me getting used to the toes on the gggg-units.
Also recited the first 60 some digits of pi while doing consequtive infinities GO ME
Went climbing last night, played some freestyle, then went over to Laura's.
Climbing was great. I havn't climbed in like two months but the gym at school is EASY and thus I crushed all the routes I tried. At the end of the climbing session I walked up to the fingerboard and laid down 16 perfect pullups WOOT!
The shred was SOO fun. I hit so many of the things I was trying and my flip spinning was feeling so strong. I even hit 5 flip spinning clippers in a row
and spin clip > spin butter > spin clip > spin ducking drop (flip). Hit spinning ducking clip > butter [repeat]. Hit spinning ducking mirage > legbeater (strong). Hit a SICK STYLY drill! ducking butter > paradox drifter [repeat], did lots of paradox whirls in and out of everything I could think of. Footed rev whirl > paradox drifter > whirl > paradox drifter > rev whirl (strong side) and hit whirl > p drifter > whirl > p drifter > whirl (flip). My stepping was great too! I really focused on keeping my stepping foot low and hit stepping same clip > butter [repeat] starting on both sides, sidewalk > rip [repeat] starting on both (one side I almost hit repeat x 2), and a lot of consequtive rips . Also hit a cool drill i thought up: atomsmasher > legbeater > paradox whirl > butter > p mirage [repeat]. I forgot to try double dexs but I will focus on them tonight, and I hope I can skool more barflies both sides tonight as well. I always seem to play well my third session in a row . I am starting to gain some confidence for kickass. The only thing I found hard was consequtive atomsmashers, and I think its still just me getting used to the toes on the gggg-units. Also recited the first 60 some digits of pi while doing consequtive infinities
GO MEJon's FootBlog
MSN: [email protected]
"It was clean enough to be thin..." - Andrew W.
MSN: [email protected]
"It was clean enough to be thin..." - Andrew W.
Wednesday, October 5, 2005
Shredded tonight. After work I hit the gym. Today was supposed to be leg day but since I can't hit the gym Friday it became Leg/Back day. Also was the first day of trying creatine. I have a one week loading phase I need to do then just a maintence amount. The working out today killed my legs. When I finally got to footbag I was already beat. It felt like the end of three hour session. My legs were slow and sluggish.
I started with a new osis record of 30 something :p Then worked on stepping. Follow by skooling some p mirages and p illusions. I worked on mirage > paradon repeat for a while. Normally this wouldnt be so hard by my legs were dead. I managed to also hit p illusion > paradon repeat. Then worked on some datws and hit both directions / both sides out of p mirages. Then did some barfly work and its nice to see my flip becoming a little more realiable. Then I did a bit of work on blurry whirls which was hard cause I was sooo tired. Next came some work on paradox torques and this yeilded the highlight of the session: paradox torque [repeat].
After that the session winded down. I tried to hit drifter > p drifter repeat but my legs said no. So I just did drifters and on my third try hit 9 in a row dropping on 10. Then I hit a bunch of ripwalks and ended the session with lots and lots of infinities. In total the whole session was about 1:45. By the end my whole body was cooked.
I won't be able to shred tomorrow because I am going to see a speaker on campus so I have high hopes for a Friday session.
PS Post in my blog people
Shredded tonight. After work I hit the gym. Today was supposed to be leg day but since I can't hit the gym Friday it became Leg/Back day. Also was the first day of trying creatine. I have a one week loading phase I need to do then just a maintence amount. The working out today killed my legs. When I finally got to footbag I was already beat. It felt like the end of three hour session. My legs were slow and sluggish.
I started with a new osis record of 30 something :p Then worked on stepping. Follow by skooling some p mirages and p illusions. I worked on mirage > paradon repeat for a while. Normally this wouldnt be so hard by my legs were dead. I managed to also hit p illusion > paradon repeat. Then worked on some datws and hit both directions / both sides out of p mirages. Then did some barfly work and its nice to see my flip becoming a little more realiable. Then I did a bit of work on blurry whirls which was hard cause I was sooo tired. Next came some work on paradox torques and this yeilded the highlight of the session: paradox torque [repeat].
After that the session winded down. I tried to hit drifter > p drifter repeat but my legs said no. So I just did drifters and on my third try hit 9 in a row dropping on 10. Then I hit a bunch of ripwalks and ended the session with lots and lots of infinities. In total the whole session was about 1:45. By the end my whole body was cooked.
I won't be able to shred tomorrow because I am going to see a speaker on campus so I have high hopes for a Friday session.
PS Post in my blog people
Jon's FootBlog
MSN: [email protected]
"It was clean enough to be thin..." - Andrew W.
MSN: [email protected]
"It was clean enough to be thin..." - Andrew W.
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Played twice since my last entry. Once on Saturday and once last night (Tuesday).
I spent the Thanksgiving weekend with my gf and her family in Ottawa. I was hoping to meet up with Tofu crew to shred while I was there but never heard back from Ryan. I played a little while on the saturday in Laura's backyard while she was studying. I worked on stuff like spinning clip > butter [repeat], and I also sealed pdx mirage > leg beater > pdx mirage > legbeater > butter [repeat]. I then worked on double dexs and esp my flip barfly. I was trying spinning clipper > barfly bs but I couldnt seal the flip. I worked dod > barfly bs and paradon > barfly but forget which of those I hit and on which sides. That was probably my last out door session of the year
Last night after a session at the gym I practiced for an hour and 15 minutes. I felt tired and sluggish after working out and I have to believe that the gym is affecting my game aswell as my practice sessions. I started the session by trying to hit gryo mirage > drifter > butter [repeat] but no matter what I did I just couldnt hit it. I kept switching my starting side but could never make it past the second drifter. After that I tried a bunch of stuff I really dont remember except for matador > rev whirl (which was an interesting but not hugely difficult link). I then spent a lot of time on ducking clip > ducking clip > drifter > p mirage > legbeater [repeat]. I finally managed to seal it and hit the drill x 1.5 times. I ended the session with 10 osis > 25 infinities > 10 osis > 20 infinites > toe bail > 5 infinities > 10 osis > 15 or so infinties > drop.
I am getting very excited for kickass!!! I booked my room at the hotel this morning.
See you all there
Played twice since my last entry. Once on Saturday and once last night (Tuesday).
I spent the Thanksgiving weekend with my gf and her family in Ottawa. I was hoping to meet up with Tofu crew to shred while I was there but never heard back from Ryan
. I played a little while on the saturday in Laura's backyard while she was studying. I worked on stuff like spinning clip > butter [repeat], and I also sealed pdx mirage > leg beater > pdx mirage > legbeater > butter [repeat]. I then worked on double dexs and esp my flip barfly. I was trying spinning clipper > barfly bs but I couldnt seal the flip. I worked dod > barfly bs and paradon > barfly but forget which of those I hit and on which sides. That was probably my last out door session of the year Last night after a session at the gym I practiced for an hour and 15 minutes. I felt tired and sluggish after working out and I have to believe that the gym is affecting my game aswell as my practice sessions. I started the session by trying to hit gryo mirage > drifter > butter [repeat] but no matter what I did I just couldnt hit it. I kept switching my starting side but could never make it past the second drifter. After that I tried a bunch of stuff I really dont remember except for matador > rev whirl (which was an interesting but not hugely difficult link). I then spent a lot of time on ducking clip > ducking clip > drifter > p mirage > legbeater [repeat]. I finally managed to seal it and hit the drill x 1.5 times. I ended the session with 10 osis > 25 infinities > 10 osis > 20 infinites > toe bail > 5 infinities > 10 osis > 15 or so infinties > drop.
I am getting very excited for kickass!!! I booked my room at the hotel this morning.
See you all there
Jon's FootBlog
MSN: [email protected]
"It was clean enough to be thin..." - Andrew W.
MSN: [email protected]
"It was clean enough to be thin..." - Andrew W.
Thursday, October 14, 2005
Played last night after hitting the gym where I hit my back and tris. At the end of my work out session I tried some hanging pikes and did 5 really nice ones and lowered myself down soooo slowy on the last
The footbag was great. It was a great last session before the tourny. I played for maybe 50 minutes and I was hitting a lot of stuff I was trying.
Highlights: blurry whirl bsos + blurriest in the same string and drifter > paradox drifter [repeat] starting on both sides. The rest of the time I really just spend trying strings and working on little things I had neglected for the past while that I might wanna try in circles in Kingston. My achillies hurt near the end of the session but I think it was just tight from the gym where I stretched it funny. I think it will be 95 % + by the time Saturday comes around. My next post in this blog will be a report on Kickass
Played last night after hitting the gym where I hit my back and tris. At the end of my work out session I tried some hanging pikes and did 5 really nice ones and lowered myself down soooo slowy on the last
The footbag was great. It was a great last session before the tourny. I played for maybe 50 minutes and I was hitting a lot of stuff I was trying.
Highlights: blurry whirl bsos + blurriest in the same string and drifter > paradox drifter [repeat] starting on both sides. The rest of the time I really just spend trying strings and working on little things I had neglected for the past while that I might wanna try in circles in Kingston. My achillies hurt near the end of the session but I think it was just tight from the gym where I stretched it funny. I think it will be 95 % + by the time Saturday comes around. My next post in this blog will be a report on Kickass
Jon's FootBlog
MSN: [email protected]
"It was clean enough to be thin..." - Andrew W.
MSN: [email protected]
"It was clean enough to be thin..." - Andrew W.
You do such a great job with your blog but no one ever posts. Not for much longer!
I'm glad you hit P-Torque>P-Torque, I figured you could hit it soon since your torques and the one P-Torque you hit last session were super tweaked (does anyone use this term in footbag? In freestyle skiing it's a good thing.. the meaning is the same for footbag says me! Means styley to the max.).
You get my vote for third in Ontario, maybe not in each section but in general considering my personal preference for Style, Links, Difficulty and Attitude. I just bought a 32 off of Aron so next time we shred I should be able to butterfly.
P.S. Mr. Sandman is lonely.
I'm glad you hit P-Torque>P-Torque, I figured you could hit it soon since your torques and the one P-Torque you hit last session were super tweaked (does anyone use this term in footbag? In freestyle skiing it's a good thing.. the meaning is the same for footbag says me! Means styley to the max.).
You get my vote for third in Ontario, maybe not in each section but in general considering my personal preference for Style, Links, Difficulty and Attitude. I just bought a 32 off of Aron so next time we shred I should be able to butterfly.
P.S. Mr. Sandman is lonely.
"Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow." -Hans
Great blog john. You hit some sweet stuff! The legbeater>p mirage>and so on drill is awesome! Double dexes are hard for me, you seem to do them well.
Keep it up champ!
Keep it up champ!
JSACK wrote:alright well me and obara'bars, shredded our dicks off, since we are both in high school, obviously there is some sort of talent show
KICKASS REPORT
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Thanks Owen and Henry for posting in my blog. It encourages me to keep writing.
and now I present my (drum roll please) ...
Kickass Report
Hmmm where to begin. My experience at the tournament will probably be very different than everyone else’s but since I see no real reports thus far on Kickass it still might be of interest to some fellow footbaggers.
Friday:
I woke up at 7 am and rushed to get to work. On the drive to work I got an msn on blackberry from Tom asking me to drive to Toronto to pickup the kickass shirts. He told me initially that if I couldn’t pick them up he would be out 600 dollars! and he also told me I had to pick up a case of the drink Bawls for the tourney from computer store in Toronto. I explained that I wasn’t even driving through Toronto on my way to Kingston and that since the Tshirt store closed at 6 and I wouldn’t leave Guelph till 5 it would be impossible for me to get them. It made me sad that he put that sort of pressure on me. I agreed to get the case of bawls but told him there was nothing I could do about the tshirts. This entire conversation happened as I was speeding towards waterloo and my craptacular job.
My boss has been nagging me to work longer hours so I figured if I got in before 8 am I could leave at 4. It turns out he was not even remotely impressed by me coming in earlier then usual and I had to stay till around 4:15 doing a lot of different crap. I eventually was speeding back to Guelph and got to Laura's house around 5:15. For those that don't read my blog I should explain that Laura is my fantastic beautiful, intelligent, sweet, and caring girlfriend that would be accompanying me on my trip to Kingston. I was really excited that she was coming because I wanted to show her more about footbag and why I loved it so much. Its really important to me that she is involved in all aspects of my life as I want to be involved in every aspect of hers. <3
We got into the car and were on our way to Brantford by 5:15. I had told Johnny that I would be there to pick him up by 10 to 6 pm but traffic and work made me into a liar. By the time I got there it was 20 after 6 and Johnny was waiting patiently. After a quick hello and introductions were then on our way to Mississauga to pick up Dan C. and Ryan S.
After trying to make out some terrible google map directions we arrived at Dan’s house at around 7:30 pm. I didn’t know what to expect when I met Dan but he turned out to be a really nice and interesting guy. It is always great to meet new freestylers!
When I arrived Ryan was not yet there so Laura, Johnny, and I decided to grab some food. We went to this local, and very busy pizza joint, grabbed a slice and talked over our dinner.
We drove back to Dan’s place hoping that Ryan would be there. About 2 minutes after we got back a cab pulled up and out popped Ryan. We were all now there! We piled into the car and the five of us were on our way to Kingston for the first Annual Kickass tournament.
The drive there was interesting and I could write in a lot more in detail about it I am sure but I will just cover a few things.
We got to the computer store off the highway to get the bawls and the manager there had never heard of Tom nor did he have a case for us to take. As you can image I felt kind of silly asking him to give me a free case of bawls for a hacky sack tournament. He was very nice however and told me they had done similar things in the past but usually the free cases were for lan tournaments and such other geek related activities. I laughed knowing that footbag is in many ways similar to other geeky events. I decided to see if I could get some more info from Tom so I called a cell phone number that was apparently his. I ended up talking to his Sister who gave me his parent’s number. After getting off the phone with his Mom I tried to call tom as few times but never got an answer. At that point I figured the bawls was a no go and decided to keep on going to Kingston.
One sad thing did happen besides the lack of bawls at the computer store. As we pulled up and I got out to go into the store so did Laura. Laura is very cool and smart girl but she is very paranoid when it comes to marijuana. On the trip from Dan’s to the computer store the subject came up and I was asked if people could smoke in the car and she became very very nervous. Growing up she saw her best friend in grade 9 go from trying weed to becoming a crack whore in a very short period of time and because of that has always been very nervous about drugs. I guess the conversation was a little too much for her. She headed to the back of the computer store and was very panicky and scared. I tried to calm her down and eventually went to talk to the guys asking them to not smoke before we got to Kingston and to not talk about weed on the way. I had warned Laura what footbag tourneys were like before we went and I knew how she felt about weed but she still decided to come because she knew how much it meant to me. I know she felt silly and embarrassed about her reaction to what happened but that is how she feels and I don’t think there is anything wrong about feeling that way about something that is illegal. I tried to make her feel better and after a little while we were all back in the car on our way to Kickass.
We stopped once between the store and Kingston, and that was to get some food off the highway, Johnny impressed some crazy guy in the tim horton’s line up with his mad skillz, the guy however was most likely on some kind of uppers
.
We got into Kingston a little after 11 and we stopped at Tom’s place. I dropped off the guys, went in to say hi to people and then Laura and I headed to our hotel to get some sleep. I was damn tired and wanted to spend some time with just her.
Note: damn that is a lot of typing for just the first half day
Saturday:
Laura and I had a fantastic morning
and soon we were out and about in lovely Kingston. We first went to Tom’s to find out what was up for the day. When I got there Nel walked up to me and asked me if I was the one responsible for Jordan not coming to to kickass and he did this while poking me repeatedly in the chest. To be honest I felt like breaking off his finger and bitching him out. Instead I explained nicely that my car was full and that if Jorden had wanted to come that badly he could have taken a bus. (I get the feeling Tom told everyone I decided to take Laura instead of Jorden to the tourney). The truth of the matter is I had been planning to take Laura since the tourney was announced! It was about three weeks before hand when Tom first asked me if I could pick up dan on the way, then I offered to drive Johnny, and then Ryan asked if I could drive him aswell. Jorden waited till the week before kickass to ask if he could come. The day he asked me about driving was also the day Laura had just discovered that she was scheduled to lifeguard at UofGuelph for Saturday and I told him there might be a space if she could not get the shift covered. It turns out she could get it covered and so everything was back to the way it was supposed to be. I apologized to Jorden when I found out there was no space and told him everyone who said they were coming was infact going. I am sorry to everyone that I couldn’t bring Jorden with me, but honestly FUCK anyone who thinks less of me because of it. What ever happened to everyone being equal in footbag, it is such a lie. There is still a giant list of players waiting to get down on their knees and pay lip service to pro players. It’s honestly sad and to me indicates the direction this sport is heading towards. Eventually it will be like every other major sport where new members don’t get the chance to interact with the pros, something that is really nice about the sport at the moment.
After that incident, and finding out we should meet at the Holiday Inn to shred, Laura and I headed towards the University of Queens to meet up with her sister and her sister’s roommate (both of whom are in first year) to grab some breakfast. We ended up a fantastic little local coffee house where I had a hot chocolate with a hint of banana syrup and a butterscotch muffin(yummy). I also checkout out the Queen’s library while on campus, because Laura was really excited to see it (how cute :p). After that we headed back to the Holiday Inn so I could SHRED!
Warning: actually shred stuff to follow in this report.
As we walked up the hotel people were already playing outside! KICKASS. I love out door sessions and that surely has to be the last one of the season. The first thing I was impressed with was Pat Talon! Whirr and phoenix like nothing and I had never even seen this guy before.
I warmed up for a first seconds before people though I was starting a circle and joined in. I did about two titless strings and then I was forced to go guiltless, as I hate shredding tiltless in circles. After a few minutes everyone headed inside becomes of how windy it was.
The indoor shred spot inside was really nice and to get a better idea of how it looked you just watch the newly released kickass video. I joined a circle with Matt Cross and Johnny and some other players and started to shred. As I played Laura watched from the sidelines and took in her first tourney environment. I played ok for the first hour and a bit but then headed over to sit and talk with Laura. She was there for about 1 and half hours before she needed to head back to the library to study. She has three midterms this weekend and needs to keep her grades up because she is applying to med school this year. Even with all that pressure and time constraints she still decided to come with me! She ROCKS!
After she left I decided it was time to really SHRED!
I jumped back into the circles and started playing. I don’t remember many personal highlights but I did have a run with blurry whirl bsos and some long runs with some good links. The best circle I was in that day had to be a two man circle with Ianek. I hadn’t played with or met him before but it was so much fun to just go back and forth and shred hard. Two man circles are great for because you really get a chance to see what the other person can do. They try something, you then do a similar string/concept, and then they do the same and you just go back and forth and it is just a lot of fun imho.
The other person I was really impressed with that day was Will Digges! Oh man, does he rock. He has a stepping and whirling style similar to Chad D. and a fantastic toe game. He is going to be one of the top top players some day.
Playing with Johnny was a lot of fun as always and I got the chance to circle with Nick L. for a while which was also very cool. At around quarter to 5 Laura’s parents showed up to watch as well! Her family and I had planned to go out the dinner together that night because its not often that Laura, her sister, and her parents are all so close together, as Laura goes to school so far from Ottawa (where her parents live). Johnny and Matt were really nice and did a little demo for them when they arrive, just to show them a bit about footbag while I head to get to the hotel pool to grab a quick shower so I didn’t wreck at dinner. Of course just as I was ready to head out the competition started but by then I was in my normal clothes and was looking forward to dinner anyways. It was ok timing however as Laura’s parents, Laura, her sister, and her sisters roommate got to watch some of the shred 30 and sick 3 comp. (if you want to see them just look in the background of the new kickass video! Ahah their first tourney and they already made video, props to them lol)
We headed out to this great little greek restaurant for a fantastic meal. It was really nice to see her family again (although I had been at their house just the weekend before for thanksgiving but in any respect it was still a good time). It amazing how nice her parents are and how they took an interest in something their daughters boyfriend is into! I don’t think most parents of footbaggers would be as interested as they were.
After dinner we all went out separate ways, her parents headed back to Ottawa, and Laura and I headed back to the hotel. I thought about going to the party at Tom’s but decided to stay in that night with Laura.
This is what I meant about my experience of Kickass being different than most other players. I didn’t go out a single night, didn’t drink, and didn’t smoke, none of the stuff I might do a typical tourney. It was actually a nice change of pace. Laura and I had fun just hanging out in the hotel and I even got a leg massage!! I never thought that would happen after a tourney day full of shred.
I guess I did miss some things by not going to the party. I missed Nick shaving his head, people doing keg stands and throwing up, some sexual tension and anger at the party that I later heard about, and matt’s footbag song (I heard it was really good). But I had a good time that night nonetheless. I also didn’t have to make Laura uncomfortable again by being around stoner footbaggers (sorry to generalize).
Over all it was a great day and I had a lot of fun!
Sunday:
Laura and I woke up early, checkout of the hotel and then went to grab some food. We went to our favorite bakery in Kingston, Pan Chan Cho (I think its spelled). After some pastry and coffee we headed to Tom’s. We went upstairs to find out what was happening that day and as it turns out the shred was back to the Hotel that day and not the park in Kingston as initially planned. Laura headed back to the library to get in some more study time and I stayed near Tom’s.
At around the same time a lot of people showed up at Tom’s place and we all headed out to try and find food. I heard some interesting stuff from Nick about the Montreal scene as we wandered around Kingston looking for a restaurant. Ellis is gone, Seb will apparently never play again, and Yak is now working at a club med! Crazy stuff indeed.
Half of us eventually ended up at a Subway near the hotel where people got a quick bit to eat. Johnny bought me a fruzzle (an icy fruit drink) from subway and we tried to drink it as fast as possible to see who could get brain freeze faster. Johnny owned me! We then went on to discuss who we thought were the sketchiest footbaggers. That was a pretty interesting conversation, it makes me wonder how many people think I am really sketchy.
When people finished their subs we headed to the hotel and the shred began. Johnny and I were the first to start playing and had a warm up two-man circle that was supposed to be titless. After a few strings Johnny was going fearless! I instead started only doing bops. I was trying to get 50 + contact runs but kept dropping at around the 30’s and 40’s. Eventually I just did 60 some infinities and dropped.
More people started playing and I was soon in a circle with Nick and Johnny. I started to play really well. I was very happy with my strings and links and surprised myself with my footbaggin skillz.
As the day wore on I got a little frustrated as my skills slowly slipped back to normal again. At one point I was in a circle with Tom and Ryan and was trying to shred as hard as I had early that day, to really show Tom what I could do but I didn’t do much of anything. Before long, the time seemed to fly by, I had to stop playing to go pick up Laura from the library as it was 3:00 and we wanted to leave by 4. I drove to the library, picked her up (she had a bottle me a Gatorade waiting for me when I arrived!) and we headed back to the hotel.
When we got back I found out that Johnny had won every competition! Johnny is such a nice guy, one of my favorite shredders, and also so very humble. It is about time he did so well at a tourney without being over shadowed by other players. GO Johnny!
It was after 4 so I rounded up the boys, everyone said their good byes and we headed back into the car for the long drive home.
This time around we dropped off Ryan at his residence building, and after headed to Licks for some food. Johnny made a footbag/sex related joke where the punch line was ‘that could be sloppy’ and I laughed so hard literally an entire minute! (One of the best moments of the weekend for sure). After filling up on food we then got back into the car and proceeded to get lost in the Rexdale ghetto area. We eventually found our way out and made it to Dan’s and dropped him off. Next we drove to Brantford to drop off Johnny. After that I drove back to Guelph and crashed at Laura’s. In total the trip that would normally take 3 hours (Guelph – Kingston) took 7 + hours! What a drive.
The weekend was a lot of fun and the footbag was awesome.
There were a few things, now that I look back on the tourney, that stand out in my mind. First and foremost is how great it was to have Laura there. She didn’t say anything about it the entire weekend but she honestly couldn’t afford the time she took off studying to come with me. She is soo stressed out right now trying to study for her midterms, apply to med school, volunteering, and work and yet she came with me because she knew how important it was to me for her learn more about footbag. I can’t possible tell her how much it meant to me.
The second thing that stands out is that I am becoming a bad elitist footbagger. By that I mean I didn’t even shred with everyone at the tourney. I have not done that before, except at worlds where it was impossible to play with everyone. The whole weekend I stuck to guiltless circles and didn’t go out of my way to shred with everyone. That was really stupid and shitty of me and I hope I don’t do that again. Footbag is about the community and I need to remember that!
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Thanks to anyone who took the time to read through this entire post. It has to be my longest modified post ever. I hope some of it was interesting and gave you a perspective on my weekend. Some of the post might have been boring or negative but please forgive me.
Right now I am really excited about footbag and excited with the great talent I saw in Kingston. I still really want to get better over the next few months and hope that I can. The weekend was great and I can’t wait till my next tourney!
Peace Modified.
p.s. I think I might have spent over an hour writing this whole post and while doing so made 19 bucks as I was supposed to be doing work. Not bad ;p
Thanks Owen and Henry for posting in my blog. It encourages me to keep writing.
and now I present my (drum roll please) ...
Kickass Report
Hmmm where to begin. My experience at the tournament will probably be very different than everyone else’s but since I see no real reports thus far on Kickass it still might be of interest to some fellow footbaggers.
Friday:
I woke up at 7 am and rushed to get to work. On the drive to work I got an msn on blackberry from Tom asking me to drive to Toronto to pickup the kickass shirts. He told me initially that if I couldn’t pick them up he would be out 600 dollars! and he also told me I had to pick up a case of the drink Bawls for the tourney from computer store in Toronto. I explained that I wasn’t even driving through Toronto on my way to Kingston and that since the Tshirt store closed at 6 and I wouldn’t leave Guelph till 5 it would be impossible for me to get them. It made me sad that he put that sort of pressure on me. I agreed to get the case of bawls but told him there was nothing I could do about the tshirts. This entire conversation happened as I was speeding towards waterloo and my craptacular job.
My boss has been nagging me to work longer hours so I figured if I got in before 8 am I could leave at 4. It turns out he was not even remotely impressed by me coming in earlier then usual and I had to stay till around 4:15 doing a lot of different crap. I eventually was speeding back to Guelph and got to Laura's house around 5:15. For those that don't read my blog I should explain that Laura is my fantastic beautiful, intelligent, sweet, and caring girlfriend that would be accompanying me on my trip to Kingston. I was really excited that she was coming because I wanted to show her more about footbag and why I loved it so much. Its really important to me that she is involved in all aspects of my life as I want to be involved in every aspect of hers. <3
We got into the car and were on our way to Brantford by 5:15. I had told Johnny that I would be there to pick him up by 10 to 6 pm but traffic and work made me into a liar. By the time I got there it was 20 after 6 and Johnny was waiting patiently. After a quick hello and introductions were then on our way to Mississauga to pick up Dan C. and Ryan S.
After trying to make out some terrible google map directions we arrived at Dan’s house at around 7:30 pm. I didn’t know what to expect when I met Dan but he turned out to be a really nice and interesting guy. It is always great to meet new freestylers!
When I arrived Ryan was not yet there so Laura, Johnny, and I decided to grab some food. We went to this local, and very busy pizza joint, grabbed a slice and talked over our dinner.
We drove back to Dan’s place hoping that Ryan would be there. About 2 minutes after we got back a cab pulled up and out popped Ryan. We were all now there! We piled into the car and the five of us were on our way to Kingston for the first Annual Kickass tournament.
The drive there was interesting and I could write in a lot more in detail about it I am sure but I will just cover a few things.
We got to the computer store off the highway to get the bawls and the manager there had never heard of Tom nor did he have a case for us to take. As you can image I felt kind of silly asking him to give me a free case of bawls for a hacky sack tournament. He was very nice however and told me they had done similar things in the past but usually the free cases were for lan tournaments and such other geek related activities. I laughed knowing that footbag is in many ways similar to other geeky events. I decided to see if I could get some more info from Tom so I called a cell phone number that was apparently his. I ended up talking to his Sister who gave me his parent’s number. After getting off the phone with his Mom I tried to call tom as few times but never got an answer. At that point I figured the bawls was a no go and decided to keep on going to Kingston.
One sad thing did happen besides the lack of bawls at the computer store. As we pulled up and I got out to go into the store so did Laura. Laura is very cool and smart girl but she is very paranoid when it comes to marijuana. On the trip from Dan’s to the computer store the subject came up and I was asked if people could smoke in the car and she became very very nervous. Growing up she saw her best friend in grade 9 go from trying weed to becoming a crack whore in a very short period of time and because of that has always been very nervous about drugs. I guess the conversation was a little too much for her. She headed to the back of the computer store and was very panicky and scared. I tried to calm her down and eventually went to talk to the guys asking them to not smoke before we got to Kingston and to not talk about weed on the way. I had warned Laura what footbag tourneys were like before we went and I knew how she felt about weed but she still decided to come because she knew how much it meant to me. I know she felt silly and embarrassed about her reaction to what happened but that is how she feels and I don’t think there is anything wrong about feeling that way about something that is illegal. I tried to make her feel better and after a little while we were all back in the car on our way to Kickass.
We stopped once between the store and Kingston, and that was to get some food off the highway, Johnny impressed some crazy guy in the tim horton’s line up with his mad skillz, the guy however was most likely on some kind of uppers
.We got into Kingston a little after 11 and we stopped at Tom’s place. I dropped off the guys, went in to say hi to people and then Laura and I headed to our hotel to get some sleep. I was damn tired and wanted to spend some time with just her.
Note: damn that is a lot of typing for just the first half day
Saturday:
Laura and I had a fantastic morning
and soon we were out and about in lovely Kingston. We first went to Tom’s to find out what was up for the day. When I got there Nel walked up to me and asked me if I was the one responsible for Jordan not coming to to kickass and he did this while poking me repeatedly in the chest. To be honest I felt like breaking off his finger and bitching him out. Instead I explained nicely that my car was full and that if Jorden had wanted to come that badly he could have taken a bus. (I get the feeling Tom told everyone I decided to take Laura instead of Jorden to the tourney). The truth of the matter is I had been planning to take Laura since the tourney was announced! It was about three weeks before hand when Tom first asked me if I could pick up dan on the way, then I offered to drive Johnny, and then Ryan asked if I could drive him aswell. Jorden waited till the week before kickass to ask if he could come. The day he asked me about driving was also the day Laura had just discovered that she was scheduled to lifeguard at UofGuelph for Saturday and I told him there might be a space if she could not get the shift covered. It turns out she could get it covered and so everything was back to the way it was supposed to be. I apologized to Jorden when I found out there was no space and told him everyone who said they were coming was infact going. I am sorry to everyone that I couldn’t bring Jorden with me, but honestly FUCK anyone who thinks less of me because of it. What ever happened to everyone being equal in footbag, it is such a lie. There is still a giant list of players waiting to get down on their knees and pay lip service to pro players. It’s honestly sad and to me indicates the direction this sport is heading towards. Eventually it will be like every other major sport where new members don’t get the chance to interact with the pros, something that is really nice about the sport at the moment.After that incident, and finding out we should meet at the Holiday Inn to shred, Laura and I headed towards the University of Queens to meet up with her sister and her sister’s roommate (both of whom are in first year) to grab some breakfast. We ended up a fantastic little local coffee house where I had a hot chocolate with a hint of banana syrup and a butterscotch muffin(yummy). I also checkout out the Queen’s library while on campus, because Laura was really excited to see it (how cute :p). After that we headed back to the Holiday Inn so I could SHRED!
Warning: actually shred stuff to follow in this report.
As we walked up the hotel people were already playing outside! KICKASS. I love out door sessions and that surely has to be the last one of the season. The first thing I was impressed with was Pat Talon! Whirr and phoenix like nothing and I had never even seen this guy before.
I warmed up for a first seconds before people though I was starting a circle and joined in. I did about two titless strings and then I was forced to go guiltless, as I hate shredding tiltless in circles. After a few minutes everyone headed inside becomes of how windy it was.
The indoor shred spot inside was really nice and to get a better idea of how it looked you just watch the newly released kickass video. I joined a circle with Matt Cross and Johnny and some other players and started to shred. As I played Laura watched from the sidelines and took in her first tourney environment. I played ok for the first hour and a bit but then headed over to sit and talk with Laura. She was there for about 1 and half hours before she needed to head back to the library to study. She has three midterms this weekend and needs to keep her grades up because she is applying to med school this year. Even with all that pressure and time constraints she still decided to come with me! She ROCKS!
After she left I decided it was time to really SHRED!
I jumped back into the circles and started playing. I don’t remember many personal highlights but I did have a run with blurry whirl bsos and some long runs with some good links. The best circle I was in that day had to be a two man circle with Ianek. I hadn’t played with or met him before but it was so much fun to just go back and forth and shred hard. Two man circles are great for because you really get a chance to see what the other person can do. They try something, you then do a similar string/concept, and then they do the same and you just go back and forth and it is just a lot of fun imho.
The other person I was really impressed with that day was Will Digges! Oh man, does he rock. He has a stepping and whirling style similar to Chad D. and a fantastic toe game. He is going to be one of the top top players some day.
Playing with Johnny was a lot of fun as always and I got the chance to circle with Nick L. for a while which was also very cool. At around quarter to 5 Laura’s parents showed up to watch as well! Her family and I had planned to go out the dinner together that night because its not often that Laura, her sister, and her parents are all so close together, as Laura goes to school so far from Ottawa (where her parents live). Johnny and Matt were really nice and did a little demo for them when they arrive, just to show them a bit about footbag while I head to get to the hotel pool to grab a quick shower so I didn’t wreck at dinner. Of course just as I was ready to head out the competition started but by then I was in my normal clothes and was looking forward to dinner anyways. It was ok timing however as Laura’s parents, Laura, her sister, and her sisters roommate got to watch some of the shred 30 and sick 3 comp. (if you want to see them just look in the background of the new kickass video! Ahah their first tourney and they already made video, props to them lol)
We headed out to this great little greek restaurant for a fantastic meal. It was really nice to see her family again (although I had been at their house just the weekend before for thanksgiving but in any respect it was still a good time). It amazing how nice her parents are and how they took an interest in something their daughters boyfriend is into! I don’t think most parents of footbaggers would be as interested as they were.
After dinner we all went out separate ways, her parents headed back to Ottawa, and Laura and I headed back to the hotel. I thought about going to the party at Tom’s but decided to stay in that night with Laura.
This is what I meant about my experience of Kickass being different than most other players. I didn’t go out a single night, didn’t drink, and didn’t smoke, none of the stuff I might do a typical tourney. It was actually a nice change of pace. Laura and I had fun just hanging out in the hotel and I even got a leg massage!! I never thought that would happen after a tourney day full of shred.
I guess I did miss some things by not going to the party. I missed Nick shaving his head, people doing keg stands and throwing up, some sexual tension and anger at the party that I later heard about, and matt’s footbag song (I heard it was really good). But I had a good time that night nonetheless. I also didn’t have to make Laura uncomfortable again by being around stoner footbaggers (sorry to generalize).
Over all it was a great day and I had a lot of fun!
Sunday:
Laura and I woke up early, checkout of the hotel and then went to grab some food. We went to our favorite bakery in Kingston, Pan Chan Cho (I think its spelled). After some pastry and coffee we headed to Tom’s. We went upstairs to find out what was happening that day and as it turns out the shred was back to the Hotel that day and not the park in Kingston as initially planned. Laura headed back to the library to get in some more study time and I stayed near Tom’s.
At around the same time a lot of people showed up at Tom’s place and we all headed out to try and find food. I heard some interesting stuff from Nick about the Montreal scene as we wandered around Kingston looking for a restaurant. Ellis is gone, Seb will apparently never play again, and Yak is now working at a club med! Crazy stuff indeed.
Half of us eventually ended up at a Subway near the hotel where people got a quick bit to eat. Johnny bought me a fruzzle (an icy fruit drink) from subway and we tried to drink it as fast as possible to see who could get brain freeze faster. Johnny owned me! We then went on to discuss who we thought were the sketchiest footbaggers. That was a pretty interesting conversation, it makes me wonder how many people think I am really sketchy
. When people finished their subs we headed to the hotel and the shred began. Johnny and I were the first to start playing and had a warm up two-man circle that was supposed to be titless. After a few strings Johnny was going fearless! I instead started only doing bops. I was trying to get 50 + contact runs but kept dropping at around the 30’s and 40’s. Eventually I just did 60 some infinities and dropped.
More people started playing and I was soon in a circle with Nick and Johnny. I started to play really well. I was very happy with my strings and links and surprised myself with my footbaggin skillz.
As the day wore on I got a little frustrated as my skills slowly slipped back to normal again. At one point I was in a circle with Tom and Ryan and was trying to shred as hard as I had early that day, to really show Tom what I could do but I didn’t do much of anything. Before long, the time seemed to fly by, I had to stop playing to go pick up Laura from the library as it was 3:00 and we wanted to leave by 4. I drove to the library, picked her up (she had a bottle me a Gatorade waiting for me when I arrived!) and we headed back to the hotel.
When we got back I found out that Johnny had won every competition! Johnny is such a nice guy, one of my favorite shredders, and also so very humble. It is about time he did so well at a tourney without being over shadowed by other players. GO Johnny!
It was after 4 so I rounded up the boys, everyone said their good byes and we headed back into the car for the long drive home.
This time around we dropped off Ryan at his residence building, and after headed to Licks for some food. Johnny made a footbag/sex related joke where the punch line was ‘that could be sloppy’ and I laughed so hard literally an entire minute! (One of the best moments of the weekend for sure). After filling up on food we then got back into the car and proceeded to get lost in the Rexdale ghetto area. We eventually found our way out and made it to Dan’s and dropped him off. Next we drove to Brantford to drop off Johnny. After that I drove back to Guelph and crashed at Laura’s. In total the trip that would normally take 3 hours (Guelph – Kingston) took 7 + hours! What a drive.
The weekend was a lot of fun and the footbag was awesome.
There were a few things, now that I look back on the tourney, that stand out in my mind. First and foremost is how great it was to have Laura there. She didn’t say anything about it the entire weekend but she honestly couldn’t afford the time she took off studying to come with me. She is soo stressed out right now trying to study for her midterms, apply to med school, volunteering, and work and yet she came with me because she knew how important it was to me for her learn more about footbag. I can’t possible tell her how much it meant to me.
The second thing that stands out is that I am becoming a bad elitist footbagger. By that I mean I didn’t even shred with everyone at the tourney. I have not done that before, except at worlds where it was impossible to play with everyone. The whole weekend I stuck to guiltless circles and didn’t go out of my way to shred with everyone. That was really stupid and shitty of me and I hope I don’t do that again. Footbag is about the community and I need to remember that!
-----------------------------------
Thanks to anyone who took the time to read through this entire post. It has to be my longest modified post ever. I hope some of it was interesting and gave you a perspective on my weekend. Some of the post might have been boring or negative but please forgive me.
Right now I am really excited about footbag and excited with the great talent I saw in Kingston. I still really want to get better over the next few months and hope that I can. The weekend was great and I can’t wait till my next tourney!
Peace Modified.
p.s. I think I might have spent over an hour writing this whole post and while doing so made 19 bucks as I was supposed to be doing work. Not bad ;p
Last edited by jon on 19 Oct 2005 05:48, edited 1 time in total.
Jon's FootBlog
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"It was clean enough to be thin..." - Andrew W.
MSN: [email protected]
"It was clean enough to be thin..." - Andrew W.