Ben Skaggs

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 04 Aug 2008 09:23

In-torque is such a cool move. What helped me was really focusing on not setting it too high, and just gunning the spin as fast as you can. Good luck.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qa9F5Sjd14[/youtube]

professor · Post by **professor** » 05 Aug 2008 07:13

1 hour drilling session last night. Worked atw, datw, terrage, whirls, whirrs, barrages, bs toe blurs, and furious. It was fun.

professor · Post by **professor** » 05 Aug 2008 20:25

45 minute session. Played ok, not great.

professor · Post by **professor** » 06 Aug 2008 19:54

1.5 hour session. Played really good for the first 30 minutes. It seems like I can play well the first 30, then my muscles get tired and my form slips/I'm too tired to hit harder tricks. Maybe I'll try just playing for 30 minutes or so for a week to see how it is.

For now, I'm gonna take a break for a couple days. I'm pretty tired. 30+ hours since the USO.

professor · Post by **professor** » 09 Aug 2008 16:45

1.5 hour session with Evan. We played well. It was really fun. It's good to shred with Evan again.

Hit:
mobius > scorpion's tail (requested by Evan)
food > ps whirl > spinning whirl > scorpion's tail > spender > hand catch

Post by **Zac Miley** » 09 Aug 2008 18:21

cool highlights Ben.

What's your fearless record? You can do 10, right?

professor · Post by **professor** » 09 Aug 2008 19:40

9's my record. I don't really try fearless anymore, so I could probably get 6 or 7 maybe.

professor · Post by **professor** » 10 Aug 2008 18:57

1 hour training session. My legs felt really tired. My left ankle hurts pretty bad.

Post by **Zac Miley** » 10 Aug 2008 19:01

Change left ankle to right knee and that's exactly how my last session was!

It's like esp. 0.0

professor · Post by **professor** » 11 Aug 2008 09:34

So I'm pretty much addicted to the Olympics. I love them! The only problem is it makes me really want to go compete in them. I looks so amazing. Even if I lost, it would be awesome to go and compete. It depresses me that I'm not in a sport that is in the Olympics. Maybe I'll pick up another sport. What's the easiest sport to get into when you're in your 20's? Haha.

If you didn't see the Men's Swimming 4x100m freestyle relay it was sick. There was a bunch of drama behind it with the French and Americans.

No offense to the French people, but this video is absolutely hilarious:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvZoReRr37A[/youtube]

professor · Post by **professor** » 12 Aug 2008 19:58

1.5 hour session. Played well. Progress is good.

Zjeezy · Post by **Zjeezy** » 12 Aug 2008 22:14

Ben,

I love your style of playing, And I love you.

I hate how you live on the other side of the country.

Lets talk more. Send me a PM or email or something.

Moxie · Post by **Moxie** » 12 Aug 2008 22:22

And come to NYJ.

professor · Post by **professor** » 13 Aug 2008 08:39

I'll add you on AIM Zach. I'm not on much because I'm practicing a lot, but maybe I can catch you on there sometimes.

And I'm definitely coming to NYJ. Even if I have to sell a part of my liver, I'm coming.

Post by **Zac Miley** » 13 Aug 2008 17:59

I'll start drinking heavily if you can't find anybody else to sell your liver to.

professor · Post by **professor** » 14 Aug 2008 10:16

1.5 hour session yesterday. I pretty much tried to kill myself. I tried a new training strategy to improve focus and endurance at the same time.

The way I see it, focus is really the ability to ignore. The ability to ignore everything except the thing you want to focus on (aka the footbag). So I was thinking how I could train my focus. Basically the best distraction you can impose on yourself is physical pain, stress, strain, tiredness, etc. So what I did was do a run and no matter when I dropped I would pick the bag up immediately and start another run. I would do 3 to 4 runs in a row until I felt like I was going to die then rest a minute and start again. I made sure I was focusing only on the bag and my form and ignoring the pain. I did better than I thought I was going to do and I think I'll train this way once or twice a week. Even though it sucks hardcore.

I've been watching the Olympics a lot as you probably know. My schedule is pretty much work all day until 5pm, go home, train, watch the Olympics till' 10:30pm, and then go to sleep.

I've been learning about competition and training from watching the Olympics. First, almost every athlete in the Olympics is really flexible. It seems that's the one constant of every Olympic athlete.
Second, if you want to win in competition, you train for the competition. Gymnasts practice the same routine for 4 years. So in footbag if you want a good routine, you need to practice the routine over and over and over and over and over and you get the point. Don't just shred or drill in session, train for specific competitions. Although, Circle Competition is just shred.
Third, you don't have to be the best to win a competition. You just have to be the one that competes the best that day. For example, in the Women's Cycling Time Trial the gold medal winner Kristin Armstrong said that the reason she won was because she went to Beijing 6 months before to look at the course and develop a strategy to win. She executed her strategy the way she wanted and she says that's the reason she won. So, she may not have been the fastest cycler, but on that day, she competed the best. So, in short good strategy + execution > skill.

professor · Post by **professor** » 17 Aug 2008 08:19

1.5 hour session on Friday. Played really well. Good consistency.

I've been stretching tons.

professor · Post by **professor** » 18 Aug 2008 12:39

Oh ya I forgot. On Friday, I tried pixie everything about 5 times and came within 1 contact of hitting it twice.

professor · Post by **professor** » 18 Aug 2008 19:39

1.5 hour session. Didn't play all that well. My toes were better than my clippers which is weird.

professor · Post by **professor** » 20 Aug 2008 07:03

2+ hour session. I've been a little off recently. Especially my flip butterfly/clipper. I don't know what it is. Oh well, hopefully it'll pass.

spinning whirl > scorpion's > spender
jani > jani (hard way, strong-flip) first try