greg raymond

[abstract]

consistency stuffs:

datw i/o bsos
paradon bsos

worked the whirl > mirage pre-barrage drill quite a bit. will try barrages again on friday.

got a circle going with some skate kids. they did some clean fliers & had good stalls. one of them hit 4 perfect flying clippers in a row in steel toed work boots. they were respectful of the bag as well. good times.

it was kind of chilly this morning. reminds me that i need to start thinking about where i will be playing this winter.

[abstract]

datw i/o > paradon bsos.

worked on symple swirls bs for 25 min after failing a challenge to hit stepping far butterswirl. goal: stepping far butterswirl.

good session, felt productive. )

edit: ripstein, barefoot.

[abstract]

toe stuffs:

fairy legover > magellan rpt
pixie op pickup rpt
atom smasher > smear

consistency stuffs:

pheonix bsos + pdx blender bsos + tomahawk bsos

ended session on string ending with blender > swirl > gyro clip > drifter > diving whirl > handcatch.

[abstract]

zulu clip > gyro osis > blender bs
spinning clip > far symple swirl bs
barrage bs

worked fairies & dod.

so i woke up from a nap to find 2 guys in my house. i had forgotten to lock my door. silly that the one time i don't lock the door is the time i get robbed.

they ran like hell as soon as i was on my feet. fortunately, nobody was hurt & the only thing they made off with was some weed that i had picked up earlier in the day.

i took it as a sign that it was time for me to take a break from the green. this will be a good thing for me. the only thing that really pisses me off ( besides the waste of humanity that need to violate people's homes ) is that most of the weed i picked up was for a friend who uses it to ease a medical condition. so that sucks.

i had a good shred today. ) onward & upward.

edit: looking over the past few posts, i realize my shuffle really needs to get kicked up a notch. where's my spice weasel?

edit: rev swirl > handcatch > drop to clip > rev swirl > handcatch > drop to op clip > rev swirl > handcatch. ( barefoot, kitchen )

[abstract]

second last string of the day:

diving whirl bsos + gyro whirl bsos

last string of the day:

gyro mirage bsos + spinning ducking clipper bsos

footed gyro blender on 3rd attempt. be patient / set smaller.

[abstract]

so pumped after that session, AHHHHHHHHHHHH.

midstring weaving whirl > zulu clip > diving whirl > gyro whirl.

4 datw i/o ( 2 each side, tiltless ). paradon bsos guiltless.

20 swirls in tiltless string.

magellan > plo > parkwalk > pdx drifter bsos.

edit: pixie whirl bsos + pixie ss whirl bsos.

goal: whirling swirl. datw o/i. barfly. still need to hit stepping butterfly swirl.

damian's new vid is insane, i watch it every day before i play. everything is so effortless in a way that resonates with a quality i seek to obtain in my game.

AHHHHHHHHHHHH FOOTBAG AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH

[abstract]

I feel bad for being broke ass all the time & unable to support awesome tournaments, like the upcoming Wakahakee 2!

I hope everyone has a great time & good luck to the organizational folks who work hard to make these things happen.

last night:

spinning whirl bsos.
far symple swirl bsos.

goal: double spinning clipper.

[abstract]

the following thoughts are a work in progress i will come back to from time to time.

dreams, aspirations & objectives are all distinct elements of progress, yet also intensely intertwined.

when i first started out playing this game, i would watch huge tricks & combos, barely understanding what was going on, as i was still working on toe stall & clipper. i must have watched that scorpion's tail clip from eric wulff on footbag.org about 200 times. i tried to envision myself hitting that trick, but it was just beyond my body's comprehension at that time to see myself hitting it.

dreams have the potential to be quite exaggerated states of belief. they do have a foundation in reality, especially when they concern the practice of anything that dominates one's lifestyle. but will those dreams adhere to one's style that they exhibit in reality?

to be specific to this blog, let's narrow this down to footbag dreams. while i see crazy players hit nemesis all over the place, i have never once dreamed of hitting nemesis. it's not one of those goals that i aspire to, so i think my subconscious kinda picks up on that when combos play through my mind. i do find though that i am seeing combos that are far above my current level, but utilize many components that i've either been training hard or am comfortable in their execution.

the ones i like the most are combos i see that relate to components that i am currently training. i feel that when i start to dream about new components, that is a sign of some level of unconscious understanding as to the execution of the related components.

aspirations are what i would refer to as the conscious dreaming, or daydreaming variety of footbag. these are things you can consciously envision yourself hitting with a tendency towards exaggeration. this conscious exaggeration, for me at least, stimulates motivation for progress.

"What do I want to hit today?" objectives. footbag is a game of tiny elements. incremental advancements over time produce outstanding feats of athleticism.

it took me years to realize this completely. for too long i had sought to execute on my aspirations as opposed to setting objectives, which led to my injury in 2004.

the elements are meshing well these days. more to come later.

[abstract]

objectives are the baby steps one takes on the way to fulfilling aspirations.

footbag is a game that lends incredibly well to this ideological breakdown, as every trick is comprised of easily distinguishable components.

the problem one faces is the sheer volume of components & combinations of components at one's disposal to learn. while this is indicative of an intense level of freedom & creativity within the sport, it can also work against one's training efforts if left unfocused, with the player's attention pulled in many directions.

from the other extreme, practicing a narrow selection of components will leave the player without a proper foundation to express their creativity, resulting in a limited repertoire. there also a higher chance of developing repetitive strain with training the same components over a long duration.

this is, in a sense, my struggle with development in this game. striking a balance between diversity & focus into a training pattern that gives satisfying results is the ultimate goal.

pre-session workout / warmup is essential. i have been finding the most success with pushing hard enough to warm up the muscles without taxing endurance.

stretch routine ( arms, legs, back, neck )
60x crunches
30x leg lifts
20x push ups ( hands close together, focus on shoulder muscles )
shoulder rotations ( 20 in each direction x 2 )

shoulders are the most important factor for me personally, with regards to having a good session. if my shoulders are tense, i may as well stay home. that tensity will spread to my back, putting far too much strain on the legs to do all the work. also i find my stomach muscles are not put to proper use when my shoulders are tight.

good progress this week on stepping set & toe game. i have a mighty need...to have clean illusions. fairy ss illusion is sexy shuffle.

[abstract]

"Every training session should be the best of your life."
- Michael Colgan

this is my footbag mantra.

we have been blessed with outstanding october weather this week, which has led to me playing 4 days in a row, something i couldn't handle for the majority of the summer.

last night was indeed the best training session ever. very very close to double spinning. spinning osis feels very natural now after the double attempts.

i've always been able to hit a few stepping tricks reliably, but i never really cracked the set to be able to push beyond 4 adds. i feel that may change soon. the key was bringing the bag forward for the setting position. due to my crank i had a tendency to hold my clippers further back, as one would for swirl, which hindered my hip / leg from dexing cleanly. now i can understand how folks can hit b2b ripped & whatnot.

this also makes me think that swirl > stepping is a harder link than i had imagined, due to each trick having a different setting position from clip.

so halfway through the session my brother, ben, showed up to give some critiques from an audience perspective. i really appreciate this, as there are always things that, as an avid enthusiast, i value differently than those who are less knowledgeable of the fine details of the sport, but still know what they like.

i had shown him the top 3 placing routines for 2008 a few weeks back, without telling him who had placed in which spot, then asked for his opinion on who was 1st / 2nd / 3rd. interestingly enough, he chose

1. gielnicki
2. klouda
3. kozlov

he's also always helped my other brother, BJ, with his music, giving perspective from outside the performer's influence.

when i noticed he was there, i tried to hit a well balanced guiltless string that worked out extremely well. i asked him after the drop, "what did you think of the last string?" "second best, my favourite was the second last string."

footbag stream of consciousness was setting in at that point & i could barely remember what it was that i had hit, so ben said he'd have to bring a notepad next time. he said there were a lot of cool tempo shifts that were more appealing in the previous string to my last, which jogged my memory that the string was spinning / ducking - centric.

after ben took off, i shed my shoes & practiced datw for about 15 - 20 minutes, then cooled down & started packing up. it was around this time that i was approached by 2 lovely young ladies & 1 kindly fellow. after chatting a bit i soon learned that katie, alex & tom worked at lululemon, enjoyed watching the freestyle, & wanted to give me some free pants to try out for playing. they also offered to hem / adjust the pants to suit what i needed & i should stop by the store sometime, which i certainly aim to do.

market square is the shit.

[abstract]

so, good news / bad news time.

good news: bagi's back in town.

2 sessions so far, both awesome shreds. give bagi another week & he'll be hitting new 6s & crazy ass linkage.

figured out symple swirl, was hitting about 7 / 10 by the end of the session. footed blender > far symple swirl bs which felt like a cool link.

toe game is finally responding, was able to throw a few decent shuffle strings together.

stepping has come a long way in the past few weeks. normally ripwalk is all i really throw in for steps. stepping same clip / sidewalk / stepping ss mirage / blur / crispy dlo all felt pretty natural on both sides.

pickups were feeling better than they ever have. fairy / pixie pickups ( ss & op ) felt good, much happier about bag positioning.

alpine toe stuff is coming. got ducking legover bsos + diving ss mirage bsos. ducked a few fairies & worked a few atomics into shuffle.

bad news time: derrick broke his foot.

i had a chance to have a session with him earlier in the week. the guy's got a real gift for the game. wish you a speedy recovery bro. your natural ability is inspirational.

[abstract]

notes to self:

mentally prepare before each attempt.

the link is as important as the trick.

toe game, toe game, toe game.

session tonight, hopefully.

DOOM DOOM DOOM

winter is coming.

DOOM DOOM DOOM

edit: John Bagi: Miracle Worker, acting as a conduit of the knowledge of Derrick Ogden.

that tip you gave on atomic about setting it deeper ( right underneath me ) just opened up all my sets. AHHHHH

drill > think > rpt.

[mosher]

Hey Greg!

I really like reading your blog and hearing about the stuff you're working on and knowing that my boys are still alive in Kingston.

How did derrick break himself?

One of my bike buddies that lives in Kingston sees you guys at market square, or at least I'm assuming you guys are the footbag players in kingston he's been seeing haha.

I miss you guys, maybe I am due for a visit?

Tell john and derrick hi for me!

[abstract]

thanks tom, good to hear from you! nice facebook shots, esp that one with the ghosting.

edit: holy shit, congrats on the sponsorship tom!

the way i heard it, some girl jumped on derrick's back then landed on his foot amidst drunken revelry. now he's got a 2 month hangover to push through. terrible luck to have tendonitis back to back with a broken foot. GET WELL SOON HOMEY.

i see lots of bikes around market square these days. which is cool, market square just seems like the perfect location for any freestylists looking to flex their muscle.

visits are good! it can work both ways as well, i should really get my ass out of kingston every once in a while.

visited with folks @ lululemon again today. prospects are good!

[abstract]

"Why do we fall down?"

it's been an interesting week. my soul is in constant conflict with the forces of nature. ( i hate winter. ) it causes me to grow lethargic & retard my focus & my will.

remaining productive during winter is a huge feat for me, & one that i can rarely accomplish on a consistent basis. this, in conjunction with other sedentary hobbies & a desk jockey occupation adds up to bad time burgers.

such burgers i have eaten this week. i could barely focus on my strings in sessions & wasn't planning anything or paying attention to proper execution. i took a few days off to reflect on where i need to go.

I MUST DEVELOP AN IRON WILL. i commit to personal decisions all the time but i do not allow them to stick, out of force of habit, laziness & procrastination.

footbag is my muse. it's that element in my life that allows everything to shift into focus. when i'm playing every day, i have no problem keeping up with stretches, push ups, crunches & eating well. however, when i take any amount of time off longer than 1 day, everything crumbles. i have this thought process running in the back of my head that says, "what's the point of stretching if i'm not playing footbag?" my brain knows the logical answer to that already, but the lack of motivation causes that logic to be disregarded in favor of whatever is going on at the time.

i now have a pseudo-professional motivation to back up my love of the game, which will be a catalyst for enforcement of the things i know within myself to be right. in the 2nd week of december, i may be running a tutorial / demonstration of footbag at a local athletic clothing store.

development during the next month will be critical, with serious thought out-of-session for the things that should be represented in the demo.

the first step towards this happened at my session last night with Bagi. i've become heavily inspired by Anssi Sundberg's shred. his dexing windows are so ridiculously clean. the attention to technical precision shows what hard work & dedication can accomplish. it was exactly the style of shred that i needed to see to get me working hard again, especially the slowmo vid of the 2 trick combos. the big things i learned from his 2 most recent vids are:

- where to set my toe stalls. such a simple thing, but i've always had a stronger clipper game than toe game. tiny, tiny toe sets super close in to my body, using the support leg to help pop the bag up without forcing the bag away from my body.

- where dexes should be occurring. the way anssi frames the bag with his knee seems to create an invisible, perfect square around him, divided into 4 quarters. the bag always rises & falls within one of those quarters, with his knee framing the corner of the square. i don't know if this makes any sense, but it is how i visualized it, & the mathematical approach helped understanding how to create that element in my game. when this first clicked last night, i hit a run with my cleanest gyro whirls ever bsos'd with muted zulu clipper > drifter bsos ( without a slurry set from drifter, a rarity for me ).

a very uplifting session after a week of mediocrity. time to go load up on calcium & silica for tonight's session.

[abstract]

making progress on right hip placement. my shoulder is dipping too low, causing weight displacement to be awkward on sets / steps. i noticed this when watching some footage we took a few weeks ago & john pointed it out again last night when it would happen. the rest of the session felt pretty solid after i focused on correcting this. hopefully soon i will have steps solid on both sides.

derrick is back in action this evening. plus we have a new shredder beginning this weekend. good times for the ktown posse.

i liked clavens' 10 minute GRASS presentation, gave me some food for thought concerning my own upcoming demo. i like the concept of showing the progression of components ( kicks -> stalls -> dexterities ) before giving the full demo. it seemed like clavens' routine had outstanding response from the audience due to the time he took to explain things properly. this is akin to the 2004 montreal worlds explanation before routines with the big ball attached to a stick.

what is the best way to interact in a hands-on tutorial sense with a new group of people who have never played before? this is kind of the situation i will be dealing with. should we break into separate circles & i go around helping ppl while they try things? i feel that may be too much too early for some folks, as that starts to get potentially into circle etiquette stuff that new players shouldn't need to focus on.

more thought needed on this.

[footbagi]

Yah, lift that shoulder up! Can't wait to play again tonight, and tomorrow, and the next day..... were kicking ass by the way.

If you need any help with the choreography for the program your prepping just let me know.

Sometimes during practice I notice a weakness in our ability to attack footbag. For example, we'll get tired and/or upset and out of focus when trying something over and over and it will lead to a lazy/unmotivated state that will take hold of us for a period of time. I think those periods will make or break our development. We need to PUSH though those times and HIT whatever it is were trying. Not with anger or aggression but with focus and confidence.

This is difficult to explain here so I'll talk more about it tonight!

[abstract]

We need to PUSH though those times and HIT whatever it is were trying. Not with anger or aggression but with focus and confidence.

my counter argument to that point is evidenced by tonight's session...sometimes you have to let go in order to see your own needs objectively. if an attempt on a trick gets rushed with more & more attempts, then stopping, breathing & thinking will do more to be able to hit the trick on the next attempt. ideally this happens naturally in a circle every time you pass the bag.

we'll get tired and/or upset and out of focus when trying something over and over and it will lead to a lazy/unmotivated state that will take hold of us for a period of time.

absolutely. i understand the need to bust out of that mindset.

you have a very valid point about attacking the bag with confidence.

edit: for clarity, as i support what you're getting at.

THANK YOU KALASHNIKOV. You teach me to STEP.

fucking radical session tonight. good to have you back, derrick!

[abstract]

Lululemon: It's The Coolest.

visited with the folks @ lulu this afternoon to set down some details for the in-store demonstrations.

December 13, 2008, i will be doing 3 twenty minute sets spread throughout the afternoon. each set will be a mixed tutorial / shred, dependant on interest from the crowd ( although several folks who represent entities which are employed by lululemon said they'd be stoked to learn the first day ).

based on interest generated from the first day, there will be future workshop sessions, where it will be an interactive tutorial & everyone has their own footbag. if these remain popular, it could be a permanent recurring event within the store.

my hands are shaking with excitement as i type.

endurance & consistency training. i don't need to hit big tricks for this to work. twenty minutes of solo time with the bag can be very taxing, i'll need to develop a rhythm that will keep things flowing well ( & keep sweat to a minimum, since it's inside a clothing store ).

this makes me glad that i had a chance to shred for a couple years in van with chard cook ( the guy who introduced vasek to freestyle ). his game doesn't go above 3 adds & everything is clean. lots of well timed kicks mid-string that are appealing to the eye as a quick tempo shift from being lulled into the rhythm of delay...delay...delay...delay...

i'll be creating some promo posters for the demo date as well that they said they'd put up in the store. need to fix up business cards. gha!

it feels weird pouring all this into the blog. so...i'm done.

time to kick.!

[abstract]

not really footbag related, but working on my promo material skills. this was one i finished today for a fuel additive. next little project will be a footbag promo.