west of philly - bob

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 13 Feb 2008 05:46

Colin wrote:

Ooo, final interview.

I suggest being prepared to rip off your pants and bust out some freestyle in case things get dicey.

I used to kick with Bob Green (formerly from Idaho area, played with Penske back in the day). When he was first working at Merck Pharma. he was this super smart chemist guy working on crazy important things that chemist guys work on. Anyhow, he was all into footbag, so at a team meeting, they said they wanted to see what it was all about. He literally went to work that day with warmups and shorts underneath and did a demonstration of footbag to all these high powered super smart scientists. How cool/funny is that?

Anyhow, I attempted to play last night, but not even my shred heat tent could stand up to the 10 degree F weather outside. I got into drills about 20 minutes before I couldn't take the cold anymore. I'll play longer tonight instead (usually this is my off night) because it's supposed to be in the 40's so my tent will be in the 60's.

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 13 Feb 2008 15:56

I suck at this game

Multiple stress causing situations right now aren't good for my energy levels or patience either.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 13 Feb 2008 16:00

It makes me happy that you're back in the game Bob. Yeah, footbag is tough some times, but that's just part of the deal. Good luck with your job stuff, and during this period of stress try to look at footbag as stress relief, and not another source of stress. Maybe give up your regimen of training for a bit, and just do what's fun.

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 14 Feb 2008 05:58

It makes me happy that you're back in the game Bob.

That's nice of you to say. I think there may be more people that feel the opposite! ha ha

Yeah, footbag is tough some times, but that's just part of the deal.

True true. The cycle of footbag psychological wellness is what I call it. If you flip through any blog on here, you'll see some variation of
love footbag > hate footbag > repeat

Good luck with your job stuff, and during this period of stress try to look at footbag as stress relief, and not another source of stress.

That's good advice, I'll try that tonight. A small switch in my purpose of playing (from playing to improve, to playing to relieve stress) might be just the thing I need.

Maybe give up your regimen of training for a bit, and just do what's fun.

That's the problem with where I am right now with this game. I don't have a single part of my game that I feel is worth a damn, so trying to just play and have fun, just isn't fun. If I push for a little while longer, I feel like I'll have enough pieces that improvements will happen naturally during a shred session (e.g. stepping sets will start to combine with other things like DLO's etc.). I just feel so close to so many building blocks, but I need one of those breakthrough weeks where they all start to click.

As it stands now, I feel like I'll be playing tiltless and bops for another couple months before it all starts to click. I know I could just go back to playing guiltless like I used to, but I'd hit a wall really soon again.

So frustrating. Doesn't feel like there's a right answer. So I'm just gonna keep on keeping on with my current plan for awhile longer to see how it develops.

Soon, I'll have my b-ball hoop so I can play hoops for a few days when footbag really pisses me off.

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 14 Feb 2008 17:14

I still suck, but tomorrow is Friday so that's good.

I'm done with my easy practices. Will be moving on to something else this weekend. I'll still warm up with some of the easy things, but whatever. I'm not improving, so I have to step away from that stuff for awhile and work on something else.

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 15 Feb 2008 06:11

Alright, it's time for me to fix my stupid bad attitude. I mean it was just 2 weeks ago that I wrote:

Funny things:
- I always coach new players to be able to hit 50 tiltless with ease before they attempt to go guiltless. I can't do this myself.
- I structured my "comeback" so that I would focus on fundamentals. And then, I got impatient and started working on harder stuff.
- Tiltless practice is actually more tiring for me than guiltless practice because I can keep the ball going for about 4 times as long.

The good news:
- Although I got impatient about re-learning fundamentals, all the practice I've been doing has made me so much more aware of how to play the game and how to break it all down. I think I actually accidentally improved my chances of learning fundementals properly as a result.
- Because of that, I think a 2 week period will probably be about right to get to the place I want (say, 50 tiltless in a row with good form on both sides).
- I honestly think that strong tiltless means stronger guiltless. So this will be worth it.

And I also wrote:

Part of me wants to say screw it and get good at shredding in time to play with the Boston crew at the end of March. But that's what I always did in the past >> would just learn links and go with whatever was natural. That led me to a dead end, so I've just got to continue to be patient.

Besides, I know what's causing my shitty mood. I get this way every year when I need the winter to end. And on top of that, the job search thing is causing tons of stress. I know that I'm one of those people that feels stress in a physical way (literally, I get tired when stressed) as well as mental way (easily frustrated, short tempered), so I just need to remember that my frustration with footbag is really nothing worse than being stressed and yearning for warm weather. I mean, nothing has really changed since 2 weeks ago when I was in a fine mood about this silly little game of ours.

In any case, I finished the first 2 weeks of what I expected to work on, and though I'm not as perfect as I'd like, I'm going to move on with my plan. That plan is (from previous page):

At the end of those two weeks, I plan to spend the following 2 weeks on whirl, DLO, drifter, spins, and ducks.

At the end of those two weeks, I'm going to return to the format I've been practicing lately >> basically, pixie, atomic, stepping, double dexes (DATW, barrage, paradon)

So, starting tomorrow, I'll hit a few of the easiest fundamentals that are still giving me trouble as a warmup, and then focus on whirl, DLO, Drifter, Spins, Ducks/dives. For fun, I think I'll add Pixie to that because I need some fun in my practices right now, and that's not a tiring component.

Something like this:
warmups
kicks
weak out-in ATW
osis
a couple strings of tiltless
clippers to butterfly to bops

practice
whirl > pdx mirage
toe set whirl > pdx mirage
clipper set DLO > other clipper > other DLO
toe set DLO > op toe stall > other DLO
drifter > pdx mirage
drifter > drifter
Smear
high set clipper > ss high set clipper > diving clipper (first two clippers are designed to improve my set consistency)
same thing with ducks
same thing with spins

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 15 Feb 2008 10:38

In case I can't find this later, I wanted to save this post from Colin (regarding what the style part of freestyle really is):

Footbag is all about rhythm. It is music we play with our bodies and hear with both our ears and our eyes. The way I figure, it can be divided into three layers.

First, we play a game against gravity. We push up, gravity pushes down. We vary, gravity doesn't. The music of footbag is founded on the conscious variance of our counterpoint to gravity's monotonous drone. Up, down, up, down. Peek, delay, peek, delay. Same thing. Not necessarily a steady beat, of course, although it happens sometimes and is cool. Constant steady beats are for musicians. Music is boring (relatively speaking).

The second layer is footwork. This is the part we actually hear. The punctuation. Tap tap SLAM tap SLAM etc. I guess we also hear the bag hitting the foot, but it's less pronounced, and more easily seen in any case.

The third includes the first two and everything else. It's the movement of the body. Imagine that Dave Clavens' shins were lightsaber blades. What does nemesis sound like? Genesis? You hear the difference? Torque? DATW? Now replace the lightsaber sound with something pleasant. Or hell, forget the sound, and just hear it with your eyes. Hear the rest of the game too, feet hitting the ground, bag rising, peeking, descending, body spinning, arms flailing, EVERYTHING.

This is how I watch footbag.

tstep84 · Post by **tstep84** » 15 Feb 2008 12:22

Hey,
This is Tom. I think I have introduced myself to you before. I go to temple. I am at my internship and bored out of my mind, so I am catching up on the modified I missed over the past months. I stumbled upon ur blog. my buddy drew and I play once or twice a week. You should try to make it to philly. Maybe u just need some new people to play with to progress. (And maybe drew and I need someone else, I know two man is killing me...)
Hope to hear from you soon.
tom
PS. Temple has got plenty of indoor space to play in during this artic winter were enjoying right now

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 16 Feb 2008 12:54

well, what a difference a decrease in stress and a more fun practice makes.

First, I got a call back for the 4th (and final) interview with Sungard. This one is with the EVP of Marketing. High powered guy. I would have to assume that a guy that far up is not being bothered with many candidates, so I think I'm either the one, or one of two. That interview is on the 28th of Feb.

So that made me feel really good.

And today was the first day of the practice noted above. What fun. The last two weeks wasn't a waste afterall. The components practiced ended up fixing my drifters and DLO's. I ended up hitting everything (but didn't get to ducks/spins/dives) at least a couple times on both sides. I also had a run where I hit just about every basic pixie trick on both sides guiltless. I allowed myself to try some harder stuff at the very end and was happy to see it hadn't gone backwards, but instead went forwards.

Kicking on Thursday with Brian. I need a shred.

Tom, making it into Philly is tough for me because my time away from kids has to be relatively short. But in the spring, I'll have a 1/2 court basketball court behind my house >> this is where I'll be shredding, so we'll get you two up to my place for some kick and barbecue.

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 17 Feb 2008 12:32

today about the same as yesterday

it continues to amaze me that whirl is so hard for me. My body just doesn't do that motion naturally. I'll keep trying for 2 weeks, but if I don't get it by then, I think I will officially give up on whirl forever. There are enough other things that I might as well listen to my body on this one.

Drifter and DLO are doing well, weakside and strongside will be the same by the end of these 2 weeks I think.

Frank_Sinatra · Post by **Frank_Sinatra** » 17 Feb 2008 13:14

I had no idea how whirl worked either until I started trying barrages & double pickups. I don't think you'll really give up on it forever. I think you're gonna figure it out before too long.

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 18 Feb 2008 05:45

We'll see about the whirls. Remember, I've been playing for over 10 years now, and was a pretty good guiltless player for a number of years - that is, I've given whirl a pretty good chance to be nice to me. So, I think there's a decent chance that whirl will be shelved if I can't make good progress >> then again, I'm pretty good at toe set whirl, so maybe I'll keep that and things like pixie whirl around.

I had a really great post in Ken's blog about the NBA dunk contest this past weekend, but then lost my internet connection so it's gone. Basically, I said: the blow out the candle dunk was better than the judges gave credit for - the judges need to watch the instant replay before they score a dunk. Superman dunk - if the plan all along was that he'd throw the ball in from a few feet away, that's amazing... if he intended to reach the rim and dunk it proper, well, then he missed. We'll never know. The behind the backboard dunk was one of the most amazing things I've seen on a basketball court. Dr. J and Michael and Vince are probably the only others that have done nicer dunks in my opinion.

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 19 Feb 2008 06:16

Played last night. After warmups, started at the end of my list of practice items, so I spent the entire time on dives and spins really. so-so practice. whatever. Just trying to keep as positive as possible until nice weather arrives.

Btw, here's an example of the new type of barn I'm looking to putting up in place of my 100 year old barn. It would have room for parking two cars, a 10 x 10 workshop/storage area, and I'd enclose a 15 x 15 area as a rec room / home office. It all sort of depends on whether I get the new job and make a little more money. It's so close to being in the budget, but not quite.

edit: so yeah, the rec room part of the barn would be used for rec room types of things (maybe a pool table?) and for playing footbag etc. I'd heat it. Oh man.. Would like to have that this year so I can play footbag in it for a few years before my playing days are done.

edit 2: It's been awhile since I showed you the family.

it must have been a tough day:

I just thought Meg looked really pretty this day:

Awwwwww

It's amazing how much fun you can have if you spend $3 at the dollar store.

Daddy and Emily

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 20 Feb 2008 06:50

So the example barn picture above is different than the layout I'd be using. I'd put the garage doors on the short side of the building instead. It makes it a little tighter getting out of the cars when parked in the garage, but maximizes workshop and rec room space. Rec room would be about 13 x 15 feet >> this size was chosen because you need this much space for a pool table. But even without the pool table, it will be a fun room for a running machine and to play footbag.

Here's a rough layout of my property. The barn pictured would be the new barn (but it's in the same footprint as my existing barn). Basketball court does not exist yet, but will by end of March or so.

Played last night. Mostly pixie. I just needed a night of pixie for some reason. It went well. I'm shredding with Brian on Thursday night which will be a nice treat.

slapdash21 · Post by **slapdash21** » 20 Feb 2008 10:35

tell brian whats up from the bsc

yacob · Post by **yacob** » 20 Feb 2008 16:18

You have a fire pit? That's awesome!

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 21 Feb 2008 05:21

slapdash wrote:

tell brian whats up from the bsc

I will when I see him... But true to typical Brian form, he called this morning to bail on our shred. The basic pattern is: Brian complains that I can't play often enough due to my family obligations > I make room in my schedule to play even though it messes up those obligations > he bails last minute so we can't play. Whatever.

I think tonight instead of practicing, I'll pretend I'm shredding and just go for some runs. I was so energized to shred. What a let down.

yacob wrote:

You have a fire pit? That's awesome!

Yeah, I really built my yard into something fun - I'm really proud of how it's all turned out because it was total shit when I moved in 2 years ago. We have a huge area that I fenced with split rail fence and then lined with wire so that the dog and kids are stuck in the safe area (btw, fencing an area this large SUCKS). That's where the playground is. Outside the fence, I built a fire pit. It's within about 20 feet of my porch >> my screened in porch (which I built the railings and screened in) has outdoor speakers run to indoor stereo, so when we're at the fire pit or on the porch we can listen to tunes. Really fun. Side note, we also have a small TV suspended from the ceiling of the porch - it's great to watch baseball games out there on a warm night.

Come visit me yacob! We'll shred and then hit the fire pit late night!

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 21 Feb 2008 11:51

Niiiiiiice.. Brian must have felt my frustration somehow. He called back and said he'd like to fit in our shred afterall! That improves my mood considerably

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 21 Feb 2008 18:01

Well, I learned a valuable lesson tonight.. It's something I think I knew. I need to shred more. Not play more, I already play a lot. But drills and shred are totally different on the body and on the mind. I was so horrible tonight I couldn't even believe it. It's like I haven't been playing at all for these past months. But I know that's not true because by the end of the session I was starting to click again. So, I will be immediately switching to 50% of my sessions are shred, and the other 1/2 are drills. On the shred days, I'll still concentrate on certain concepts, but will incorporate them into strings instead.

The good news is that things I haven't been practicing (stepping and atomic) are run worthy.

I'm happy to be at this point.

edit 2 : I think the above sentence should be "I think I'm happy to be at this point.. I think I can start putting it all together"

edit: oh yeah, and Brian is good. He's better by a good deal now than I ever was at my best. Totally guiltless, often genuine, very consistent, totally clean tricks. Nice flow and form. I take that as a challenge

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 22 Feb 2008 06:10

Snowing like a mo fo today. But our company marches on, so I'm here. It's a ghost town because most people had to take the day off for fear of driving or to take care of kids that are not in school. Though boring, these are good days to come to work if you have 4 wheel drive, because you don't burn a day off, and the workload is 5% of usual.

I forgot to mention yesterday that I weighed in after I kicked last night. Another 2 pounds lost. I'm nearly to my goal weight. Brian (without me asking or prompting in any way) commented that I look so skinny now. Most people see me every day, so the weight loss doesn't have as dramatic of an effect. But Brian hasn't seen me in over a month, so it really stood out to him. Feels good. My morning workouts are making me much stronger too. As I've said before, the scale doesn't show the true magnitude of what I've done, because I've replaced fat with muscle. Inches lost and lean muscle definition are the real things for me >> by that measure, I'm not far away from looking as good as I've ever looked.

Drank a bottle of wine last night. I don't know where on earth that came from. My wife was out for "girls night out" and I was watching Lost. And I just decided to say "screw my no drinking during the week days rule, just this once". So I did, and it was fun. And now I'm a little hung over today.