SandWraith's Footnovel: Now with more footbag!

SandWraith · Post by **SandWraith** » 18 Jul 2006 19:03

Visited the doctor. I spent 20 minutes with his resident doctor-in-training: an indian woman that spoke english, just not well. She told me to breathe in deep and then "take it". I assumed she didn't mean to bend over, but instead to hold my breath, so I did. Then she yelled, "Take it! Take it now!" I was like ??? When I breathed out she showed her approval, so I learned that when people say "take it!" they really mean "breathe out".

Even though I knew exactly what the problem was-- my patella tendon at the kneecap hurt from repetitive impact-- my doctor spent a long time searching for other causes. He even measured the height of each side of my hip to see if it was off. Oh well, after an hour of this he finally conceded that it probably was... patella pain from repetitive impact. He also mentioned that it could be sinding-larsen-johansson syndrome, but that generally affects adolescents between 10 and 14, so that's sorta far-fetched. Either way, I got the conclusion I wanted: after I asked, he agreed to write a referral to physical therapy. I start tomorrow at 9 am, and hopefully they'll be able to offer some exercises or weight-lifts I can do that will help. Can't wait!

I also threw in a set of Dr. Scholl's into my g-units for two reasons: to reduce the space between the toe surface and my foot so that there wouldn't be that angling problem and also to add even more cushion just for safety. The insert did both. Man, playing felt great-- nearly no discomfort. The inserts also made the clippers not quite so ridicul-easy, which is also cool with me.

I played about 1.5 hours and worked a lot on spinning and fairys, but did a few reverse swirls (not too hard), some consecutive butterflys, and a wee bit of atomics. Learned that my flip spinning is better when the set is from farther out; a farther set gives more control, more room for error, and more power. I also improved my fairy technique somewhat, and was able to foot fear both sides pretty consistently. I hit the usual cache of fear bs, fairy ss mirage bs, atomsmasher, and also managed butterfly > spinning osis > butterfly bs, which felt pretty classy. Spinning clipper > blur bs was in there too.

Though my right knee didn't hurt at all during the session, it does feel a bit tender now. I think it'll feel fine by tomorrow though.

SandWraith · Post by **SandWraith** » 19 Jul 2006 13:58

The physical therapist said I have patellar tendonitis. Luckily it hasn't been going on for too long so there's potential that it could be eliminated before it becomes chronic. He told me to play less frequently and put ice packs on my kneecaps several times a day to reduce inflammation. Friday I go in for my first physical therapy session. He also said how large, flexible, and well-defined my leg muscles were, and that unfortunately they are all in such good condition that he doesn't think strengthening one of the muscles could be a solution to the problem.

I'll be playing every other day for hopefully around an hour and a half, but sticking again to mostly spinning and fairy so that I don't have to jump that much. The fact that I'll be playing less and I'll be wearing my super-cushiony g-units makes me think that this should be readily solveable. There's only 5 weeks of summer left anyways, so hopefully I can keep myself to playing only every other day, cause once school starts I'm sure every other day will fit in fine. I feel like playing right now though, so I have to go preoccupy myself.

SandWraith · Post by **SandWraith** » 20 Jul 2006 16:43

Played for about 45 minutes with absolutely no pain, but the p.t. told me to listen to my body and stop if it hurt at all, so I had to stop. I've also been told to ice my knees three times a day for about 15 minutes to reduce inflammation (though there's very little of that).

In the time I did play, I focused mostly on spinning. All I can say is this: Spinning, where have you been all my life? Wow, it's getting so good and so consistent. I was hitting spinning clippers and spinning oses both sides easily. I hit spinning clipper > spinning osis bs a bunch, and I love hot it feels. I want to make that one of my bails-- simply yet flashy, intricate yet consistent. I also did spinning pickup both sides, but not much beyond that since I was avoiding jumping. I tried to do spinning osis > spinning clipper on each side but had difficulty making the zoom. I wanna be able to do spin clipper > spin osis > repeat.

Did a few reverse swirls both sides and am getting more consistent. Tried dyno and not really surprisingly can get it both sides, though neither one is very controlled. I probably won't work that for a while but it's a move I want to incorporate eventually.

Did fairys near the end and am getting a decent set each side. A little more height would be good but I came close to nallegam both sides, though no plant unfortunately.

P.S. Got an exercise ball to do ab work on on the days I don't play footbag (i.e. every other day). It's awesome! It's already replaced my computer chair, and the stuff I did on it yesterday was really fun. Definitely works my abs more than incline situps. While I could do about 300 incline situps at around a 30 degree angle, I was dead after 130 situps on the exercise ball. Sooooo cool!

SandWraith · Post by **SandWraith** » 21 Jul 2006 20:22

Had another p.t. session today, this time with my permanent p.t., who was recommended as the best they have. He seemed nice but a little annoying; he kept remarking that he didn't know people even played hacky sack anymore. We spent about 20 minutes talking about how it's actually footbag and why it's different from hacky sack, but I think he just came out thinking I play "fancy" hacky sack.

Whatever, as long as my patellas come out stronger than ever I don't give a shit.

Speaking of which, there's no pain in them at all. They feel fine. Dave the p.t. told me that it'll probably take one to two weeks for the tendons to completely heal, and then we begin the strengthening stage, where the goal is to get my patellas strong enough that I can potentially play 3 hours a day every day without tendonitis (!!!). I'm super stoked about that prospect, though I doubt I'll have that sorta time during the school year.

Other than that I didn't really accomplish anything today. I was gonna study linear algebra but just fell asleep for two hours instead. Then I watched tv and eventually ordered a pizza.

Ich soll auch sagen, dass ich Deutsch gern habe. Wenn jemand mit mir auf Deutsch reden moechte, finde ich das toll.

SandWraith · Post by **SandWraith** » 22 Jul 2006 14:28

15 minutes in:
spin clip > op clip > spin clip > spin osis > butterfly > spinning left knee pain > stop

Did ab work instead. No shred till Monday; I hope I last longer than I did today.

David Morawski · Post by **David Morawski** » 23 Jul 2006 08:16

Checking out your flog cause you posted in mine.

Yeah, I had knee problems as well (though I'm not even at your level yet). An MRI showed that I had bruising on the underside of the patella, so I did about 3 months of PT with no footbag at all. Though brutal, it helped strengthen my legs a lot, ie. the muscles surrounding my knees. I'm definitely not 100%, but I'm just playing a little easier (which is becoming false very quickly as I'm trying to progress) and less frequently. PT just became a huge time sink and pain in my ass for the results I was seeing, so I stopped when I got sick of not playing footbag/thought it had done all it was going to do for me.

I hope that you do come out stronger after finishing PT, and that you attain 3hour sessions! I know I probably will always have to play fairly easy because I just have weak knee caps..but, like you, I've been playing in Gooooonits since my return, and I love them so much more than Lavers. Lavers = death for people like us, I think.

I'm pretty sure this isn't making sense anymore, so I'll leave you to it. I look forward to reading about your progress in the future. Good luck with PT!

SandWraith · Post by **SandWraith** » 23 Jul 2006 10:30

Thanks a lot for posting! Yeah, I definitely will never switch back to Lavers. G-units are saving my knees. Actually, my mom and I had a discussion about that last night and we came to the conclusion that I should get another pair or two just in case g-units become even harder to find.

So today I ordered two pairs of these. They're only $34.99 on amazon.com! And though the material doesn't look like leather, I still think they'll be readily moddable. How hot is that green color? Sexy!

EDIT: Yeah, upon closer inspection I think you're right; it is leather. Woots! I am good as far as shoes go for the next 2 to 3 years. ^_^

Went and picked raspberries and blueberries with Amy, one of the few girls I've ever met that I actually enjoy hanging with. Pretty fun and I got a TON of berries out of it (she didn't want any-- just to pick them). Hell yes! Then Brian, Amy, and I played Smash Brothers Melee for a bit. Many I'm outta practice. I guess maybe I'll work on that some since I won't really play much footbag for at least a month. If you've never really tried competitive smash, it's really fun. L-cancelling, wavedashing, shining... man, I love that game so much. Best multiplayer game ever. Bar none.

David Morawski · Post by **David Morawski** » 23 Jul 2006 11:25

Oh, man! Hot shit is right. Nice find! I wish I weren't broke..else I'd buy a pair this instant.

EDIT: The material looks like leather to me..def' moddable either way.

SandWraith · Post by **SandWraith** » 25 Jul 2006 17:55

Played smash about 4 hours yesterday.

Oh well, not a lot else I should be doing anyway (studying linear algebra, stretching, ab work, reading german, doing anything else moderately constructive).

As I said in the SOLO BLOG thread, I'm not playing till at least Friday, and maybe longer. I want this to get done with as fast as possible, and playing lightly every other day doesn't seem to lead to improvement, just re-aggravation.

And I recently started rereading my blog from the start since it's been almost one year. I notice now that I have improved: my dexterity has increased significantly. I feel like I could hit pretty easily a lot of the stuff I found impressive one year ago, though it's only been 6 months in actual shred time. My run length hasn't gone that much up though, so that's still a concern once I get back to playing. I also find myself pretty funny. My old posts were (still are?) way too long, but I like some of the comments I make. Makes sense though, doesn't it? We really should like our own sense of humor.

My tendonitis no longer feels like it exists along the entire top of the patella as a dull, long-lasting pain, but rather as an infrequent and sharp pang only during deep squats. This is healing; this is good. The P.T. started me on some really easy exercises to work my quad which will lead my patellas to start beefing up. BEEFCAKE

Tjuggles · Post by **Tjuggles** » 25 Jul 2006 21:57

Im glad to hear that your knees are beginning to get better. I myself plan to start working out my legs starting from the 4th of August. I will start going to the gym then, so I can use machines that will help. Until then, I will stretch a lot and do other stuff... like shred

Worlds was awesome. It made me realize how fun footbag really is, AND how cool everyone is that plays it.

T

SandWraith · Post by **SandWraith** » 27 Jul 2006 19:03

Yeah, I hope I can make it to worlds next year, but first I hope I can play. Think are looking optimistic though, as my knees feel better and better. My P.T. has started me on doing squats now-- one or two sets of 20 slow squats a day. He anticipates that next week we'll move on to doing squats with added weight, and then eventually (probably a week or week and a half away) start doing one legged stuff. When that time comes, I'll probably begin working fairy set on the side, but until then I'm gonna refrain from footbag. My knees feel so much better than before though-- I feel like a man again. :')

Oh, played Smash for 3 hours today with Brian, Jie, and Jason. Jason and Brian are both pretty good, almost as good as my crew back at WashU, so that was cool. Played 24 games, and I won 22 of them. Lost the last match on a glitch thing, so that wasn't the best way to end. I have a lot I need to work on, but my 1vs1s are getting back up to par.

Written, rewritten, and un wrote:Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an off hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way

seems appropriate

SandWraith · Post by **SandWraith** » 28 Jul 2006 19:50

What to work on when working becomes workable:

Sesh1:
-mirage-illusion-pickup-legover-clipper-butterfly-diving toe-ducking toe-paradox mirage-paradox illusion

Sesh2:
-spinning set-fairy set-atomic set-stepping set

I'll update this as this congeals in my mind. My knees felt superb today, by the way, except for one oddity. On my left knee, what feels to not be the patella but underneath it, there was a sharp pain that would occur when my knees were completely locked. Since the patellas are not used there, that kinda worries me; it seems like it could be a minor meniscal tear, but I have no idea why that would be the case. I've done no exercise beyond squats. I'm kind of a paranoid when it comes to the meniscus though, so that could be part of my thought process.

Either way, no footbag till my p.t. has me doing one-legged exercises (two weeks max is my thought).

Lots of smash though; Captain Falcon and Falco are quickly becoming my mains, although I like playing as Mario, Samus, Sheik, Link, Jigglypuff, Game and Watch, and Marth as well. Damn I love that game. <3

SandWraith · Post by **SandWraith** » 29 Jul 2006 17:16

Knees feel THUPER (thanks for athking!). Gonna move up to two sets of 20 squats a day now and see how it goes tomorrow.

Woke up and went out to breakfast with Brian and our high school AP Spanish teacher. We talked for about 2 hours over breakfast, which was fun. After that, Brian and I came back and practiced smash for a little bit. I showed him some of the more advanced techniques, like wavedashing, teching, shield grabbing, etc. After around an hour of that he left, but I kept playing. It's now 8 pm and I've played probably about 6 hours of smash... man I gotta get back to footbag. Only quit playing smash cause my right wrist feels sore.

In smash, I spent a while working on falco's short hop laser (SHL), and think I'm finally getting it down in a stationary position; soon I'll try moving around and SHLing. Worked a bit on some other stuff, but mostly practiced Jigglypuff. I like playing Jiggly a lot, so I'd like to get moderately competitive with her, meaning getting Wall of Pain down, Rest combos, and just a faster and more refined play style.

EDIT: My new g-units came, and they're hot looking.

EDIT 2: Random: Last night I had kind of an interesting dream. Well, it was odd anyways. I was studying abroad in Germany, and had rented an apartment. Three girls about my age came to paint it, and they were all pretty decent-looking. They were flirting with me, and one was pretty cool. Yeah, that's odd and all, but the cool part was that the whole dream was actually in german! I can remember some of the things that were said and they are real german! Damn that was cool. I hope I have more dreams in german (with good-looking girls

) cause I think that'll be a great way to improve my german.

Check it out: EDIT 3: I am finally halfway through rereading my blog! I'm done with 10 pages, and have finally gotten to the "omfg I have mono" part... ahhhh, I love that part. Well, that'll be the next 6 pages or so anyways, so I have a lot of good material to read in the future. But reading so much about being sick though is bring out the hypochondriac in me.

Tjuggles · Post by **Tjuggles** » 30 Jul 2006 15:54

Yeah, having dreams in a different language is nice indeed

Bander87 · Post by **Bander87** » 30 Jul 2006 18:43

Super smash?? Good stuff. Mario is my favorite. Psh, coin uppercuts?? Bling bling bling bling bling bling! Hahah.

And about dreams. I have this weird idea that you know things in your dreams that you wouldn't normally know awake. Maybe the subconscience brings it out or something. Hope you get what I mean!

Bander87 · Post by **Bander87** » 30 Jul 2006 18:44

Super smash?? Good stuff. Mario is my favorite. Psh, coin uppercuts?? Bling bling bling bling bling bling! Hahah.

And about dreams. I have this weird idea that you know things in your dreams that you wouldn't normally know awake. Maybe the subconscience brings it out or something. Hope you get what I mean!

SandWraith · Post by **SandWraith** » 30 Jul 2006 18:47

I suppose you do that a lot since you're fluent and living in Japan. That's gotta be pretty sweet.

Wasted most of yesterday and added to it by wasting most of today. The knees feel good though.

Practiced smash for about an hour, then went and played it 4 person style at Jason's house for about two hours, followed by practicing 1v1 with Brian back here. I am getting decent at SHL, but I can tell my falco's gonna blow until I can get pillaring and shine > dair combos down, which unfortunately necessitates working on waveshining, which I totally suck at. I imagine this makes for an annoying read for everyone here that doesn't follow smash... but it's all got pretty cool names, don't you think?

Oh, and my jigglypuff isn't that hot either. I'm pretty slow, which might be the result of sucking at l-cancelling my airs. I guess I'll be practicing that in the next couple of days.

P.S. I moved on to doing 2 sets of 20 squats today. Hoorah!

Spontaneous Spaz · Post by **Spontaneous Spaz** » 30 Jul 2006 19:16

keep working on that wave shine... its alot easier doing wavedashes w/ falco backwards, believe me i know i've tried. its also really hard chaining falco wave dashes forwards... which comes to bring questioning... why do a falco waveshine? doesn't that only work with fox? whose wave dash btw is much easier...idk y... blah d blah d blah... ice climbers rule!

SandWraith · Post by **SandWraith** » 31 Jul 2006 10:16

I respect anyone that can use ice climbers well. They look cool when they're played correctly, but it'd trip me up trying to keep the important one straight from Nana. The reason I'm trying to waveshine Falco, by the way, is because I wanna be able to pillar with him and shine > dair combo, but I can't seem to get close enough to within shining distance to my friend without him shield grabbing me. I don't think consecutive waveshines would be that useful, but I have to get waveshining down to perfection if I'll have any chance at those combos.

As far as characters, I think I'm gonna refrain from practicing Captain Falcon for a while, as I don't think he fits my play style that well. Falco, Jigglypuff, Mario, and Marth are more my style, so I'm gonna try to train each of them a bit, but mostly focusing on Falco. I'd say his wavedash is easily harder than fox's because there's a slight delay as he crouches before pouncing into the air. The goal for the afternoon is to work on consecutive wavedashing with Falco a while and eventually try to pull into waveshining.

Knee-wise, things are regressing. Yesterday I moved on from 1 set of 20 squats to 2 sets of 16, and things seemed to be ok. This morning, however, I woke and my right knee did not feel great. It was ok to walk on but even slight bending returned the dull pain that I had before p.t. During my break at work I rubbed my knees as I usually do (to increase blood exchange), but that made walking HURT. I spent about an hour and a half trying not to move much and not bending my right knee at all before I finally gave up at 11 and asked if I could go home. Since then I've been icing it and I don't plan on using it at all today. Reading and smash then, I guess.

A little bit of frustration setting in.

Spontaneous Spaz · Post by **Spontaneous Spaz** » 31 Jul 2006 19:00

sorry about ur knee dude! sux... can't play footbag.. can't walk... or much of any movement, too bad

try to feel better and get back out there a.s.a.p! we'll be counting on you... us being the world.. yeh..

as for smash...
a few key notes to know about falco to help you succeed w/ him...
-if you can, recover using his right/left B cuz it goes just a tiny bit farther than his up B
-use his down B while recovering before you jump to slow your fall back
-his down tilt does auto kill when the opponent if above 140 (for all characters), it goes lower for lighter characters
-some characters you can't do the falco bomber to... its not ur fault, they are just too light.
-use his up tilt for juggling combos (champ combo: running A > UP TILT > UAIR or BAIR or... w/e u want it to be)
-his down throw is also a meteor smash
-his right/left B is a meteor smash
-his dair is a spike, not meteor
-he is one of the heaviest players (fast falling)... try not to get into throw grabs as much as possible and R recover when you hit the ground to get out of the way
-his UP B does 14-17 dmg and also kills if above 140
-...um... on final destination board... if u are hanging on the edge, drop, move in to the center of the board, jump and you can do a double wall jump, then right B and recover... that's a fun little maneuver to do to freak out ur enemy, sometimes they try coming after you, in which case the right b will meteor them down to their death... or they'll hit u and u'll die... whichever
-his shorthop is key to movement being that he doesn't run too fast
- with wave dashes for ALL CHARACTERS!!!! : find the angle in which the joystick must be put, and keep it there, then do the jump>air dodge (wave dash), with that one angle, don't change it, u can chain wave dashes... i know, i abuse the wave dash w/ ice climbers, it's their main source of movement, cuz they slide so much...

that's all for now

adios