So ridiculously hyped!
GRASS 2010 - Jam Style - April 16th-18th, 2010
Dear moses,
With attendance like this, I should just jump over the border even if they don't like my passport issue.
I'll try my best for Saturday, so many cool kids are coming, and so many cool kids are already in Rochester.
I vote we take Mike Anello 2.0 and make him do his first ATW and clipper this weekend. If he starts cranking his ankles now, he'll have Cross Crank by the time he's 5.
With attendance like this, I should just jump over the border even if they don't like my passport issue.
I'll try my best for Saturday, so many cool kids are coming, and so many cool kids are already in Rochester.
I vote we take Mike Anello 2.0 and make him do his first ATW and clipper this weekend. If he starts cranking his ankles now, he'll have Cross Crank by the time he's 5.
Jay Boychuk
EVERYONE CRASHING AT MY HOUSE
I have just bought a ton of stuff for you to eat and drink with a big focus on saturday breakfast.
Please bring $10 to chip in and then just help yourself.
DO NOT FORGET YOUR SLEEPING / SHOWER / SHRED STUFF.
Seems obvious, but I have forgotten all three of those things myself on a few occasions (even made it all the way to Funtastik one year without shred shoes) so be careful about that!
MY NUMBER IS
FIVE ATE FYVE SEVIN NYNE SEVIN THREE TOO FOR FOUR
sorry for the funny writing, don't want to get spam calls....
Matt
I have just bought a ton of stuff for you to eat and drink with a big focus on saturday breakfast.
Please bring $10 to chip in and then just help yourself.
DO NOT FORGET YOUR SLEEPING / SHOWER / SHRED STUFF.
Seems obvious, but I have forgotten all three of those things myself on a few occasions (even made it all the way to Funtastik one year without shred shoes) so be careful about that!
MY NUMBER IS
FIVE ATE FYVE SEVIN NYNE SEVIN THREE TOO FOR FOUR
sorry for the funny writing, don't want to get spam calls....
Matt
Last edited by mc on 15 Apr 2010 15:53, edited 1 time in total.
BRICK!
rfa::never give up::
nyfa
rfa::never give up::
nyfa
-
Will Digges
- Egyptian Footgod
- Posts: 1382
- Joined: 15 Nov 2004 19:40
- Location: USA, Ballston Lake, NY
-
h0ag3yb3atZ
- Egyptian Footgod
- Posts: 1161
- Joined: 03 Jul 2008 09:05
- Location: Shaolin
-
Darkshredder
- Egyptian Footgod
- Posts: 1308
- Joined: 05 Oct 2004 18:58
- Location: central New York
- Contact:
-
GoodleShoes
- Hack Fiend
- Posts: 26
- Joined: 22 Feb 2010 08:13
I had an AMAZING time. Ugh, it was so great to meet everyone and I'm kicking myself that I couldn't remember hardly ANYONE'S name, GAH. Too bad I couldn't make the second day but next jam or comp I hopefully won't! Thanks for making it amazing to go to everyone!
(Special thanks to Zach for bringing me, paying everything for me and being an amazing footbagger. ;D)
Hopefully NYFA will be even better!
(Special thanks to Zach for bringing me, paying everything for me and being an amazing footbagger. ;D)
Hopefully NYFA will be even better!
Mason Clark
Central New York
Central New York
GRASS #6, April 2010
Thanks to everyone who drove or rode here, kicked, enjoyed the show, jammed, and / or partied with us. This was an AWESOME GRASS for me, maybe my favorite yet! Two faces were definitely missing - Mike "The Family Man" Anello, and Tom Mosher - we missed you guys and hope you can make it next year!
Also, to everyone who helped to make sure they cleaned up after themselves at my place, I really appreciate it - There is almost no mess at my place whatsoever. You guys rule!
Points of note, in rough chronological order -
- Waking up on day one and spending the next 4 hours vomiting and not able to keep water down, from pre-jam overindulgence. Here's a little tip for all you young baggers out there - If you puke at night, do not pass out until you are sure the job is done completely, or you may have half of the offending substance still in your stomach to poison you while you sleep, making you much, much sicker the next day. Pound water after round one and do it again until you're sure it's all out.
- Recovering enough to make it to the site by evening and do a little light shred.
- late night acoustic jam session night one, including The Jorden Song v 1.0, and a half hour jazz blues jam I did with Donovon (the only filming I did all weekend).
- Saturday shred breakfast - Eggs, bacon, and pancakes for everyone! Then, a good Coach session to get our heads right, and off to the site...
- Walking in to the gym to see a ton of new shredders.
- Kevin Hogan busting long bothsided strings, and Jani Walker bs. Definitely the "breakout" star of the tournament to me. He was the kid at the tournament who still wanted to shred at 2 AM - in other words, the new Jay Boychuk. Kevin, get lavers and slow your clippers down. You rule.
- Giant tubes of Blue Moon and dinner at Lovin' Cup, my favorite local cafe-resto-bar-venue where we got the news that Jay, Jorden, and Larni were here safe and...
- Jorden making it to the show in the nick of time, warming up and doing make-up during crunch time, and busting the best of his performances that I have EVER seen!!! It was TOTALLY electric; I can't wait for the video!
- Dropless awesome diabolo performance at the show. So emotive and techy!
- Saturday party at my place, rockin all night with fresh Drew Brew (Thanks much Drew) Labatt's (Thanks Josiah), rockin tunes (Thanks Don), awesome beer pong lineups (Thanks Johnny, Jorden, Will, Will, and Jay), and 92 Panel bags (Thanks again Johnny). We rocked it til 5 AM and crashed willy nilly to get up at around 10:30 for...
- Sunday shred, Jorden busting out his shoes just before I left for my gig, Kevin Hogan still going super strong even after passing up the party for hotel shred at ~2AM after shredding ALL DAY!!!!
- Will making sure the spot was clean. Thanks buddy. footbag takes teamwork.
Can't wait for the next jam... Sounds like two events in MD in may, and Vince is working on getting me gigs to help me pay for both, so I may be seeing you guys much sooner than I would have thought...
Thanks to everyone who drove or rode here, kicked, enjoyed the show, jammed, and / or partied with us. This was an AWESOME GRASS for me, maybe my favorite yet! Two faces were definitely missing - Mike "The Family Man" Anello, and Tom Mosher - we missed you guys and hope you can make it next year!
Also, to everyone who helped to make sure they cleaned up after themselves at my place, I really appreciate it - There is almost no mess at my place whatsoever. You guys rule!
Points of note, in rough chronological order -
- Waking up on day one and spending the next 4 hours vomiting and not able to keep water down, from pre-jam overindulgence. Here's a little tip for all you young baggers out there - If you puke at night, do not pass out until you are sure the job is done completely, or you may have half of the offending substance still in your stomach to poison you while you sleep, making you much, much sicker the next day. Pound water after round one and do it again until you're sure it's all out.
- Recovering enough to make it to the site by evening and do a little light shred.
- late night acoustic jam session night one, including The Jorden Song v 1.0, and a half hour jazz blues jam I did with Donovon (the only filming I did all weekend).
- Saturday shred breakfast - Eggs, bacon, and pancakes for everyone! Then, a good Coach session to get our heads right, and off to the site...
- Walking in to the gym to see a ton of new shredders.
- Kevin Hogan busting long bothsided strings, and Jani Walker bs. Definitely the "breakout" star of the tournament to me. He was the kid at the tournament who still wanted to shred at 2 AM - in other words, the new Jay Boychuk. Kevin, get lavers and slow your clippers down. You rule.
- Giant tubes of Blue Moon and dinner at Lovin' Cup, my favorite local cafe-resto-bar-venue where we got the news that Jay, Jorden, and Larni were here safe and...
- Jorden making it to the show in the nick of time, warming up and doing make-up during crunch time, and busting the best of his performances that I have EVER seen!!! It was TOTALLY electric; I can't wait for the video!
- Dropless awesome diabolo performance at the show. So emotive and techy!
- Saturday party at my place, rockin all night with fresh Drew Brew (Thanks much Drew) Labatt's (Thanks Josiah), rockin tunes (Thanks Don), awesome beer pong lineups (Thanks Johnny, Jorden, Will, Will, and Jay), and 92 Panel bags (Thanks again Johnny). We rocked it til 5 AM and crashed willy nilly to get up at around 10:30 for...
- Sunday shred, Jorden busting out his shoes just before I left for my gig, Kevin Hogan still going super strong even after passing up the party for hotel shred at ~2AM after shredding ALL DAY!!!!
- Will making sure the spot was clean. Thanks buddy. footbag takes teamwork.
Can't wait for the next jam... Sounds like two events in MD in may, and Vince is working on getting me gigs to help me pay for both, so I may be seeing you guys much sooner than I would have thought...
BRICK!
rfa::never give up::
nyfa
rfa::never give up::
nyfa
-
h0ag3yb3atZ
- Egyptian Footgod
- Posts: 1161
- Joined: 03 Jul 2008 09:05
- Location: Shaolin
Grass 2010.
So, in the days leading to GRASS, I wasn't entirely sure if I'd go at all. I didn't have a passport, exams were afoot, but my feet were certainly itching to go. Fortunately, on Thursday my passport came in, I saw Christoph in my library and asked him if he wanted to go, then Jorden inquired again and that was that. At 11:30 AM Saturday morning, we were to set sail heading non-stop for Rochester New Yorkia.
Saturday.
I wake up, pack my one backpack of stuff, head to my library and study from 8:00->11:30. I get home, fill the car with gas, grab my american money wallet, and pick up Christoph [now referred to as Larni]. We pick up some Pizza, because we intend to be at Rochester at about 2:00, just in time to not have a full stomach and still have the ability to shred hard. Our first stop at the destroyer's abode, and we have his famous Wicker Basket in the back seat of my car. It was smooth sailing until the border, we were all pretty "giddy" as Jorden hadn't even been at an event since last GRASS, and Larni had many new people to meet, and I was eager to shred with all the faces I've never met. Turns out that the birds eating worms in the grass beside my car, were EATING at a faster pace, while walking, than my car was moving in the line that backed up all the way into the bridge into the states. Just about now, we really started to feel the American Freedom we were about to endure.
As you sit in a line, in an idoling car for 1:15, you start to find things extremely funny, that certainly have no comedic Value. Looking at the sign, which is 30 minutes away from the border gate, saying "HAVE YOUR DOCUMENTS READY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" [no exaggeration on the !!'s] just gets you REALLY pumped up to show those guards your passports. Every inch per 4 minutes we moved closer, the closer it felt to being accepted into the most powerful nation on earth. At this point I was looking at the passports and noticed an inconsistency in Jorden's signature. I took a look at it, double took, triple took, and just realized what an act his "humble"-ness has really been. If you look at his signature, the only legible letters are "J, o and d". However, in cursive writing, the first J looks like a G. So, with that, I had now discovered that Jorden refers to himself by God. Note, if you're ever forging his signature.
Once the Americans realized we were certainly Juggling terrorists, they made us wait inside a line within their booth, with another hour or so of waiting. The only memorable moment inside here was when I went to go get a drink of water, from a fountain, and the fountain completely splashed all over the guy who was sitting next to it. Apparently the stream of water was designed to NOT fall within the metal area it was intended to fall into. Sorry guy...
After the border, with some snores from the back seat of Larni, Jorden and I just discussed footbag per usual, and before we knew it RIT was right in front of us. Had I really been here BOTH years before hand? Like, going for a third time just seemed surreal. I now truly knew the area, didn't get lost looking for the gym with an entire two 8.5"/11" signs with arrows in the wrong direction, and could just smell the footbag before us. It was "42" degrees outside, and through the bitter cold I first see Matt Kemmer, Doug Tank, Bowler, and John Goode kicking outside. There was a lofty gym just waiting to forgive tired muscles, but these guys were just hardcore enough to endure the slicing wind, and cool temperatures. At this point, our 2:30 arrival estimate was really 5:30, and we had all missed EVERY competition. Since I am a dumbshit and don't have a cellphone, we couldn't alert anyone as to our late-ness, not that they allow you to use cell phones at the border anyway, but Jorden needed to get to his show-site. Once some Jugglers snatched the Destroyer, it was time to watch some shred from people I admire.
John had added some tricks to his repertoire, which was cool, and Matt had integrated pixie sets into his. Bowler did some neat combos, and Pat Thomsen had sped up his style from 3 years ago about 50%, which looked great. Soon enough however, shred was up and it was time to go meet the crew who were eating at "lovincup", a coffee/sandwich bar. I met Matt Cross, Paul Agostinelli, Will / Josiah Digges, Will, Drew Donovon and a grasp more of people here, and I realized how much of a drag it was to have missed the first day of the tournament. Everyone had already settled into the "footbag jam" comfort zones, where they already had day-old stories to tell, and I was really off my game the entire time. Larni was meeting up with cool people really quickly, and I was happy for that since he'll have another cool story to tell when he heads back to Austria in a few weeks. Last year I had brought Flavio, so it was kind of cool that two Europeans in two years had attended. Not quite Steve Goldberg style, but something like it
.
For some reason, it just made me feel happier than ever that Johnny was there, because he was living the high life. Circle Competition champion, and he was there for the full experience, wanting to absorb footbag yet again and get motivated for the months to come. Just knowing that worlds is lurking around the corner makes me happy that all the jams prior have a little extra electricity in anticipation. Anyhow, in the meantime I got to know Will and his story, and as a quasi-new member of the new york scene that was nice. Yet again we were off to see the wizard, Jorden, at his show. Everytime Jorden has a show, I'm really nervous because I know he can absolutely rip it, but instead of a footbag tournament there are 400 people who paid to see him. He was the first act, and pretty much won the entire show. He had two drops, in like a 6 minute routine and had multiple standing ovations, and some very loud claps from Dr. Bowler . There were two others who had similar reception, and maybe it was because I was surrounded by footbaggers, but Jorden seemed to have the biggest wow factor in terms of crowd response. I've seen this same show a few times, and like, it still amazes me when he pulls stuff off, and then there are acts who I have never seen, and they simply don't pull the same strings.
It was also cool to see the rest of the footbagger's responses, all very solid.
After the show, it was time to shred back at the gym. This was my first session of the day, and it didn't quite feel like a session just because the amount of shred-aline running through my veins would have let me play for hours. I got in a circle with Matt and Kevin for the most part, and it was a good one to be in. Kevin, as matt mentioned earlier in the thread, was a new force that I didn't really understand. I had seen a very small amount of footage online, but seeing someone hit their first 7 add, doesn't exactly give you a great understanding of their game. There is potential there for sure, as tips on form were implemented right away, it was a pleasure to shred with him. Some notable highlights from this shred were
Kevin: Hitting some furious, and having many 15+ contact runs. Matt: Hitting some big trick runs, and footing blurry torque b2b FIRST try.
I don't remember what I hit, but I wasn't really feeling my shred. I couldn't get in the "zone", if you know what I mean. I hit flip Vortex Swirl though, which is pretty easy to remember. I've never done something like that at a jam, and it is a really interesting feeling. Like, I've seen Jorden Dave and Johnny hit something big, but hitting it yourself and getting the "wtf" look from everyone around you, and hearing the "What just happened?" from some other people in your surroundings just feels neat.
Eventually the gym's closing was what stopped the shred attack from our circle, and others, and we headed back to Matt's place. There we all hung out, some people abused some substances, but the coolest part was that John Goode's gang bailed on account of poor parking and went to go shred. I really wanted to go, but Paul wasn't there yet and I needed to confirm that I was sleeping at his house, and when you don't own a cell phone you can't just go to the hotel and call and ask for directions, etc. Plus, I would have had to come back to pick up Larni or Jorden, etc etc. So, I took a nap on the floor for a bit, after stretching and whatnot.
Upon my wakeup, Matt Cross offered that if I were to sleep it would probably be a better idea to not be right in the middle of the door way, (
) and that I'd have an easier time with a closed door anyhow. It turned out that there was some beer pong going on, and Drew Martin had his home made beer that was getting passed around like a new born baby. Apparently it was Hop-py. Johnny I'm sure was absolutely pillaging in Call of Duty on the couch, because he's the reprimander, [Bap 2.0 name?] and Josiah/others were just hanging out in the living room, enjoying the live music. I suppose I had missed the Jorden song v 1.0, but it must have been an epic one. He deserves a few songs though, especially after "winning" his performance. I don't know, my head still wasn't in footbag mode, I'm not sure whether it was exams or what, but I couldn't properly attend to my Footbag-needs and block out the rest of the world like normally happens instantaneously.
After Jorden, the VIP came back from his performers dinner, there was some pong to be had, some more acoustic music jamming, and just an all around good time. Jorden/Larni/ I headed back to Paul's *new* place and quickly got some shut eye, for it was already about 5:00 am. Thankfully his carpet was as soft as a leopard, so at 10:00 when we woke up we felt well rested, and I can vouch for not having any sore-ness at all. We headed to the iHop, to live the i-life of American breakfasts, where of course none other than the Goode-Gang were already done their cheese-cake-pancakes.
Shred then happened at the event site, which is when I sort of kicked in. I warmed up with Donovon / Will for a bit, and then all of the sudden it was Jorden Johnny, John Goode and I in a circle. I heard the words "Oh shit, team canada circle" and that just made my month. Like, for the next month I'll wake up and play those words in my ears. It just felt, 100% like getting kidnapped by Rachel McAdams.
Being associated with Johnny and Jorden as team Canada, like, ugh. I'm not sure if anyone's caught on yet, but I've got some serious belong-ing issues stemmed deep down from not having any confidence, and this just reversed all the harm from middle school+highschool teasing combined. I saw some camera's on this circle, so it would be nice if I at least hit something good for one, because I know Jorden, John and Johnny ripped some stuff, and later when Dr. Digges joined, he hit some nasty-effortless looking-but insanely difficult combos as well. Just like, when the destroyer enters a circle, you can tell some shit is going to go down. I love the feeling in the air from all the by-standers, and when Jorden just crushed their dreams when doing never-before-thought-of combos is just great. The energy from a circle when there are like, 4 good runs in a row is just, unmeasurable in my mind. Sadly, Matt Cross had to miss 95% of this circle, but thankfully it was due to him making money doing what he loves. It would have just been nice to enjoy that experience with him, especially because it was mostly his tournament.
Some highlights from that Circle: John Goode hitting some b2b symp combos, Johnny hitting nuclear whirl*3, and a 6 contact gnarly drill with atomic drifters, nukes and steps, Jorden re-inventing the wheel and sliced bread, and Will just popping out blurriest symp swirling osis like he owned the place. Kevin also joined this circle at the end I believe, where he was encouraged to begin stepping out of some of his osii, and do some badass pickups. I think I got shaft->superfly bs, and that was it from that circle.
Very abruptly and swiftly all the footbaggers / Jugglers were scurried out of the gym, and some quick good byes were exchanged and suddenly Larni, Jorden and I were at Niagara Falls. There was a 3 MINUTE border wait, [Shall I start singing Oh Canada?] and then we ended the Jam by going out for Kebab. Reflecting on the Jam with some close friends is nice, especially when it went as smoothly as Matt made it.
This is two tournaments in the east coast where I have only attended half of it. This is bullshit, madness and treason. A note to all you footbaggers reading this, sacrifice a newborn child to make a full Jam, you will not regret it. The memories just from one more day are the things that will last with you for the year to come, not the 4 hours of studying you crammed in the morning before, and the 10 the day previous.
Thanks all who attended, I hope I wasn't too much of a downer, you guys were all fantastic. [/list]
So, in the days leading to GRASS, I wasn't entirely sure if I'd go at all. I didn't have a passport, exams were afoot, but my feet were certainly itching to go. Fortunately, on Thursday my passport came in, I saw Christoph in my library and asked him if he wanted to go, then Jorden inquired again and that was that. At 11:30 AM Saturday morning, we were to set sail heading non-stop for Rochester New Yorkia.
Saturday.
I wake up, pack my one backpack of stuff, head to my library and study from 8:00->11:30. I get home, fill the car with gas, grab my american money wallet, and pick up Christoph [now referred to as Larni]. We pick up some Pizza, because we intend to be at Rochester at about 2:00, just in time to not have a full stomach and still have the ability to shred hard. Our first stop at the destroyer's abode, and we have his famous Wicker Basket in the back seat of my car. It was smooth sailing until the border, we were all pretty "giddy" as Jorden hadn't even been at an event since last GRASS, and Larni had many new people to meet, and I was eager to shred with all the faces I've never met. Turns out that the birds eating worms in the grass beside my car, were EATING at a faster pace, while walking, than my car was moving in the line that backed up all the way into the bridge into the states. Just about now, we really started to feel the American Freedom we were about to endure.
As you sit in a line, in an idoling car for 1:15, you start to find things extremely funny, that certainly have no comedic Value. Looking at the sign, which is 30 minutes away from the border gate, saying "HAVE YOUR DOCUMENTS READY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" [no exaggeration on the !!'s] just gets you REALLY pumped up to show those guards your passports. Every inch per 4 minutes we moved closer, the closer it felt to being accepted into the most powerful nation on earth. At this point I was looking at the passports and noticed an inconsistency in Jorden's signature. I took a look at it, double took, triple took, and just realized what an act his "humble"-ness has really been. If you look at his signature, the only legible letters are "J, o and d". However, in cursive writing, the first J looks like a G. So, with that, I had now discovered that Jorden refers to himself by God. Note, if you're ever forging his signature.
Once the Americans realized we were certainly Juggling terrorists, they made us wait inside a line within their booth, with another hour or so of waiting. The only memorable moment inside here was when I went to go get a drink of water, from a fountain, and the fountain completely splashed all over the guy who was sitting next to it. Apparently the stream of water was designed to NOT fall within the metal area it was intended to fall into. Sorry guy...
After the border, with some snores from the back seat of Larni, Jorden and I just discussed footbag per usual, and before we knew it RIT was right in front of us. Had I really been here BOTH years before hand? Like, going for a third time just seemed surreal. I now truly knew the area, didn't get lost looking for the gym with an entire two 8.5"/11" signs with arrows in the wrong direction, and could just smell the footbag before us. It was "42" degrees outside, and through the bitter cold I first see Matt Kemmer, Doug Tank, Bowler, and John Goode kicking outside. There was a lofty gym just waiting to forgive tired muscles, but these guys were just hardcore enough to endure the slicing wind, and cool temperatures. At this point, our 2:30 arrival estimate was really 5:30, and we had all missed EVERY competition. Since I am a dumbshit and don't have a cellphone, we couldn't alert anyone as to our late-ness, not that they allow you to use cell phones at the border anyway, but Jorden needed to get to his show-site. Once some Jugglers snatched the Destroyer, it was time to watch some shred from people I admire.
John had added some tricks to his repertoire, which was cool, and Matt had integrated pixie sets into his. Bowler did some neat combos, and Pat Thomsen had sped up his style from 3 years ago about 50%, which looked great. Soon enough however, shred was up and it was time to go meet the crew who were eating at "lovincup", a coffee/sandwich bar. I met Matt Cross, Paul Agostinelli, Will / Josiah Digges, Will, Drew Donovon and a grasp more of people here, and I realized how much of a drag it was to have missed the first day of the tournament. Everyone had already settled into the "footbag jam" comfort zones, where they already had day-old stories to tell, and I was really off my game the entire time. Larni was meeting up with cool people really quickly, and I was happy for that since he'll have another cool story to tell when he heads back to Austria in a few weeks. Last year I had brought Flavio, so it was kind of cool that two Europeans in two years had attended. Not quite Steve Goldberg style, but something like it
. For some reason, it just made me feel happier than ever that Johnny was there, because he was living the high life. Circle Competition champion, and he was there for the full experience, wanting to absorb footbag yet again and get motivated for the months to come. Just knowing that worlds is lurking around the corner makes me happy that all the jams prior have a little extra electricity in anticipation. Anyhow, in the meantime I got to know Will and his story, and as a quasi-new member of the new york scene that was nice. Yet again we were off to see the wizard, Jorden, at his show. Everytime Jorden has a show, I'm really nervous because I know he can absolutely rip it, but instead of a footbag tournament there are 400 people who paid to see him. He was the first act, and pretty much won the entire show. He had two drops, in like a 6 minute routine and had multiple standing ovations, and some very loud claps from Dr. Bowler
. There were two others who had similar reception, and maybe it was because I was surrounded by footbaggers, but Jorden seemed to have the biggest wow factor in terms of crowd response. I've seen this same show a few times, and like, it still amazes me when he pulls stuff off, and then there are acts who I have never seen, and they simply don't pull the same strings.It was also cool to see the rest of the footbagger's responses, all very solid.
After the show, it was time to shred back at the gym. This was my first session of the day, and it didn't quite feel like a session just because the amount of shred-aline running through my veins would have let me play for hours. I got in a circle with Matt and Kevin for the most part, and it was a good one to be in. Kevin, as matt mentioned earlier in the thread, was a new force that I didn't really understand. I had seen a very small amount of footage online, but seeing someone hit their first 7 add, doesn't exactly give you a great understanding of their game. There is potential there for sure, as tips on form were implemented right away, it was a pleasure to shred with him. Some notable highlights from this shred were
Kevin: Hitting some furious, and having many 15+ contact runs. Matt: Hitting some big trick runs, and footing blurry torque b2b FIRST try.
I don't remember what I hit, but I wasn't really feeling my shred. I couldn't get in the "zone", if you know what I mean. I hit flip Vortex Swirl though, which is pretty easy to remember. I've never done something like that at a jam, and it is a really interesting feeling. Like, I've seen Jorden Dave and Johnny hit something big, but hitting it yourself and getting the "wtf" look from everyone around you, and hearing the "What just happened?" from some other people in your surroundings just feels neat.
Eventually the gym's closing was what stopped the shred attack from our circle, and others, and we headed back to Matt's place. There we all hung out, some people abused some substances, but the coolest part was that John Goode's gang bailed on account of poor parking and went to go shred. I really wanted to go, but Paul wasn't there yet and I needed to confirm that I was sleeping at his house, and when you don't own a cell phone you can't just go to the hotel and call and ask for directions, etc. Plus, I would have had to come back to pick up Larni or Jorden, etc etc. So, I took a nap on the floor for a bit, after stretching and whatnot.
Upon my wakeup, Matt Cross offered that if I were to sleep it would probably be a better idea to not be right in the middle of the door way, (
) and that I'd have an easier time with a closed door anyhow. It turned out that there was some beer pong going on, and Drew Martin had his home made beer that was getting passed around like a new born baby. Apparently it was Hop-py. Johnny I'm sure was absolutely pillaging in Call of Duty on the couch, because he's the reprimander, [Bap 2.0 name?] and Josiah/others were just hanging out in the living room, enjoying the live music. I suppose I had missed the Jorden song v 1.0, but it must have been an epic one. He deserves a few songs though, especially after "winning" his performance. I don't know, my head still wasn't in footbag mode, I'm not sure whether it was exams or what, but I couldn't properly attend to my Footbag-needs and block out the rest of the world like normally happens instantaneously. After Jorden, the VIP came back from his performers dinner, there was some pong to be had, some more acoustic music jamming, and just an all around good time. Jorden/Larni/ I headed back to Paul's *new* place and quickly got some shut eye, for it was already about 5:00 am. Thankfully his carpet was as soft as a leopard, so at 10:00 when we woke up we felt well rested, and I can vouch for not having any sore-ness at all. We headed to the iHop, to live the i-life of American breakfasts, where of course none other than the Goode-Gang were already done their cheese-cake-pancakes.
Shred then happened at the event site, which is when I sort of kicked in. I warmed up with Donovon / Will for a bit, and then all of the sudden it was Jorden Johnny, John Goode and I in a circle. I heard the words "Oh shit, team canada circle" and that just made my month. Like, for the next month I'll wake up and play those words in my ears. It just felt, 100% like getting kidnapped by Rachel McAdams.
Being associated with Johnny and Jorden as team Canada, like, ugh. I'm not sure if anyone's caught on yet, but I've got some serious belong-ing issues stemmed deep down from not having any confidence, and this just reversed all the harm from middle school+highschool teasing combined. I saw some camera's on this circle, so it would be nice if I at least hit something good for one, because I know Jorden, John and Johnny ripped some stuff, and later when Dr. Digges joined, he hit some nasty-effortless looking-but insanely difficult combos as well. Just like, when the destroyer enters a circle, you can tell some shit is going to go down. I love the feeling in the air from all the by-standers, and when Jorden just crushed their dreams when doing never-before-thought-of combos is just great. The energy from a circle when there are like, 4 good runs in a row is just, unmeasurable in my mind. Sadly, Matt Cross had to miss 95% of this circle, but thankfully it was due to him making money doing what he loves. It would have just been nice to enjoy that experience with him, especially because it was mostly his tournament.
Some highlights from that Circle: John Goode hitting some b2b symp combos, Johnny hitting nuclear whirl*3, and a 6 contact gnarly drill with atomic drifters, nukes and steps, Jorden re-inventing the wheel and sliced bread, and Will just popping out blurriest symp swirling osis like he owned the place. Kevin also joined this circle at the end I believe, where he was encouraged to begin stepping out of some of his osii, and do some badass pickups. I think I got shaft->superfly bs, and that was it from that circle.
Very abruptly and swiftly all the footbaggers / Jugglers were scurried out of the gym, and some quick good byes were exchanged and suddenly Larni, Jorden and I were at Niagara Falls. There was a 3 MINUTE border wait, [Shall I start singing Oh Canada?] and then we ended the Jam by going out for Kebab. Reflecting on the Jam with some close friends is nice, especially when it went as smoothly as Matt made it.
This is two tournaments in the east coast where I have only attended half of it. This is bullshit, madness and treason. A note to all you footbaggers reading this, sacrifice a newborn child to make a full Jam, you will not regret it. The memories just from one more day are the things that will last with you for the year to come, not the 4 hours of studying you crammed in the morning before, and the 10 the day previous.
Thanks all who attended, I hope I wasn't too much of a downer, you guys were all fantastic. [/list]
Jay Boychuk
This sounded freaking awesome.. I need to travel more, but im planning on going to worlds.. which is costly.. since i don't drink or smoke, i'd probably be chilling with that kevin hogan kid.. lmao, tell him to go to worlds.. i'll kick for like 10 hours with him...
ahh well, mby next year
ahh well, mby next year
Cory Allen
My Footblog
My Footblog
Thank you so much to everyone who helped make this happen. Matt, Will and all the sponsors and who ever else helped with anything. I had a great time this is such a cool event i will make sure to be back next year. My only regret is the garbage plate, i wish i had consumed it as my last meal not my first.
Drew Martin