Nick "Houdini" Polini

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 27 Dec 2010 23:08

@Nathan: Yeah man, I just came back from it and I had a moment like that. They asked me what I've been up to and I almost replied "I can hit Revstein and Ripstein almost on call", but then I just said "footbag and life". It was so hard to shut my mouth about footbag. They respect it though, and they know it's pretty much my life. My one friend even gave me props and said something along the lines of "it's really cool you just stuck with footbag all throughout highschool and into college, you're actually doing something with your life unlike most of our friends." So that was cool to hear. And they did just what I said, smoked a lot of pot, and played video games. Sorry for ranting, but yeah, I really enjoyed NYJ and Chicago and the PIZZA. Madd props to CIC for having that. I took so much from that weekend... I'm talking A LOT. This was the tournament to influence me the most. I will indeed keep shredding with Bob, he's the best footbag Sensei I know. Hopefully see ya at the next tournament. Until then, take it easy man!

Ok, So footblog, small thing I want to confess to. I do partake in using Marijuana on an almost once a week/once every other week basis. I try not to smoke it though, because it's bad for your health. I normally vaporize it, or eat it. I'm not like one of those, "Smoke Weed Every Day!" Assclowns. I'm not a pot head, I'm not a stoner. I'm a Marijuana Enthusiast. I have a large scientific background and a part of me if just interested in the plant because of it's wild effects on human perception. I don't know why I had the urge to admit to this. Probably because I was just around it at my friend's house. And I did partake in a couple puffs of a blunt. Like I said, I'd rather not smoke it (much rather vaporize it), but I was with some old friends, so I almost felt like I needed to, although I know they would have been cool if I said no. I don't really know why I'm rambling on about this. I know Marijuana is both frowned upon and used amongst many players, but I'm somewhere in between.

Wow, I really ranted there.

Tomorrow I plan on drilling a lot.

Final Thoughts for the Night: If I put a fish in my pocket, they would call me Captain Fish Pockets

Pasquar · Post by **Pasquar** » 28 Dec 2010 15:31

ur so weird, nick

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 29 Dec 2010 23:34

Pffttt... That's nothing, you ever hear the one about the dead goldfish?

Hey Blog. Sup bishes? So that little dude, Luis... I bought him his first Lavers today. His mom couldn't afford them for Christmas, and they were the only thing he really wanted. So I wanted to make his Christmas this year and I took him out and bought him his first pair of Lavers. He loves them. And he's doing so well in them. He's hitting clippers both sides now. He could never even hit clipper before today. So I'm happy that he's happy.

I sent in footage for my FINAL submission to LUNS just now. My trick is finally visually pleasing and you can tell what trick it is that I'm hitting, as opposed to the first video I took. Luis also made a submission. And a Special Guest has also submitted a link. Y'all are gonna shit blood when you find out who it is and see the link that he hits

Any way, I shredded with Luis almost all day today after we modded up his new Lavers.

Highlights:

Flipside Grab Your Balls And Squeeze!!! Finally! Plus I think that name rules. Which means GYBAS is my first official 5-add I can hit on both sides! It feels so good to hear myself say that.

I drilled quite a bit too

Question: Is Revstein really a 5-add because of the reverse dex? http://footbag.wikispaces.com/ This site seems to think so.

I must bedify myself now.

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 30 Dec 2010 16:53

Just had a session with Nick P and Jorae. Jorae is a brand new freestyler. His first legitimate session was tonight. I gave him a 32 panel and Nick gave him his old Lavers. Now he's ready to shred. He's a really cool kid, and the coolest part... He's black! We taught him clippers bs tonight and he's hitting them rather well. We also tried an experiment and told him to try stepping sets... he was hitting them first try. Nick and him are making him a modified right now I think. I'm so stoked he showed a natural affinity toward freestyle. He lives 5 minutes outside of Philly, so if any Philly shredders are reading this, you should try to shred with him sometime.

This was by far my favorite session I've ever had in my entire life... so far.

One Huge Highlight That Made My Life:

DRAGONSTEIN. I'm still shaking from it. I don't want to talk anymore because of it.

Bye

zachatree · Post by **zachatree** » 30 Dec 2010 20:11

zachatree · Post by **zachatree** » 30 Dec 2010 21:10

boyle · Post by **boyle** » 31 Dec 2010 01:11

Hey man, I love your generosity...

"this guy liked footbag, so I bought him a pair of lavers and modded them for him".

That's awesome.

That's going to be the most direct way to get people involved.

Keep up the good work.

Is Dragonstein- dragon>dex>dex>dragon?

If so, that's awesome.

Pasquar · Post by **Pasquar** » 31 Dec 2010 05:34

clipper>dex>dex>dragon is what he hit

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 31 Dec 2010 14:30

Hey thanks Dan. The kid really deserved them. He was very appreciative too. And yeah, Dragonstein is clipper double swirling dragon.

Just had a session with Jackson, Nick P, Jarae, and Luis. Nothing really too new. I came really close to toe> ripstein, and I'm really starting to improve my string length and hit bigger tricks on both sides.

All together, a really fun session.

NEW YEARS PARTY NOW WOOOOORDDD.

Hacky New Year, Bishes!

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 01 Jan 2011 15:22

Had a new years session today with Stefan, Tyler, Bailey, and Sefan's friends who can play some serious hacky sack. The one kid, Eddie was really good and showed immediate interest in freestyle. If you've read some of my blog, I wrote this when I first met Stefan:

BEST PART IS:

Stefan says that he's got a group of hackers at Kutztown (15 mins from my college) and 3 or more of them are looking into stepping to the next level too. One kid is even better than Stefan... (Stefan's friends: Possibly Marks 3 - 5)

Eddie is one of those kids. I took him to the Outlets and we bought Lavers today. So, indeed, Mark 3. He also said that he severely thinks that his other buddies who hack at Kutz are going to want to get into it. There also may be two gals that are trying to get involved. Fingers crossed.

Stefan got better since I last saw him. I'll keep it updated when we find out if the others at Kutz are going to start shredding.

Highlights:

Long ass runs with a lot of different components mixed in

Handful of Ripsteins & Revsteins

Second double spinning clipper I've ever hit

We were slacklining and my room mate and I were trying different approaches of getting on. He tried jumping onto it and landed it. Then I tried and ate shit. Hard Shit. The hardest shit. I'm talking solid turds. I landed face down and the impact was taken in by my cell phone, which transferred an enormous strike of pain in my leg. I actually passed out it was so bad. Now my right thigh is really in pain. Icing it now. Hopefully it doesn't effect footbag. Again... fingers crossed.

Happy new year

Pasquar · Post by **Pasquar** » 02 Jan 2011 05:37

nice

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 02 Jan 2011 14:21

Damn short session with Luis but boy howdy did it yield some great shit!
Luis nailed his first butterflies bs! The look on his face was so awesome because it reminded me of myself years back. Today was a session of First Hit Tricks and Dream Tricks for me.

My Highlights:

This is what I'm most excited about... ZIG-ZAG

Zig-Zag has been on my "Dream Tricks" list for a LOOOOOONNNNNGGG time now, ever since I saw Jon Schneider hit it in Tricks of the Trade II. The excellent part about this trick is that I hit it FIVE TIMES in about THREE MINUTES! Made my night.

Fairy ss Mirage bs

Fear! (Strong side only, gotta work on weakside)

About to go have another session with Zach, Bailey, Jackson, and Leon.

UGHHH YEAHHH FOOTBAG.

sen · Post by **sen** » 02 Jan 2011 14:26

I guess the Slack lining incident didn't rattle you too badly.

Nice stuff!

PS When I first saw you mention slack line in your blog I had to look up what it was and my first thought was, "Looks dangerous. I hope he doesn't hurt himself so he can't play footbag."

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 04 Jan 2011 18:06

Sen, Slackline really isn't too dangerous, unless you do idiotic things that you're not skilled enough for yet... Like me

And yeah my leg feels better now. It just really sucked for 2 days.

Had a session with Luis and Jackson tonight. Luis was hitting this weird ass illusioning toe pound:?: and Jackson was just hitting really nice decently long tiltless runs. He hit his first real whirl tonight too! So clean!

Anyway, me? I played rather well tonight, which was awesome:

Flipside Blender!!!! First time hit... Couldn't... hit... strong side

I footed a handful of dream tricks tonight including, Frankenstein, Gyro Double Pickup, Gyro Whirl, and Toe Ripstein

Second flipside smear

Torque (probably my 8th or so)

Smudge (First, strong only)

Ripstein deep into a sweet guiltless string

I hit a Hat Trick that Luis made up (Hat Trick: a game we play when someone names 3 tricks and you hit them all in one string) He called Flip swirl, smear, and ripwalk. That felt good because my flip swirls and ripwalks suck.

I was helping my Grandma rake leaves and clean up the yard today, because she and my step grandfather are getting too old, and while I was taking a break, I hit Ripstein with a snow ball in skate shoes and pants

That was sick.

Drilling tomorrow after work, then session with Jackson and Luis.

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 06 Jan 2011 23:29

Today I drove an hour to pick Zach up, then I drove another hour to Ryan Straub's house, where we met up with Tim and Josh Harper for a shred session. Totally sick and fun as hell session, by the way. Ryan is just starting out, but he's already showing loads of improvement, in just one day. I gave him a bag and Zach sold him 2 for cheap. Oh and Ryan's house used to be some insane huge restuarant and now it's a house... so our kicking spot used to be a dance floor

(Biggest house I've ever been in... fucking crazy big, seriously) Tim and Josh's styles got so much more fluid and nicer-looking since I saw them at Funtastiks. They said I looked a lot better too, which was cool to hear. Everyone had a great time at our mini-jam today.

Highlights:

Nothing too amazing aside from:

I double dexed a flipside Ripstein. I feel like I'll hit it soon. That was an amazing sight seeing myself set for a good FLIPSIDE Ripstein. Never thought I'd see that. Can't wait til I actually hit it.

Favorite link of the day: Clipper> ducking op clipper> Ripstein

Fear (Second time)

Played rather well today, all-in-all. Lots of unusual stuff in my runs and lots of flip swirls, ducking bs, ripwalks bs, pixies (some bs), dynos bs, stepping ss clipper bs, etc...

Tomorrow, I'm going to rest up. My legs are not jolly.

EDIT: HAHAHA That's terriffic. After rereading what I just posted I definitely said that there was "lots of unusual stuff in my runs". Call me immature, but that shit is funny. No pun intended. Words rule.

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 07 Jan 2011 21:00

Had 2 sessions tonight: First with Jackson and Luis. Jackson hit ducking mirage and ducking whirl! That was so sick! And Luis hit his first Smear!!! These guys are getting stoopid good before my very eyes! So stoked on them!

Highlights:

I FOOTED FLIPSIDE RIPSTEIN!!!!! AHHH!!!!!

Possible invention: Spinning Anchor! I'd like to call it S.O.S.

Fairy ss Muted Dyno

Ready for som Sauce?

Butterfly Swirl BSOS!!! First time flipside!!! Hit it about 4 times tonight

Dimwalk BSOS (Only hit on flipside about 2 times, and I hit it about 4 more times tonight)

Smear BSOS (Hit this BSOS before, but only once I think)

Muted Magellan BSOS! Kinda stoked on this one because I've never hit Magellan before on either side and I got both pretty easily tonight

Came pretty close to stepping ss butterfly swirl

All together, very happy with this session.

Then tonight, my old friends from highschool had a movie premier tonight for their new skateboarding video. Really great video, some awesome new skating in it. They got really good. I used to skate with them a lot before footbag, but since I got really into it, I stopped skating. Anyway, cool I got to see a lot of old friends at that. After everyone left, I stuck around and chatted with the owner of the house, my buddy James. After not too long, he brought up my footbagging and asked if I had a bag on me. We kicked for a good hour. He's actually got a nice freestyle basis. I'm giving him a bag I stitched tomorrow, because he siad he might be interested in getting into freestyle.

Well, we played this cool game where when the bag came to me, he'd name any object in the world and I would hit a trick that slightly resembled it. THIS WAS AWESOME for my game. He gave me so many cool ideas!

James said:

"Giraffe": Clipper> ducking ss blind sole

"Abominable Snow Man": Head stall> spinning squeeze

"Puppy": Pixie> Spin> Lay on the ground> Squeeze

"Tunnel" (My Favorite

): I have to describe it.. You lift one leg, and put your shoe on your knee. Then you do any set and hoop the bag through your leg hole. I tried a couple different sets with this, but stepping and spinning worked best. Definitely going to keep working with this, because it seems to fit my style.

"Scissor": Swirling outsideberger

So that game was totally sick because he helped me get creative with some cool links/tricks. But I footed flipside Ripstein!!!!

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 08 Jan 2011 19:59

Kicked with Luis today. Luis hit himself some new tricks, including, Pixie muted clipper, pixie muted rake, xbd rake, and I think those were his main highlights.

I didn't hit too much new stuff, but here it is.

Stepping muted clipper bs (first time for strong and flip)

FOOTED Stepping Muted Swirl!

New link: Pixie muted clipper> Gyro Pickup> Pixie Muted Rake (Luis said it looks "AWWWEEESSOOMMMEEE!!!!")

Pixie bs and Fairy bs are starting to feel way better

I go back to school tomorrow. Can't wait to shred with Zach, Tyler, Eddie, Evan, and Stefan again, along with the possible new handful of skilled kickers that Eddie is going to try to convert

Plus Tim Harper and his brother Josh are going to come shred from time to time, I believe, along with Ryan Straub, hopefully. And Brian Buchan said he'd love to come up and shred on weekends. And maybe Bob could come once he's finished being his own personal drill seargent. And Mike Toolan wants to shred up there again. Plus Jackson is going to drive up with Luis, Corey, Darren, and possibly some new kickers he's converted that I haven't met yet

Sounds like we've got a jam on our hands

Yay

Jiffy · Post by **Jiffy** » 08 Jan 2011 20:14

dang i need to move to PA, cause thats where the party's at!

so many new players. awe well, i still have nick p and danny to shred with

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 09 Jan 2011 11:25

...AND Mike... And Brandon... AND Brad

You'll learn a lot dude, just keep at it.

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 10 Jan 2011 19:43

Zach and I just had THE FIRST SESSION WITH BOB SINCE NYJ!!!! He's been drilling his mind away ever since we left for NYJ and holy fuck, it paid off! I can't even describe it. It looks like his drilling WD-40'd his legs and windex'ed his style. His Atomics look clean as hell now and his Stepping looks fantastic. You should read is blog when he does blog next. I think he's pretty damn satisfied with his results. Fuck yeah, New Bob!

Oh and Zach hit Symposium Eggbeater :O He also had some really sweet links.

I played better than I think I ever have before. I can't remember any specifics except for my highlights I will post, but I was more than satisfied with my shred tonight.

Highlights:

New Trick of the Night: Phasing Muted Twist

Strung pretty long and mixed it up a lot.

We started a game where everyone tries to hit their longest Guiltless string. I thought about it too much, but I ended up with 8 contacts, while Zach had 11 and Bob had 14. I tried not to repeat tricks, but it was tough. Plus, I kept counting in my head, which messed me up a lot. Going to beat my score next time

I realized I have the tendency to overuse my near mirages. Fuck those things.

My ender was sweet. I said, "I'm going to hit my ender now" when we were pretty much finished. I threw the bag onto my toe, set it to a clipper, and hit a picture-perfect Revstein first try with a flawless hand catch, then walked away and started stretching. That was really cool.

It's Tyler's birthday tomorrow, so we're having a Birthday session for him tomorrow night with Zach and some of the new shredders in the area.