I was checking my myspace one day, and I came up to this bulletin (at bottom). I don't really think much about the bulletin itself, but it kinda got me thinking, how do we compare to athletes of other sports? Is being a good soccer player a lot harder than being a good footbagger? There's obviously major differences, but I'm talking about smaller differences, like mindset and how we practice and stuff. Here's the bulletin, not that it really matters:
FOR ALL ATHLETES
People don't play sports because its fun. Ask any athlete, most of them hate it, but they couldn't imagine their life with out it. Its part of them, the love/hate relationship. its what they live for. They live for the practices, parties, cheers, long bus rides, invitationals, countless pairs of different types of shoes, water, Gatorade, & coaches you hate but appreciate. They live for the way it feels when they beat the other team, and knowing those two extra sprints they ran in practice were worth it. They live for the way they become a family with their team, they live for the countless songs they sing in their head while training all those hours. They live for the competition, they live for the friends, the practices, the memories, the pain, its who they are. It's who we are. WE ARE ATHLETES... if you are a true athlete repost this.
Athletes
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MisterGuillotine
- Circle Kicker
- Posts: 18
- Joined: 21 Jul 2007 07:37
- Location: Massachusetts
There is some merit to this, but I can't say I follow it 100%, [this is assuming myself as an Athlete...]FOR ALL ATHLETES
People don't play sports because its fun. Ask any athlete, most of them hate it, but they couldn't imagine their life with out it. Its part of them, the love/hate -blah blah blah- the pain, its who they are. It's who we are. WE ARE ATHLETES... if you are a true athlete repost this.
Sure not every session you have will be a mind blowing, ground breaking performance, but everyone I do have I end it having something positive to look at, which when I go to bed at night I will likely re-imagine, and it helps me to really WANT to play the next day. It is a slight love/hate relationship, because sometimes I wonder why I do play, but if I do not [just as you said] I just feel like crap, and need to play. There are teams in Footbag, but I don't think any one of us really live for competition. I haven't seen a footbagger yet that goes to a tournament and says "I want to beat ____, he is such an asshole; I hate him!" it is more of a self accomplishment feeling. Sure you can have goals to beat someone else, but from my experience with other sports (rugby in particular) in footbag you don't get that extreme competitive edge to you.
Anyway, I do think that yes, Footbaggers can be athletes. However, it is similar to a golf player, alot of people like playing golf, CAN play golf and have fun doing it. Then there are people that, [I imagine..] go to the gym, go through the course in their mind, train and practise every single day, and that is what would make them an athelete. There are some people on modified for sure that play Footbag for liesure, but I only think there are a few hundred at most that wake up, and drill everyday just to become the best shredder they could be.
Jay Boychuk
I agree, footbag is much less of a win or go home attitude that you'll see in mainstream head to head team competition, like basketball, soccer, lacrosse, etc, but instead the focus is more on pushing yourself to get better and having fun. I think a good comparison to make is how footbag competitions are similar to bowling competitions. I was co captain of my varsity bowling team in high school and I am on the team in college, and the competition between teams is always very friendly. We play the same teams and get to know other players, often high fiving the other team after good shots and congratulating their successes. In both sports, you are competing directly against other players, but you are ultimately in control of your own destiny (ie. no one can play defense on you) and it is highly discouraged to root against anyone in any kind of negative connotation.
As someone who has played baseball, ice hockey, and lacrosse competitively, I can say with certainty that in those sports you work hard to WIN, and that's the bottom line. You can have a great game as an individual but if you lose as a team it really doesn't matter how well you did. It's that drive that makes you practice as hard as you do and push yourself as hard as you do. But in footbag, the friendliness of the competition allows beginners and experienced vets to play together and enjoy every minute of it.
As someone who has played baseball, ice hockey, and lacrosse competitively, I can say with certainty that in those sports you work hard to WIN, and that's the bottom line. You can have a great game as an individual but if you lose as a team it really doesn't matter how well you did. It's that drive that makes you practice as hard as you do and push yourself as hard as you do. But in footbag, the friendliness of the competition allows beginners and experienced vets to play together and enjoy every minute of it.
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notsohairlessape
- Circle Kicker
- Posts: 15
- Joined: 17 Jul 2006 09:53
- Location: South Bend, IN USA
I used to play a lot of different sports as a kid: football, baseball, basketball, soccer, etc. I was actually pretty good at some of these and I liked playing. At about age 13 or 14, though, athletes as described in the first post started taking over and I stopped playing because it stopped being fun. I think this happens a lot and eventually only the people who don't play for fun are left. This kind of athlete culture is self perpetuating.
I did continue with some sports that weren't dominated by that kind of athlete. I lettered in swimming in high school and I played water polo on the state champion team. I would have considered myself an athlete but I certainly did not fit the description gMoney posted.
I think that a lot of alternative sports (like footbag) appeal to people because they haven't (yet) been taken over by people like that.
That's my $.02, anyway.
I did continue with some sports that weren't dominated by that kind of athlete. I lettered in swimming in high school and I played water polo on the state champion team. I would have considered myself an athlete but I certainly did not fit the description gMoney posted.
I think that a lot of alternative sports (like footbag) appeal to people because they haven't (yet) been taken over by people like that.
That's my $.02, anyway.
Logan Axon
That's one reason why I like footbag. I want it to always stay a small sport. Not too small, but an indie kind of small. Think of how much it would suck if all bags were mass produced, and looked the same, and there were coaches that taught everyone the same way and everyone had the same style. I think style and individuality is one of the major differences. Footbag is more of like an art form in that perspective.I think that a lot of alternative sports (like footbag) appeal to people because they haven't (yet) been taken over by people like that.
I don't think this would ever happen. Bags are hand stitched, and top players won't accept anything else. This pretty much eliminates the mass production thing since it is impossible to match quality.gMoney wrote:That's one reason why I like footbag. I want it to always stay a small sport. Not too small, but an indie kind of small. Think of how much it would suck if all bags were mass produced, and looked the same, and there were coaches that taught everyone the same way and everyone had the same style. I think style and individuality is one of the major differences. Footbag is more of like an art form in that perspective.I think that a lot of alternative sports (like footbag) appeal to people because they haven't (yet) been taken over by people like that.
I also call shinanagens on coaches mass producing the same type of player. Style is different in every type of player, although I agree it can certainly be influenced. It's not as if people are going to spend 100% of their time playing in front of their coach who is cracking a bull whip at them. Even if someone told me how to do something, I'd still have my own way of doing it; there's no real way around it (unless I was programmed at age 5 or something haha). I agree with you that the uniqueness of each person's game brings more appeal to watching this sport.
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Blue_turnip
- Egyptian Footgod
- Posts: 1239
- Joined: 29 Nov 2004 03:55
- Location: Melbourne
My impression is that most of the top footbaggers actually do excel at other sports. Vasek, Ales, Ryan, Phil Morrison all do/did anyway (to name just a few).
I think much of that actually does ring true for footbag as well, although I would have worded it differently.
I think ultimately people who are good at sport play it for a sense of achievement, rather than for "fun." All the little hardships on the way to an achievement make it more worthwhile.
I think it's hard to understand the real glory of sport without experiencing it (or something like it) for yourself.
My greatest moment in sport was my first year playing state touch football (and my second year playing the sport). We trained for 6 months leading up to the event; with a group training once a week, 2 weekend camps, and local fitness trainings 5 days a week (so for 6 months I had 1 day when I wasn't training). I remember getting up at 5 am to drive 3 hours to train in the rain, in the middle of winter. There were days at the start of the training regime when I couldn't walk up stairs. When we finally got to the tournament, we became the first team from my state to finish higher than second last, and we won the bronze medal.
While there were moments when we had fun, I certainly wouldn't describe that experience as "fun," yet it was one of the most significant moments of my sporting life and all the people who were in that team have gone on to be successful in a range of different things (from sport, to work, to uni and even music).
Pushing through adversity like that makes you understand what it takes to be successful, and that you're capable of achieving success.
I think much of that actually does ring true for footbag as well, although I would have worded it differently.
I think ultimately people who are good at sport play it for a sense of achievement, rather than for "fun." All the little hardships on the way to an achievement make it more worthwhile.
I think it's hard to understand the real glory of sport without experiencing it (or something like it) for yourself.
My greatest moment in sport was my first year playing state touch football (and my second year playing the sport). We trained for 6 months leading up to the event; with a group training once a week, 2 weekend camps, and local fitness trainings 5 days a week (so for 6 months I had 1 day when I wasn't training). I remember getting up at 5 am to drive 3 hours to train in the rain, in the middle of winter. There were days at the start of the training regime when I couldn't walk up stairs. When we finally got to the tournament, we became the first team from my state to finish higher than second last, and we won the bronze medal.
While there were moments when we had fun, I certainly wouldn't describe that experience as "fun," yet it was one of the most significant moments of my sporting life and all the people who were in that team have gone on to be successful in a range of different things (from sport, to work, to uni and even music).
Pushing through adversity like that makes you understand what it takes to be successful, and that you're capable of achieving success.
Re: Athletes
i second that.Blue_turnip wrote:I do.gMoney wrote: People don't play sports because its fun.
i love crew (rowing), its my passion and it hurts like hell. i probably wont be able to walk one day because of it. but you know what? im going to enjoy it while i can.
Ben Rea
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Lazy-Bonez
- Multidex Master
- Posts: 216
- Joined: 13 Feb 2007 13:11
- Location: Russia, Moscow
Re: Athletes
gMoney wrote: FOR ALL ATHLETES
People don't play sports because its fun. Ask any athlete, most of them hate it, but they couldn't imagine their life with out it. Its part of them, the love/hate relationship. its what they live for. They live for the practices, parties, cheers, long bus rides, invitationals, countless pairs of different types of shoes, water, Gatorade, & coaches you hate but appreciate. They live for the way it feels when they beat the other team, and knowing those two extra sprints they ran in practice were worth it. They live for the way they become a family with their team, they live for the countless songs they sing in their head while training all those hours. They live for the competition, they live for the friends, the practices, the memories, the pain, its who they are. It's who we are. WE ARE ATHLETES... if you are a true athlete repost this.
Nikita Aleksandrov
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james_dean
- space cowboy
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- Joined: 26 Oct 2004 23:11
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