8 Bit Blog - not in a good footbag place right now...

[the_8_bit_kid]

Hey modified, i've been meaning to start a blog for a while to help me track my own progress, but have only just got round to it! Im finding my self coming in and out of runs of realy frustrating shred sessions where I cant seem to make any progress. In between these crap sessions there will be one or two where I suddenly hit loads of new tricks and drills. Its these sessions that keep me playing this awesome sport!
After 3 and a half months of playing here are the tricks that i can hit so far, with varying levels of consistancy and control!

Toe stall
Inside stall
Clipper
Mirage
Around the world
Legover
Pickup
Illusion
Same side mirage
Same side legover
Far legover
Butterfly
Paradox mirage
I can hit all of these both sides except paradox mirage.

After 3 or 4 days of pretty depressing sessions I finally had a realy good one last night. I managed to break my record for consecutive legovers (went from 11 to 19), my setting from clipper had suddenly improved alot on both sides, I hit paradox mirage for the first time, I hit buttefly to far legover (first time ive done anything out of butterfly except toe stall!) and almost hit osis the first time trying! Also my niggling ankle injury seems to finally be clearing up since its not given me any pain after a session for about a week now
Im off to do stuff stitching now,back with an update soon

[C-Fan]

If you have a video camera, or even a video feature on a crappy digital camera, I recommend you film yourself when you play. This can be a very good way to see what you are doing wrong and right when you play, and you can gain a lot of insights you wouldn't get from just the first person perspective.

I also don't know if you live near any other footbaggers, but if you do, I highly recommend you seek them out and play with them.

[the_8_bit_kid]

Hey ken.
I play atleast once a week with my friend matt( matt bailey on here) and he gives me loads of coaching tips on the basics. Apart from him there arnt realy many other players in the uk! I film myself playing every now and then but I guess I should start doing it more!

[maverick-morley]

hey mate

hows it going, i always like reading your blog because im not a million miles away from your form, gives me someone i can realate to.

though your a good 3 or 4 tricks ahead. i bin working my ass off on my leg overs yesturday and i got em both sides realonable well now. only took a few hours of hard ass work. mirage is still being a bitch though i have laneded it a few times so it should only get better.

also i stopped doin my clipper attempts on my left foot for a while instead consetrated on my wraps. i went back to them yesturday only did bout 5 and i landed 3 of em.

qs though, when you had those really ruff sessions what kept your motivation up????????? i reckon alot of people stop because of things like that,, what did you do to get rid of the irratation of not getting tricks down?


good to hear your progress............

[the_8_bit_kid]

Had my first session in two days today. Hit same side pickup first time, not sure why I'd never tried it before! Managed to get it on my flipside after a few trys so that was pretty cool. Didn't realy hit much else that was that good. Did a couple of good runs, managed to get a few butterflys in some of them which I was pretty pleased about I seem to be getting more consistant and don't think it will be to long till I can do tiltless runs for more than 6 contacts i was playing with matt who was looking pretty tight. His routine for worlds is looking pretty hot, despite what he says! Only managed to play for about 2 hours, then had to head home and get ready for work work sucks, shred rules

Mav : not sure how I get past the bad days, the next day I just wanna shred again, no matter how bad I was the day before!

[the_8_bit_kid]

Had another session with matt yesterday. After we agreed not to talk about the said session, it didn't go to well for either of us! Only real highlights for me were hitting back to back same side mirages, and I did a fewtiltless runs of about 6 contacts, nothing to shout home about! We started outside, but it started raining hard to we folded the playing mat and went inside to carry on, then the rain stopped and we headed back outside! I think between all the stopping and starting neither of us got any real momentum going! I also manged to lose the bag matt was planning on using at worlds ina bush in his garden! One plus from the session, when I did manage to hit stuff, it felt realy smooth and controlled, and matt said my form was looking realy good

on a side note, does anyone have any drills they can suggest for me based on the tricks I know listed at the top of here? I need to improve my linking tricks together for my freestyle and struggle to think up decent drills!

[WyrmFyre]

You say you didnt do anything to shout home about, but what I love about footbag is the small personal successes you can get. If i could hit one mirage, let alone back to back theyd be hearing me all over the UK

Lets hope ive got something a bit more to show than toes before Shred Mablethorpe (as ive taken to calling it now )

[the_8_bit_kid]

Had a pretty good session today.Hit a new drill i tried for the first time today: mirage > pickup > mirage > pickup. Managed to hit it starting from both feet also managed to hit paradox mirage both sides and hit near mirage on both sides the first time trying all in all it was alot better session than yesterday, though my legs are feeling pretty dead, think i may give footbag a rest for a day tomorrow!

[the_8_bit_kid]

Tried to give shredding a miss today but finally gave in. I had a pretty light session in the end,just drilling clipper. Worked on same side clipper quite alot but my left side is still alot weeker than my right. Odviously need to drill it alot harder than my right...

[the_8_bit_kid]

Had a pretty good shred with matt today before he headed off to worlds. Hit some pretty long runs with plenty of tiltless tricks in, just need to stop bailing to toe stall! On a slight downer my knee is realy playing up, and is actually swolen a bit after playing today. Couple that with my ankle still being a bit dodgy and im turning into a walking wreck! Part of me want to give shred a break for a few days to recover but theres the other part of me that wants to go and play again tonight before it gets to dark

[the_8_bit_kid]

My knee is still hurting pretty bad so no shred for me today. I'm hoping it will be alright tomorrow so I can play a bit. Aftr yesterdays session u realy wanna work on my tiltless strings.

In other news I found out I won't be able t get any time off work at the end of november so won't be able to go back to japan this year. That bummed me out like you wouldn't believe

[the_8_bit_kid]

Had my first session since friday after hurting my knee. I got some insoles for my lavers and they felt great, it was like i was playing on air! They cushioned my feet a bit but my knee is still hurting pretty bad Also had a pretty bad session. Started off ok. My same side clippers were looking alot better and matter to hit a few clipper > op clipper. When i tried to freestyle I struggled to string even a few tiltless tricks together. Not sure if its was because im not used to the insoles, because im pretty tired or because id not played for a while but it was the worst id played in quite a while! After about an hour I just gave up because I was just getting angry and was worried id just end up hurting myself even more!

[Mgrant]

Hey bro,
I saw your video posted in another thread and I have to say that if I am ANYWHERE CLOSE to where you are in a few months of playing, I will be extremely, EXTREMELY happy. You are kicking some serious ass on the progression front my friend. I've always hated the people who "get things natuarally" when my untalented ass works for months to get what they get in a week of practice.

So basically I'm saying I hate you....BASTARD! lol

Keep it up! Post some more vids man, I like to see the kind of motivation you bring to the table. Wish I was in the UK so you could totally make me look bad.

[the_8_bit_kid]

Had a pretty good session today,took it easy because of my knee, but it hardly gave me any problems. I started of by schooling my flip side clipper pretty hard trying to get it up to the level of the other foot and it went pretty well. My timing is slightly off but im setting it pretty straight. Tried to work on ducking but my setting height from clipper is still a bit to hit and miss so it didnt got to well. Ended with a bit of freestyle and managed some pretty decent strings though cant realy remember any specific runs of tricks All in all I was pretty pleased with a) how i played after a few days break and b) how my knee help up, my new insoles seem to be making quite alot of difference with the impact absortion!

Also gave one the bags i stitched to a friend to encourage him to hopefully start to play a bit! He was pleased but i think his girlfriend seemed more interested than he was! Also started work on a new back, black, blue and yellow. Its looking pretty sick and so far is by far the most consistant looking bag ive made! I just hope I dont fuck it up...

[renke]

Keep on posting! We started about the same time, so it's interesting to read what you're up to
Hopefully your knee will recover soon, I know how it feels to be disabled from playing because of that..

[maverick-morley]

hey mate for your knee,

have you tryd heat patches, knee support, and ibroprophen? (i kinda a mix between asprin and paracetamol, but lil stronger and it works.)

you can get it in tesco, have a look, hope it helps with the pain, works for me a gooden.

catch you aound

[the_8_bit_kid]

Had a pretty good session today after resting my knee for a few days. Just did some drills. I tried a new drill, legover>mirage>clipper>far legover then same again opposite side. Didnt managed to get the last clipper to far legover but to be honest,i was suprised i managed to get that far! Inbetween I busted out a bit of freestyle which went pretty well. Also drilled my flipside clipper pretty hard trying to get it to the same level of my strong side. Cut my sessions short once my knee started to ache but it held up pretty well.

Thanks for everyones kind words regarding my knee,im taking it pretty easy at the moment to try and let it recover. Thanks for the advice Mav, i try not to take to much ibuprofen since I get alot of headaches and already take to many pain killers because of it!

In other news i finished stitching my 8th bag today and im realy pleased how it came out

[Mgrant]

After years of soccer injuries I can tell you rest, ice, ibuprofin are the sure fire way to fix most minor knee problems. You look like you have it well in hand. Resisting the temptation is hard thought I know!

You are shreddin it up man, still super jealous of how fast you are getting this stuff. I attempted some legovers today and came pretty close on both sides. Feels like I've got the speed down, timing is hurting me though. I've had a guest the last week so I haven't put in the kind of time I usually would. Not to mention it was HORRABLY hot and humid in the back yard. I did some clipper drills and was about ready melt into nothingness. When the guest is gone, itll be back in the house with central air. Is it sad that I have a spot in my living room for shreddin? lol

That bag looks good too. You keep this up, you will be an all around footbag maniac. What are you using for filler? I definately like the color combo. I just hooked up with Holly to get one of her bags the other day. Really excited about that!

Anyway keep shreddin' get that knee back to 100%

[the_8_bit_kid]

Had a pretty light session today. Worked on the same drill from last session but gave up pretty quickly since clipper on my flip side was pretty shit for some reason. Since having a day off id lost all sense of timing! Instead i decided to do some light freestlye. Highlight had to be a a string with 9 consecutive tiltless contacts, which was a new record for me Think it went atw (in>out)> atw (out>in) legover>mirage>legover>mirage>clipper>far legover>pickup then bailed to toe stall. Apart from that I drilled clipper for a bit working on same clipper on my right side, then just trying to get my timing back on my flipside. Apart from that I spent time breaking my new back in with some light kicks. It seems to be playing pretty well so im pretty pleased My knee also help up pretty well. So far my routine of a session one day,followed by a rest day seems to be working for me

To Mike. I fill my bags with a mix of steel shot and something called bismuth. Bismuth is apparently pretty similar to lead,but is no toxic so a bit safer! The bismuth is also smaller than the steel shot so they seem to work pretty well together.
Also, just keep working on the legovers dude, the problem i had in the begining was speed,so atleast u got that down! The timing should come pretty quickly. I found once i hit them once, pretty soon after that i was hitting them pretty consistantly. And it isnt sad to have a spot in the living room to shred! I rearanged our kitchen so i could have room to shred. Now more than two people cant sit at the table because i put it against the wall in the corner so I had room to tear it up!

[Mgrant]

I just started kicking the metal filling and I like it a lot more than the previous sand filled bags I had way back when. They have considerably more "pop" than the sand bags, which, to me, it seems like they dampen the impaact of kicks. I wish I had the patience to learn to stitch my own bags but I don't see that happeneing to be honest. I'll leave that to you ambitous types. I don't mind spending money to support footbagers.

Come Tuesday I get to shred indoors again, which will be nice. I always get more done when I'm not ready to pass out from dehydration within 10 minutes. I really want to get some things down so I can string some freestyle together instead of this land trick>catch bag deal lol.

Question: What are you doing to drill clippers, esepecially flip side? I'm finding that the only way I can consistandly (by consistantly I mean land a couple here and there lol) do them is to let the bag hit my foot, then bring it up, which really does nothing for me. All it means is I set it even lower. Its driving me NUTS.