Word on the street:
Matt hit rubberman.
And I haven't been able to kick in about 10 days.
Steel City Freestyle
After 14 days without I kicked with Matt. The weather was permissive, though we (especially him) are both still under-the-weather.
Highlights:
Whirl-whirl-sealed on the off side, second try.
ducking-clipper-whirl repeat second try.
four hippy leg beaters to handgrabs warming up, first tries.
weak-sided hippy, atomsmasher-torque (off the foot).
Toe-torque bsos
whirl-pm-repeat
paradon-whirl-pm-paradon-whirl-osis
Hippy legbeater bsos. Perhaps more than once.
Diving symp. swirl.
Edit: ILABOPS's (Identifiable long-ass bop strings):37,26,24,22 were my my four major attempts
Paradons are weak. I need to get back into gear after all this time off. My right hip felt the wear after schooling higher sets on the hippy atomic but I will stretch more and it will be fine in the future.
It felt good to play again. My life has been very challenging recently between work, projects, and future outlook. I'm glad I still have footbag. And guitar.
I'm looking forward to Jake's posting of our new video. He did a tremendous job.
Highlights:
Whirl-whirl-sealed on the off side, second try.
ducking-clipper-whirl repeat second try.
four hippy leg beaters to handgrabs warming up, first tries.
weak-sided hippy, atomsmasher-torque (off the foot).
Toe-torque bsos
whirl-pm-repeat
paradon-whirl-pm-paradon-whirl-osis
Hippy legbeater bsos. Perhaps more than once.
Diving symp. swirl.
Edit: ILABOPS's (Identifiable long-ass bop strings):37,26,24,22 were my my four major attempts
Paradons are weak. I need to get back into gear after all this time off. My right hip felt the wear after schooling higher sets on the hippy atomic but I will stretch more and it will be fine in the future.
It felt good to play again. My life has been very challenging recently between work, projects, and future outlook. I'm glad I still have footbag. And guitar.
I'm looking forward to Jake's posting of our new video. He did a tremendous job.
Last edited by Ian Brill on 03 Feb 2008 15:40, edited 1 time in total.
Hey everyone, I made a video of some footage I had lying around on my computer plus some recent stuff. It took me like 2 weeks, but maybe that's normal. Anyway, I think it turned out pretty sweet. Check it:
Youtube
or
download the whole file
Youtube
or
download the whole file
Jake Milofsky
Steel City Freestyle [ex officio]
Steel City Freestyle [ex officio]
Awesome! Thanks for putting that together Jake, I really like seeing more footage of you and Mr. Lofa 
Plus, I hadn't seen the latest addition to your group - he's got loads of potential.
I still maintain that you (Jake) are this close to the breakthrough that makes that damn ball stay off the ground for longer strings. I notice that many of your misses actually come on easy tricks, and that in most of those cases, the ball is drifting away from your body when you miss. So maybe a week of bops and nothing but bops, with a severe concentration on set placement would be useful? Or maybe it's just realizing that "moment of calm" that allows you to mentally adjust within the string so that you can "will" the ball to stay aloft. Whatever it is, I just watch you and think "This is the time he's going to rip 30 contacts". So I know it's so close. Please take this with the positive tone that I intend it to have.
Plus, I hadn't seen the latest addition to your group - he's got loads of potential.I still maintain that you (Jake) are this close to the breakthrough that makes that damn ball stay off the ground for longer strings. I notice that many of your misses actually come on easy tricks, and that in most of those cases, the ball is drifting away from your body when you miss. So maybe a week of bops and nothing but bops, with a severe concentration on set placement would be useful? Or maybe it's just realizing that "moment of calm" that allows you to mentally adjust within the string so that you can "will" the ball to stay aloft. Whatever it is, I just watch you and think "This is the time he's going to rip 30 contacts". So I know it's so close. Please take this with the positive tone that I intend it to have.
Bob R.
I'm not sure if it's appropriate but I want to add to what Rieferman said.
I recently started approaching long consecutive bop strings by solely concentrating on the number, and agressively doing whatever I need in between each trick to make things happen. By concentrating exclusively on the number I seem to not place too much emphasis on the trick I just did, the trick I am doing, or the trick that is about to come up. Instead this just makes me want to normalise my sets, keep consitant patterns and pace myself. Whereas, if I think about specific tricks I often drop on them.
Right now I am in the process of trying to get my bop strings up to 50 from 47. Then I am going to go straight for 100. That is the method I chose for consecutive kicks when I first started. My goal then is to start implementing paradox illusions, dynos and ducks in it, followed by atomic tricks at some point.
I recently started approaching long consecutive bop strings by solely concentrating on the number, and agressively doing whatever I need in between each trick to make things happen. By concentrating exclusively on the number I seem to not place too much emphasis on the trick I just did, the trick I am doing, or the trick that is about to come up. Instead this just makes me want to normalise my sets, keep consitant patterns and pace myself. Whereas, if I think about specific tricks I often drop on them.
Right now I am in the process of trying to get my bop strings up to 50 from 47. Then I am going to go straight for 100. That is the method I chose for consecutive kicks when I first started. My goal then is to start implementing paradox illusions, dynos and ducks in it, followed by atomic tricks at some point.
Jake played better today than I or Matt have ever seen. It almost seemed both uncharacteristically inspired and inspiring. THanks to Rieferman for obviously saying some useful tips.
Matt's pixie ducking set is impressive. Hi s stepping set is also improving greatly.
My game was good today.
*ducking far symposium reverse whirl
*far symposium reverse whirl bsos
*some good spinning tricks- finally!
*Symp. swirl- weak whirl
*Legbeater-pm, repeat. Seems like I am getting much closr to a higher, hippy, less strenuous, more verticle atomic set on both sides.
*Stepping sets were looking better again on both sides.
*Hit above 40 contacts of bop to a casual hand grab. 50 will be soon.
* Paradons are alright again
*Ducking is gettin stronger
*hit a few DOD's, nice and downtime.
* Learned fairy set. I need to refine it but I made some serious breakthroughs immediately before ending.
Matt's pixie ducking set is impressive. Hi s stepping set is also improving greatly.
My game was good today.
*ducking far symposium reverse whirl
*far symposium reverse whirl bsos
*some good spinning tricks- finally!
*Symp. swirl- weak whirl
*Legbeater-pm, repeat. Seems like I am getting much closr to a higher, hippy, less strenuous, more verticle atomic set on both sides.
*Stepping sets were looking better again on both sides.
*Hit above 40 contacts of bop to a casual hand grab. 50 will be soon.
* Paradons are alright again
*Ducking is gettin stronger
*hit a few DOD's, nice and downtime.
* Learned fairy set. I need to refine it but I made some serious breakthroughs immediately before ending.
Bob, I'll always take your advice with a positive tone. You're the man. And I do appreciate the advice... what I took from it the most was that I shouldn't be lazy about shredding cause I think that's mainly what holds me back.
Yesterday I thought about what I wanted to hit before each string, how I was going to set and position my body in order to hit it, and I was determined not to drop on easy tricks like osis. The result was that I had some pretty creative strings (not so much long but not bad), hitting tricks that I don't always do but definitely should do (pdx dlo), and most strings I dropped on tricks that are challenging for me. Ian and Matt said I was playing well and I said, "Yeah, Riefer inspired me". At first Matt thought I meant I was getting stoned before we played, lol.
I'm glad folks like the video. It feels good personally to have people appreciate work like that. But what's also exciting is how it adds to Steel City Freestyle. A few people have watched it and said things like "wow, this is a real video, this really legitimizes the club and makes it seem like a real thing". And that's cool to hear. I like hitting tricks and having a good session as much as the next guy, but I hope that through our work, SCF grows beyond a couple guys shredding in a boiler room and can become an institution in the city that brings recognition to the sport of footbag, it's existence as more than just crazy hackysack, and hopefully brings more players into our ranks. I have visions of tournaments well promoted, future community activities like the Kids Day we did last summer, and a strong place for footbag in the culture and consciousness of the city. These are big goals and we're all busy people, but I think we're doing pretty well.
word up
Yesterday I thought about what I wanted to hit before each string, how I was going to set and position my body in order to hit it, and I was determined not to drop on easy tricks like osis. The result was that I had some pretty creative strings (not so much long but not bad), hitting tricks that I don't always do but definitely should do (pdx dlo), and most strings I dropped on tricks that are challenging for me. Ian and Matt said I was playing well and I said, "Yeah, Riefer inspired me". At first Matt thought I meant I was getting stoned before we played, lol.
I'm glad folks like the video. It feels good personally to have people appreciate work like that. But what's also exciting is how it adds to Steel City Freestyle. A few people have watched it and said things like "wow, this is a real video, this really legitimizes the club and makes it seem like a real thing". And that's cool to hear. I like hitting tricks and having a good session as much as the next guy, but I hope that through our work, SCF grows beyond a couple guys shredding in a boiler room and can become an institution in the city that brings recognition to the sport of footbag, it's existence as more than just crazy hackysack, and hopefully brings more players into our ranks. I have visions of tournaments well promoted, future community activities like the Kids Day we did last summer, and a strong place for footbag in the culture and consciousness of the city. These are big goals and we're all busy people, but I think we're doing pretty well.
word up
Jake Milofsky
Steel City Freestyle [ex officio]
Steel City Freestyle [ex officio]
I would really like to see this as well.yacob wrote:I have visions of tournaments well promoted, future community activities like the Kids Day we did last summer, and a strong place for footbag in the culture and consciousness of the city. These are big goals and we're all busy people, but I think we're doing pretty well.
Bob: You give really good advice. I hope you keep it coming. If you had seen Jake's recent session you could have been proud to have seen your words having a startling effect.
I kicked at home last night. Nothing but tiltless tightening and fairy set tweaking. I want to relearn this before it's too late.
Matt hit smog a couple times today on his weeks side. His strings are short but really intense.
Jake played very well, keeping up the tradition of dropping on harder moves at the end of long, unique strings.
I did well, but paradons and atomics are slipping due to not playing enough.
I started out hitting the best week side hippy atomsmasher I ever hit but I got mixed up with my paradon motion quickly and they both suffered.
Highlights:
spinning moves, mostly on one side.
reintegration of reverse whirls into my game: X6 on one side and out of whirls on that same, weak side.
Dynos were looking alright.
Ducking butterflies were strong when I wasn't winded.
Symp. swirls on my weak side. Very hard for me. Extending my opposite arm helps a lot for establishing balance and rhythm.
My main accomplishment was hitting bop strings of the following lengths:
50, 53, and 59 contacts.
Jake played very well, keeping up the tradition of dropping on harder moves at the end of long, unique strings.
I did well, but paradons and atomics are slipping due to not playing enough.
I started out hitting the best week side hippy atomsmasher I ever hit but I got mixed up with my paradon motion quickly and they both suffered.
Highlights:
spinning moves, mostly on one side.
reintegration of reverse whirls into my game: X6 on one side and out of whirls on that same, weak side.
Dynos were looking alright.
Ducking butterflies were strong when I wasn't winded.
Symp. swirls on my weak side. Very hard for me. Extending my opposite arm helps a lot for establishing balance and rhythm.
My main accomplishment was hitting bop strings of the following lengths:
50, 53, and 59 contacts.
Kicked with Jake. He is still kicking on a new level, imo, though it was a lax session due to poor lighting, indoor-ness, etc.
I did some important things today:
*drifter bsos midstring first try. This is good because I am fiending to have this move dialed at some point to add to bop marathons.
* Hippy atomic. Looking very good. I barely touched it though and will put it away until I can drill it tightly. Doing a move without a hundred percent concentration before you master it I find makes it a lot harder to unlearn bad elements from.
* Clean, consecutive ducks. Decided to join the league of people that lean their head down to accentuate the movement.
*Did some nice whirls on both sides, some reverse ones too. Whirl to drifter felt good.
* learned some important things from Jake about stepping sets. Big things. Hope they work out sooner that later. I will do what I can.
* Walked 45 minutes each way. Two hour session. Tired.
I did some important things today:
*drifter bsos midstring first try. This is good because I am fiending to have this move dialed at some point to add to bop marathons.
* Hippy atomic. Looking very good. I barely touched it though and will put it away until I can drill it tightly. Doing a move without a hundred percent concentration before you master it I find makes it a lot harder to unlearn bad elements from.
* Clean, consecutive ducks. Decided to join the league of people that lean their head down to accentuate the movement.
*Did some nice whirls on both sides, some reverse ones too. Whirl to drifter felt good.
* learned some important things from Jake about stepping sets. Big things. Hope they work out sooner that later. I will do what I can.
* Walked 45 minutes each way. Two hour session. Tired.
Hi Bob, here's the list:
All of my strongest stepping sets are out of osis, because I have an established, held clipper- and it gives me time to prepare enough power to throw my whole body up with my support leg and then glide the dexing leg over the bag mid air. This is about the opposite of how Jake does his.
The way he got me to do stepping set required me to:
A) only stall the bag for a split second.
B) Initiate the set sooner than I have been (I was jumping off of my support leg and using that momentum alone before, which made the set seem either simultaneous to the initiation of the dexing motion, or perhaps later)
C) really taking the initial stall with my weight on my toe
D) Moving my legout outward. Almost like a straightlegged, oblique motion from in to out. Almost like the begining motion of whirl, but with a straightlegged form that comes into play immediately after the support toe allows clearance from the ground.
If you need clarification you got it. I hope this helps. BTW my paradons have turned to garbage since I am in between old and new forms after barely kicking anymore (schedule/weather). I did think of you when I hit a very solid quantum butterfly today. Your advice about keeping sets closer to my body has helped a lot. Thanks!
All of my strongest stepping sets are out of osis, because I have an established, held clipper- and it gives me time to prepare enough power to throw my whole body up with my support leg and then glide the dexing leg over the bag mid air. This is about the opposite of how Jake does his.
The way he got me to do stepping set required me to:
A) only stall the bag for a split second.
B) Initiate the set sooner than I have been (I was jumping off of my support leg and using that momentum alone before, which made the set seem either simultaneous to the initiation of the dexing motion, or perhaps later)
C) really taking the initial stall with my weight on my toe
D) Moving my legout outward. Almost like a straightlegged, oblique motion from in to out. Almost like the begining motion of whirl, but with a straightlegged form that comes into play immediately after the support toe allows clearance from the ground.
If you need clarification you got it. I hope this helps. BTW my paradons have turned to garbage since I am in between old and new forms after barely kicking anymore (schedule/weather). I did think of you when I hit a very solid quantum butterfly today. Your advice about keeping sets closer to my body has helped a lot. Thanks!
I would really like to go. I will try and make it happen.C-Fan wrote:Hey Ian,
You coming to Adrienne's tournament in maryland next month? Check out "shred for savvy" in Journies t Tournies. Sounds like Bruce and Jon are coming down; it should be a lot of fun. Let me know if you can make it, that would be awesome.
I think the essence of what I was saying about stepping sets was this:
You don't want to sink too much into the clipper before you do the set cause this involves relaxing various muscles in your leg and bending your knee, and it will take you longer to do the uptime dex because of this.
I think it helps to keep all of the muscles in your support leg tense and not bending your knee very much so that you can easily jerk your leg out of the way, and your brain doesn't have to waste valuable time telling your nervous system to tense all the muscles in your leg cause you're about to do something with it. Keeping all of your muscles tense and having most of the spring action take place in your ankle seems to be the way to go for me.
You don't want to sink too much into the clipper before you do the set cause this involves relaxing various muscles in your leg and bending your knee, and it will take you longer to do the uptime dex because of this.
I think it helps to keep all of the muscles in your support leg tense and not bending your knee very much so that you can easily jerk your leg out of the way, and your brain doesn't have to waste valuable time telling your nervous system to tense all the muscles in your leg cause you're about to do something with it. Keeping all of your muscles tense and having most of the spring action take place in your ankle seems to be the way to go for me.
Jake Milofsky
Steel City Freestyle [ex officio]
Steel City Freestyle [ex officio]