Yesterday I hooked up with my old friend Vince and we went to Des Plaines for the Midwest Footbag Net Championships. Played a few quick pick-up games with Vince and Bob, who is one of the other new players in the area. We played up to 5 points, winner stays on the court. Once I stepped in I won 2 games over both opponents. I left only to get a drink. Eventually they set up pro-am brackets. I was partnered up with Scott Hansen. I honestly don't remember the results but I did play my best when we faced the toughest team composed of 2 mid-ranked pros. Scott was doing a great job keeping us in the game defensively and setting me up for spikes which, unfortunately, I could not either connect with or keep inbounds. I did manage to get a couple sole pushes, a weak scuff, sunback, and a decent toe spike somewhere in there.
Played a few more pick-up games before leaving early with Vince. Needless to say, we missed Ted's (usually awesome) party. But I was still in a GREAT mood the whole rest of the day.
This morning, Reile was telling me how anxious and excited he was to play while we were driving out to the event. I explained how fun and laid back the atmosphere was. Despite the fact that it was a comp the pros were there mostly to help and guide the new players they were partnered with.
The day started with more pro-am brackets, or so I thought. I later found out that neither Reile, Bob or Vince were rotating in and i was the only intermediate playing at the time. To say that I made a respectable impression on people would be a huge stretch or maybe even an outright lie. Everyone I was partnered with was very encouraging and helpful through all my countless whiffs, shanks and other miscellaneous blunders.
Every post-game rehydrating session under the shady tree offered more encouraging words from the pros. It was also the time to recount any of the few highlights I may have had during the match. Throughout the day I made a handful of digs and scrambles for a few wild passes. Hit a sole push with some decent air but not much power though. Landed a scissor sweep which felt very fluid and had better power. Last but not least, a Sole push that blew past Steve Smith in the air as he charged the net to block/spike. Vince has forever frozen the moment in time as 5 mega pixels of digital awesomeness. Ted would later compare it to dunking on Michael Jordan
I must admit, it really did feel THAT good.On that note, an attempted roll spike that turned out to be more of a scissor kick brought one of Ted's perfect sets screaming into the ground just out of boundsMy new footbag idol, Senor Grommet wrote:Oh man, the rush from a great spike is just as good or better than landing some freestyle moves. I definitely see myself playing a lot of net in the future.
I brought it down with as much force and velocity as I could while my body was sideways awkwardly in the air. Ted said it had, "Serious Heat!" 
I tried another one later in the day just out of sheer frustration but whiffed badly 
So why is this in the CIC blog? Cuz Reile was converted to net too. Hopefully he can ad his highlights here as well. More in my blog tomorrow.
