Rochester, New York Footblog

Keep a diary of what you're hitting, what's frustrating you, and your goals.
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mosher
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Post by mosher »

Yeah!! Bring New Yorkers to Montreal!

I will see you hein shredders there!!!
Tom Mosher

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KronoKicker
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Post by KronoKicker »

Chris, me and paul are both going to spike and shred. Don't know if i'm taking my truck yet or not, since i will have someone with me. I am also going to montreal, don't know how im getting there yet either.

I have neglected the blog a lot.. mostly because i shower then go right to sleep after we shred (usually don't start shredding until 10-11 at night..)

been trying to play a lot, although last week was harsh on my body. my right leg is injured in 3 places.. :x hip, knee, and hamstring... taking this week off so i can play at spike and shred.
Aric McIntosh
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Paul Agostinelli
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Post by Paul Agostinelli »

ok as of now i am going to both spike and montreal, i am definately going to spike and shred and still have a few things to work out for montrael but i have my fingers crossed.

chris, you're welcome a spot in my car, i actually thought you were coming with me already, let me know, and aric + girlfriend = welcome in my car too.

ok let me know whats up. see y'all soon.

~NEL~
Precisely Mos Eisley
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mikeanello
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Mike Anello 2006-05-23

Post by mikeanello »

http://v.footbag.org/media/754/Mike%20A ... -05-23.wmv

I filmed this Tuesday night and editted it today. I am really excited about the combos I hit in this video. Everything I hit in this video I have never before been able to hit until Tuesday night. This video is not worth much to the whole video watching community, which is why it is posted here for my close friends and co-athletes to see.

Enjoy.
Mike Anello
http://www.rochesterfootbag.com
Never give up, unless up is what the customer really wants.
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Jdigges
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Post by Jdigges »

Wow, Awesome vid mike! those were some phat combos definitley gave me a bunch of ideas. You look like you've improved a ton.
Josiah Digges


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Post by mc »

thanks for that little snippet, mike. I think that should be posted for the general community. especially with that last awesome move. sporp! (will update more from spikenshred later)
BRICK!

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slapdash21
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Post by slapdash21 »

kickass mike! keep em coming brotha
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sen
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Post by sen »

THanks for the vid Mike! You're game is looking good.
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Post by KronoKicker »

Nice vid mike, we have to try making up a semi-consistent schedule to kick over the summer.



Spike and Shred
Definitely a good weekend. Didn't do a whole lot of freestyle, but played well while I did. Net went well, for not playing for a year. I lost to Dan the Man.. disappointing but I did good against Ted Fritsch (who for those of you who don't know, is the gatekeeper.. beat him means you're good enough to move to open). 10 hours of net is harsh, and I bruised my ankle pretty badly after being pelted with the net bag 10 times in the same damn spot. I ended up giving up during my last match because i could barely walk..

Freestyle took 3rd in rippin run battle royal and shred 30. It was really close between me and matt who didn't drop (props to him), but my shuffle was just too much for him this time :D . Beat my record for shred 30 by about 15 points, so i felt pretty damn good about my performance.

New stuff:
reverse mullet > ripwalk
far symple swirl > ripwalk
zulu butter > pdx drifter (rpt)



Can't wait for east coast, hoping to do really well in routines, and shatter my shred 30 score. My shred 30 scores a 230, and its all basic combos for me... I hope this time I can get all the way through with out dropping or improvising.
Aric McIntosh
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mikeanello
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Post by mikeanello »

Congratulations to Aric for his tournament accomplishments. I wish I had time for all of the events happening over the next few weeks. Maybe I can make it to East Coasts - don't know for sure.

I have updated the video set list http://www.footbag.org/gallery/showset/RFA and added thumbnails to all of the videos listed. I need to remember create a thumbnail before I post a video.

RFA, we should seriously talk about making profile videos. I mean, a serious shred video for each one of us showcasing our best stuff. I'm thinking 30 seconds to a full minute of just the most "rediculous shit" you can do. I would be happy to do all of the editting. My camera is analog and my capture device only allows a resolution of 320 x 240. Perhaps someone else has a better camera we could use for this endeavor. Anyway, if you guys are interested lets keep this subject going. I think it would be good for us to have professional grade footbag videos of ourselves to help promote our group and the sport.

Personal news:

I've been working on whirls and double down moves a lot lately. I realized the other night that my flexibility for whirls has imroved greatly over the past month as well as the speed of my dexes - probably from all of those double legover and eggbeater drills. Anyway, the double down moves I've been hitting are double over down and paradon. I can hit paradox but not very well. I have to work on setting the bag across my body and the little hop you do after the clip set to position yourself for the move. The same goes for paradox whirls - bad set equals drop.

Another move I've been hitting is paradox eggbeater, like whoa. The only problem with this move is that it takes a lot of energy for me to do, and after only a few I am really, really tired. I think I'm keeping my muscles tight throughout most of the move and that ain't good. Need to snap then relax then snap then relax. That's how I got eggbeaters working for me. Set (snap), wait for the bag to peak (relax), do the dexes (snap), nice and easy toe delay (relax).

That is all for now. Have a great day.
Mike Anello
http://www.rochesterfootbag.com
Never give up, unless up is what the customer really wants.
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cd
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Post by cd »

Yeah Mike, we should definitely tape some more RFA shred. Our on-and-off sunday sessions are always packed with things that would make good videos.

I'm back in Geneseo now, probably working full time starting next week or so. Weekends will be pretty good for me though, so I will try to find rides to roch as much as I can.

Those last two weekends were insane. Spike n Shred was huge, and the event ran smoothly because of Jon's hard work. He really held it together and deserves tons of props. Jack also put a LOT of time and money into making sure everyone had fun. Plus Andrew Ivanyo's mom put on a tight barbecue. These three individuals are responsible for the weekend being so awesome. Competition was alright. My plan was to just pick a fast song and shred to it for routines, and I could only hit the easiest 5-5-5 possible for sick three. Still, not bad. The best part of the tournament (and most other tournaments) was the circle shred all day, every day. That's where the most energy and public exposure came from.

Then, like 5 minutes later I was in Montreal with that entire scene. It's interesting that there are two large footbag regions --East Coast and the Canadians-- and Rochester is right in the middle of the two. There isn't a lot of crossover otherwise. I'll see mostly players from one region at certain events (Funtastiks, Philly), and then a totally different group at other events (TOFU, Montreal). So it was really exciting being in NJ and then Montreal less than a week later. The only people at both events were myself, Paul, Tom, and Will, if I am not mistaken.

I love Montreal! It's such a beautiful city and downtown has a cool atmosphere. There were a lot of newer players to meet in addition to more familiar faces like Ellis, Sebastien, Yacine, and Kolo. Ianek was a great host and his generosity was key in making that weekend work out for me.

The circle competition is my favorite tournament format by far. The only doubt I had about it was its length, but it stayed exciting the entire time. Every new circle was interesting to watch, and it really gives every player the freedom to show off their skills however they want. No ADDs or other such constraints, just some background music and a freestyle circle. You can do whatever you want to impress the judges, whether it's a long varied run, an insane combo, unique/weird tricks, or just one massive move. And you get many tries each match, so the best of every player comes out during the competition, unlike other formats which can be hit-or-miss. I hit a very solid Rubberman II (sumo>legbeater>matador repeat) first try during semifinals, sealed with a hand catch and pass to Bevier. I was trying to give him a run for his money, but of course he totally owned me and moved on to finals. Will Digges hit gauntlet in finals!! It was so intense because it was during a period where all three finalists were trying huge single moves to one-up their opponents' sick tricks. That's the kind of stuff that really makes the matches intense. There's a lot of depth to the game that is missing from other types of competition.
The rest of that weekend was a lot of fun, especially the partying on saturday night.


And then there's East Coasts. I haven't had time to make plans, but I doubt I can make it unless I found a ride last minute.

la de da. im gonna go play a little footbag now before it gets dark.
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BenRea
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Post by BenRea »

hey guys from rochester,


I guess I will introduce myself. My name is Ben Rea (obviously) (Rea is pronounced, Ray). I live in Syracuse, im sure you know where that is. (fayetteville actually) Im 16, a novice footbagger, about 1.5 months of freestyle, and a massive 2.5 years of 'hacky sack'. My skills include: pixie, mirage, and symp mirage (and the basic stalls of course). although you could say they all need some work.
I never was aware that there was such an awesome group of footbaggers not so far away from me, its very exciting infact. It would be a pleasure to shred with the gang durring the summer. My AIM screen name is Skate11BR (although I dont skate anymore) and my MSN messanger name is [email protected]. I have already spoken with matt cross, he said it would be cool. I hope all you guys arent like...pros. that would be scary. 8O I'm just a silly little newb. Can't wait...!!! :D

Sincerely,
Ben Rea

P.S.- Everyone really does call me Ben Rea, like its all my first name or something...? but dont be afraid to call me Ben.

P.P.S- Mike, i really want to meet you, love the vids. your skills are amaaaaaazing.
Ben Rea
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mikeanello
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Post by mikeanello »

BenRea,

Thanks for posting on the blog and thank you for the kind words about my shred. I was planning on quitting footbag this year since after 5 years of playing I didn't see myself getting any better. Then, I went to GRASS and got to shred in circles with players like Matt Cross, Jordan Moire, David Clavens, and others. I pushed myself far beyond my limits during that event and the results were an increase in not only my strength and stamina, but more importantly my confidence and love for the sport. It's ironic that during one year I made videos with "Never give up" as their theme and the next year I'm announcing my retirement. It seems this sport is just too great and I am hooked.

As for your concern about RFA players and their abilities, everyone is great in their own way. Matt Cross can pull off strings that seem to last forever, Chris Dean can whip his legs around so fast your head will spin, Aric McIntosh can out shuffle anyone, Paul Agostinelli can surprise you at any moment, and I sweat a lot. We all had to start one day. We really appreciate people who try.

Hope to shred with you someday soon.
Mike Anello
http://www.rochesterfootbag.com
Never give up, unless up is what the customer really wants.
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Post by KronoKicker »

Hey BenRea we should definitely get together sometime. Also look up DarkShredder (Pat Thomsen), he lives in the syracuse area, as does Paul Wackero (less likely to be available). Send Pat a PM on here, and he'll definitely be interested.


ECC this year was awesome. I played the best I ever have in competition for both net and freestyle. Net went great first day, all my serves were working perfectly, I was doing lots of nice returns, lots of random hard gets, and even did pretty good in doubles. Had a really good game against Dan Greer, which made me really happy since he is almost ready to go Open. In doubles me and Josh Penny managed to beat Dan and Phil Norrad one game, not to mention I got to spike the bag to win our game. I actually advanced out of the pools to face Ted Fritsch in the quarter finals... that sucked, but I still played him well. If I had played him in the morning instead after freestyle I probably would have done a lot better, and maybe even beaten him... (he wasn't playing his greatest though...).

Freestyle was even better, first night was really low key with some shred with Chris D. and Gordon B. Didn't play really hard, but managed a couple good strings and got a really good complement from Gordon, which rarely happens. Ended up competing in all events even an impromptu routine. Shred 30 went really well, have to check with Tuan to see what my score was since they didn't score any of them. Routine went really well had about 4 or 5 drops, all which happend late in my routine. Had a good long string which was at least a minute long without a single drop. Managed to hit E-walk shortly after my first drop, and got lots of props on my performance... The next day i was really sore, and did pretty bad in shred 30, probably scored around 130ish, routine went well, and hit 3 combos for big 3. (toe stall > pixie arm hooping push up > clipper, assassin > dimwalk > reverse whirlly gig, bs blur > phoenix > far reverse symposium whirl). I took 3rd overall in shred 30, 2nd in big 3 (Dave sucks.., and Gordon dropped 5 times) Took 5 in routines because Benny, Pete, Gordon, and Dave can obviously perform a much better routine then me. But I am really happy with how I played and did in the competition got lots of good complements from Pete, Sunil, Tuan, Dave, and everyone else. Can't wait for the next comp... hopefully going to Steel.
Aric McIntosh
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BenRea
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Post by BenRea »

wow, thats awesome!!! I will totally try to contact him. That would be so much fun. Im still going through exams right now but as soon as i get out i can start making my summer plans. I'm glad to hear you guys are doing well. and mike, im glad you have decided to continue!!!!
Ben Rea
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mikeanello
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Post by mikeanello »

Congratulations Aric on a job well done in ECC. Looking forward to shredding with you again sometime soon.

BenRea, looking forward to meeting you.

Everyone else, keep in touch and lets get together.
Mike Anello
http://www.rochesterfootbag.com
Never give up, unless up is what the customer really wants.
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slapdash21
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Post by slapdash21 »

its so great to hear you stoked on footbag mike!
im gonna be in western MA all summer, so thats about 3 hours closer to you's guys...i just might make it out there for a kick.

keep it up,
Pete Bowler
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Post by mc »

Big props on your recent impact on the competition scene, Aric! I miss our scene SO much. Mike, glad to hear your game is still growing and growing... wish me luck on my own...

Matt
BRICK!

rfa::never give up::
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cd
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Post by cd »

(edit. nevermind about being up in rochester saturday)

Also, if people want to Jam in Geneseo I can host a handful of people at my apartment. Theres some kind of summer festival going on here July 7-9 so that could make a good weekend for shredding and hanging out. If people from out of town can make it here then we could have a great jam.
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Paul Agostinelli
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Post by Paul Agostinelli »

rrrrrrrrrrrrrrresurrection!

ok so its 11:15 on friday of tofu jam, im chilling at my house in rochester with nothing to do while i wait for chris to get out of work, so i thought id browse modified.

i havent been playing very much since montreal jam because i have developed an injury to my right leg, it feels a lot like shin splints (the pain is identical) but its on the back side of my leg. my doctor said its likely achilles tendonitis, but im not sure because the pain is near the bone and i think is more of a muscular thing then a tendon one.

im working as a lifeguard for the city of rochester, i work at the avenue D rec center, which for those of you who dont know rochester (most all of you) is deep in the hood, one of the worst neighborhoods in rochester, and you know what? its awesome. everyone there is really cool, my coworkers are awesome and ive been hanging out with them every night after work.

the last 3 days we've had to close the pool due to thunder, and when that happens, we get to just go inside and play ping-pong or pool or basketball with the kids, or chill in the lounge we have, or ill have a solo shred session with a big crowd watching.

yesterday i played and hit a really long genuine string for me

diving clip>ducking clip>diving clip>ducking clip>spinning clip>diving clip>ducking clip>spinning clip>diving clip>ducking clip>ducking butt>ducking butt>spinning butt>mobius

woo!

ok i gotta finish getting ready for tofu!!

payce

~NEL~
Precisely Mos Eisley
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