Footbag interviews on modified?

[DoctorJay]

I think it would be cool if some of persons of modified elaborate some questions and send them out to "legends" of footbag.

We would haave one tópic with several good interviews on it . This would be a pleasure to read I think.

What do you think ?

[sniikeri]

...or interview topics like the challenge blogs?
I prefer Jochen's idea.

[C-Fan]

It'd be cool if somebody collected all the online footbag interviews into a single thread. I was thinking linking them, or even cutting and pasting.

There are some short ones on Flipsider: http://www.flipsider.com/team/

I interview Tom Mosher on this page: http://www.modified.ca/footbag/viewtopi ... &start=440

There are a few interviews with Vasek on the Czech site: http://www.footbag.cz/english/team/e_inter_vasik.html

Ales interview: http://www.footbag.cz/english/team/alesint.html

There used to be an interview with Sunil somewhere, but I can't find it anymore.


Gareth Williams interviewing Lynton Stephens

GW: I understand you were kicking in 'hacky' circles through primary school and into high school, and it was this that first grabbed your interest in the sport. I'm also told that in 1996 you really started practicing, while in year 12. How did you first find out about freestyle footbag, and what made you take the step from playing hackysack to freestyle footbag?

LS: I didnt play back in primary school (unfortunately) but i starting hacking with my friends in high school about year 9ish so about 1994. Long time ago, jesus! My friend who introduced hacky to the school was himself introduced to it by an eccentric expat American. It wasnt until 1996 though that i came up with the idea one day whilst bored in a computer class to look up footbag on the net. Quite literally i typed "hackysack" into a search engine and up came a whole bunch of stuff. 10 minutes later i was watching video of rippin rick reese and ryan mulroney with my jaw dropped the floor from sheer amazement. The intricacy and difficulty of the tricks fascinated my and i was pretty much hooked from then on.

GW: I'm told that you and Brendan first formed the MFC while at RMIT (in 1997?), and that by 2001, when Dan joined, the MFC boasted the best footbag squad in Australia. Who were the members of the MFC at that time, and who else in Australia was playing footbag at a notable level?

LS: I met Brendan at college where we were both living in 1997 and 1998. I used to practise on this particular piece of concrete and everyone pretty much regarded me as a freak of sorts, one of the guys at the place started calling me `the foot fucking master' and i had no idea what he was talking about until i saw pulp fiction. But anyway Brendan gradually became interested in it and started learning the basic tricks. Nobody else in Melb was freestyling at this point, there were a few crews around some even listed on the internet but they only ever kicked. I met Richard Cook and Chard from Canada when they visited I guess in 1997. They appeared on Red Faces, etc, but I only met them by accident at a juggling store. That was my first face-to-face contact with freestyle and i was pretty blown away. Maybe 6 months later Sunil Jani visited which gave B & I a major push. Sunil taught me some new moves and drilled me on the whole ambidexterity thing so it was after that when things really began to happen.

GW: When no-one else was playing and footbag was even less well known than it is today, what kept you inspired?

LS: Yeah that's pretty hard. I guess I have a bit of a perfectionist streak and I'm quite obsessive about some things. I was just fascinated with all the possible moves, combinations, etc and about pushing myself to go bigger and bigger. But it was monumentally frustrating at times not to have other people to learn from / show off to / hang out with. I guess the MFC was officially coined in about 1998 but at that time it was basically me and Brendan and it was kind of as a joke that we gave ourselves a name but at the same time we hoped it would grow and it did but extremely slowly. In 1998 and 1999 we would try to organise `kicks' in the city by ringing up various people who were more or less keen on hacksack but it didn't always work. I remember on one occasion ringing up 6 to 8 people I suppose and getting `maybes' from each of them, figuring at least 2 or 3 would show up but being the only person to turn up in the end. That sort of thing was very depressing. I did get a few videos from the states and watched those till I had pretty much memorised them. Absorbing new styles and new moves from those videos really kept me going. I kept in email contact with Sunil as well, and Adrian Dick sometimes and that was great, but in the end I guess what kept me going was just wanting to hit bigger stuff.

GW: Lotus, Karl Murr, and Matt Baker are three other players who have been on the scene for some time. Do you know how long they have been playing, and what they're up to now?

LS: Dont know. Lotus must have been kicking for a long time, maybe longer than me. Karl and Matt probably started 1998 or 1999 I'd guess. Lotus still kicks and probably always will. The Sydney scene seems to have more of a problem with the guys being spread out geographically and Karl and Matt and Steve Ramsey never seemed to get a solid weekly kick going but they can both still play and now that other guys play up there it seems to be improving.

GW: The first Australian Footbag Championships took place in conjunction with the X-Games in Sydney in December 2001. What led to footbag being included in the games, and was this the first event (of any kind), that brought Australian footbaggers together?

LS: Forrester and Steve Ramsey had a lot to do with that. Steve had some contacts and did really well to get us in the door. Forrester put up the prizemoney and helped out a lot, various guys did the organising, Brendan mostly I guess. That was a bit of a breakthrough since it created a focus to get the NZ guys over, we had a little snippet on TV from it and since we were on after the breakdancing there must have been over 1000 people watching it live which stressed a few people out at the time. Then we made a video from it. Yeah, X games was great, not just the shred but the social aspect, we got up to some pretty dodgy stuff that weekend. After that tournament we became committed to having yearly events afterwards.

GW: You're responsible for so many new tricks. How many have you created, and what are they? Also, what?s the story behind the names?

LS: I counted 30 or 40 I think one time. Only maybe 5 or 10 major ones. For the 1st 2 years I played I used airwalk shoes with crappy insides and so I just did toe moves so I guess I developed a speciality for those but gradually I got up to serious clipper-based moves like blurriest swirl, etc. For a long time I just invented the names for my own benefit. Living in oz I never really knew what the guys in the US had/hadnt hit. In many ways it hurt my progress as a player not being exposed to other freestylers but if it had a benefit it would be that i wasnt so drawn into copying other peoples moves i had more impetus to evolve new ones.

GW: What's your greatest achievement as a footbag player, and as a human being?

LS: Interesting qn. My dropless routine at the X Games was a huge thrill. Likewise kicking 1 on 1 with Ryan in New Zealand and with Ales more recently. In terms of stuff I hit, combos my fave would be blurriest>>gyro DLO>>pixie warrior>>blurry whirl>>mobius back in 2000 or 2001. And individual moves the one I like most is cataclysm but my first superduperfly at Jeremy O'Wheels house party and icarus after trying for 18 months were classic moments too. As a human being, my best achievement? I dunno. Maybe the above. I procrastinate. Apart from footbag I havent done much come to think of it.

GW: Lynton, what is Footbag to you?

LS: Freestyle in itself is so amazing. The mind-boggling number of possible tricks/combinations and the beauty of watching a really good player are enough. Watch Ryan or Vacek busting huge stuff - that's footbag, it speaks for itself. But its also been awesome to me and to other people i know as a culture - travelling, meeting crazy people and doing crazy stuff. Its a complete package.

GW: Finally, are there any anecdotes you'd like to share about playing footbag? And is there anything else you'd like to add, regarding the history of Footbag in Australia - including your own personal history of playing footbag?

LS: Hard to single any one thing out. I just like to think that once one of my high school maths teacher used to ridicule me for playing hackysack and she actually said it was a waste of time and i should spend my time doing my maths homework. It seems funny now - MFC has been on tv many times, we've had tournaments, been on the radio, busked, etc. i've invented tricks. people know me. i've been recognised in the street, in nightclubs. It allows me to travel, meet people, do demos for $100/hr, pay the bills. I doubt I could have achieved the same from doing maths. Its just nice that we actually have a quite respectable scene in Aust/NZ (Jeremy, Dan, Jon Murphy, Liam, etc) when only 5 years ago there was jack all and its still getting bigger. Its been good fun being a part of it. Cant wait to see what happens at our tournaments in the future. Thanks!

[Outsider]

This article is interesting, with small bits of interview from a number of people. Its a little painful to read at times, and I don't care for the outsider's description of the game (I mean the journalist {outsider with a small o}, not me!), but I still like the article, and think its worth preserving.

http://www.sfweekly.com/issues/2002-10- ... ature.html