I had a mixed day. Work was hard. So I decided to kick like it was something I had to do before I could go to sleep. Just one more thing that I simply had to do. The part I like to do every day. The thing that makes the the routine and monotony lead somewhere enjoyable. Today I hit a set out to hit a challenge despite fatigue, etc and I footed it.
torque-dyno-torque-dyno
Thanks Ken!
I hit torque-dyno-torque really well multiple times. And some other things. I hate my life a tad less now. Pizza time!
Steel City Freestyle
Matt and I both hit atomsmasherX3
We got one of his smogs on tape.
I hit:
torque-flux
(off-side) atomsmasher-paradon-torque
reverse whirl-reverse whirling swirl
paradon-reverse whirl both sides
blur bsos
better stepping sets in general- really high, for me ripwalks
so many ducking combos. Glad I taped it though. They could be cleaner. On the other side of the coin, I taped a tomahawk and looks pretty clean to me.
I hit some good strings. AtomsmasherX3 was the real highlight for me though.
We got one of his smogs on tape.
I hit:
torque-flux
(off-side) atomsmasher-paradon-torque
reverse whirl-reverse whirling swirl
paradon-reverse whirl both sides
blur bsos
better stepping sets in general- really high, for me ripwalks
so many ducking combos. Glad I taped it though. They could be cleaner. On the other side of the coin, I taped a tomahawk and looks pretty clean to me.
I hit some good strings. AtomsmasherX3 was the real highlight for me though.
Matt and I kicked. Matt is good at footbag.
He asked me how to hit paradox DLO, a trick I barely ever hit. I told him what I thought. He hit it bsos minutes later, his first time trying his other side.
He is sick.
My game was a step up but I feel like I may be slowing down in anticipation of all these tournaments coming up.
I footed four b2b dynos, immediately after I hit 3. This new Clavens bag is great I might add.
paradon-torque bsos felt good
8 contacts of paradon-pm was nice, ending with calm hand catch
paradon-reverse whirl bsos was nice too
3 consecutive ss simple swirls was fun. I can definitely hit more.
Strong guiltless string with big legbeaters bsos was nice. My one side atomic was apparently at the height of my ear.
Ripwalks were tweaked. I made myself freeze them more and played guiltlessly out of them better.
He asked me how to hit paradox DLO, a trick I barely ever hit. I told him what I thought. He hit it bsos minutes later, his first time trying his other side.
He is sick.
My game was a step up but I feel like I may be slowing down in anticipation of all these tournaments coming up.
I footed four b2b dynos, immediately after I hit 3. This new Clavens bag is great I might add.
paradon-torque bsos felt good
8 contacts of paradon-pm was nice, ending with calm hand catch
paradon-reverse whirl bsos was nice too
3 consecutive ss simple swirls was fun. I can definitely hit more.
Strong guiltless string with big legbeaters bsos was nice. My one side atomic was apparently at the height of my ear.
Ripwalks were tweaked. I made myself freeze them more and played guiltlessly out of them better.
Matt hit pixie flail bsos. 
Matt is good at footbag. So is Ian. Matt's like scary though. Ian's kinda scary too.
I hit torque>barfly today. Interesting thing is that it makes me hit the dexes all downtime, none of that muted nuclear same butterfly kinda thing where you can use the momentum from your hip to clear the first dex.
Kinda makes me want to try fusion.
I'm getting closer to rubberman, I predict I will hit it soon.
Still haven't hit legbeater swirl. My hip hurts from trying excessively.
Ian's dynos remind me of those things that Kano threw in Mortal Kombat.
Matt makes me want to do more pixie sets
I hit torque>barfly today. Interesting thing is that it makes me hit the dexes all downtime, none of that muted nuclear same butterfly kinda thing where you can use the momentum from your hip to clear the first dex.
Kinda makes me want to try fusion.
I'm getting closer to rubberman, I predict I will hit it soon.
Still haven't hit legbeater swirl. My hip hurts from trying excessively.
Ian's dynos remind me of those things that Kano threw in Mortal Kombat.
Matt makes me want to do more pixie sets
Jake Milofsky
Steel City Freestyle [ex officio]
Steel City Freestyle [ex officio]
After taking a few days off I found it hard to recreate some of my recent highlights. At least I was able to make a few new ones.
Basically they were combos that I never hit before.
Dyno-reverse whirl-simple swirl
legbeater-simple swirl
simple swirl-dyno/duckingbutterfly
being able to throw S-swirl in there is very stylish and fun. I need to get it dialed on the other side though. I have feeling this will strngthen my reverse (bad) side whirl as well. That was looking better than ever today. I think If I school both moves I will hit dial whirling swirl on both sides at the same time.
The funny thing is that despite having such a hard time getting height (executing) my weak whirl, each time I hit it I think to myself, that was lame, I had time to swirl that too. We'll see. Anyway, after all those early years in the 90's I spent idolizing Scott Davison it is nice to start mixing up my cross body game slightly. Maybe one day I'll be able to torque like Peter Irish.
Matt is scary good. And such talent could not be put upon a nicer guy (Clavens does come to mind, so maybe I have no point). Anyway, SCF is doing alright. We just need to figure out how we are going to manage through the winter.
I am planning on renting a car and going to Cornell jam this weekend with Matt. Hopefully it will work out.
Basically they were combos that I never hit before.
Dyno-reverse whirl-simple swirl
legbeater-simple swirl
simple swirl-dyno/duckingbutterfly
being able to throw S-swirl in there is very stylish and fun. I need to get it dialed on the other side though. I have feeling this will strngthen my reverse (bad) side whirl as well. That was looking better than ever today. I think If I school both moves I will hit dial whirling swirl on both sides at the same time.
The funny thing is that despite having such a hard time getting height (executing) my weak whirl, each time I hit it I think to myself, that was lame, I had time to swirl that too. We'll see. Anyway, after all those early years in the 90's I spent idolizing Scott Davison it is nice to start mixing up my cross body game slightly. Maybe one day I'll be able to torque like Peter Irish.Matt is scary good. And such talent could not be put upon a nicer guy (Clavens does come to mind, so maybe I have no point). Anyway, SCF is doing alright. We just need to figure out how we are going to manage through the winter.
I am planning on renting a car and going to Cornell jam this weekend with Matt. Hopefully it will work out.
Matt hit all four variations of DATW today. Whirl bsos. Paradox whirl. Etc. Many impressive strings. Atomsmasher b2b, starting from both sides in the same string.
I can not hit barfly yet.
I hit flux to torque on both sides. Twice on my weak side.
simple swirl-reverse whirl- simple swirl.
simple swirl on my off-side mid-string 3 times.
paradon-dyno and ripwalk-dyno both sides.
ripwalk to simple swirl both sides (footed on bad side).
Today was one of those days where I got a lot of exercise and invested effort into new things. I had some very long boppy strings and some original ones too.
I can not hit barfly yet.
I hit flux to torque on both sides. Twice on my weak side.
simple swirl-reverse whirl- simple swirl.
simple swirl on my off-side mid-string 3 times.
paradon-dyno and ripwalk-dyno both sides.
ripwalk to simple swirl both sides (footed on bad side).
Today was one of those days where I got a lot of exercise and invested effort into new things. I had some very long boppy strings and some original ones too.
I don't know how other people think of whirling swirl, but for me I focus a lot more on the swirl than the whirl. I've never hit a whirling swirl by doing a whirl, then thinking swirl. For me it's always been more like, "switch feet fast like you're doing a ss symple swirl, and in that split second when the foot's on the ground lift your leg slightly, oh! that's a whirl... and then the swirl happens because that's what you were going for from the start."LOFA wrote: I think If I school both moves I will hit dial whirling swirl on both sides at the same time.
I guess what I'm saying is that if I had a time machine and went back in time to teach myself to whirling swirl all over again, my advice would be to focus on the swirl and think of the whirl as incidental, rather than focus on the whirl and then try and sneak in swirl.
I can try and explain it this weekend. Definitely try and come.
I just returned from cornell jam.
Ken did a great job.
Everything came together well, the turn out was great, and Peter Irish's performance more than made up for the lack of routines.
I played horribly. Worse than I would have feared, but better than I could have expected given the circumstances. Running around like a headless chicken for days to get a rental car, followed but a long drive did not lend themselves well for kicking. My game was pretty much a disaster. And I am glad. I was able to put things into a better perspective. I have some new ideas. WSP 1st annual in NYC will hopefully lend me the opportunity to demonstrate better technique.
Highlights: Too many.
Catching up with my some of my oldest friends as well as some newer ones.
Peter Irish's performance.
Meeting a few impressive characters (ie: Tom Mosher, Matzier (spelling?)Jorden Moir, sorry if I forgot anyones name-it's late 80)
Watching DC and Moir kick. This was the first time I have ever seen Moir kick in person and it was a treat. Ianek was also really impressive in a circle at the frat.
Johnny Walker Blue and especially the company that shared it with me.
The Chef's Special and especially the company that shared it with me.
Three new bags. Three awesome. awesome. awesome. new bags.
1) A Clavens bag that looks RAD and should last and play very well. I feel spoiled just thinking about it, honestly. It looks like a graphical representation of a cumulative analysis of abstract art and hair-metal guitar solos. In other words, RAD. I can't wait to break use it.
2) A Matt Cross bag. If I get half out of this as I got out of the last one... it will be a very well-spent winter. I already know it's an even better bag than the last one too and that says a lot.
3) My first Mosher bag (and shirt-sweet logo, btw). It too looks like like it could survive a drunken newbie session outside of a Nickleback concert. This is saying a lot considering it's baby blue with pink dots on it! Also, RAD.
Alright. I need sleep. So that next time I go to a tournament I hit better strings when I am trying rather than when I am on auto-pilot. I feel like my relationship with paradon has reached Shakespearean proportions. I just haven't figured out yet if it is a comedy or a tragedy.
Oh yeah, one other highlight:
Introducing Matt B. to his first tournament. This kid has a lot of potential no matter what he decides to do. I selfishly hope he sticks with footbag though. It was a relief to have other people verify that his rapidly developing game is not a mirage, I mean illusion, I...
Ken did a great job.
Everything came together well, the turn out was great, and Peter Irish's performance more than made up for the lack of routines.
I played horribly. Worse than I would have feared, but better than I could have expected given the circumstances. Running around like a headless chicken for days to get a rental car, followed but a long drive did not lend themselves well for kicking. My game was pretty much a disaster. And I am glad. I was able to put things into a better perspective. I have some new ideas. WSP 1st annual in NYC will hopefully lend me the opportunity to demonstrate better technique.
Highlights: Too many.
Catching up with my some of my oldest friends as well as some newer ones.
Peter Irish's performance.
Meeting a few impressive characters (ie: Tom Mosher, Matzier (spelling?)Jorden Moir, sorry if I forgot anyones name-it's late 80)
Watching DC and Moir kick. This was the first time I have ever seen Moir kick in person and it was a treat. Ianek was also really impressive in a circle at the frat.
Johnny Walker Blue and especially the company that shared it with me.
The Chef's Special and especially the company that shared it with me.
Three new bags. Three awesome. awesome. awesome. new bags.
1) A Clavens bag that looks RAD and should last and play very well. I feel spoiled just thinking about it, honestly. It looks like a graphical representation of a cumulative analysis of abstract art and hair-metal guitar solos. In other words, RAD. I can't wait to break use it.
2) A Matt Cross bag. If I get half out of this as I got out of the last one... it will be a very well-spent winter. I already know it's an even better bag than the last one too and that says a lot.
3) My first Mosher bag (and shirt-sweet logo, btw). It too looks like like it could survive a drunken newbie session outside of a Nickleback concert. This is saying a lot considering it's baby blue with pink dots on it! Also, RAD.
Alright. I need sleep. So that next time I go to a tournament I hit better strings when I am trying rather than when I am on auto-pilot. I feel like my relationship with paradon has reached Shakespearean proportions. I just haven't figured out yet if it is a comedy or a tragedy.
Oh yeah, one other highlight:
Introducing Matt B. to his first tournament. This kid has a lot of potential no matter what he decides to do. I selfishly hope he sticks with footbag though. It was a relief to have other people verify that his rapidly developing game is not a mirage, I mean illusion, I...
Matt hit paradox eggbeater on both sides today.
I hit, that was memorable:
paradon-far butterfly swirl
ducking clipper-torque bsos
legbeater-simple swirl-ducking butterfly
bunch of swirl stuff.
I'm frustrated with where I am right now but my atomics were on. I will keep thinking about advice I got from David, Ianek and Outsider at Cornell.
I think I'm gonna start copying Matt's toe-game soon 80
I hit, that was memorable:
paradon-far butterfly swirl
ducking clipper-torque bsos
legbeater-simple swirl-ducking butterfly
bunch of swirl stuff.
I'm frustrated with where I am right now but my atomics were on. I will keep thinking about advice I got from David, Ianek and Outsider at Cornell.
I think I'm gonna start copying Matt's toe-game soon 80
Highlights:
Ducking PM-Paradon-simple swirl, strong swirl side
Flux-simple swirl, bad flux side
Ducking PM-paradon-whirl, strong whirl side
Some good whirls on weak side.
Some strong whirls on strong side
ducking PM-butterfly, repeatx2 (dropped off toe on 6th contact)
There was some good cross body dex-work on both sides. I have some new drills that will open up my game.
EDIT: Cracked into my new Clavens bag today. My favorite bag ever.
Easilly.
Ducking PM-Paradon-simple swirl, strong swirl side
Flux-simple swirl, bad flux side
Ducking PM-paradon-whirl, strong whirl side
Some good whirls on weak side.
Some strong whirls on strong side
ducking PM-butterfly, repeatx2 (dropped off toe on 6th contact)
There was some good cross body dex-work on both sides. I have some new drills that will open up my game.
EDIT: Cracked into my new Clavens bag today. My favorite bag ever.
Easilly.
highlights:
*simple revers swirls
*good looking off-side whirls. Few completed to be honest, but the dex is there and they were at the end of reasonable strings and combos.
*hit offside flux-whirl-pm again. 2nd try. Ducking pm-paradon-simple swirl again too, to a nice string.
*torque-torque, and torque on other side
*toed simple swirl to simple reverse swirl on one of first if not first try.
*started working on paradox illusions. Hit both sides. Needs a lot of work but will be good for me.
Matt hit Backside symposium toe blizzard. I believe he toed it on both sides. It is usually thin but it's still impressive. I wish I could get him to play with Caleb. Oh yeah, Matt is good at footbag.
Jake's game was particularly tight today. One of his strings in particular was alarmingly long and unique.
*simple revers swirls
*good looking off-side whirls. Few completed to be honest, but the dex is there and they were at the end of reasonable strings and combos.
*hit offside flux-whirl-pm again. 2nd try. Ducking pm-paradon-simple swirl again too, to a nice string.
*torque-torque, and torque on other side
*toed simple swirl to simple reverse swirl on one of first if not first try.
*started working on paradox illusions. Hit both sides. Needs a lot of work but will be good for me.
Matt hit Backside symposium toe blizzard. I believe he toed it on both sides. It is usually thin but it's still impressive. I wish I could get him to play with Caleb. Oh yeah, Matt is good at footbag.
Jake's game was particularly tight today. One of his strings in particular was alarmingly long and unique.
Good session with Jake.
Torque-simple swirl
bad-side simple swirl three times.
dyno-far infinity swirl 2nd try on request. Went past it the first time.
One string I liked: ...reverse-whirlx3-osis-reverse whirl-pm-butterfly-whirl-pm-butterfly-simple swirl- screwed up trying to get around reverse simple swirl.
Atomic sets were very good today. not fully hippy but I like them for now. A lot. Hippy is coming a long way but I don't mind what I am doing now. It's close to what I liked in how Caleb used to do them. Not as good but similar.
Matt sent me this today (I don't think he would mind me posting it):
"I hit dimwalk/pdx mirage/op dimwalk/pdx mirage... smear/leg beater/pdx mirage BSOS...atom smasher/atom smasher/dimwalk BSOS...pdx mirage/back. symp. toe blizzard"
Matt is pretty rad.
Ian: tweaked lower calve/ss shin
Matt: swollen foot
Jake: Tweaked neck
Steel City is in full effect!
Too bad Matt can't make it to NYC. In my mind I am already there.
Torque-simple swirl
bad-side simple swirl three times.
dyno-far infinity swirl 2nd try on request. Went past it the first time.
One string I liked: ...reverse-whirlx3-osis-reverse whirl-pm-butterfly-whirl-pm-butterfly-simple swirl- screwed up trying to get around reverse simple swirl.
Atomic sets were very good today. not fully hippy but I like them for now. A lot. Hippy is coming a long way but I don't mind what I am doing now. It's close to what I liked in how Caleb used to do them. Not as good but similar.
Matt sent me this today (I don't think he would mind me posting it):
"I hit dimwalk/pdx mirage/op dimwalk/pdx mirage... smear/leg beater/pdx mirage BSOS...atom smasher/atom smasher/dimwalk BSOS...pdx mirage/back. symp. toe blizzard"
Matt is pretty rad.
Ian: tweaked lower calve/ss shin
Matt: swollen foot
Jake: Tweaked neck
Steel City is in full effect!
Too bad Matt can't make it to NYC. In my mind I am already there.
New York was a great time. Big ups to Barret, NYFA, and everybody involved for throwing a fucking awesome jam. The location, the music, the vibe, the players, the MC, the after party pub, the raffle, the Saturday night shred spot, the whole thing was so well put together.
And to top it all off, it was in New York. How cool is that?
I played alright, hit some pretty OK strings once I warmed up. I didn't play as well as I would've liked in Circle Comp. I don't understand why footbag becomes harder when you're the center of attention. After my pool was done, I was warming down with Drew while he was warming up. I was kinda pissed for having dropped on stupid things in comp, and during this warmdown I hit some of my better strings that day, including tricks like p.s. whirl and a tomahawk that felt awesome. Matt still had the mike and after one of those strings he was like "Where was that 5 minutes ago?". I just looked at him and shrugged.
This weekend did rule though. It was good to kick with Ian on his home turf after hearing so many of his stories about Washington Square Park shred with NYFA back in the day. I could tell he was fuckin' amped to be back there for this jam, and he played well this weekend, rockin out with his x-body dexterity tricks that he's been dialing lately (dyno, swirl...), plus cool atomics and consistent links.
Will Diggs is freakin' good, and he picked up one of our t-shirts which means he's extra cool too. I enjoyed meeting the Boston crew. Are they really called "The Boston Shred Crew"? I hope so, cause that's an awesome club name.
There was such a good crowd in WSP. Jorden and Dave's freestyle demo was awesome. They did so many things on demand without dropping. The crowd was freakin' loving it. And MC Ross did a nice job of communicating footbag to them.
I took a bunch of pictures, check them out:
Benny teaches inner city youth about footbag. These kids make the best use of the word "nice", something like it's synonymous with "Awesome" or "ass kicking". Think: "Dammmmnnn look at what he's doing! He's the nicest!"
Ian and an awesome Bull Mastiff
WSP shred
The DJ view
Bruce Dole made some dope trophies
DC Lavens, always a crowd favorite
Girl Shredders!
Circle Comp Finals
Destroyin' it
Diggin' it
Whoa!
John Schneider dragoning. Notice the random dude sleeping in the foreground
Raffle Time!
Timo!
Brian's a stylish dude
So's WD-40
cheers to dance studio shred spots
Matt strappin' in to Dave's shoes
Skate!
word up,
JM Illofsky
And to top it all off, it was in New York. How cool is that?
I played alright, hit some pretty OK strings once I warmed up. I didn't play as well as I would've liked in Circle Comp. I don't understand why footbag becomes harder when you're the center of attention. After my pool was done, I was warming down with Drew while he was warming up. I was kinda pissed for having dropped on stupid things in comp, and during this warmdown I hit some of my better strings that day, including tricks like p.s. whirl and a tomahawk that felt awesome. Matt still had the mike and after one of those strings he was like "Where was that 5 minutes ago?". I just looked at him and shrugged.
This weekend did rule though. It was good to kick with Ian on his home turf after hearing so many of his stories about Washington Square Park shred with NYFA back in the day. I could tell he was fuckin' amped to be back there for this jam, and he played well this weekend, rockin out with his x-body dexterity tricks that he's been dialing lately (dyno, swirl...), plus cool atomics and consistent links.
Will Diggs is freakin' good, and he picked up one of our t-shirts which means he's extra cool too. I enjoyed meeting the Boston crew. Are they really called "The Boston Shred Crew"? I hope so, cause that's an awesome club name.
There was such a good crowd in WSP. Jorden and Dave's freestyle demo was awesome. They did so many things on demand without dropping. The crowd was freakin' loving it. And MC Ross did a nice job of communicating footbag to them.
I took a bunch of pictures, check them out:
Benny teaches inner city youth about footbag. These kids make the best use of the word "nice", something like it's synonymous with "Awesome" or "ass kicking". Think: "Dammmmnnn look at what he's doing! He's the nicest!"
Ian and an awesome Bull Mastiff
WSP shred
The DJ view
Bruce Dole made some dope trophies
DC Lavens, always a crowd favorite
Girl Shredders!
Circle Comp Finals
Destroyin' it
Diggin' it
Whoa!
John Schneider dragoning. Notice the random dude sleeping in the foreground
Raffle Time!
Timo!
Brian's a stylish dude
So's WD-40
cheers to dance studio shred spots
Matt strappin' in to Dave's shoes
Skate!
word up,
JM Illofsky
Jake Milofsky
Steel City Freestyle [ex officio]
Steel City Freestyle [ex officio]
Jake, man- those last two pictures mean so much to me. I won't even go into it completely, but those two pictures demonstrate just how important this trip was for me. Relaxed, playing guitar in a house that was always under construction. Looking at these pictures of me doing these things while hanging with NYFA (Bruce) is like a macrocosm of what my teenage years were like living with my dad in the Lower East Side. I guess I really still am that same kid. I missed that kid a lot. Thanks for the help convincing me he still exists.
On another note:
This tournament was something I have been dreaming of for almost half my life. I did everything I could to be as much a part of it as was possible. Sharing the the opportunity with Bruce to create the images for the event was a great honor for me. Judging my first event and helping out with suggestions, directions, etc, all of it- it was such pleasure. This tournament went the way it should have gone. Even the weather was perfect imo. It was freestyle the way I remember it in NYC through the 90's. It was not necessarily comfortable, but it was real. And the freestlyers demonstrated their skills with all the more conviction because of it. I could almost not believe how well DC was handling his game by the end. It's all a mystery.
Highlights of the weekend:
Driving with Jake.
Trying not to be caustic
Being caustic at times
The people: Getting to see Bruce, Mike Schwarts, and even Dan Kramer from old-school NYFA. And Judy, the girl that gave me the swimming trunks I learned to swim in! And Rez (?) who taught me how to juggle! Getting to spend some more time with Drew and WD40. Meeting the Boston Crew and Matt from Columbia, all of whom I had a great vibe kicking with-speaking of which... Timo is the man! That kid is so cool. I really dig his game and his presence at this event, all the way from Finland, I feel really made the whole thing brighter. I love it when it's the Nice guys shredding hard. It was also cool talking more with Matt Cross.
The Saratoga sisters are awesome. There game looks like it can seriously go places and they were a lot of fun to hang with. It was awesome to see Sunil dropping his inventions at Dick Shay's. It was awesome being the sole witness of the very first Pendulous, reverse- ducking, blind cross-body rake (crossing-time?).
Hanging with the one and only Barrett Niemeth. Eating chicken rice. And waiting for him to finish brushing his teeth. I'm telling you that kid is the missing member of the rat-pack.
Getting really good feedback from DC regarding barflies.
Getting bullied by Josh Penny
:arrow:
Alright. That's enough of that. I wish C-Fan could have been there.
My game was awful until later in the day. Then I had come to terms with the fact that some tricks were not going to work and I made some progressive (for me) strings with the ones that would.
Today I kicked with Matt.
Matt is a good footbag player: bsos blur, atom-smasher to pixie flail, stepping eggbeater, magellan-pixie-ss butterfly bsos, 3 contacts of rubber-man, etc, etc, etc.
I had a good session too.
Atomic Dyno to a chest-height hand grab. Kicked the other side repeatedly but not well enough to catch or play out of.
Atomsmasher-flux x2, on my weak flux side.
Paradon-drifter on my left side. Almost sealed it once with a weak side, simple swirl.
Three successful tries at simp swirl on weak side in a row.
A very good torque-torque, channeling some DC advice regarding bags going up and bodies moving around them. Yes, I could be more vague.
Paradon-torque-PM on both sides. Perhaps even bsos. I can't remember.
Life is good. I'm tired. Goodnight footbag players. Sweet Dreams.
On another note:
This tournament was something I have been dreaming of for almost half my life. I did everything I could to be as much a part of it as was possible. Sharing the the opportunity with Bruce to create the images for the event was a great honor for me. Judging my first event and helping out with suggestions, directions, etc, all of it- it was such pleasure. This tournament went the way it should have gone. Even the weather was perfect imo. It was freestyle the way I remember it in NYC through the 90's. It was not necessarily comfortable, but it was real. And the freestlyers demonstrated their skills with all the more conviction because of it. I could almost not believe how well DC was handling his game by the end. It's all a mystery.
Highlights of the weekend:
Driving with Jake.
Trying not to be caustic
Being caustic at times
The people: Getting to see Bruce, Mike Schwarts, and even Dan Kramer from old-school NYFA. And Judy, the girl that gave me the swimming trunks I learned to swim in! And Rez (?) who taught me how to juggle! Getting to spend some more time with Drew and WD40. Meeting the Boston Crew and Matt from Columbia, all of whom I had a great vibe kicking with-speaking of which... Timo is the man! That kid is so cool. I really dig his game and his presence at this event, all the way from Finland, I feel really made the whole thing brighter. I love it when it's the Nice guys shredding hard. It was also cool talking more with Matt Cross.
The Saratoga sisters are awesome. There game looks like it can seriously go places and they were a lot of fun to hang with. It was awesome to see Sunil dropping his inventions at Dick Shay's. It was awesome being the sole witness of the very first Pendulous, reverse- ducking, blind cross-body rake (crossing-time?).
Hanging with the one and only Barrett Niemeth. Eating chicken rice. And waiting for him to finish brushing his teeth
. I'm telling you that kid is the missing member of the rat-pack.Getting really good feedback from DC regarding barflies.
Getting bullied by Josh Penny
:arrow: Alright. That's enough of that. I wish C-Fan could have been there.
My game was awful until later in the day. Then I had come to terms with the fact that some tricks were not going to work and I made some progressive (for me) strings with the ones that would.
Today I kicked with Matt.
Matt is a good footbag player: bsos blur, atom-smasher to pixie flail, stepping eggbeater, magellan-pixie-ss butterfly bsos, 3 contacts of rubber-man, etc, etc, etc.
I had a good session too.
Atomic Dyno to a chest-height hand grab. Kicked the other side repeatedly but not well enough to catch or play out of.
Atomsmasher-flux x2, on my weak flux side.
Paradon-drifter on my left side. Almost sealed it once with a weak side, simple swirl.
Three successful tries at simp swirl on weak side in a row.
A very good torque-torque, channeling some DC advice regarding bags going up and bodies moving around them. Yes, I could be more vague.
Paradon-torque-PM on both sides. Perhaps even bsos. I can't remember.
Life is good. I'm tired. Goodnight footbag players. Sweet Dreams.