I'm going to the NYFA tournament real soon, so I figure I should finish my USO write-up. I'll add video links to it later.
Here it is:
Saturday night
It was pretty late by the time we all got back from the site so our top priority was getting food. I was hoping to buy Rory dinner as thanks for making my basketball video, but we couldn't find him. Flash, Age and I ended up going to a nice brewpub that served food. Flash and I split a pizza which had an average of 4, whole garlic cloves PER SLICE. It was crazy. But it filled us up, and by the time I got to Red's I was feeling good. At Red's I spent a good chunk of time just playing with Cameron's puppy Oreo, and most of the rest of the evening playing Wii bowling. Last summer I played a ton of Wii bowling with NYFA, but hadn't had a chance to do much since. Happily, I didn't lose my touch: one game I even bowled a 235! That night I swapped sleep partners and slept with Age, who was a lot less elbowy than Rob.
Sunday
Woke up feeling physically and mentally sharp. My strategy of only doing routines and limiting my booze intake paid off. We check out the hotel, grab milkshakes (bad idea), then dump our stuff at Red's as we wait to figure out how people are getting to the site. While I wait on Red's porch Allen Haggett entertains us by
doing trials off his porchsteps.
We get to the site without difficulty, and I set about finding enough food to tide me over until I'm done judging circle and have to do my routine. Most places are closed, which is weird, but I end up finding a Del Mar taco and get fish tacos which really hit the spot. I missed fish tacos. As the day approaches noon the sun makes itself felt. It's the kind of heat where you expect to see the floor shimmer with heat, like how a highway on the horizon seems to swim on a summer day. I don't know how people managed to play at all, much less as hard as they did. Circle finals ended up being a hell of a show. Lon, Dave, Jim and Flash all played really well. Lon was consistent throughout, while Jim had a bad start but really turned it on towards the end. I recall he had one run with both blurry fluxes and both blurry torques, as well as a ton of other torque variants. Dave had a few jaw-dropping runs, and was pretty consistent throughout. At the end of the day though, it was really hard to say who took which place. You could rearrange the top 3 in any order, and be able to make a strong argument why that worked.
I only got to see a few of the women's routines and hardly any of the men's routines, because I really needed to focus on my warm-ups. Thank you Rory for being my warm up buddy both days. When I was on deck I hopped on the stage to test it out. It wasn't the most stable in the world, but it wasn't bad either. I was therefore pretty surprised when I dropped my very first trick of my routine! Was it a mental error? The stage? I'm guessing more of the former than the latter. One good thing that came of the drop though, was it took off any pressure that was on me. I proceeded to hit the rest of my routine almost without errors, and ended up performing probably the best routine I've done to date in my footbag career. I also set a personal record for longest amount of time without a drop in a routine, since I ended up getting almost the full length of the routine without dropping. When it was over I felt a bit disappointed, but also relieved and in some ways reassured. No, I didn't go dropless. But I did do a great routine, and I felt strong throughout. And I knew even then that I'd get another shot at a routine in less than 2 weeks. So really, things could be a whole lot worse.
Now that routines were over, I was finally freed from my self-imposed shred restraint. I hopped into a few circles and cut loose, and signed up for rippin run and sick trick, even though I didn't feel particularly prepared for either. In casual shred only a few highlights stuck out enough for me to remember them:
*mullet-mullet-pdx torque to start a strong run.
*bl. Whirl-bl.whirl-blurriest-fog-darkwalk-blurriest-tomahawk-pdx torque. Or something like that.
*Having a shred battle with Justin Dale. I think somebody shot that...I'd love to see it again. Super fun.
Rippin' Run was a good time. First round I battled Zeb Jackson, but it was a short battle, and I played conservatively. Second round was much better. I battled Ben Skaggs and I actually tried to play well. As I recall it was a relatively long battle, and I dropped first, but I felt very good about my run.
I warmed up for Sick 1 with Zac Jahner. He was wearing a Dr. Dre 'Da Chronic
Fanzine
-
Zeb Jackson
- Post Master General
- Posts: 2783
- Joined: 19 Dec 2005 12:57
- Location: Boise,Idaho, USA
I would like to point out. That you are confusing me with Zac. He battled you in rippin' run. 
-Zeb Jackson
http://www.elitefootbag.com
http://www.elitefootbag.com
Sorry about that. I got nothing but love for the Jackson clan.
Ken, you really pushed yourself through at comps, and it was a truly amazing experience to watch it all happen in person. Enjoy the bag, and dominate footbag circles like you always do. 
Waylon Lew - maker of Wasabi bags
NYFA represent.
"Footbag can be pretty frustrating when it's supposed to be fun. I was partly driven by this forum - practice, practice, practice... As that is true, I think someone can be too focused on progressing and training that they miss the fun aspect of it." - Bander87
NYFA represent.
"Footbag can be pretty frustrating when it's supposed to be fun. I was partly driven by this forum - practice, practice, practice... As that is true, I think someone can be too focused on progressing and training that they miss the fun aspect of it." - Bander87
NYFA tournament write-up
I am giving serious thought to going to Worlds, though I may need some financial help to make it work. I'll probably start a thread asking for help later today. For now though, I want to share my write-up of this weekend's NYFA tourney.
2nd Annual NYFA Tournament Write-up
Friday
It is hard to describe how I felt leading up to this weekend. Some history might help contextualize my mix of nostalgia, excitement and nervousness. The first page of my blog has a write-up of my introduction to footbag, which astute readers will notice also occurred in Central Park, and happened almost exactly 11 years ago to the day. This tournament therefore meant a lot to me on a personal level. The fact that footbag has been such an important part of my life for the last 11 years is pretty incredible, and to be able to celebrate that anniversary by competing in a tournament, at the same venue where I was introduced to the sport... that's just an opportunity that doesn't come up very often.
While that may help explain my nostalgia and excitement, I also entered this weekend a little nervous. Anybody who's read my blog in the last year knows that I've been training my routine very diligently, with the end goal of going dropless in competition. In March I did a 1-drop at Adrienne's tournament, and at USO I did a 1 drop in each round. So going into this weekend, there was a lot of (self-imposed) pressure was on me to step up and finally go dropless in comp. The other factor contributing to my nervousness, was that I had spent the week leading up to the tournament nursing a pinched nerve in my neck, and moving apartments. I therefore didn't feel entirely prepared physically for the weekend, though I had faith in my mental game thanks to all my training.
On Friday I went to work in the morning, but I couldn't get anything done because I was so amped up for the weekend. I finally left work at lunch and went up to Maryland to catch a ride up with Vince. We pit-stopped at a music store to pick up speakers for the event (Vince ran a lot of the logistics for the tourney) and pretty much did a straight shot to NYC from there. We listened to my iPod on the way there, and had good conversation, so the trip felt pretty quick. Once in NYC, we dumped our stuff at the hotel. I waited there for a bit while Vince ran an errand, and flipped on the TV. I wasn't expecting anything good to be on, so I was pleasantly surprised when I found that ESPN2 was showing the US Olympic basketball team playing an exhibition game against Canada. I watched half of it, which got me pumped up, and then we went for dinner. Back at the hotel I took a long, hot bath, and generally tried to get my mental game ready for the next day.
Saturday
I was afraid I would sleep badly, since I was so excited for the tournament, but the bath helped me get in a complete night's sleep. I got some breakfast and took my time getting to the site. One advantage of having a tourney in NYC, is that I didn't have to expend any mental energy worrying about getting to the site, since I've played there so many times. I see people playing in the distance, walk up, exchange some hugs and hellos, and plop myself into a comfy lawn chair to watch people play. I remember some old Weezer music came on, and I had fun singing along as I watched circles of players.
Soon enough I got antsy, and decided to do some slow warming up in the circles. My second guiltless run of the day, I started by trying some drifters. I got to ten, then decided to keep going because it was easy. Soon enough I was at 20, and decided to go for my personal record. After #30 I handcaught it, having decided it was better not to wear myself out. I did a good job of playing light until Barrett's cameraman came by, and I decided to show off. Right after that run I realized it was dumb to get tired, so I chilled out for a while.
I met a whole bunch of new players all day, which is always fun. Pat Thomsen impressed me with his graceful style. Cody the Myachi guy is just raw untapped footbag talent, and was learning tricks and combos with astounding speed. I met Verena's sister Anita, and I could tell just by her face that she was her sister. I played a decent amount with Doug Tank, who also has a ton of upside.
Even more than meeting new people though, this weekend was special for me for all the old friends I saw there. Josh Penney, Dan Kramer, Ian Brill, and Steve Goldberg are 4 people who I met 11 years ago in the same spot, and it's amazing that they all showed up, and that I played a little footbag with all of them. Bruce was there of course, and he's another friend I've known almost as long. Pascal and Luis also showed up, so there was a mini-Cornell Footbag Club reunion for a bit too. The fact that Vince and Age showed made me really feel like all my US footbag families came together for a weekend and I got to see them all. It meant a lot to me.
My plan for competition was similar to USO: my focus was on routines, so I wasn't going to mess around with other events. I told Barrett and Vince that I would compete in Circle if it came after routines because then I wouldn't risk tiring myself out for routines, and I was stoked to hear that that was the planned order of events. As competition drew nearer, I decided there were few enough participants that I could do Sick 3 without jeopardizing my routine chances, plus I thought it would make a better show for the audience. I hadn't prepared any combos in advance, but I figured I could probably get something like whirling ss butterfly-fog-toebius. When it came time for me to compete, I surprised myself by hitting it first try! Whoo! I then proceeded to miss my next 4 attempts, but whatever. I was just happy I hit my main combo. I watched Jorden go after me; just like me, he hit his first combo and then missed the rest of his turns. I wasn't sure who the judges would give it to, but what mattered to me was that I hit a combo that I liked, and that I helped put on a show for the crowd.
When it came time for Rippin Run, I decided at the last minute I'd do it, even though I generally don't like the event. First round I competed against Drew, and advanced. Thankfully there weren't many competitors, so I didn't have to wait long until finals. Unsurprisingly, Jorden made finals. I figured I had absolutely no chance to beat him, so I decided I wouldn't even try, and I'd just try and play genuine-ish so I wouldn't embarass myself on video by doing 20 BOP and losing. I hate it when people go easy in rippin run. I started my run a few seconds before the official timer and went at it hard from the start. After I had done enough contacts to feel like I avoided embarassment, I decided I'd go easier for a bit to build some tension for the crowd. I soon got bored of this though, and went back to playing around my normal level. Somewhere in the middle of that, I heard the crowd gasp in surprise, and I was tempted to join them because I was also real surprised. I did a few more contacts just to make sure that Jorden really did drop, and that the crowd wasn't reacting to something else. Not wanting to tire myself out too much before routines, I dropped shortly thereafter.
As I warmed up for routines, I got a sense that something was amiss at the staff table. I soon learned that Barrett had lost some of the competitors music. My immediate reaction was relief mixed with some self-satisfaction: in addition to mailing my song to Barrett, I had also brought it on CD, on flashdrive, and on my iPod. It felt good to have my backup plans pay off, but at the same time I knew that the other competitors' missing music would impact me by screwing up the schedule. I was first told that Open circle would happen before routines, and I was prepared to scratch from circle in that case. I then learned that first round of circles would happen, then routines, then Open circle finals. I figured my pool wouldn't be too hard in the first round of circle, so I didn't scratch.
Open circle was fun. I didn't really stick to my plan of playing conservatively, and I'm not sure why. In retrospect I should have played easier to save energy for routines, but as you will read later, I guess things worked out. I don't recall too much from my first round of circle, except that I started one string by hitting blurry torque off the pass.
I warmed up for routines with Mike Toolan, and felt overall good, though maybe a bit tired from circle. Toolan and Jorden didn't get to do routines because they didn't bring extra copies of their song, which really really sucks. I also felt bad for the crowd, since I'm sure Jorden would have shown them something world-class. On a personal level though, I didn't really care if I was competing against intermediates or BAP, because my only goal was to go dropless, and I didn't care how I'd place. I warmed up through all the other competitors routines, though I did stop to watch a bit of Jon's routine because his music was really cool. At first I thought his song was "Minnie the Moocher," though it turned out to be something else.
NEXT: My routine, circle finals, and more.
2nd Annual NYFA Tournament Write-up
Friday
It is hard to describe how I felt leading up to this weekend. Some history might help contextualize my mix of nostalgia, excitement and nervousness. The first page of my blog has a write-up of my introduction to footbag, which astute readers will notice also occurred in Central Park, and happened almost exactly 11 years ago to the day. This tournament therefore meant a lot to me on a personal level. The fact that footbag has been such an important part of my life for the last 11 years is pretty incredible, and to be able to celebrate that anniversary by competing in a tournament, at the same venue where I was introduced to the sport... that's just an opportunity that doesn't come up very often.
While that may help explain my nostalgia and excitement, I also entered this weekend a little nervous. Anybody who's read my blog in the last year knows that I've been training my routine very diligently, with the end goal of going dropless in competition. In March I did a 1-drop at Adrienne's tournament, and at USO I did a 1 drop in each round. So going into this weekend, there was a lot of (self-imposed) pressure was on me to step up and finally go dropless in comp. The other factor contributing to my nervousness, was that I had spent the week leading up to the tournament nursing a pinched nerve in my neck, and moving apartments. I therefore didn't feel entirely prepared physically for the weekend, though I had faith in my mental game thanks to all my training.
On Friday I went to work in the morning, but I couldn't get anything done because I was so amped up for the weekend. I finally left work at lunch and went up to Maryland to catch a ride up with Vince. We pit-stopped at a music store to pick up speakers for the event (Vince ran a lot of the logistics for the tourney) and pretty much did a straight shot to NYC from there. We listened to my iPod on the way there, and had good conversation, so the trip felt pretty quick. Once in NYC, we dumped our stuff at the hotel. I waited there for a bit while Vince ran an errand, and flipped on the TV. I wasn't expecting anything good to be on, so I was pleasantly surprised when I found that ESPN2 was showing the US Olympic basketball team playing an exhibition game against Canada. I watched half of it, which got me pumped up, and then we went for dinner. Back at the hotel I took a long, hot bath, and generally tried to get my mental game ready for the next day.
Saturday
I was afraid I would sleep badly, since I was so excited for the tournament, but the bath helped me get in a complete night's sleep. I got some breakfast and took my time getting to the site. One advantage of having a tourney in NYC, is that I didn't have to expend any mental energy worrying about getting to the site, since I've played there so many times. I see people playing in the distance, walk up, exchange some hugs and hellos, and plop myself into a comfy lawn chair to watch people play. I remember some old Weezer music came on, and I had fun singing along as I watched circles of players.
Soon enough I got antsy, and decided to do some slow warming up in the circles. My second guiltless run of the day, I started by trying some drifters. I got to ten, then decided to keep going because it was easy. Soon enough I was at 20, and decided to go for my personal record. After #30 I handcaught it, having decided it was better not to wear myself out. I did a good job of playing light until Barrett's cameraman came by, and I decided to show off. Right after that run I realized it was dumb to get tired, so I chilled out for a while.
I met a whole bunch of new players all day, which is always fun. Pat Thomsen impressed me with his graceful style. Cody the Myachi guy is just raw untapped footbag talent, and was learning tricks and combos with astounding speed. I met Verena's sister Anita, and I could tell just by her face that she was her sister. I played a decent amount with Doug Tank, who also has a ton of upside.
Even more than meeting new people though, this weekend was special for me for all the old friends I saw there. Josh Penney, Dan Kramer, Ian Brill, and Steve Goldberg are 4 people who I met 11 years ago in the same spot, and it's amazing that they all showed up, and that I played a little footbag with all of them. Bruce was there of course, and he's another friend I've known almost as long. Pascal and Luis also showed up, so there was a mini-Cornell Footbag Club reunion for a bit too. The fact that Vince and Age showed made me really feel like all my US footbag families came together for a weekend and I got to see them all. It meant a lot to me.
My plan for competition was similar to USO: my focus was on routines, so I wasn't going to mess around with other events. I told Barrett and Vince that I would compete in Circle if it came after routines because then I wouldn't risk tiring myself out for routines, and I was stoked to hear that that was the planned order of events. As competition drew nearer, I decided there were few enough participants that I could do Sick 3 without jeopardizing my routine chances, plus I thought it would make a better show for the audience. I hadn't prepared any combos in advance, but I figured I could probably get something like whirling ss butterfly-fog-toebius. When it came time for me to compete, I surprised myself by hitting it first try! Whoo! I then proceeded to miss my next 4 attempts, but whatever. I was just happy I hit my main combo. I watched Jorden go after me; just like me, he hit his first combo and then missed the rest of his turns. I wasn't sure who the judges would give it to, but what mattered to me was that I hit a combo that I liked, and that I helped put on a show for the crowd.
When it came time for Rippin Run, I decided at the last minute I'd do it, even though I generally don't like the event. First round I competed against Drew, and advanced. Thankfully there weren't many competitors, so I didn't have to wait long until finals. Unsurprisingly, Jorden made finals. I figured I had absolutely no chance to beat him, so I decided I wouldn't even try, and I'd just try and play genuine-ish so I wouldn't embarass myself on video by doing 20 BOP and losing. I hate it when people go easy in rippin run. I started my run a few seconds before the official timer and went at it hard from the start. After I had done enough contacts to feel like I avoided embarassment, I decided I'd go easier for a bit to build some tension for the crowd. I soon got bored of this though, and went back to playing around my normal level. Somewhere in the middle of that, I heard the crowd gasp in surprise, and I was tempted to join them because I was also real surprised. I did a few more contacts just to make sure that Jorden really did drop, and that the crowd wasn't reacting to something else. Not wanting to tire myself out too much before routines, I dropped shortly thereafter.
As I warmed up for routines, I got a sense that something was amiss at the staff table. I soon learned that Barrett had lost some of the competitors music. My immediate reaction was relief mixed with some self-satisfaction: in addition to mailing my song to Barrett, I had also brought it on CD, on flashdrive, and on my iPod. It felt good to have my backup plans pay off, but at the same time I knew that the other competitors' missing music would impact me by screwing up the schedule. I was first told that Open circle would happen before routines, and I was prepared to scratch from circle in that case. I then learned that first round of circles would happen, then routines, then Open circle finals. I figured my pool wouldn't be too hard in the first round of circle, so I didn't scratch.
Open circle was fun. I didn't really stick to my plan of playing conservatively, and I'm not sure why. In retrospect I should have played easier to save energy for routines, but as you will read later, I guess things worked out. I don't recall too much from my first round of circle, except that I started one string by hitting blurry torque off the pass.
I warmed up for routines with Mike Toolan, and felt overall good, though maybe a bit tired from circle. Toolan and Jorden didn't get to do routines because they didn't bring extra copies of their song, which really really sucks. I also felt bad for the crowd, since I'm sure Jorden would have shown them something world-class. On a personal level though, I didn't really care if I was competing against intermediates or BAP, because my only goal was to go dropless, and I didn't care how I'd place. I warmed up through all the other competitors routines, though I did stop to watch a bit of Jon's routine because his music was really cool. At first I thought his song was "Minnie the Moocher," though it turned out to be something else.
NEXT: My routine, circle finals, and more.
I'm stressing a bit about this Worlds thing. Logistically it's not going to be easy to pull off, but the fact that it's possible and that I think I could do well are making me seriously consider going. I keep thinking back to 2002, and how I decided not to go to Worlds because I was busy moving to Japan. In retrospect I realized that I could have gone to Worlds, and I would have had fun. So I'm trying not to repeat that mistake this time around. The fact that finals are Saturday night, and my new job starts halfway around the world on Monday morning is not going to be fun, but may be the price I pay to achieve a worthy goal.
Still unable to get tickets to Worlds. Pretty stressful. If it were anything other than Worlds I would have given up by now. In the course of my search, some random person attacked me on modified, which seems to have upset some of my friends. While I find their concern to be very sweet, they really shouldn't expend any mental energy on it, since I didn't take the comment very seriously at all.
If I had to guess what were my chances of going to Worlds now, I'd say it's about 50-50.
I haven't played footbag since moving into my new place. I think I'll explore my neighborhood after work and see if I can find any good shred spots. A little footbag will probably relieve some of this Worlds-ticket stress.
If I had to guess what were my chances of going to Worlds now, I'd say it's about 50-50.
I haven't played footbag since moving into my new place. I think I'll explore my neighborhood after work and see if I can find any good shred spots. A little footbag will probably relieve some of this Worlds-ticket stress.
Re: NYFA tournament write-up
Let's finish up my NYFA write-up
2nd Annual NYFA Tournament Write-up
Saturday continued
I don't remember too much about my warmup, other than the fact that I was a bit more tired than I would have liked to have been. I needed to find a good second bag for the juggle section of my routine, and ended up borrowing a Chase Card-Burns bag from Age. I thought my mental game was under control when I went out to do the routine, but right when the song started a I felt a jolt of nervousness go through me. I think I did my opening combo slightly off-beat due to that, but at least I didn't have a repeat of USO finals where I dropped my first trick. I got back into the routine groove pretty well after that, though I did briefly lose control during my first ducking section. I looked up after that and wiped the sweat off my brow, and I recall seeing Bruce looking terrified. At the time I assumed he was just worried that I was gonna drop then, but later on I learned the real reason (I'll explain later). I got to the juggle section of my routine, which I was a little nervous about even though I had dumbed it down to make it easier. I was pretty stoked when I handcaught the juggle, and apparently I had a maniacal look on my face, which is funny and unsurprising at the same time. The final trick of my routine is paradox torque, and for a fleeting moment I considered playing it safe and not doing it, but I thought better of it...and nailed it! I don't actually remember what happened afterwards, but based on video I raised both of my arms in the air, then took a bow, and then proceeded to hug every single person at the tournament.
Going dropless in competition had been a goal of mine for the last year at least, but in the abstract it had been a goal for even longer than that. To be able to go dropless in NYC though, where I learned to play, with my club and all my friends there...it really made it special for me. It was easily one of the best moments of my footbag career, and probably my life too. Words really fail me, but suffice to say that the moment did not let me down at all. It was as good as I hoped for.
As I was hugging my way through the audience, some people asked me: "how did you ignore the crazy woman?" Apparently, some drunk woman came out into the competition area while I was doing my routine, and she was trying to dance with me or get my attention or something. Luckily I was too focused in my routine, and didn't even notice her. She also interfered with Jorden's demo, and eventually the cops were called to deal with her. I'm just glad I didn't notice her while I competed. That could have been bad. So earlier when I noticed Bruce looking freaked out, he was actually freaking out over the crazy woman.
After my routine I was so swept up in the moment that it took me a while to realize that Open circle finals were still to come, and I should probably warm up for it. At that point it was kind of hard to motivate myself to compete, but we had a good crowd of spectators and I wanted to put on a good show for Barrett's tourney. I think I played about average in circle finals; I probably had one or two good runs. Mostly though, it was just a front row seat to watch Jorden go apeshit on us. Dude was hitting blurry superfly swirl, gyro rotor?, and all sorts of other ridiculous stuff. It was like every turn his single run had more uniques and variety than the other 3 of ours put together, no exaggeration. It was crazy. I look forward to seeing it on film.
After comp was over, I played some 2 square with Steve, then played some 4square with a bunch of other people. I really missed 4square. I have such fond memories of playing at Cornell with Luis and Pascal. I managed to win one game of 4square, which was like a cherry on top of the day.
As people started to pack up, I went back to the hotel, showered, ate some fruit, and then went with Age and Vince to meet up with Balch and Goldberg. We ate at some raw food restaurant, which wasn't my cup of tea, but it was fun witnessing Steve be all silly and banter with the servers.
We picked up some booze then hit Dick Shea's for the awards ceremony. Some people were playing there, but I didn't have the energy or desire to play at that point. I pushed my body pretty hard all day, and I wasn't even sure if I'd have the energy to play the next day. Awards ceremony itself was fun. Bruce made really cool looking trophies, and I won 4. Pascal's fiancee really liked the trophies, so I gave her one. I made a point to keep the routines trophy for myself, as a marker of achieving the dropless milestone. When I was picking prizes I didn't realize that there were handmade footbags, so I ended up getting lots of t-shirts. I was really stoked to get this nice black kolosport shirt, which is made of some cool slick material.
Saturday was Pascal's birthday, so after Shea's we went out for a beer. I was so tired at that point that I didn't even finish my beer, but mostly it was just nice to go out and hang with Pascal.
Sunday
Woke up early, and watched Natural Born Kickers on Pascal's TV. Eventually Pascal and his fiancee woke up, and they made me some of the most delicious waffles ever. The waffles themselves were nice and buttery, and we put nutella and fresh strawberries on top, which pushed them to even more ridiculous levels of deliciousness. We eventually head out to Union Square, where we saw some ping pong demo going on. We signed up, and I played some light footbag while we waited for a chance to play. My body was too tired to hit anything cool, but I mostly just wanted to be social. Finally Pascal and I got a chance to play ping pong, and snuck in one fast game before it began raining. The rain forced us to say our goodbyes and hit the road.
Big big thank you to Barrett and NYFA for organizing the tournament. I had a fantastic time, and it meant a lot to me to hit my first dropless routine in NYC. Also thank you to all my old friends who made it out; the best part of a tourney is seeing old friends.
2nd Annual NYFA Tournament Write-up
Saturday continued
I don't remember too much about my warmup, other than the fact that I was a bit more tired than I would have liked to have been. I needed to find a good second bag for the juggle section of my routine, and ended up borrowing a Chase Card-Burns bag from Age. I thought my mental game was under control when I went out to do the routine, but right when the song started a I felt a jolt of nervousness go through me. I think I did my opening combo slightly off-beat due to that, but at least I didn't have a repeat of USO finals where I dropped my first trick. I got back into the routine groove pretty well after that, though I did briefly lose control during my first ducking section. I looked up after that and wiped the sweat off my brow, and I recall seeing Bruce looking terrified. At the time I assumed he was just worried that I was gonna drop then, but later on I learned the real reason (I'll explain later). I got to the juggle section of my routine, which I was a little nervous about even though I had dumbed it down to make it easier. I was pretty stoked when I handcaught the juggle, and apparently I had a maniacal look on my face, which is funny and unsurprising at the same time. The final trick of my routine is paradox torque, and for a fleeting moment I considered playing it safe and not doing it, but I thought better of it...and nailed it! I don't actually remember what happened afterwards, but based on video I raised both of my arms in the air, then took a bow, and then proceeded to hug every single person at the tournament.
Going dropless in competition had been a goal of mine for the last year at least, but in the abstract it had been a goal for even longer than that. To be able to go dropless in NYC though, where I learned to play, with my club and all my friends there...it really made it special for me. It was easily one of the best moments of my footbag career, and probably my life too. Words really fail me, but suffice to say that the moment did not let me down at all. It was as good as I hoped for. As I was hugging my way through the audience, some people asked me: "how did you ignore the crazy woman?" Apparently, some drunk woman came out into the competition area while I was doing my routine, and she was trying to dance with me or get my attention or something. Luckily I was too focused in my routine, and didn't even notice her. She also interfered with Jorden's demo, and eventually the cops were called to deal with her. I'm just glad I didn't notice her while I competed. That could have been bad. So earlier when I noticed Bruce looking freaked out, he was actually freaking out over the crazy woman.
After my routine I was so swept up in the moment that it took me a while to realize that Open circle finals were still to come, and I should probably warm up for it. At that point it was kind of hard to motivate myself to compete, but we had a good crowd of spectators and I wanted to put on a good show for Barrett's tourney. I think I played about average in circle finals; I probably had one or two good runs. Mostly though, it was just a front row seat to watch Jorden go apeshit on us. Dude was hitting blurry superfly swirl, gyro rotor?, and all sorts of other ridiculous stuff. It was like every turn his single run had more uniques and variety than the other 3 of ours put together, no exaggeration. It was crazy. I look forward to seeing it on film.
After comp was over, I played some 2 square with Steve, then played some 4square with a bunch of other people. I really missed 4square. I have such fond memories of playing at Cornell with Luis and Pascal. I managed to win one game of 4square, which was like a cherry on top of the day.
As people started to pack up, I went back to the hotel, showered, ate some fruit, and then went with Age and Vince to meet up with Balch and Goldberg. We ate at some raw food restaurant, which wasn't my cup of tea, but it was fun witnessing Steve be all silly and banter with the servers.
We picked up some booze then hit Dick Shea's for the awards ceremony. Some people were playing there, but I didn't have the energy or desire to play at that point. I pushed my body pretty hard all day, and I wasn't even sure if I'd have the energy to play the next day. Awards ceremony itself was fun. Bruce made really cool looking trophies, and I won 4. Pascal's fiancee really liked the trophies, so I gave her one. I made a point to keep the routines trophy for myself, as a marker of achieving the dropless milestone. When I was picking prizes I didn't realize that there were handmade footbags, so I ended up getting lots of t-shirts. I was really stoked to get this nice black kolosport shirt, which is made of some cool slick material.
Saturday was Pascal's birthday, so after Shea's we went out for a beer. I was so tired at that point that I didn't even finish my beer, but mostly it was just nice to go out and hang with Pascal.
Sunday
Woke up early, and watched Natural Born Kickers on Pascal's TV. Eventually Pascal and his fiancee woke up, and they made me some of the most delicious waffles ever. The waffles themselves were nice and buttery, and we put nutella and fresh strawberries on top, which pushed them to even more ridiculous levels of deliciousness. We eventually head out to Union Square, where we saw some ping pong demo going on. We signed up, and I played some light footbag while we waited for a chance to play. My body was too tired to hit anything cool, but I mostly just wanted to be social. Finally Pascal and I got a chance to play ping pong, and snuck in one fast game before it began raining. The rain forced us to say our goodbyes and hit the road.
Big big thank you to Barrett and NYFA for organizing the tournament. I had a fantastic time, and it meant a lot to me to hit my first dropless routine in NYC. Also thank you to all my old friends who made it out; the best part of a tourney is seeing old friends.
Ken, I have to personally apologize to you on my behavior last night. I just don't know where these unknown users come from attacking you unexpectedly for no reason. I know I should have been aware that it was some idiot using a fake identity, but the reality is that there are people that somehow harbor some hatred toward you and that just isn't right.
You are one of the best friends I've made in footbag, and I really think it's stupid to see those types of comments occurring so frequently on modified. It is the internet after all, but it is in my personal belief that footbaggers are some of the best people in the world, and they should be more aware of how they behave in front of people (whether it be in real life or on the internet). Although that post may have been an indicator to fuel BAP hate amongst users on modified, it was done at an improper time, where we had a great time at the NYFA tournament this past weekend. No hard feelings?
You are one of the best friends I've made in footbag, and I really think it's stupid to see those types of comments occurring so frequently on modified. It is the internet after all, but it is in my personal belief that footbaggers are some of the best people in the world, and they should be more aware of how they behave in front of people (whether it be in real life or on the internet). Although that post may have been an indicator to fuel BAP hate amongst users on modified, it was done at an improper time, where we had a great time at the NYFA tournament this past weekend. No hard feelings?
Waylon Lew - maker of Wasabi bags
NYFA represent.
"Footbag can be pretty frustrating when it's supposed to be fun. I was partly driven by this forum - practice, practice, practice... As that is true, I think someone can be too focused on progressing and training that they miss the fun aspect of it." - Bander87
NYFA represent.
"Footbag can be pretty frustrating when it's supposed to be fun. I was partly driven by this forum - practice, practice, practice... As that is true, I think someone can be too focused on progressing and training that they miss the fun aspect of it." - Bander87
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zeroman13
- Post Master General
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Mucho props my friend for going dropless in routines!
Josh M.Wasabi wrote:Footbag is not materialistic; it's about challenging yourself and having fun at the same time.
My Website
Pm me for details about Munster Bags!
Big big ups to Steve Goldberg for helping me get there.
