Israel Footblog - Training program

Outsider · Post by **Outsider** » 29 Oct 2010 12:10

Roy, I've got no specific plans, just some daydreams. But, thats about all it took at this time last year. Your offer of fine whiskeys make my daydreams just a little more compelling...

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 02 Nov 2010 12:36

I found two potential spots within walking distance.

One is at a local gym I've tried. They have a lit balcony where people can chill or do whatever. So I shredded. Unfortunately, for most other gym patrons, "whatever" means smoking. So towards the end of my session I had a pretty large crowd of smokers. The smoke killed me and the attention had me performing rather than drilling.

The second spot was on the way there. It's more isolated and has better lighting, but it's on a raised platform, thus subject to wind. Plus, it's very very isolated. I do appreciate a small crowd now and then, so a lack of any spectator might be depressing. Bah I guess I'm just being spoiled.

Oh I had a really nice link, it was stepping near leg over->dlo->parkwalk->osis->ducking butter. I don't usually try double dexes in a row so I was happy, especially since I had to shed a bit rust from not playing since the move.

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 02 Nov 2010 12:39

I wish more players had your daydreams. Traveling hack fiends are among my favorite kinds of people.

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 07 Nov 2010 10:55

Had my first real drill session since I moved. I tried the desolate spot today. It was indeed desolate and chilly, not very attractive to play at. But the best I got so far.
A few more sessions like today's and I'll be back to improving.

On Saturday I went to a friend's birthday at the Tel Aviv park. It was 15 minutes of easy inline skating to get there, had a few beers and played a bit of footbag.

It's nice to live in a city again.

boyle · Post by **boyle** » 07 Nov 2010 16:42

I like the picture, sounds like your new apartment is in a good spot. I would love to come visit but I think I have a few other trips ahead already.

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 07 Nov 2010 23:09

Australia's been on my to-do list for so long, it's a shame I never get around to do it

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 14 Nov 2010 01:09

It's pretty sunny here despite the winter, so this weekend me and Lili took our bikes and went to chill at a park by the beach.
It's a big grassy park with a great view of the sea, and it has a nice spot for footbag, which is where I first played with Jorden when he visited Israel.

Anyhow, I had a nice session. I think I had my longest guiltless run, which was around 20 contacts. Towards the end I tried some new stuff. I hit hop over swirl & whirling swirl, and footed scorpion's tail & matador.

Matador is pretty straining on the knee so I couldn't really try it more than a few times, scoprion's tail was a real lucky shot, but the swirl moves indicated it's something I should work on. Right now I'm working on ducking, then I wanna work on whirls, and after that I wanna learn swirls properly.

I also bring my new Kindle everywhere I go. Absolutely love it.

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 17 Nov 2010 07:45

There's one of those talent shows at my office in a month and a half.

sigh. Routine practice month here I come

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 21 Nov 2010 09:55

I already have a pretty solid idea for my talent show run. I tried it three times today and it took between 2:00 to 2:30 minutes, which I think is perfect for such an event.

The scene starts with me walking through the stage, noticing a footbag laying on the floor (or on a stool, if there's no stage). I stop, pick it up, puzzle a bit over it, stretch it around to show the crowd its consistency. Then I try to bounce it like a basketball. Failing, I kick it around like a soccer. In despair, I inside kick it away. Noticing how that was successful, I pick it up again and proceed with several kicks, then a flying clipper to hand catch.
Then I toss it around in my hand, making it obvious that I'm noticing the stallability of the bag. Then I cautiously proceed to try & stall with my foot. I fail once, twice, and take a little pause before the third time, and succeed. Then I proceed to a little toe to toe session. When I finish, I signal with my hand that I need the crowd's approval to spin my leg around the bag. Once I get it, I do an atw. Then, I proceed an atw-legover-mirage mashup run. Then I pause on toe, taking a deep breath, pulling the shoes' tongue, wiping sweat, uttering a short visible prayer, so everyone knows i'm trying something "big", and do a datw. Hopefully not drop and get cheers.
Then I signal some actiony music and start a shred session, clipper to clipper, butterflies, legovers, ducking, stuff like that.
I'm thinking of either sealing it with a head stall or a sole stall, and then take my bow and leave.

It's pretty simple and I think I have a chance to go dropless if I'm not too excited. I kinda nicknamed the routine "The foot, the bag, and the ugly", just in case I'll be announced and need to come up with a title for my thing.

Besides that, I had a real nice session. Still working on ducking, I do them perfectly one or two at a time but consecutivity is my enemy. I know my two main problems when I go 3 contacts and up is bad spotting and setting so it lands too far from my other foot. Other than keep hammering them and paying attention to my shortcomings I have no real strategy for improvement. I got 9 consecutive ducking but it took me enough tries. I'm completely unsatisfied.

I also hit x4 spinning clipper and x13 osis, both new records. Also hit blurry whirl bs, several hopover swirls, and some honest to gods solid guiltless runs.

The new spot is starting to grow on me.

skankin · Post by **skankin** » 23 Nov 2010 11:03

hey dude, just read your talent show idea and I think it's a pretty good idea, it's a good intro for people who are new to the sport and it will not phase them out. I hope the Tel Aviv scene is good for you, I'll tell my friend from Tel Aviv to look out for a footbag player and tell you ; Ma coree which is my french translation of your hebrew. Have fun and keep kicking.

ps; nice title for the show

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 23 Nov 2010 12:01

I AM the Tel Aviv scene

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PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 25 Nov 2010 08:47

I feel like my game could explode if I learn a few more concepts and how to combine them with what I already know. But progress comes very slowly lately, and my retention of what I already learned is not very good. Sucks.

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 29 Nov 2010 08:53

Sealed today's session with an extremely smooth and satisfying ducking->clipper x2.

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 05 Dec 2010 01:57

Even though it's December here, the weather is phenomenal - Zero rain and fair weather all the time. I'm sure it's bad for the water supply but it's great for footbag.

This weekend I played outside and hit my ducking clipper x 10 easily. I suppose it's time to move on to whirls. my flip whirl is appallingly bad, plus I wanna work on pdx whirl and ducking whirl.

I'm gonna try to bring to my sessions a pen and paper and keep log on this i should work on. I always forget.

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 06 Dec 2010 09:32

Secret to whirls - very small set. I just did like 5 tiny clipper->ss clipper before doing whirls and had perfect consecutive whirls on both sides. However, that leaves the question of how to hit whirls from a high set, i.e ducking whirl, which is what I originally wanted to do

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 13 Dec 2010 11:12

It transitioned from sunny, slightly warm to stormy and extremely cold in the course of one day. In fact it's been so stormy that some people died from falling trees and flying objects. That's why I thought for sure I won't play this week, but an unhealthy obsession is an unhealthy obsession and I went anyways, drawing strength from my memory of boasting about playing in the coldest day of last year's winter.

The good thing about my rain proof spot is that it's now proven rain proof, and the bad thing is that it's not wind proof. Even though my entire body ached afterward, I had a good session.

I hit lots of good whirls bs, lots of pdx whirls bs and twice bsos, and had the strength for only a few strings, but they were good ones. I remember hitting:

Phoenix->dlo->datw->toe whirl

stepping lo->toe drifter->ducking butter->whirl

Ducking pdx whirl still eludes me. Seeing how pdx whirl wasn't as hard as i recalled I thought I'll nail it today, but I have to admit that even my regular whirl needs more work.

I have the itch to film again, but my equipment is drowned in all the stuff I didn't put in place since the moving, so I couldn't find it for today's session. But soon!

boyle · Post by **boyle** » 25 Dec 2010 03:19

feliz navidad amigo

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 25 Dec 2010 07:30

tambien para ti!

I hit that phoenix->schmoe

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 29 Dec 2010 12:44

I'm not having the best footbag time lately. It's cold, I've been playing alone for a long time, and last session my spot was so dusty my chest hurt the entire day afterward. I've been playing shitty, rushed and inconsistent for about two weeks now. I hate these down times, can't wait to be on the horse again.

On a positive note, I videoed my last session, and I captured the following combo:
Atomic butterfly->dlo->phoenix.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvP_lgBbCYc[/youtube]

I'm working on a book for teaching programming to total beginners. I'm posting chapters online in a form of a blog, kind of keeping it quiet until i have a nice mass of material to show off. If anyone's interested in trying it or giving an opinion, it's here: http://www.easywayin.com

boyle · Post by **boyle** » 29 Dec 2010 19:36

Can't watch the video here at work, but that's a cool combo.

Once people get midway through the program, throw in some Footbag for them to learn

All the best in the new year.