Thanks for the cool photo Zach. Man, CSS feels like it was years ago.
Last night's Footbag club meeting went really really well. We had a turnout of 7 players (not bad for the week before prelim exams): Bill, Andy, Nick, Pascal, Brett, Luis, and me. We kicked off the session with a foursquare game, then worked on teaching tricks and shredding. OUr 4square skill levels are still varied, so I find myself playing against some people really hard (Pascal and Brett) and playing more easily against others. This sometimes has bad consequences, as I'll focus so much on getting Brett out, that I end up racking up a ton of points for whoever is serving.
The club members continue to make good progress. Nick has obviously been skooling his toe stalls, and now does them with a rhythm, instead of pausing after each one. Seems minor, but I really believe its key to learn toe stalls 100% perfectly, since everything else builds from there. Andy hit a couple nice clippers, and even a fairy set. We really need to get him Lavers, since he has the natural flexibility to get real good if he wants to. His legs and way of moving them remind me of Nick Landes. Brett continues to impress me. All 4 ATWs look more consistent, and he's also starting to get clipper on one side. He also hit 6 legovers in a row on two separate occasions.
I tried to divide my time 60-40 between shredding and teaching, and probably ended up more on the 70ish-30ish side. I feel my touch is returning a bit. I got Pascal to count my contacts on each run, which was a good reality check (my runs aren't as long as I thought/hoped), and motivated me to try a bit harder. I think if I continue to get 3 sessions a week in, I should be in good shape for the Nov 10-12 weekend, when we host a tourney. The biggest personal shred highlight of the session was a 16 contact string, that began with: fog-atom smasher-legbeater... repeat!
Whoo! Fog rubberman sealed with 10 more tricks! It wasn't my first time (I'd hit it in Tokyo this summer), but I wanted to hit it again, and I was getting so close in recent sessions that it was starting to bug me.
After shred, we played some more 4square, then decided to go home. When Pascal dropped off Brett, we noticed how many people were swarming about the freshmen dorms at 11:30 at night, so I half-jokingly proposed: "How about some foursquare?" To my happy surprise, my club is hard-core. We hopped out the car and played under the streetlight, in the cold. I played in long pants and long-sleeved shirt, but everybody else was in shorts and t-shirts and played legit. We got a lot of interest, and a few new emails to add to our list. One guy, Evan, played a full game of 4 square with us, won, and looks like he'll definitely come to a meeting. Sweet.
I'm real happy how the club is progressing. Extra props to Luis for being on point with the Presidential duties. We won't get funds this semester, but we are officially a school club, got webspace, get club priveleges, and have a good shot at funds next semester. Things are looking very good.
Crap timing for sure. I think the reason I'm so prone to injury in basketball, is that I'm still adjusting to how physically Americans play (compared to Japanese), and also due to my style of play (running off/setting lots of screens, penetrating and kicking out when the defense collapses, etc). For the sake of the footbag club, and for my ability to walk to classes, I think I will give up basketball for a while, or only play when it's with people who suck or are little.
