Nice shred in the Ramin Room with Pascal yesterday. I’ve got a group project due on Tuesday, so I knew that I had to jump at the chance to play footbag while I could. If I can get to the point where I play every other day, or three times a week, I think that will really help my stamina and game improve.
The first ten minutes of a session are always very exciting to me, because before a session you’re never quite sure what sort of things you’ll hit. The first 10 minutes often give you a pretty good idea of what’s promising and what isn’t. I started out looking at nuke and furious sets, and they didn’t feel “on,â€
Fanzine
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Senor Grommet
- Post Master General
- Posts: 3394
- Joined: 18 Oct 2002 20:25
- Location: Greater Santa Cruz, CA
I finally signed up for that iso.ro, and played a game. I kinda don't like the interface, but I'd like to play against footbaggers. That said, time is very very scarce these days. There's only like a month left of classes, which means I'm getting pummelled by midterms, papers and projects... while simultaneously trying to get summer internships. All told, it's a very stressful time.
Yesterday we had a footbag meeting at the Ramin Room. Nick, Luis, Pascal and I were there, so we got to play 4square which really was a treat. 4square at the Ramin room means we play in a hallway, so ceilings and wallbounces are fair game. We had 2 really fun games to kick of the meeting, and then we turned to shred.
I was really hoping the shred would help me out mentally, but it turned out to be a tough session for the mental game. We filmed the shred, which normally gets me pumped up, but everybody was distracted by watching other sports teams train. It kinda bugged me that my own footbag club would rather watch the hockey team do sit-ups than watch each other shred and give props.
That combined with my mental fatigue from intern apps led to a rough session for me.
Despite my mental game, I still managed to hit 3 or 4 strings that felt very strong. I hit a few tricks/links that I've had in my blog recently, but I don't want to list any of them until I edit together a video (partially to check they were all clean, but also to keep it as more of a surprise). I think the plan will be to film 1-2 more sessions, and depending how good those go, make a video from all 3. I think that will help vary the backgrounds, angles, and shred variety. I'm gonna try and shred on Friday and Sunday, so depending on how everything else goes (tests, etc) I'll try and put out a video in the next week.
Yesterday we had a footbag meeting at the Ramin Room. Nick, Luis, Pascal and I were there, so we got to play 4square which really was a treat. 4square at the Ramin room means we play in a hallway, so ceilings and wallbounces are fair game. We had 2 really fun games to kick of the meeting, and then we turned to shred.
I was really hoping the shred would help me out mentally, but it turned out to be a tough session for the mental game. We filmed the shred, which normally gets me pumped up, but everybody was distracted by watching other sports teams train. It kinda bugged me that my own footbag club would rather watch the hockey team do sit-ups than watch each other shred and give props.
That combined with my mental fatigue from intern apps led to a rough session for me. Despite my mental game, I still managed to hit 3 or 4 strings that felt very strong. I hit a few tricks/links that I've had in my blog recently, but I don't want to list any of them until I edit together a video (partially to check they were all clean, but also to keep it as more of a surprise). I think the plan will be to film 1-2 more sessions, and depending how good those go, make a video from all 3. I think that will help vary the backgrounds, angles, and shred variety. I'm gonna try and shred on Friday and Sunday, so depending on how everything else goes (tests, etc) I'll try and put out a video in the next week.
As part of my internship application process, I've had to write several essays about experiences that I've had, in order to illustrate to potential employers that I have various desirable qualities (leadership, dedication, quick-thinking, etc). In one essay I tried to describe how I went about building the Japanese footbag scene, but just last night I came across a quote by Antoine de Saint Exupery (the guy who wrote The Little Prince), which I think summed up the whole experience very well:
"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea."
-Antoine de Saint-Exupery
I really think that says it all; if you want footbag to become popular, you have to make other people love it as much as you do. Once that happens, you'll have no problem throwing a tourney or getting people to offer prizes/crash space etc.
"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea."
-Antoine de Saint-Exupery
I really think that says it all; if you want footbag to become popular, you have to make other people love it as much as you do. Once that happens, you'll have no problem throwing a tourney or getting people to offer prizes/crash space etc.
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CIC flurry
- Amazingly Sexy Man-Beast
- Posts: 3426
- Joined: 28 May 2003 16:06
- Location: Chicago
Last week Friday couldn’t come soon enough. Not just for the temporary reprieve from classes, homework and projects, but for the chance to play some footbag. I’m definitely grateful for the fact that I’m healthy and playing well these days.
We played in the Noyes center, which isn’t as good a venue for 4square as the Ramin, but is more conveniently located for a lot of club members. Possibly because of this, we had 5 people at the meeting, which meant our 4square games were even better than normal. 5 people really gives you more incentive not to get out, and it also spreads out the points so that games last longer. We played two very competitive games before switching over to freestyle.
Shred felt very good. For some reason, the game just felt slower to me, and during combos I felt relaxed and in control. It was like the game was coming to me, and I didn’t have to force anything. I think the lack of a camera and the bigger circle size both encouraged me to go for longer, easier strings, which turned out to be a lot of fun. We reserved a camera for tomorrow’s shred, so we’ll see how much that really affects my game. When the circle was 4 or 5 strong, I didn’t really hit many notable highlights, but I threw some long, creative strings I was happy with. Later, everybody except Luis left, at which point I pushed myself a little bit harder.
A few highlights:
*reverse swirl x3. Is this my record?
*barfly x13. They all felt very deep and energy-efficient. Easily a new record for me.
But I think my biggest highlight of the session was finally playing out of predator with a trick other than butterfly:
*predator-atom-atom- [atom-leg-blur] repeat.
Flip atomic is definitely making progress. I’m also very pleased with how much more comfortable I’ve become with rubberman. That drill used to be so hard for me, and I could only hit it starting from one blur, but now I can spontaneously stick rubberman in the middle of combos starting from various tricks without too much difficulty.
Today is Easter, and although I can’t remember the exact date, I know that I kicked a hacky sack for my very first time the weekend of Easter 1996. So today is pretty much my eleventh anniversary of hacky sack. On July 28th of this year, it will be my 10th anniversary of freestyle. 10 years of footbag, and I’m still enjoying it as much as when I started. 10 years of footbag, and I’m still getting better, still hitting new tricks, still watching videos, still dreaming of combos in class, still throwing tournies, and still pushing myself. 10 years, and I still love footbag.
We played in the Noyes center, which isn’t as good a venue for 4square as the Ramin, but is more conveniently located for a lot of club members. Possibly because of this, we had 5 people at the meeting, which meant our 4square games were even better than normal. 5 people really gives you more incentive not to get out, and it also spreads out the points so that games last longer. We played two very competitive games before switching over to freestyle.
Shred felt very good. For some reason, the game just felt slower to me, and during combos I felt relaxed and in control. It was like the game was coming to me, and I didn’t have to force anything. I think the lack of a camera and the bigger circle size both encouraged me to go for longer, easier strings, which turned out to be a lot of fun. We reserved a camera for tomorrow’s shred, so we’ll see how much that really affects my game. When the circle was 4 or 5 strong, I didn’t really hit many notable highlights, but I threw some long, creative strings I was happy with. Later, everybody except Luis left, at which point I pushed myself a little bit harder.
A few highlights:
*reverse swirl x3. Is this my record?
*barfly x13. They all felt very deep and energy-efficient. Easily a new record for me.
But I think my biggest highlight of the session was finally playing out of predator with a trick other than butterfly:
*predator-atom-atom- [atom-leg-blur] repeat.
Flip atomic is definitely making progress. I’m also very pleased with how much more comfortable I’ve become with rubberman. That drill used to be so hard for me, and I could only hit it starting from one blur, but now I can spontaneously stick rubberman in the middle of combos starting from various tricks without too much difficulty.
Today is Easter, and although I can’t remember the exact date, I know that I kicked a hacky sack for my very first time the weekend of Easter 1996. So today is pretty much my eleventh anniversary of hacky sack. On July 28th of this year, it will be my 10th anniversary of freestyle. 10 years of footbag, and I’m still enjoying it as much as when I started. 10 years of footbag, and I’m still getting better, still hitting new tricks, still watching videos, still dreaming of combos in class, still throwing tournies, and still pushing myself. 10 years, and I still love footbag.
Snow on Easter; welcome to Ithaca. At least it isn't sticking. Still, I'm not thrilled about having to wear long underwear again. 
Easter was poised to be a really good footbag session. Despite the cold, I was feeling healthy and ready to shred. We had a camera checked out, and the turnout was small (Luis, Pascal and myself). All these things had me feeling optimistic about getting some more good footage for a video. We hit the Ramin room and started warming up when some Ultimate Frisbee people invited us to play a game with them. The three of us exchanged glances, said "why not?" and ended up playing for probably a good hour. I hadn't played a game of ultimate in a looong time... I think back when I lived in tokyo, nearly 2 years ago. Since we played indoors nobody used cleats, which evened things out. Luis and I were on the same team, and Pascal and I guarded each other for the whole time. Its always fun and trippy to play non-footbag sports with footbag friends. At the end of the game we were all exhausted, but it was definitely fun.
Luis and Pascal still felt physically up to playing, but my right shin muscle felt a bit tweaked, so I couldn't do right leg toes or clippers without feeling some discomfort. I wisely decided not to push it, and refrained from playing at all. I think it was the right decision, because my leg feels fine today, and even had I pushed through the pain yesterday, I doubt my stamina would have been any good after playing ultimate. While I didn't play any serious freestyle, I did hit a few cute tricks using Peeps (easter marshmallow candy) on camera, which may appear on the video.
On the whole I don't regret that the session went from footbag to Ultimate. It was a rare opportunity, it was fun, nobody got injured, and we'll have plenty of chances to play footbag later.
The GRASS tourney at the end of the month sounds fun, but it comes right around the time I have a lot of papers and projects due. If I go, it would probably be for just Saturday, and even then I'm not sure if I'll have the time. I'm keeping my attendance prediction at 50% for now.
Easter was poised to be a really good footbag session. Despite the cold, I was feeling healthy and ready to shred. We had a camera checked out, and the turnout was small (Luis, Pascal and myself). All these things had me feeling optimistic about getting some more good footage for a video. We hit the Ramin room and started warming up when some Ultimate Frisbee people invited us to play a game with them. The three of us exchanged glances, said "why not?" and ended up playing for probably a good hour. I hadn't played a game of ultimate in a looong time... I think back when I lived in tokyo, nearly 2 years ago. Since we played indoors nobody used cleats, which evened things out. Luis and I were on the same team, and Pascal and I guarded each other for the whole time. Its always fun and trippy to play non-footbag sports with footbag friends. At the end of the game we were all exhausted, but it was definitely fun.
Luis and Pascal still felt physically up to playing, but my right shin muscle felt a bit tweaked, so I couldn't do right leg toes or clippers without feeling some discomfort. I wisely decided not to push it, and refrained from playing at all. I think it was the right decision, because my leg feels fine today, and even had I pushed through the pain yesterday, I doubt my stamina would have been any good after playing ultimate. While I didn't play any serious freestyle, I did hit a few cute tricks using Peeps (easter marshmallow candy) on camera, which may appear on the video.
On the whole I don't regret that the session went from footbag to Ultimate. It was a rare opportunity, it was fun, nobody got injured, and we'll have plenty of chances to play footbag later.
The GRASS tourney at the end of the month sounds fun, but it comes right around the time I have a lot of papers and projects due. If I go, it would probably be for just Saturday, and even then I'm not sure if I'll have the time. I'm keeping my attendance prediction at 50% for now.
My last session was just Pascal and me, and started off well. We decided to warm up by playing some ping pong, and we had a couple good games before moving on to footbag. What? You left your shoes in the car? 
So instead of footbag, we played a game of pool, a super intense game of air hockey, and a bit more ping pong. The plan is to one day have a tournament in the rec room where we play a game of each activity, and the overall winner gets crowned Master of the Universe.
Thankfully, today we DID manage to have a session. Nick, Pascal and me. I brought a camera and was supposed to meet up with Luis to get a new tape, but he totally flaked on me. We ended up taping like 20 minutes on our old tape, but I felt very pressured to hit for the camera in a limited time, and it wasn't very fun. That said, we got 1-2 good runs from me, a good combo, and a good trick, and it's a new background. So if next shred we have a clean tape, good shred, a new background, and some handheld footage, we should have enough good material to make a decent vid. Today's session was tripod again.
Despite only having 3 people, we played a fun foursquare variant, based on some stuff I read in Zeke's blog. The basic idea was that everybody had 7 lives, and each time it landed in your area or your screwed up (missed kill, etc), you lost a life. Last man standing wins. It worked out well and was a lot of fun. In a way it forces you to take more responsibility for your mistakes than in 4 square, but it also entails less strategy.
GRASS is coming up soon, and so are a ton of papers and projects. I'm having serious doubts about whether I can get all my work done AND go to GRASS.
So instead of footbag, we played a game of pool, a super intense game of air hockey, and a bit more ping pong. The plan is to one day have a tournament in the rec room where we play a game of each activity, and the overall winner gets crowned Master of the Universe.Thankfully, today we DID manage to have a session. Nick, Pascal and me. I brought a camera and was supposed to meet up with Luis to get a new tape, but he totally flaked on me. We ended up taping like 20 minutes on our old tape, but I felt very pressured to hit for the camera in a limited time, and it wasn't very fun. That said, we got 1-2 good runs from me, a good combo, and a good trick, and it's a new background. So if next shred we have a clean tape, good shred, a new background, and some handheld footage, we should have enough good material to make a decent vid. Today's session was tripod again.
Despite only having 3 people, we played a fun foursquare variant, based on some stuff I read in Zeke's blog. The basic idea was that everybody had 7 lives, and each time it landed in your area or your screwed up (missed kill, etc), you lost a life. Last man standing wins. It worked out well and was a lot of fun. In a way it forces you to take more responsibility for your mistakes than in 4 square, but it also entails less strategy.
GRASS is coming up soon, and so are a ton of papers and projects. I'm having serious doubts about whether I can get all my work done AND go to GRASS.
Just learned today that my 2 best Japanese footbag friends aren't going to worlds. Given that I still don't have a summer internship set up, I don't know if I'd even be able to make it to Worlds, but the fact that Takumi and Kim aren't going seriously decreases my desire to go. Half the point of Worlds for me is seeing all my old friends for a week. Sad. 
Today I captured all the footage we have so far, in the hopes of making a video in the coming weeks. The results could hardly have been more disappointing:
*something was wrong with the camera when we shot the Peeps footage, so all of that is unusable. I may try and hit some of that stuff again, but hitting 5 add tricks with Peeps is really hard. There was one combo I did in conjunction with Pascal which may be impossible to replicate
*the footage from one session is really dark, and I happened to be wearing black shorts and a dark green shirt, so I should really toss that footage. That really sucks, because that was some of the best footage shred-wise.
*Because we were forced to tape over part of the tape during our last session, we accidentally taped over some of the best tricks, and at least one good string from the previous session. Now that I've captured the footage, we have at least one clean tape.
I'm gonna try and stay positive about things, and re-shoot all the highlights today. I know I should be able to get a few.
Hey Luis, where are you? It's been 3 days since anybody has talked to you on the phone? Are you OK?
*something was wrong with the camera when we shot the Peeps footage, so all of that is unusable. I may try and hit some of that stuff again, but hitting 5 add tricks with Peeps is really hard. There was one combo I did in conjunction with Pascal which may be impossible to replicate
*the footage from one session is really dark, and I happened to be wearing black shorts and a dark green shirt, so I should really toss that footage. That really sucks, because that was some of the best footage shred-wise.
*Because we were forced to tape over part of the tape during our last session, we accidentally taped over some of the best tricks, and at least one good string from the previous session. Now that I've captured the footage, we have at least one clean tape.
I'm gonna try and stay positive about things, and re-shoot all the highlights today. I know I should be able to get a few.
Hey Luis, where are you? It's been 3 days since anybody has talked to you on the phone? Are you OK?
Capturing footage yesterday initially got me a little down; I started doubting whether we’d be able to overcome the bad luck and technical difficulties of the project and be able to make a video. Happily, things started getting better almost immediately. Luis got in touch with us and brought us a clean tape. The weather was good enough for us to do an outdoor establishing shot for the video, and since it was only me and Pascal, we were able to do a lot of other shooting for the vid. I haven’t captured the new footage yet, so I don’t want to get my hopes up too high, but yesterday definitely felt productive. I was able to hit a lot of tricks and combos over again (including some of the Peeps tricks), along with some new stuff. I would have liked to have gotten more hand-held footage, but that’s a relatively minor complaint. This time around I also played in a white t-shirt and white shorts in an effort to make the bag more visible throughout, and we played in a better-lit room.
I’m definitely excited about making a video. I’ve been playing footbag for 10 years, and there’s surprisingly little footage of me out there. When I retire, I want to be able to have a few videos of me that I can watch and reminisce about. I’ve got Sick 03, but that’s a bit outdated (I feel like I’m playing at a higher level now), and I made a video last semester, but that was kind of thrown together (all tripod footage, all from a single session). If I can make one or two well-edited solo shred videos of myself in the next couple semesters, I’ll feel like I can retire with some video-souvenirs I’m proud of. Hopefully I can share the results with you all soon.
I’m definitely excited about making a video. I’ve been playing footbag for 10 years, and there’s surprisingly little footage of me out there. When I retire, I want to be able to have a few videos of me that I can watch and reminisce about. I’ve got Sick 03, but that’s a bit outdated (I feel like I’m playing at a higher level now), and I made a video last semester, but that was kind of thrown together (all tripod footage, all from a single session). If I can make one or two well-edited solo shred videos of myself in the next couple semesters, I’ll feel like I can retire with some video-souvenirs I’m proud of. Hopefully I can share the results with you all soon.
I just tried to capture yesterday's footage, and it looks like we borrowed the same camera we used for the original Peeps footage. What does this mean? It means that none of yesterday's footage is usable. For those of you keeping score at home, we've filmed 4 sessions with the following results:
Session #1: bad camera, un-capturable footage.
Session#2: good camera, good footage. BUT, we were forced to tape over most of this, because Luis never showed up with a clean tape.
Session#3: dark location, bad lighting, good camera. Footage is captured, but too dark to use.
Session#4: Great footage, great lighting, bad camera, unusable.
There is an outside chance we can save yesterday's footage, if we can borrow a camera from school with a working DV out port, and that is capable of capturing the footage. We have this weird problem where the footage played on the camera itself without any problem (so it filmed properly), but it won't play properly in the capturing deck at school.
I have trouble expressing how incredibly frustrating and demoralizing this whole situation is. I just want to make a simple fucking footbag video. Why does my school even lend out cameras which don't work in the first place? I feel like I've wasted several days, which is time that I can't afford anyway. Fuck.
Session #1: bad camera, un-capturable footage.
Session#2: good camera, good footage. BUT, we were forced to tape over most of this, because Luis never showed up with a clean tape.
Session#3: dark location, bad lighting, good camera. Footage is captured, but too dark to use.
Session#4: Great footage, great lighting, bad camera, unusable.
There is an outside chance we can save yesterday's footage, if we can borrow a camera from school with a working DV out port, and that is capable of capturing the footage. We have this weird problem where the footage played on the camera itself without any problem (so it filmed properly), but it won't play properly in the capturing deck at school.
I have trouble expressing how incredibly frustrating and demoralizing this whole situation is. I just want to make a simple fucking footbag video. Why does my school even lend out cameras which don't work in the first place? I feel like I've wasted several days, which is time that I can't afford anyway. Fuck.
Hm, that could be a possibility for sure. I decided over the weekend that I won't go to GRASS, but maybe in mid-May I could do a small roadtrip to PSU to play.
Footbag club yesterday cheered me up a little after learning of the bad video news. We played some freestyle, but I had the most fun playing foursquare and basketball.
My head wasn't really into shred, cause my mind was still on the video situation. That said, I was pleasantly surprised to get:
*barfly swirl both sides
*paradon swirl bsos off the foot
*my most promising look yet at blurriest swirl.
We played 4square in the halls of Ramin, which meant that walls were legal, and so was kicking it off of the pipes on the ceiling. We always have epic games there.
The ramin room itself wasn't available, so we played on the basketball courts. This predictably led to us (Nick, Pascal, Luis and me) playing a game of 2-on-2. I hadn't played a game of basketball with footbaggers since the Santa Cruz Invitational, so I had a lot of fun. Luis and I won, with Luis hitting the game winner off my drive-and-dish. Good times.
Pascal, Nick and I also had a free throw shooting contest which was really tense and fun. I clinched the win on the 9th shot, but it was closer than I'd have liked.
Today is April 16th, 2007. So why the f*&% is it snowing outside! I'm wearing snowboots, snowpants, long underwear, long sleeved shirt, t-shirt, hoodie, winter jacket, and a scarf. 3-5 inch accumulation on the ground. Stupid Ithaca.
Footbag club yesterday cheered me up a little after learning of the bad video news. We played some freestyle, but I had the most fun playing foursquare and basketball.
My head wasn't really into shred, cause my mind was still on the video situation. That said, I was pleasantly surprised to get:
*barfly swirl both sides
*paradon swirl bsos off the foot
*my most promising look yet at blurriest swirl.
We played 4square in the halls of Ramin, which meant that walls were legal, and so was kicking it off of the pipes on the ceiling. We always have epic games there.
The ramin room itself wasn't available, so we played on the basketball courts. This predictably led to us (Nick, Pascal, Luis and me) playing a game of 2-on-2. I hadn't played a game of basketball with footbaggers since the Santa Cruz Invitational, so I had a lot of fun. Luis and I won, with Luis hitting the game winner off my drive-and-dish. Good times.
Pascal, Nick and I also had a free throw shooting contest which was really tense and fun. I clinched the win on the 9th shot, but it was closer than I'd have liked.
Today is April 16th, 2007. So why the f*&% is it snowing outside!
I'm wearing snowboots, snowpants, long underwear, long sleeved shirt, t-shirt, hoodie, winter jacket, and a scarf. 3-5 inch accumulation on the ground. Stupid Ithaca.
It was snowing here too! Don't chya worry. We had a SNOWSTORM on Sunday night that lasted through monday, cept that it turned to hail, than ice rain and it was windy as hell and just plain miserable. It's still miserable.
When are we gonna be able to shred outside??
Apparently it's gonna hit 20 Celcius by Saturday but I'm so used to this weather I won't know what to do.
Sucks that you can't come to GRASS
Next time then!
When are we gonna be able to shred outside??
Apparently it's gonna hit 20 Celcius by Saturday but I'm so used to this weather I won't know what to do.
Sucks that you can't come to GRASS
Next time then!
James McCullough
Took a prelim yesterday and did a lot of work, so I decided to play footbag in the evening to blow off steam. 4th day in a row playing, and I'm gonna shoot for 5 today.
Two man session with Pascal went well. My legs were a bit sore, but I played through it and made a point not to sit down during the session. I felt I was able to play through the tired legs, which should help me improve my stamina.
The shred itself didn't yield many real highlights, but I remember throwing a lot of long strings, which I think is better for my game. Playing in public usually motivates me to go longer, so I was glad to play in the Noyes. The biggest highlight of the session came during the cool-down period, but I'll get to that in a minute.
Highlights:
*my best barfly swirl ever, and first try to boot!
*leg-blur-tripwalk-blizzard-dimwalk-blizz-trip-blur-leg-pdlo-dimwalk-pdx whirl. I can't remember what my tripless record is... I think somewhere in the 20s. 30 unique tripless might be a good goal to try for soon.
*osis-vortex. Only my second time ever hitting zoom style vortex.
Since it was snowing outside, I felt it was particularly important to cool down after the session, so I wouldn't catch cold walking to the car. I took off my shoes and stretched for a bit, and on a whim I decided to try a few tricks barefoot (in socks really). I hit pig-smog very easily, and found that fun enough that I continued playing around. I hit a bunch of DATWs (i-o) in a row, which prompted Pascal to suggest I try TATW.
1st try: surprisingly close
2nd try: way waaaay off.
3rd try: very encouraging
4th try: not even close
5th try: I hit it!!! 
I was so completely surprised by this, that I just flipped out. Pascal saw it too and we were so pumped up that we missed our high fives really badly. Triple Around the World!!! The goal now is of course to try and hit it in shoes, but I'm still very happy that I've hit it barefoot. Before yesterday, I really didn't understand what dexes were midtime, which were downtime, or how to think about the trick. Should I do a pixie set and meld it with a DATW? Should I start the trick the way I do enterrage but throw in the last pick up? I really didn't know. But now that I've hit it barefoot, I have a much clearer idea on how to mentally approach the trick. I think that Ales' advice about thinking of it as 3 rhythmic beats definitely applies. I'm going to try and hit it barefoot a few more times, and then try it with shoes.
2007 has been a rough year in a lot of ways, but footbag-wise I've been pretty happy with it. I've already hit 3 major milestones so far (10 unique fearless, atomic WHAT?!?, TATW), which is pretty good for somebody who's been playing for 10 years.
Two man session with Pascal went well. My legs were a bit sore, but I played through it and made a point not to sit down during the session. I felt I was able to play through the tired legs, which should help me improve my stamina.
The shred itself didn't yield many real highlights, but I remember throwing a lot of long strings, which I think is better for my game. Playing in public usually motivates me to go longer, so I was glad to play in the Noyes. The biggest highlight of the session came during the cool-down period, but I'll get to that in a minute.
Highlights:
*my best barfly swirl ever, and first try to boot!
*leg-blur-tripwalk-blizzard-dimwalk-blizz-trip-blur-leg-pdlo-dimwalk-pdx whirl. I can't remember what my tripless record is... I think somewhere in the 20s. 30 unique tripless might be a good goal to try for soon.
*osis-vortex. Only my second time ever hitting zoom style vortex.
Since it was snowing outside, I felt it was particularly important to cool down after the session, so I wouldn't catch cold walking to the car. I took off my shoes and stretched for a bit, and on a whim I decided to try a few tricks barefoot (in socks really). I hit pig-smog very easily, and found that fun enough that I continued playing around. I hit a bunch of DATWs (i-o) in a row, which prompted Pascal to suggest I try TATW.
1st try: surprisingly close
2nd try: way waaaay off.
3rd try: very encouraging
4th try: not even close
5th try: I hit it!!!
I was so completely surprised by this, that I just flipped out. Pascal saw it too and we were so pumped up that we missed our high fives really badly. Triple Around the World!!! The goal now is of course to try and hit it in shoes, but I'm still very happy that I've hit it barefoot. Before yesterday, I really didn't understand what dexes were midtime, which were downtime, or how to think about the trick. Should I do a pixie set and meld it with a DATW? Should I start the trick the way I do enterrage but throw in the last pick up? I really didn't know. But now that I've hit it barefoot, I have a much clearer idea on how to mentally approach the trick. I think that Ales' advice about thinking of it as 3 rhythmic beats definitely applies. I'm going to try and hit it barefoot a few more times, and then try it with shoes.
2007 has been a rough year in a lot of ways, but footbag-wise I've been pretty happy with it. I've already hit 3 major milestones so far (10 unique fearless, atomic WHAT?!?, TATW), which is pretty good for somebody who's been playing for 10 years.
On Monday we had a blizzard which dumped at least 8 inches of snow on us. It's Friday now, and people are walking around in shorts and t-shirt. Pascal and I took advantage of the crazy weather and shot some more footage. I think that new backgrounds+handheld footage will add some good variety. I don't think this video is going to be super-hardcore in terms of shred, but we've got some funny stuff and some nice shots, so I have high hopes it will come out well.
Oh yeah, we also played on Wednesday, which meant that Pascal and I played 5 consecutive days of footbag, which is pretty good. I think we'll get in a club meeting later today too. If things continue going well, expect a video sometime next week.
Oh yeah, we also played on Wednesday, which meant that Pascal and I played 5 consecutive days of footbag, which is pretty good. I think we'll get in a club meeting later today too. If things continue going well, expect a video sometime next week.
Ridiculous Ithaca weather continued, as this weekend it was beautiful and in the 70s both days. Campus was swarming with people throwing Frisbees and footballs, and girls lounging about in bikinis. In case anybody has forgotten, it was snowing a week ago. Absolutely nuts.
The day started off well, as we unexpectedly were able to take out a camera. Given the beautiful weather, I was real excited to hit some combos on film. The warm weather was deceptive though, as it made you feel like you were warmed up even if you weren’t. This led to me hurting my knee while trying fury not 5 minutes into the session. I don’t think I tore any ligaments, because I would have been in more pain and I doubt I’d be able to walk. That said, I hurt the knee bad enough that I sat out the rest of the session. The knee doesn’t really hurt when I do toe stalls, but when I bend my leg into the clipper position something doesn’t feel right. I think the best bet would be to rest it for a week, and then come back slow (avoiding furious, nuclear, and whirls on that side). I was really hoping for a little footage from today just to add some visual/background variety to the video I’m making. Right now, the video is entirely comprised of footage from 2 sessions, but I’m pretty happy with it, so I’ll likely just release it this week and then make another video later.
I should be able to take a week off footbag thanks to the NBA playoffs. In a very weird twist, the team I’m rooting for in every series has won their Game 1, including the underdogs. That was really unexpected and unprecedented. Just for the record, my team for the last 3 years has been the Phoenix Suns, and I’m really hoping they win it all this year.
The day started off well, as we unexpectedly were able to take out a camera. Given the beautiful weather, I was real excited to hit some combos on film. The warm weather was deceptive though, as it made you feel like you were warmed up even if you weren’t. This led to me hurting my knee while trying fury not 5 minutes into the session. I don’t think I tore any ligaments, because I would have been in more pain and I doubt I’d be able to walk. That said, I hurt the knee bad enough that I sat out the rest of the session. The knee doesn’t really hurt when I do toe stalls, but when I bend my leg into the clipper position something doesn’t feel right. I think the best bet would be to rest it for a week, and then come back slow (avoiding furious, nuclear, and whirls on that side). I was really hoping for a little footage from today just to add some visual/background variety to the video I’m making. Right now, the video is entirely comprised of footage from 2 sessions, but I’m pretty happy with it, so I’ll likely just release it this week and then make another video later.
I should be able to take a week off footbag thanks to the NBA playoffs. In a very weird twist, the team I’m rooting for in every series has won their Game 1, including the underdogs. That was really unexpected and unprecedented. Just for the record, my team for the last 3 years has been the Phoenix Suns, and I’m really hoping they win it all this year.