Good day, Bad day

[Max Power]

We all know about this. We all have them. My question is do the top elite players have good and bad days? If they do I can't tell at all and there good days must be crazy.

When I have an on day it's the most amazing feeling in the world, I feel like I can hit anything in my range on command, and hit all kinds of sick combos and strings I never thought I could do before. Of course the sun sets and the next day that is gone. Now imagine if i was half as good as the elite.

The middle ground is how you tell where your game is at, whatever your average day is like is what your level is. The good day is always a big motivator for me, it shows me where my game could be. I always look right on past the bad days they don't give me a problem really. I always know that I'm better then what I am playing like when i have a bad day.

[jay7]

While I am not elite, in any way, I can only imagine that the best have their "off" days as well. They aren't super-human, and many factors from non-footbag life are part of why we have bad days, and I don't think they are exempt from the worlds problems.

However, I think it is best to judge yourself where you are on the middle ground. Judging yourself on a good day is a little depressing, because you always feel as if you are making no progress everytime you fall short. Judging yourself on a bad day will limit your motivation to get out there and get better, as you are telling yourself you are worse than you actually are.

Those are very abrupt statements, which can be elaborated on in everywhich way, but like everything a balance is key.

[PegLegHolly]

the "elite" are human too

[james]

Nah, they're alien robots from the future sent to save mankind

[Watashi no Uchi]

Nah, they're alien robots from the future sent to save mankind

and teach us how to shred like electronic pros.

Welcome to Earth, Mr. 1337.

[sidekick]

I wouldn't classify myself as an elite player, but I definitely have good and bad days. When I have a bad day it's not that much different from a normal day because I just can't do some of the things that I would normally do, and the off days seem to be further apart then they used to be. I've been told this by Red many times: "When you get to an open level, the bad days aren't as harsh." I think that has a lot to do with your average level of play. If you're having an off day, you can still do a toe stall, right? How about a legover? IF you can, it's because these moves aren't really that hard and you've drilled them so much that, even on an off day, you can still hit it every time (almost).

For any player, I'm sure it's the same. I feel like blurry whirl is strong enough to be able to hit it on the worst day, but I don't know about the move reactor. I find that on off days, my strings have less moves and more bails, but other than that my game isn't all that different on bad days.

On the flip side, my on days are amazing. Fearless becomes easy, every move feels lighter and I stick the moves way easier. I can also link almost anything together on an good day. I remember once I hit Maelstrom > Pdx Reactor > Blurry Torque first try on a good day, but I haven't been able to hit more then 2 of those since.

[james_dean]

I don't really feel like I have that many bad days. I think it's because a lot of the time I'm mainly drilling, being that I shred alone. If a specific move/drill isn't working for me on a particular day I don't bother pesisting with it, I move onto something else. Even if it's just string length with BOPs etc. It's all important to me. So I probably don't notice off days because I just change my focus.

Most of my days when I'm at an actual shred with people are on days for me and I bust out huge. I think this is because I'm having so much fun shredding with others, and I haven't just done strings etc much because I've just been drilling, so all of a sudden I see what I can do and this gets me psyched and I play even better.

I think?

[Zeke]

My perception of players I've only ever seen of videos was slightly skewed until I realized that all the vids I used to watch were highlites of sessions. I think everybody has their off days. Once I had an off year.

Bad days make the good days soooo much sweeter, though. Everything is in alignment; the bag seems to be moving in slow motion and your legs are precise, your body is moving fluidly and your mind is clear and focused.

Ah, I love being 'in the zone'

[C-Fan]

My perception of players I've only ever seen of videos was slightly skewed until I realized that all the vids I used to watch were highlites of sessions. )

That reminds me of something Rippin' was saying at Worlds 03. I don't know if he actually heard this, or he was starting a rumor, but it was funny nonetheless: "I heard that the Czech players got good because when they were watching videos, they didn't realize they were highlights, so they assumed that was how people played all the time."


When talking about good days vs. bad days, I think a ton of it is mental. I've had days that felt bad, but when I watched the tape they were actually pretty good. I've also had the opposite too. A lot of this is mental game, and the hope is that you develop this over time. I think that your mindset affects how you play; if you can control your emotions, you will play better. This took me a long time to figure out, much less begin to master.

All that said, I think you can objectively observe that everybody has good and bad days. I agree with Nick's observation, that once you get good, you find that bad sessions are much less frequent, and also tend to be less bad. These days I only really think a session is "bad" if I injure myself. I think one reason that bad sessions occur less frequently the better you are, is not just that you are more consistent with your tricks, but you also have more variety. I remember back in the day if my atomic set (only one side of course) and my ducks (one side only) were not working, then my session was shot. Now, I have enough other components that if on a given day a particular component isn't working (spins for example), I'll just replace it with another concept (ducks or whatever).

As a 10+ year veteran, I can say that in my personal experience, the hardest years in footbag come in the beginning. Learning flip clipper is hard. Learning to go guiltless is hard. But the longer you are in it, I feel like you get rewards a lot more easily. These days I pick up a new trick or combo pretty much every session, and I don't feel I work particularly hard at any of them. Or at least not nearly as hard as I did for left toe and left clipper.

[Blue_turnip]

the "elite" are human too

I disagree. I'm probably the most inhuman person I know.