Fanzine

Keep a diary of what you're hitting, what's frustrating you, and your goals.
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zeroman13
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Post by zeroman13 »

Props on all the sweetness you've been hitting Ken!

Here's a little challenge for ya;
Atomic Ducking Dyno :wink:
Wasabi wrote:Footbag is not materialistic; it's about challenging yourself and having fun at the same time.
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Post by Dat »

C-Fan wrote:2 girls regularly show, and one more occasionally does.
Nice job. That was one of the goals I didn't reach with my club.
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Post by C-Fan »

Light session with Luis today for like 50 minuites.

*torque-spin clip-pdx torque
*vertigo-pdx torque


EDIT:

Last entry was super short because I was writing it as I was waiting for the camera to take out, which came back sooner than expected. I warmed up for a second session, which was tough, but I wanted to shoot real badly, so I did what I could. Props to Luis for filming me. Filming is never fun, but its even worse when you're filming Ken, and he's trying stuff that he's not good at, and he's getting pissed off. At the end of the day though we managed to get some good stuff on tape, including Luis' best blur to date.

I hit a new trick today too, which was a nice surprise.

I'm in the computer lab now, just checking the footage. I had a couple bad scares, but things are mostly fine. My first scare was checking out today's footage, and finding it had big black bars over it. Then I switched from the tape deck to a camera, and the bars were gone (thank god), but now it looked like it was shot on low-light or some other setting which doesn't capture motion well. I was really bummed out, and was ready to just toss out the tape, but I decided to see if it was like that for the whole session. Luckily, we only had this problem for the first part of the session, so only 2 highlights are lost (atomic motion and some juggling stuff). Both should be real easy to hit again.

I tried checking the other tape I want to send Rory, with last year's footage, and it had issues when it was playing. That's weird, because i was able to view it and capture off of it not 2 weeks ago. The bad thing about this lab, is that you never know when it is your tapes that are messed up, or the lab equipment that's messed up. I guess a third possibility is that the lab equipment is messing up my tapes. Even if that first tape is messed up, there should be enough from this new tape to make a decent vid.
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Post by C-Fan »

Pretty good footbag day. The weather was nice out, like summer's last gasp in Ithaca. Met up with Luis at 7 pm on the outdoor basketball courts, and we had just enough natural light to film a few things for Rory's video. We got everything I wanted in 12 minutes, and then just had a regular session after that. I played pretty badly during the session, but I didn't mind because I knew I was done with footage for the video, and that was a big relief. I had fun skooling some concepts I normally don't, and at the very end of the session I figured out a new concept: double spinning! :D I was really stoked about this, because I never thought I'd learn to double spin, given how crap I am at regular spins. I had hit double spinning osis a couple times, back in the year 2000, but they were really sloppy and off of high sets. Today however, I got them (on one side only) in a controlled manner. I set them off of a ducking clipper, do the first spin fast but controlled, and try to set the first spin juuuuust higher than my head. I spot the bag after the first spin, then treat the last spin with the speed/desperation of an inspin. Using this formula, I hit 2 or 3 solid double spinning clippers, and a couple sloppy ones too. I really want to skool this concept and get it consistent, even if only on one side. I think it looks and feels really cool.

After the session, we got a free dinner at the gym. My favorite Ithaca restaurant, Wingz over Ithaca, catered the event. There weren't even that many people, so I was able to eat my fill. I wish every session could end with a free delicious dinner right at the shred spot. The free dinner, finishing shooting for Rory's video, and the double spinning progress all put me in a good mood.

I hit the media lab after the session to check the footage, and it all came out well. The basketball stuff actually looks pretty cool, and I figured out a cute new juggling wrinkle that I haven't seen other people do, which we got on tape too. I'm excited to see what Rory does with the footage.

Make me beautiful Rory!
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Post by Rieferman »

Let me know if Rory is able to make *you* beautiful.. He must be a miracle worker.



Ohhhh, you mean your shred footage. Sorry, misunderstood
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Post by C-Fan »

Rieferman wrote: Ohhhh, you mean your shred footage.
Did I Bob? Did I? :wink:
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Post by C-Fan »

Took a couple days off from footbag, so I was pretty pumped to play today. The weather was perfect, and I made a point to enjoy it, because I know it won't be around much longer.

My initial plan for the day was to play like Erik Chan (spins, ducks, and rev. whirls), but I didn't do too much of that. I tried some double spins and was waaay off. I don't think it will be a concept that will come very easily to me, but I don't plan on giving up so easily. I watched Mathieu's Worlds Shred video, and was pretty inspired by some of the players. I didn't even know Phil could double spin, but BAM, double spinning clipper bsos in the middle of a sick string. I wish I had more time to play footbag; grad school isn't that easy.

At one point in today's session I was juggling some balls with my hands and doing legovers out of it. Luis tried to do some doubles thing with me, but I wasn't expecting it, our feet collided, and next thing I knew I was on my back. My right ankle took some impact, and it still feels a bit stiff now, but I'm sure it will heal up in a couple days. I took it pretty easy after that.

Again we had pretty good turnout, including 3 girls, though they didn't overlap timewise. I hope we don't start losing membership now that prelims are starting.

I've been doing some work for CFJ2, and I'm very excited for it. Already we've got a lot of talented players commited to coming, and the venue is perfect (same as last year). It's going to be good. 8)
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Post by bdams19 »

Sick! Dont give up on double spinning ken; I remember the day I asked you if you had hit anything double spinning in wash sq pk and you yelled no at me (although apologized right after and requested combos), but still funny nonetheless that you're so close now. Cant wait to kick again at ithica!
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Re: Party like it`s 1999- Part II

Post by C-Fan »

I've been having some problems logging onto the internet this weekend, but I think I've finally figured it out. Hopefully this means I will get around to finishing my 2007 blog, but who knows. I changed the blog title again because it was making me feel bad for not finishing the 2007 blog. While I was on page 1, I looked over my blog for 99 Worlds, and some parts made me laugh as I reminisced.
C-Fan wrote:-Rippin` saying that he would induct anybody into BAP if they could link ten unique tripless in front of him.
.
We've come a long way in 8 years. There were people who didn't make BAP this year who are better than anybody was back in 99.

I had a nice light session today with Luis. We played together for 50 minutes, and then he had to leave. I played solo for 20 more minutes. The weather is still nice here in Ithaca, so I'm taking advantage of it as much as I can. Luis footed toe drifter.

I tried playing like Erik Chan today, and found it to be a fun challenge. I know Erik does stepping, but today I did almost no stepping sets. I spun like crazy, and picked up a bunch of new combos and even some new tricks.

Highlights:

*spinning ducking osis. New trick?
*muted bling-blang (whirling reverse whirl). New trick.
*spinning ducking mirage a few times. New trick. Got it clean at least once. I really like it, it feels like a Ricky Moran trick.
*spinning clipper-inspinning clipper both sides.
*flip inspinning mirage. New trick.
*muted bling blang- PS Egg
*torque-inspinning mirage
*torque-dyno repeat
*rev whirl-far rev whirl repeat to "PS" rev. whirl
*bl. rev. whirl x2
*reverse tomahawk bsos
*toe gyro mirage to toe spin clipper midstring randomly.
*toe ss dlo-tap repeat
*inspin clipper bsos a few times.
*muted bling blang-pdx torque.

I also skooled double spins again and had a few VERY promising attempts. There were two times in particular where I got the spins and just missed the clipper. I could just as easily have hit them and be writing them in the highlights. But I didn't. Still, it was encouraging, and I feel like I got plenty enough highlights from today as is. :)
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Re: Party like it`s 1999- Part II

Post by Muffinman »

C-Fan wrote:I tried playing like Erik Chan today
:D
C-Fan wrote:it feels like a Ricky Moran trick.
That's why I do that trick!!! Sometimes I forget who my heroes are, because they don't play anymore :( There was a video from ages ago where Ricky was doing, like, gyro ripped warriors both sides and stuff... I'm going to go dig that up @_______@
Still can't wait for more of your Worlds blog :p
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Post by C-Fan »

The weather continues to amaze me. I had my first prelim of the semester (yay Labor Economics!) and a small paper due, so once those were out of the way I didn't feel too guilty about getting in a shred. It was just Luis and I, and we played for something like 2.5 hours. My life would be so much crappier without footbag. Footbag is easily the best part of any day for me. I bet some people would think that's weird, but I don't.

The one lowlight was that my ankle kinda bothered me, but I played through it. Maybe not the smartest thing to do, but I wanted to play.

Highlights:

*double spinning clipper! :D Had a couple other looks which were close. I think I'm making progress.
*a run with zooming clipper bsos, and also zoom style gyro clipper bsos.
*Some clean barrages, thanks to the tips in the Trick Tips section. This is a big deal for me, because while my flurries are decent on both sides, I never could JUST do barrage. Now I can.
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Post by C-Fan »

Played today for like 30 minutes. Ankle felt fine the whole time. I think I'll take tomorrow off.

Oh, and there's a chance I'll be in NYC this weekend, if the weather looks good. 8)
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Post by bdams19 »

sweeet!
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Post by C-Fan »

Let's start with the important stuff: I am officially going to NYC this weekend, and plan on playing on Saturday. Just praying the forecast holds and it's nice out.

Had a nice 2 man shred with Luis tonight. My right G-Unit is really falling apart. I borrowed a box-cutter from Luis, so hopefully I'll mod my shoes tomorrow, which would make today my last session in these shoes. They lasted me a full 9 months, which isn't too bad.

Today I just played to have fun, and just enjoyed playing my style.

Highlights:

*dimwalk swirl-vertigo. Footed the other vertigo in the seal.
*tapping drifter-torque-pdx torque
*tapping lo x2
*my best barroques ever, using a new barrage technique.
*Double Spinning clipper! I think I hit like 3 of them throughout the session, and 2 of them were deep into a string (like, the 8th or 9th trick. So I wasn't just starting with it). I also footed it a bunch (4 or 5) of times. I'm really excited that the trick is coming in.
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Post by Rabbit »

Word, whats your bowling score again?????
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Post by C-Fan »

Fun weekend. Thursday night I was up til 4 am writing a paper, so I was a bit tired for footbag club on Friday, but I went and it was fun. At first there were only a handful of people, and I was worried that the ominous rainclouds (or prelims, which can be even more ominous) scared off the freshmen. Thankfully though, people trickled in and we ended up with around 10 people. I'm real happy with how the club is going, but I think we should maybe dedicate more time to teaching people to freestyle. 4square is fun and builds community, but there are limits to how much people can progress with that.

I didn't play much on Friday partially due to being tired, but mostly because I wanted to save my legs for a session in NYC on Saturday. I put on my g-units, but played in baggy cargo shorts in a successful attempt to limit how hard I could play. All told, I probably freestyled for less than 10 minutes, and didn't do anything too hard. The one highlight was hitting a double spinning clipper midrun, which was totally unexpected and cool. :)

I got to the city Friday night and just hung out with Bruce and his cat. The weather on Saturday was perfect. Low 70s, no humidity, no wind... just perfect. I wish I had had time to mod my new pair of g-units before going to the city, but I didn't, so I had one final session in the old pair. They are really falling apart. Still, I was able to play normally if I ignored them. A few times the bag would stick in my clipper or toe because of the rips, but overall it was no big deal.

Got to Washington Square Park at 2 pm, thrilling to the weather. Huuuuuge turnout. Hadn't seen a NYFA session this big since Willie Digges came to town over the summer. We had something like 11-12 people, and 3 circles for most of the session. Bruce Dole, Stan Sagalovskiy, Jon Schneider (!), Matt Isanuk, Dave Susillo, Drew Martin, Waylon, Barrett, Brian D'Amato, Pascal, and a couple others. I was real excited to see so many people freestyling in NYC.

We started off playing by the fountain, which was really slippery. I was OK with it as long as I stuck to shuffle and didn't spin, but I didn't like feeling limited. My only goal for the day was to hit some double spins, so this surface really messed with me. It didn't help that the soles of my G6s are so worn down. I ended up getting really bitchy and complainy, which made me feel bad because I knew I was annoying everybody else. Thankfully, Dave Susillo suggested we just move to our old spot (on asphalt), and we did. As soon as we changed surfaces, everybody played better. It was like night and day. I'm glad the "bad" part of the session was less than 30 minutes, and the rest of the day was super fun.

I was really happy to see Jon at the park. I didn't get to play with him at all at Worlds, and I think we only played like twice all summer despite living near each other. I love watching Jon play, because it inspires me on a few levels. His game is really unique and very controlled. Every trick just sits real well, and he does a ton of stuff that nobody else does. I feel like those are two areas of my game that could use improvement. I play hard, but too many of my tricks are common ones, and my control could definitely be improved. Watching Jon do stuff like flapper kick x3 to spinning flapper kick to gyro flapper kick to flapper kick x2 to ducking kick just blows my mind. Who else could even do that? The other thing that inspires me, is that Jon was able to change/tone down his game in order to continue playing as he gets older. I feel like this is something I should do sooner than later, because my current playing style will be difficult for my body to maintain as I get older.

I was also stoked to play with Matt Isanuk. I met him something like 5 years ago when I was still an undergrad at Brown, and he was a junior in high school checking out colleges. He came to Brown and we got in a session, and I told him what I thought of the school. I don’t think I saw him since. Apparently, he’s spent the time in between getting really really good at footbag. I was very impressed with his game. Everything was very good form. His style kind of reminds me of a mix between Noah Jay-Bonn and Milan Benda. I saw him hit some clean surging sets, real effortless spinning ducking stuff, and a variety of sets and alpine tricks no problem. Spinning PDLO bsos was tight. The coolest thing I saw though, was gyro rev egg. So like GDLO but with the last dex reversed.

On a personal level I felt like I played well. We had lots of good crowds throughout the day (I played for 4+ hours), and I enjoyed doing long strings for them. I don’t remember too much in the way of individual highlights, except that I hit double spinning clipper midstring on 2 occasions. I was really stoked about that. Once was in the middle of a string that began with bl. whirl-flurry. I also hit a good variety of hard tricks throughout the day, including some ones I hadn’t done in a while: mofly, barroque, ducking pdx egg, spinning pdlo, ducking pdx torque, HPD, spinning pdx egg, blah blah blah. Motions were also feeling good both sides, and it was nice to have them consistent to show off, given how recently I picked them up. More than anything though, I was just ecstatic to be playing footbag with friends in perfect weather at the end of September. I knew it was a treat, and I savored it.

Oh, I also got in some Wii bowling and set a new personal record: 234! :)
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Post by C-Fan »

Got in my first session in my new G-Units last night. This pair was a lot harder to mod than past G6s... there were a ton of extra layers which confused me. I'm pretty sure that the first pair I ever modded only had 2 layers: the outer leather (which I removed), and then a meshy layer below. When i got my first pair and was satisfied with the fit and look, I bought 2 or 3 more pairs from the same online store, for future use. In the 9 month period since I last modded a pair for myself, I've modded 2 or 3 other people's pairs. In every case, I found differences in the shoe structure. Pascal's pair had a sturdy foam layer below the leather and above the normal foam that's above the mesh. The toe also had an extra layer of mesh. I think Barrett's were like this too.

When I cut through the leather layer of my new G-Units, I found a sticky but uniform layer of black padding, below which was a layer of white canvas (not mesh), and I'm pretty sure that below that is the black meshy surface. I guess the black padding is taking the place of the foam. It's weird though, all these new layers. It's almost like 50 Cent adds a layer each time he gets shot.

I walked to the shred site wearing the new Gs, in an attempt to break them in some. They felt really tight on my feet, despite being the same size as my old pair. Hopefully they will just naturally break in as I play in them more. I was so worried that I would have a bad session with them, that I brought my old pair as back up. The way I have my new pair cut up, I left the protective foam on the toes (so I only cut off the leather) on top of the mesh. On the insteps I cut to the canvas layer. It's weird though, because the shoes are black, and while the inner mesh is also black, the layer of canvas right above it is white. So I have white rectangles on the stalling areas of my insteps.

I met up with Luis and warmed up. Even basic kicks felt strange in the new shoes. Due to the extra layers on the toes and insteps, I can't really "feel" the bag, and I rely more on visual input. I still may consider cutting off the extra layers, but for now I want to see how my game goes with the current setup. One advantage of leaving these extra layers will be that the shoes should be much more durable. What ultimately killed my last pair was that the fabric ripped on the toe and inside, which should be impossible with the new pair.

The first 10 minutes of the shred felt really weird. Despite not being able to "feel" the bag as well as normal, I wasn't dropping the bag. I did a few tricks and drills to test how reliable the toes and insteps were. As the session went on, I felt more comfortable in them, and began playing at my normal difficulty level, even though I felt my style was different. For a while there I felt a bit like I was playing like Byrin, which was cool. The session really had 3 sections to it.

The first part of the session was warm up and feeling out the shoes. Did some toe drills, then some drills that worked both toes and clippers. Highlights:

*magellan-smear-plo repeat
*pixie diving ss pick up, 1st try.
*rubberman-toebius.

The second part of the session I was trying for basic fearless stuff, concentrating on getting it both sides. Earlier in the day I had re-watched one of Penske's vids where he was going for hard drills, and I was inspired.

*bl. drifter-psw-tomahawk both sides
*bl. whirl-tomahawk-psw both sides. Super close to BSOS on many occasions.
*bl. whirl-tom-psw-tom.
*barroque a few times.

I think I hit 2 double spinning clippers (DSC) before Luis left, but they weren't very controlled. Like, I had to seal them with reach-y osii. Once Luis left, I practiced DSCs and really tried to tighten them up. I really focussed on spinning more rhythmically, and it paid off:

*vortex-ducking clipper-DSC
*duck clipper DSC to start a string, and then a few moves later I did the same combo. So 2 DSCs in the same string. 8)
*DSC-pdx torque off my foot. I want to start getting more legit seals off of DSC.
*flurry-phoenix-duck clipper-DSC.

All told I must have hit something like 9 DSCs last night, which is probably more than I had hit total in all the sessions before this. I also toyed with DSC out of PSW or darwalk. They seem do-able, but I'd rather just tighten up DSC by itself first. I feel like I can get it consistent if I really put in the time and effort, and I want it enough.
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Post by Rieferman »

Hey Ken, do you DSC on both sides? I can't recall if you mentioned that yet or not. Either way, cool combos!!
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Post by C-Fan »

Not yet. I tried DSC on flip yesterday, and it's not impossible. I think I'm gonna work on getting strong consistent before I try too hard on flip. I also tried DSC from toe, and that's also do-able, but feels a lot weirder. Maybe I'll toy with that a bit tonight.
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Post by C-Fan »

A new page feels right, given that I'm still feeling out my new shoes.

Had a solo session today at the gym. The G6s still feel tight on my feet. I can play in them, but it reminds me a bit of what it was like to play in Lavers (painwise). I'm thinking I want to cut off a little bit more off of them to make them more flexible.

Tonight I wore my baggiest t-shirt and relatively big shorts. The idea was this would help me focus just on spins and double spins, and overall not play too hard. On the whole it worked. The main objective of the session was to continue working on double spins. I have moments when it really feels like it's clicking, and then there are times when I'm not even close. Just need to keep working on them, so all the little things I'm doing right become more automatic.

Highlights:

*7 DSCs total in the session. 5 were solid and I played out of them, but 2 were a little offbalance and only sealed with handcatches. I think in future sessions I will only count a DSC as "hit" if I seal it guiltlessly.
*Something like 15 contacts of spinning clip-duck clip repeat. Felt effortless.
*Phoenix-pdx mirage repeat. I hadn't done flip phoenix in a while, but maybe my shirt (Phx Suns) inspired me.
*phx-fog-phx-tomahawk off the foot.
*dimwalk-ducking butterfly-DSC-pdlo.

That last run was cool, because it was the first time I've ever played into DSC with a trick other than ducking clipper, and the first time I've played out of it with anything other than osis. Tonight I sealed one of my DSCs with pdx mirage too. I was also real close to hitting pixie diving clipper to DSC.

I played in a basketball gym and took occasional breaks to shoot basketball. I really wish my fingers were just slightly longer. I don't even care about my height anymore, but my handsize really limits me in every facet of the game. It's annoying. On a high note though, I made 6 free throws in a row, and 8 out of 10.

Cornell Footbag Jam is in less than a month. Get psyched! :)
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