Not wanting to join hacky circle?

[Faco]

Here is what happened to me the other day.

I was shredding at the sport-climbing contest in our town. There was music, people and cool atmosphere. I knew that climbers (funny word) play hacky for warming up.
So I played guiltless, nothing special..and I noticed that two guys came next to me and started kicking the Guatemalan. I approached and showed them my Ilja, did a few tricks and wanted to be friendly. But they said:"Come on, man...you are taking away the fun, you are too good."

So I just smiled and moved away. They continued to kick and I continued to shred. We were few meters apart.
I was thinking what if I join them and kick around that bag, do a few delays (MAYBE even a dexterity) and try to motivate them. But I decided to "screw them" and played for myself.

Did that ever happen to you? Did you also decide not to kick in a circle (because you were already warmed up for shred)?

Should I feel bad?

[janis]

In the end this all comes down to motivation for playing. Many people see circle kicking as a social activity and are happy to play for that reason alone. I view circle kicking as an opportunity to meet new people and make friends, this way I have meet 100s of people who circle kick. It is important to not be intimidating (even if you think that you aren't others might) when introducing people to freestyle, because the nature of freestyle "shred" is intense to the un-initiated. Perhaps suggest people have a look at some videos on the internet in their own time, if they are interested that will probably be the time.

To answer your question:

Did that ever happen to you? Did you also decide not to kick in a circle (because you were already warmed up for shred)?

Yes in the early days, but I realised later on that it was a missed opportunity and regreted the fact that my ego got in the way.

[Oroza]

theirs a "how to introduce freestyle to a group" somewhere that makes some good points.

guitless is too much for some people, who just wanna kick it around, they dont want to stand there watching some dude bust insane tricks.
when I and my friends join a kick circle we just kick, maybe some flyers and a short tiltless, but we usually dont even stall it, unless others do some stalls, THEN we show them some of the possibilities of freestyle, but in general TONE IT DOWN.

just be aware that a freestyle circle is way different than a kick circle. freestyle circles are all about how long you can string until your done or drop. kick circles are about keeping the bag up and passing

people in a circle will either ask you or just pass it to you often, if they wanna see you bust more tricks

[shredzilla]

It sounds like they didn't want you in the circle based on the "Come on, man...you are taking away the fun, you are too good." comment.

I used to find hack circles ALL the time before I started freestyling. Now that I freestyle, I'm hard pressed to find one. It's kinda bizarre really. Anyway, whenever I DO find one, or a hacker comes up and tries to kick with me, they often do get very intimidated or put off by all the tricks. Some aren't though, so it's worth it to expose the sport to those that can handle it.

[Slowsis]

I will not shred and instead show a skill level just a little higher than the best other kicker.

Then you are cool, but not too good to play in their circle!

[Faco]

Meh..I dont know. You think that a good basketball player will lower he's skillz when playing with noobs? Why would he? Aren't we just as good as he is?

Yeah, I know..we are small..we are unknown..we are in a stage of development..
But shouldn't we really start to distinguish footbag from hackysack? Don't you think it's time?

[janis]

Meh..I dont know. You think that a good basketball player will lower he's skillz when playing with noobs? Why would he? Aren't we just as good as he is?

Basketball is a competitive game by its nature whilst circle kicking isn't, though I agree about distinguishing footbag from hackysack, just try to do it in a nice way

[Faco]

Basketball is a competitive game by its nature whilst circle kicking isn't...

But footbag is. And I play footbag. You see where I'm getting with this?

I am nice to circle kickers, this happened to me for the first time

[janis]

But footbag is. And I play footbag. You see where I'm getting with this?

But the circle kickers probably haven't heard of footbag, and probably aren't looking at it the same way as you. Don't get me wrong here, I'm not trying to attack you about this, it's good that you were friendly and approached the circle kickers.

[james_dean]

I don't think you should feel bad at all, you are under no obligation to advertise the sport. You're warmed up and pumped to shred? Go for it. I've never in my life entered a circle of unknowns and shown them freestyle, I've hardly even been in a non-freestyle circle since I started. Mostly because I'm not around circles at all, but honestly, I probably wouldn't much even if I was.

Re: Distinguishing freestyle... if you are out to advertise, I think it's not such a great idea. Straight out, people are intimidated by it. They will find out soon enough what the possibilities are, but first show them that you can teach them to hit mirage, that they can do it.

[cd]

Freestyle shouldn't be pushed onto a hack circle. Nobody wants to see someone come up to their circle so that every time you get the bag, you jump around and do tricks until you drop it.

Use some social skills. Very good players can use their abilities to make the circle more fun for everyone, not spread the 'gospel' of footbag and generally being a bummer. Use cool passes and make good saves to keep the bag up longer; they probably won't be able to get a full hack without you.

If they seem interested you should definitely mention that it's a sport and do a torque or something to show off a little, but don't kill the fun for the other participants. Hacking is vastly superior to footbag in a number of ways. Most people don't give a damn if you can do a Fairy Swirlygig Flipper Beesauce. But if you do ATW>Clipper>Pendulum pass, some of them might want to try tricks too.

[mc]

When the theme of a circle is friendly passing, I tend to respect that and play along, with the occasional leggy superjester and ducking inside kick.

When I'm freestyling with new club members at school, I wear baggy shorts and lavers (my un-preferred freestyle shoe) and go easy.

It's too bad that people are intimidated so easily, but you have to keep it in mind and account for it if you want people to join you in playing and possibly become interested in freestyle.

I also do full-on freestyle in public alot, so people see that, too. I just don't try to push it on a social setting that isn't really inclined towards it.

[Shredfish]

But they said:"Come on, man...you are taking away the fun, you are too good."

That's like telling a track runner "Come on, man...you are taking away the fun, you are running to fast."

How dare you be good at footbag....

[JoshMan01]

two tricks (tiltless, fearless... whatever) > pass

At least that's what I always do. It's fun for you and keeps it a group thing. Just try to go straight into your tricks and straight into the pass afterwards so you don't hold the bag too long. Don't drop it either.

[The Actual Sized E]

But they said:"Come on, man...you are taking away the fun, you are too good."

That's like telling a track runner "Come on, man...you are taking away the fun, you are running to fast."

How dare you be good at footbag....

I think a better analogy would be Ted Martin jumping into a freestyle circle and doing 63,326 consecutive kicks, and the shredders saying "Come on, man...you are taking away the fun, you are too good at kicking."

As impressive as 63,326 consecutive kicks is, in terms of freestyle, it sucks, and doesn't belong in a freestyle circle. If I were a hacker, in a hack circle, I would feel the freestyler jumping into the circle to be taking away all the fun not because he's too good at freestlye, but because he's sucking so much at hacking. Not all hack circles exist simply because the hackers have yet to discover freestyle, some people like to hack , and if you're trying to get full hacks it really sucks whenever it gets to that one guy and he toe stalls it, or does a string until he drops. There's a chicago freestyler who's notorious for jumping into hack circles and freestyling hard. Most hackers are usually amazed and think it's cool, but when the bag gets to them they don't want to kick it or just try and pass it to him, essentially becoming spectators instead of players. I usually just leave the circle the second he jumps in, I don't stand in circles to watch. Anyway, like what a lot of people are saying its all about respecting the circle you're jumping in.

[Tsiangkun]

But they said:"Come on, man...you are taking away the fun, you are too good."

That's like telling a track runner "Come on, man...you are taking away the fun, you are running to fast."

Uh no.

The hack circle is not what you think it is. You would be in the wrong for mistaking it as a place to freestyle. Period.

It is the exact same thing as when people mistake the freestyle circle for a hack circle.

So to continue your track example. It's like somebody acting like the know what going on, and then getting pissed off because they don't get any respect for their pole vaulting skills when everyone else is doing the high jump.

[Faco]

So instead of destroying the hack circle, it is better to just back off and freestyle.
Those two guys already saw freestyle before. They knew what it was about and still decided not to try it. They had fun kicing the bag. So why would I still want to join them? It is not my obligation, right? And like I said, I was well warmed up and ready to shred.

I wouldn't like it if I was throwing some apples in the air and a good juggler would come to me and start some basic juggling (or even lower himself to throwing apples in the air). I would take it as an insult of some sort

[Tsiangkun]

i think you did the right thing.

[Iron Clad Ben]

two tricks (tiltless, fearless... whatever) > pass

Yeah I'm a fan of 2 tricks and pass too. Has everyone forgotten this:?

http://www.flipsider.com/know/advice/recruit.php

[Wasabi]

Simple stalls, a few tricks, pass. Be very sociable and talk to everyone in a friendly manner. Hack circles are definitely in a whole different league than when freestyle is concerned, so it must be enacted and handled much differently. Everyone in a hack circle wants to get a turn at the bag, animosity is prime, and simple hack rules are king in these circles. Trying to incorporate pure freestyle into a hack circle really does demeanor the quality of the circle and the interest of other kickers.

However, if someone asks, in command, if you can hit any hard tricks, it is toward your interest and your opportunity to show a small essence of what freestyle is about. Once you drop or end a small string (Bop, Rubberman, etc.) it's only fitting to pass.

I think what you did was right. If you were pumped to shred, don't force it on others who aren't interested. Let them come to you and kick with you. If you want to kick with people that have little to no experience about freestyle, don't force them with your knowledge in footbag and lower your playing level.