Jack: Coming back in time for summer?

Jack Stutler · Post by **Jack Stutler** » 29 May 2008 11:20

Got some good work in today. I hit 19 consecutive toe stalls, only managed to hit about 7 or so inside stalls. I really can't wait for my lavers to show up. The shoes i'm wearing now i've had for 2 years, been wearing them pretty much all of that 2 years so the sides and toes are pretty warped and some of the seams are breaking.

Anyways, after hitting those 19 toes, and after landing a ATW once yesterday right before ending the session, I worked on ATW pretty hard. Landed 3 with my right foot, 3 with my left but the first one i landed with my left was kinda iffy. As my left foot was coming down to get my toes under the bag, it kinda rammed into my right foot which was right when the bag landed on my toes. Kinda of ugly but it worked. Kept going at it with both feet for awhile after but couldn't land another one, so to mix it up and i tried a reverse ATW with my right foot and landed it, which was kind of neat

I really wanted to put more work in on it but the inside of my feet right on the bridges were killing me so I called it so I didn't hurt myself.

I'm trying to get my hands on a camera so I can start taping myself. I know how much this can help, unfortunately after ordering my lavers and a couple mr. sandmans, little low on money so the camera will have to wait

Jack Stutler · Post by **Jack Stutler** » 29 May 2008 13:32

went back out after my feet felt ok enough to go back out(ps, is there any way to stretch that area or is simply a lack of support from the shoe/insole what have you?).

did some basic kicks to warm up, practiced some toes and insides. stretched out, then went hard on my ATW's. I'd give each foot three tries to land one, if one was landed i'd keep going til i dropped it, then go to the other foot.

managed to string three ATW's together with my right foot, only got two in succession with my left. my main problem is the set off the toe. more often then not when i left my foot to set, i keep pulling the bag in towards my support leg, which makes it kind of awkward to catch with the setting foot.

I did try, and landed on the first try, a fairy setting off my right foot. so at least i got something out of that awkward set

landed one with my left foot setting as well, but then i went back to ATW's since I was really starting to get a feel for my legs moving that way.

Jack Stutler · Post by **Jack Stutler** » 30 May 2008 16:29

my lavers shoed up today!!!!!!! and my mr. sandman bag.

SO excited to get these broken in.

anyways time to do the toe box dealy and then i'm out to get some serious time in with these things

edit: except the sticky with the link to the mod tutorial won't load for some reason for me, at all, which makes me a sad panda

edit2: finally loaded and got it done and laced up

now i'm off to go break these in

Jack Stutler · Post by **Jack Stutler** » 30 May 2008 21:48

lavers are awesome. i'm so happy mine showed today. i was hitting toe stalls easily. ATW's also got a lot easier as it's easier to catch the bag with these shoes then my old shoes. landed a mirage too

tried to hit it flipside but i couldn't get it to work.

anyways, no work tomorrow so i'm ganna drill my insides/outside stalls tomorrow for a good bit.

EoghanMcDowell · Post by **EoghanMcDowell** » 30 May 2008 23:04

hey man, sounds like your getting off to a good start. i like how you're using both sides, especially with ATW's. A lot of people ignore that trick when they're starting, but it's really important.

nice job on mirage! Now for your flipside. I found that it's easier to hit a trick on your flip if you do it on your strong, then try to imitate all the motions exactly on your flip. Also do a lot of air shredding, and just get that mirage motion ingrained into your muscle memory.

Good luck

Eoghan

Jack Stutler · Post by **Jack Stutler** » 02 Jun 2008 10:16

finally got some down time today so i got to go and work on atw's and inside stalls. having some trouble with my insides, seems like theres only one spot on the surface where the bag won't bounce/roll, which is right over the spot where my toes are curled.

atw's are getting easier, out>in's are still a little tricky but slowly getting that dialed in. landed 3 or so mirages in a row. worked on it flip and kept getting contact on the landing but i couldn't seal it. was getting close but had to end earlier then i wanted 'cause my friend needed a ride back to his car(I was designated DD last night since i showed up after i got off work).

got work again in a hour or so, hopefully get in another good drill session tonight after work.

Jack Stutler · Post by **Jack Stutler** » 04 Jun 2008 08:32

my quantums showed up today

too bad i only really have time to post this since wednesday is when i get all my random crap i have to do done (laundry, cleaning and the jazz)

i almost want to skip the show i'm going to tonight so i can get some time to give them a try

still got most of the day tomorrow though, excited!

edit: there was a mr. sandman in one of the shoes

sweet deal, thank you mr. daryl genz, a free mr. bag with my quantums just made my entire day.

Jack Stutler · Post by **Jack Stutler** » 05 Jun 2008 02:53

so we went to go see God Johnson (local band) last night over at the Cabooze and so I had a little bit too much to drink (I don't remember the ride home AT ALL ): )

THE WINGS WON THE CUP SO IT'S ALL GRAVY!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Jack Stutler · Post by **Jack Stutler** » 08 Jun 2008 00:20

been keeping myself busy over the past couple of days drilling inside stalls and then once i got that going i tried some wraps. getting used to balancing like that was kinda wierd at first, but it feels alright now.

wraps were going pretty good today so i started trying out some clippers. i was having a lot of trouble with them at first, so i work on toe stalls for mebe 10 mins then landed a clipper from a toe set, and it just sort of seemed to click after that. making contanct with the bag is a lot easier, so now i'm just trying to work on making sure i crank my ankle the right way to get my foot as flat as can keep while remembering to curl my toes to help that out. setting from a clipper still isn't great, most times i pull it out infront of me going cross body and sometimes i pull it right into my hip, but at this point i'm more concerned with getting the feel of how my feet and body should be so i can actually make contact and stall the bag, then i think i'll worry about setting it in such a way to do other things from there.

legovers are giving me some trouble. i think i just need to school reverse atw's a little more to get used to my leg spinning that way. i can usually make contact fine but not in anyway that would actually be a delay, mostly off the side/front end of my shoe.

mirages are getting easier to do. my biggest problem now is making sure i actually have the bag delayed on my toes before i start moving my catching foot. i always try and rush it. shouldn't be too hard to remedy, just have to make my self slow down.

Jack Stutler · Post by **Jack Stutler** » 23 Jun 2008 18:32

been awhile since i last wrote in this dealyo.

still working on atw's, mirages and clippers. they're all coming along slowly, clipper more slowly then the others.

it's hard to work up the motivation to keep working on these things by myself. gets kind of frustrating when one day things are going well and i feel like they're starting to stick and then the next day i practice it seems like i'm just starting over again.

i really want to get my hands on a video recorder of some kind, so i can watch myself doing these things and see what looks right what looks wrong and such.

want to get out to a jam or tourney sometime.

Jack Stutler · Post by **Jack Stutler** » 25 Jun 2008 06:12

finally got legover to click and i landed it both sides yesterday. was doing them later at a friends house while we were just hanging out side and i heard/felt a kind of pop from my right hip while bringing the leg over the bag. i dont think i did anything serious as i can stand up and walk with out debilitating pain, it only sort of hurts when i try and mov emy leg in a legoverish fashion. so i think i just pulled one of the smaller muscles involved in the movement. i'll just take it easy for a day or two and hopefully thats all it needs.

happy i finally got that trick to work for me

Jack Stutler · Post by **Jack Stutler** » 01 Jul 2008 18:07

so went down to chicago with my friend liam this past weekend.

big thanks to nathan, josh, jake, freddy, zeke and everyone else who came out who i didnt really get a chance to talk to. watching footbag videos are fun and great and all, but seeing it done in person was so nice.

couple highlights from my weekend in the windy city:

arriving at 1am, having a few drinks and then walking around for 3-4 hours as liam's sister's friend gave us a tour of the local area

nathan getting jibber jabbered at by some random dude leading a segway tour

giordano's pizza after leaving peacefest(holy crap that was tasty stuff)

planning to leave sunday around 6, not getting back to the car til 7, then not actually getting on the highway til 10pm due to being trapped in a parking structure

oh yeah, kicked with a 32 panel finally. it was sooo nice, i don't like using my mr. sandman so much any more. definitely going to look into picking up a couple from a few of the many stitchers here on modi.

Frank_Sinatra · Post by **Frank_Sinatra** » 02 Jul 2008 06:26

Hey Jack, it was cool meeting you and kicking. I definitely agree with you on the 32 panel. Looked like you're building solid fundamentals, really good both sidedness. A 32 panel will probably be a necessary step to start doing more stringing.

If you ever have an event up in the Cities, let me know!

CIC flurry · Post by **CIC flurry** » 02 Jul 2008 08:41

Hi. I was there. Wish we coulda kicked more.

Jack Stutler · Post by **Jack Stutler** » 05 Jul 2008 13:24

happy belated 4th to those who read this

yesterday was pretty fun, went out to a friends cabin/house dealy in somerset WI. got to tube for a bit, then when while everyone else was figuring out what to do next i ran back inside to grab my lavers and get some practice in

was just warming up when a few friends came and joined me for some hack, which was fun, but i kind of wanted to get a at least a little drilling in on my holiday friday so i ran back inside and grabbed my back up footbag and started drilling atws/mirage/legovers outside of the circle. kind of felt like a bum for doing that, but got over that quickly when i realized the only ones who were giving me grief for playing by myself were the ones who i didnt really know (friends of a friend), and in turn they didn't really know me and my drive for freestyle, my good friends were cool with it, just sneaking in the jack-ass side comments that one expects from real good friends

i'm hoping my enthusiasm for freestyle rubs off on one or two of them, it gets real stale kicking by myself all the time.

anyways today i got another good hour or so of drilling in. atw's are only geting easier, legovers as well. mirages however seem to be making no headway. i think next session i'll work primarily on those. oh yeah, theres a hania bag out there coming my way, excited about that

thinking of starting a challenge thread in a week or two, once i get what i'm working on now nailed down a bit more. i figure it'll be good since it'll give me something to work on after i drill, and it'll help me out with stringing different things together, we'll see i guess.

Jack Stutler · Post by **Jack Stutler** » 06 Jul 2008 20:52

good little drill session today after work, about a half hour or so.

after doing some atws on both sides i decided to see how many i could do alternating feet, got up to about 9 before i dropped due to bad set. so that was neat, gave me a idea of where i am with my mirages and legovers since atw was the first thing i learned how to do. don't work tomorrow so i think i'll put in a lot of work on mirages and legovers.

excited for my first 32 panel to show up some time in the relatively near future(it's my avatar). been jonesin' for one ever since my foray down to chicago. maybe once i get more the basics down i'll pick up stitching.

Jack Stutler · Post by **Jack Stutler** » 07 Jul 2008 14:22

think i pulled/strained a muscle or some ligaments or w/e in my upper left back right by the shoulder blade today while i was drilling. back was feeling tight while doing some legovers so when i went to stretch i felt it seize up in a cramp which felt amazing, let me tell you.

guess i'll just have to take it easy the next day or two and keep stretching, hopefully it simmers down soon, mirages/legovers were feeling pretty good til that happened

Jack Stutler · Post by **Jack Stutler** » 11 Jul 2008 13:40

had today off from work so got some house chores done, and a couple good drill sessions in(each about a hour long). atw's are getting easier and easier every day, starting to get that feeling like i could do atw>op toe>atw rpt til my legs fell off, which would be cool, but craptacular as if my legs fell off not only could i not walk after that, but even worse i couldn't play footbag any more.

enough of that sad scenario. my second session i drilled clipper exclusively. i dont feel ready enough with it yet to start doing it midstring if you will(then again aside from atw's i dont really feel that way with anything yet, feh) but i'm starting to get the feel of it from hand setting > hop > clipper > hand catch rpt on op side. i think i got up to maybe 8 or so of that in a row before i missed one. it'll still be awhile before i can do them b2b with out hand catching/setting or doing clipper > clipper rpt same side, which feels daunting at first, but then i look at how i've come along with atw's and i'm confident i'll get there as long as i keep putting the time in.

my third little session i just worked on w/e i felt like doing. did some atw's for a bit, some clippers, drilled flip mirage pretty hard, its coming along albeit slowly. tried some illusions, footed it a couple times but didn't seal any of the tries. starting doing atw > same foot clipper rpt both sides. did that for awhile, then tried to do as many consecutive legovers as i could. i got all the way up to the mind-splodin' number of 5 in a row, but one or two of them were completely the. could feel the bag roll along my calf as i dexed, which was a sweet sensation but totally not how i envision myself doing them in my head

in other news 10,000 lakes music festival is in... 12 days. can. not. wait. last year, my first time, it was just me and my good friend liam, and it was a blast. this year its me liam and about 5 or 6 of our friends, can't even imagine the shenaniganery that will go down this year. and then after that weekend of debauchery, 90% chance of me making it up to hackrifice in september which im also super excited about.

anyways, its friday, well, its sunday really since i have to work tomorrow, either way, its time for me to clean myself up and start my evening.

edit: left some words out of sentences and i forgot to do my thought for the day!

thought for the day: a black hole is a infinitely small, infinitely dense point of mass. the strongest theory for the formation of the universe is the big bang, everything starting from a singularity like a black hole. could the formation of a black hole in our universe be the big bang for a parallel universe?

Jack Stutler · Post by **Jack Stutler** » 14 Jul 2008 18:20

so clippers are starting to feel not as awkward as they used to, and its becoming much easier for me to make contact with the bag now, when i remember to turn my shoulders in and actually watch the bag falling onto my foot that is

i also need to work on remembering to bend my support knee more as well. i can already notice a difference in sets when i remember to do that from when i dont, bag goes up a lot straighter off my foot when i bend my knee, though i have had some good up and down sets when i just move my setting leg, but i know that'll end up a habit if i don't prevent it and that would be bad form. i think in a few days time i might actually be able to do clipper > ss clipper or clipper > op clipper which would make me super happy.

legovers are getting easier for me to do as well. clicked a few sessions ago that i don't have to whip my foot around the bag to catch, i can just sort of lift my entire leg over the bag and make a small dex to get into the catching position, which is what i remember reading when i looked up legover, but reading and actually doing and feeling are so completely different.

mirages! dad gummit. my strongside mirage feels great, consistent. my flip? i dont know what the hell is going on. half the time my dex feels so awkward i have to bail and just make sure i land on my feet, the other half my catching foot is moving at the speed of light and kicks the bag 1895729384 miles out infront of me instead of catching it. i guess i'll just have to make sure to drill this pretty hard and slow it down so i can get it right.

i tried out some illusions today. most of the time my calf or thigh would hit the bag while dexing. sometimes i would dex clean, but i would be too slow and the bag would hit the ground before i could plant and catch. i think i might need to dex higher up on the bag. going to have to watch some videos and watch how others do it.

9 days til 10,000 lakes music festival!!!!!!

i can't believe its so close, i'm so excited for this. last year was so much damn fun and this year is going to be even better. me and my good good friend liam are returning for our second year, and we managed to get 5-6 of our friends to come along with. i can't friggin' wait, 4 days of camping, live music on 4 different stages all day long, and having a flat out awesome time.

edit: thought of the day again gosh!
thought of the day: not only are lavers cool for footbagz, also probally the most comfortable shoe i've worn in awhile, double bonus!

Jack Stutler · Post by **Jack Stutler** » 15 Jul 2008 09:36

no work today so had my first little session of the day. i had to stop because i was getting that pain around my left shoulder blade again and i don't want to aggravate it, i dont know what the hell it is, sometimes it feels like it needs to pop, but it wont, then when i stretch it it just wants to clench up. hopefully it works out in a week or two or i think i'm going to go get it checked out.

anyways was a good little session for me. worked on my flip mirage and really made a effort to slow it down so i would actually catch the bag instead of just whack it with my foot. its starting to feel/work a little better. still not where i have my strong mirage at but i'm working on that.

after that i worked on my clippers pretty hard, mostly hand set > clip > catch. made a effort to land more on my toes when i hop into the position and immediately noticed better sets when i do that. so good infact i managed to hit

clipper > op clipper > catch

clipper > ss clipper > catch both sides

so that made me really happy, i really want to keep practicing that but i dont wanna end up pulling something in my back again and then have that to deal with.

guess i'll try again in a couple hours or so.