Slowest Advancement Ever?

Anexthesis · Post by **Anexthesis** » 03 Feb 2006 10:33

Ok I see quite often on this forum (and the blogs) people talking about the speed of their progression and many people are INFINITELY faster than I am. I'm not expecting to be Vasek, thats not my goal. But I have friends who have been playing for under a year and they can hit moves I can barely fathom. Meanwhile I've been kicking for 3 years (circle kicking for 1, shredding for 2) and my skills have progressed to rising sets on one side (mainly stepping and pixie) which are extremely flukey and most of the basic one dex moves and sparing mix of double dexes.

Is my foot IQ below par or am I just being pessimistic? Although this only comes down to curiosity as I will continue playing even if pixes/stepping bs take another 2 years to nail down, I just want to know if I'm behind the curve. I'm 20 at the moment btw if that makes any difference.

Bander87 · Post by **Bander87** » 03 Feb 2006 11:18

It depends on how much you play and if you play with other people or not. People who play with others tend to progress faster IMO. Someone who plays 3 hours a day for a year 7 days a week for a year may be better than someone who plays for 2 years but only 2 hours every other day.

Maybe I wasn't very informative, but hope it was encouraging.

BalinorNZ · Post by **BalinorNZ** » 03 Feb 2006 11:45

Ben is right, progression in footbag is almost entirely equivilent to how much you play. If you play 10 hours a week, you will almost undoubtably be better than someone who plays 4 hours a week.

The only other things that effect progression rate I think are how you learn and who you play with (if you play with good players, you get better faster).

I think how you learn goes a little like this:
Slowest learner: someone who spends all day trying to hit moves that are too hard for their level without schooling the basics till they are easy.
Average learner: someone who schools moves at their own level by drilling repetitively till they get a lot of contacts of whatever drill.
Fastest learner: someone who only does the moves at their level and does not try to progres to early, but also thinks hard about what they are doing wrong EVERY time they do a drill. They put more effort into thinking about the easiest way to do their moves, instead of just going for contacts.

That's what i've found anyway.

I think Jorden Moir fits into fastest learner

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As for slowest, I know a guy called Hacky Richard, he is a great guy, But in over 3 years, I think he can pixie ok one side and hit osis

.

habitat · Post by **habitat** » 03 Feb 2006 13:59

Nic is wrong, progression is not entirely equivilent on how much you play. IMO, some people are just plain better/learn fast at things. I don't feel I need an example for that, there are plenty of players that plain learned fast.

I've been playing for about 3 years. My senior year I shredded EVERYDAY ALLDAY. I think my ripwalk record went from 1 to 4 all year

I'm a slow progressor myself. I know exactly how it feels to be left in the dust in a circle AKA every tournament I've been to! I think it takes more than 2 years for someone to get pixie/stepping DOWN (unless your vasek, but your not trying to be him right?) I don't have them down. Your not behind the curve, just look up to those good days you will have, I can see them now ...

Bander87 · Post by **Bander87** » 03 Feb 2006 15:21

James, Nic said it was *almost* entirly. Of course that means there is going to be natural talent in players, as you said in your post. I also like to point out in addition to how much you play, its HOW you play. I prefere string length over big moves. I have a few big moves I can do, but I can go a little bit longer than other people my level I think, while other people may be able to do big moves, but not as long of strings.

This brings something else up - how you look at progression. Progression can either be in string length or in moves.

Anexthesis · Post by **Anexthesis** » 03 Feb 2006 19:01

Well I think a reply is in order as I may have been a bit preemptive in believing my progression is so slow. Since I left college 95% of my shredding is solo which makes a very significant difference in learning rate. Also I tend to play 1-1.5 hours a day as time permits. But I say I may have been preemptivie in that I managed to get down to my old college today for a hack meeting and over the course of two hours my stepping bs really improved, and I learned a whole bunch of new moves. As a HUGE bonus I hit my first 5 add today! PS WHIRL baby. I can't hit symp whirl I cant hit paradox whirl but I hit it ps hahaha.

Anyway my pessimism is fading and thanks for the replies