Wyrmfyre's Blog - Size 12 Lavers?

WyrmFyre · Post by **WyrmFyre** » 28 Aug 2009 05:51

Here we are, heading into the weekend once again. Pre weekend seems to be a good time for me to blog, as its always good to see what plans i had before we get there, and how different they turned out to be afterwards

Its been a great week in the days following Shred Mablethorpe. Ive had so much fun working legover and mirage into strings. Tips Matt passed on regarding rake stayed with me too, and probably my favourite string this week included it

Legover > Clipper > Near Mirage > Rake > Handcatch

^^ Must get this one on film, asap.

Its been really tempting to start learning butterfly, but theres still holes in my game, more specifically my flip clipper. Ive been taking some real pride in the way I try to drill both sides evenly but having learned a few new tricks i find myself getting sidetracked so easily into going for one sided strings, so again my focus is still on both-sidedness.

And im definitely playing by the beach from now on too

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 01 Sep 2009 04:08

I wanted to be the first to say "Happy quit day!! You can do it!"

If you're needing moral support when the cravings kick in, let me know.

Just remember, if you're not tougher than a little cancer stick... well, how tough are you then?

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 01 Sep 2009 04:14

Cough sarcastically when someone lights one near you and murmur "those damn smokers"

Happy quit smoking day!

WyrmFyre · Post by **WyrmFyre** » 01 Sep 2009 04:39

He he, thanks guys. Its all fine at the moment, ive found from the last two attempts at this that the third day seems to be the worst one for me. I took a bit of advice from Matt Bailey too, I keep a bag next to me that i knead every now and then just to occupy my hands.

Its well and truly broken in now anyway

matt_bailey · Post by **matt_bailey** » 01 Sep 2009 05:30

good luck ian

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 04 Sep 2009 05:01

how you holding up? shred a lot, drink a lot of water, and it will get better. I'm on day 301 now, you can do it

WyrmFyre · Post by **WyrmFyre** » 08 Sep 2009 05:33

Hey again everyone.

In a nutshell, I failed. Im annoyed at myself for the lack of willpower, though in my defence a few other factors were involved. The self destruction of our washing machine and the resulting purchase of a new one meant that we ended up being broke, which in turn meant I had to cancel a trip I had planned to go out for a night with the guys I work with (working from home I get to see them maybe once a year, so thats this years chance blown), which dragged me down and made me grumpy on top of everything else, and so with all that going on in my head, when a friend innocently offered me a cigarette I took one. And another. And then I was back to where I was again.

So yes, perhaps I should have had more will power, but to an extent personal goals have had to take a back seat recently, in place of worrying about the kids school uniforms, the rent, bills... heck even food. But here I am, a week or so later, and everything just about back on a level again.

To be honest, things got that bad that looking back on it i can't justify my reasons for spending money on cigarettes.

Last night was the first night in a little while that ive felt the urge to pick up a bag and play. Nothing spectacular, Im still so very one-sided. Hit Butterfly this lunchtime on my good side for the first time though. It'll be nice to have that down both sides as going toe > clipper looks and feels so boring.

I properly pushed Jamie during our sesh last night too, insisting he gives me 50 toe stalls, 50 insides, 10 ATWs and 10 Legovers before I would go home. I know he has it in him to do this, I think what he lacks is the self motivation it takes. Hopefully a few more sessions like that, he'll see some real progress and understand that the only way forward is to push yourself, and not to say "oh i hit one, thatll do for that" but to hit it once, then hit it again. And again. He did it though, and for the first time I think he could finally appreciate the effort I put into bettering myself at footbag. He even mentioned buying Lavers.

Got to try again. Theres so many reason one shouldnt smoke and not one good reason why you should. It makes you smell, it messes with your skin, it gives me the lung capacity of a 3 year old, and I may as well just burn the money im spending on them for what its worth. Worst case scenario of course, it will kill me, simple as. And yet knowing all this I still light up 10 or so times a day.

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 08 Sep 2009 05:44

Wait, you have kids? I had no idea!

And also, both sidedness takes time. People talk like if you train both sides equally it'll just happen but in reality, more often than not, it gives the left side a reasonable base, and it simply catches up with time. When I learn tricks both sides one sides always forgets the movement quicker, and I just try to remember to put the weak side in my links to work it.

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 08 Sep 2009 16:22

it's all good man, just enjoy the smokes for awhile, but set another quit date for yourself as soon as you can muster the mental will power. Don't rush it though. Sounds funny, but you're better off (in my opinion) loving smoking for a couple more weeks and then walking into a new quit date feeling ok about getting rid of the habit.

it took me 5 serious tries.

edit: and btw, every quit attempt will have some major thing happen right in the middle of it.. in other words, there's no good time to quit, and there's no such thing as "just tonight" or "just one". But now you know

WyrmFyre · Post by **WyrmFyre** » 11 Sep 2009 07:47

Here it is, Friday... Playtime begins very soon!

Ive already been out today, filmed everything i did, and compiled the best bits once again. I proudly present The Lunchtime Sessions 2

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7VUkIQ8Yww[/youtube]

For the record, my LS vids serve as more of a motivational tool to myself, so I can physically see my progress develop. Theyre also here for the constructive critique of fellow modifiers, as well as for posting on Facebook so I can show my family what it is i get upto in my free time.

This weekend im determined to get rid of some of this one-sided lark. I hit my first trick from Butterfly (as youll see

) and im happy with how Near Mirage and Far Legover is working for me, three essentially very basic tricks that id love to get working properly on both sides.

Having studied the footage that hit the cutting room floor It was very apparent that although I felt my stance was the same for flip clipper, there were differences, and so I have my starting point.

Hope you all have a great weekend, catch up with you on monday!

matt_bailey · Post by **matt_bailey** » 11 Sep 2009 09:56

butterfly to far legoverrrrrrrrrr

just use your flip clipper all weekend, have fun

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 11 Sep 2009 11:08

Wow man you've really improved. Your game looks like freestyle footbagging in the making. Right motions, right speed, all it takes is practice practice practice because it seems to me that you're totally on the right track.
This Bailey dude I've been hearing about must be a good a teacher.

Frank_Sinatra · Post by **Frank_Sinatra** » 16 Sep 2009 06:34

My favorite part was legover> legover> clipper> ss mirage & the reaction.

One thing to point out - after your toe delays, you stoop over the bag. Not sure if you're looking for the bag or if its momentum carrying you forward or something else, but try to keep your posture straighter. Sorry I don't have any great tips for doing that, still working on posture myself.

WyrmFyre · Post by **WyrmFyre** » 18 Sep 2009 01:13

Dont you just love Friday? Friday is that beautiful precursor to the weekend, the day that says "Im not quite Saturday, but im close enough that you can almost taste your freedom". Except thats not quite true, as Ill be putting in some overtime for work tommorow but still, TGIF I say

Tommorow, Nick and Matt are a'comin' to town again. Its a good weekend for it, Mablethorpe is hosting its annual Festival Of Bathing Beauties

[quote]The Festival celebrates the unique beauty, culture, architecture and history of the Lincolnshire coast. The longest linear arts festival in the world! The Bathing Beauties Festival will ï¬

matt_bailey · Post by **matt_bailey** » 18 Sep 2009 09:21

WyrmFyre wrote: Festival Of Bathing Beauties

Now im excited

WyrmFyre · Post by **WyrmFyre** » 21 Sep 2009 03:27

Wooo what a weekend! And one that my left hip wont be forgetting for a few days I think

Once again Matt and Nick wound their merry way to Mablethorpe for another weekend of footbag by the beach. Once again, the weather remained kind, if not kinder thanks to a gentle breeze that kept the heat at bay for most the day.

They arrived Saturday night to be greeted by their newly found fan club who were somewhat dissapointed to find that Matt doesnt drive a Ferrari. Child related constraints meant that our first session took place spread out arcoss my laminated kitchen floor and my new shred mat outside, but as soon as my girlfriend returned from work we headed off to what is now a favoured little spot by the beach under the streetlamps. It was at this point I somehow tweaked a muscle in my groin area attempting a DLO (foolish me).

The next day, unperturbed by the niggling in my leg we were off to the beach again to enjoy the blue skys and what little of the Festival Of Bathing Beauties was actually taking place at that time. We shredded, and this time attracted a lot more passing attention, though no one that was either old enough / interested enough to consider taking it up, but who knows. Im expecially chuffed with my eldest, Luke, who after being set the challenge to hit ten back to back toe stalls took it one step further and hit 20!

After shredding for a couple of hours we returned back to mine for what is becoming another Shred Mablethorpe tradition, hot dogs and a chance to talk and do some stitching. Im a huge fan of both Matt and Nicks bags so it was great to watch the magic happen.

We hit the beach again mid afternoon-ish for the second session of the day. By this time I was starting to feel the burn, and i could feel my tricks becoming less and less clean by the kick, but Matt compensated by hitting some truly great tricks and links on his flip, while Nick once again showed me how increasingly effortless he's finding his tiltless play.

There was however one person who had missed out on this last time, and I was damned if i was going to allow it again, and that was the elusive Jamie. A plan formed in my mind though that if he wouldnt come to us, we would go to him and so we conspired with his girlfriend to leave their back gate unlocked. The second he was out of the house we shot across the road, straight into his back yard, threw down the mat and got to work. He was shocked to say the least, but not angry with me, which was good. He didnt play, but he didnt kick us out either, and it must have broken through his nerves because he came back around mine afterwards to watch some more. Next time.....

And thus the weekend drew to a close. I think everyone showed a great deal of improvement this time around. With Matts help, i finally tricked out of my flip clipper, and I hit Illusion both sides, two out of my four challenges for the weekend.

And as a special juicy bonus, we all talked about doing this last time they were here, and I was determined that being my hometown, this lil snippet of video was one that had to be done my me. Enjoy

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMeGLfTn8jA[/youtube]

WyrmFyre · Post by **WyrmFyre** » 25 Sep 2009 04:41

I come here most Fridays and put finger to keyboard to talk to you all about the tricks Id like to hit over the next two days etc etc and for those of you that have come here to read that, itll be a flipside weekend again.

For those of you that havent left yet... fancy a cup of tea? Ive got some nice biscuits in the cupboard.....

No but seriously, I do want to talk about the future, just a litle further away than I normally do. In the short space of time Ive been playing footbag, Ive had in essence two "events"

Alright, attendance was three, briefly five during the second one, no real itinerary and no one got a tshirt to say "I was there!", but three people from different locations met up, played a lot of footbag, talked a lot of footbag and ate hotdogs. That makes it a jam in my book

This got me more or less daydreaming my lunchbreak away about next year. Next year Id like to see a bigger event taking place in the UK, and if that means I have to bring it either wholy or partly upon myself to make something like that happen, so be it

So among other things this weekend, Ill be doing a whole bunch of research, starting here on modified (pretty sure ive seen some good threads on here before) jsut to see what im likely to be letting myself in for. If anyone can offer up some external links too please do. Failing that, tell me some horror stories or highlights from competitions and jams you'll most remember, so I know my do's and don'ts!

Biscuit? *chomp*

WyrmFyre · Post by **WyrmFyre** » 27 Sep 2009 05:19

Brief update...

Just did butterfly > near pickup > rake > mirage > butterfly > near mirage > mirage.....then had to toe bail. 3 short of my "hit a 10 string" goal dammit!

WyrmFyre · Post by **WyrmFyre** » 05 Oct 2009 05:11

Oh dear, I forgot to update last friday!

Its been a good weekend for footbag

or at least it was eventually. Jamie has been unable to play recently after getting shin splints after a monster hour of non stop legovering and pickup action a couple of weeks back, but last night he gingerly strapped on my lavers once again and took to the mat.

I worked on a few elements from my challenges list. Im hopeful to have a ducking something by the end of the week, with any luck on camera. On top of that, I managed to hit 4 contacts above Roys challenge, bailing to insides as often as possible over toe (although they were allowed in the challenge), with enough tricks to have kept it interesting. Today, during lunch I hit Osis on both sides too, so fingers crossed, Ill have that BSOS by the end of the week too.

And just this minute, I ordered some USL from a UK based teddy bear website. Ill wait til my package arrives before I give them a mention, but with any luck Ill have enough material for maybe 8-10 bags. I hope to sell the majority of them, though Ill also be open to a couple of trades if anything eye catching is offered up

Ive got plans next year to attend Worlds, but id like to get in another event or two before then, and if stitching can help towards paying for that, brilliant!

Peace!

boyle · Post by **boyle** » 06 Oct 2009 00:00

You should definitely do a British championships.

I know the freestyle football scene in England seems quite big, it would be cool if you could get something going with those guys. Even if not, it's not that far from Europe over to London, people can get cheap flights or train/bus etc.

I will be flying to London in May, I would definitely attend if I was around.