Nick "Houdini" Polini

[C-Fan]

Nathan is a man of many talents. With him and Ian, you have yourself a solid shred crew. Make lots of videos please!

edit: damn, top post!

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Yo Ken, I love that video! I saw it a while ago, right after Funtastiks. So funny dude. And hell yeah, we plan on filming quite a bit this year. Nathan and I were already talking about borrowing the film club's nice cameras for a "film project for class"

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So I'd like to start off by saying this... If you don't like walking a lot... Don't go to PSU. Holy shit man, I've walked MILESSSSSSS today. So crazy. I've never walked so much in my life.

Had my first day of work today. I'm an art gallery security guard now! I get to carry a fucking flashlight and radio and junk! WORD! Plus I have like all these monitors to watch that secure the entire building. I feel so official.

After work, I went home and hacked with my room mates for a while. YEAH! MY ROOM MATES ENJOY HACKING! I don't think either of them will get into freestyle, but they enjoy kicking... Actually Matt was doing inside kick> Ducking inside kicks (potential? maybe, maybe not..) But it was cool, I have a new way of drilling... While we were kicking in the livingroom today, I brought my Master List of tricks in the room and worked down the 3 ADDs list, BSOSing all of my 3 ADDs in little 3-4 contact strings, then pass. I got down through about maybe 20 of them.

Highlights:

DATW BSOS Never sauced that before

They said they'd like to hack like that a few times a week. Matt was kinda into it and said he liked the work out it gave him... Never know, maybe he will get into it after all? Kind of a cool new way for me to drill some concepts.

After that I showered and then walked down to see some of my punk friends who I haven't seen for a while. I have a feeling I'll be hanging out with them a decent bit this year. They live close by too, which is cool.

My legs are in so much pain from walking and shred combined... My first day of actual classes is tomorrow. Kinda looking forward to it, I guess. After I'm finished... I'm definitely drilling more.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

So let me start off by saying... IT LOOKS LIKE PSU FOOTBAG CREW HAS A NEW MEMBER!

Ian and I played and filmed today outside the HUB (lots of pedestrian traffic, great for introducing footbag to a future styler... And just that very thing happened. It was a totally fun/sick session, btw. Lots of good stuff was hit by both of us. Ian hit a really sweet Whirling Swirl> Twirl. I was impressed. That's on tape too, which is awesome. But while we were kicking, we noticed this kid was intently watching from beyond the circle. After we ended our session, he comes up and introduces himself as Dylan Reap. He said "Hacky Sack" is his favorite hobby and he was excited to meet some people who knew what they were doing. Then he pulls a crochet footbag out of his pocket and shows us what he's got. He had totally solid inside, toe, and outside kicks and he had great control. He kept it up for a while, which was impressive in itself. I got his contact info and I'm going to let him borrow a pair of old Lavers.

Anyway, really looking forward to teaching him more. So sick that he found us.

My highlights:

Mobius> Mobius off camera, without the freeze on the osis Ian saw it. I feel a x3 coming on sooner of later. Mob> Mob is the easiest 5> 5 for me... Call me a nut-job, but I'm for serious.
Forget what else I got on tape, but I was pretty flowy today. Definitely happy about my game today.

Video should be out sooner of later...

This was my first shred with Ian while being a resident at PSU. I can't wait until we get the whole crew (Nathan, Ian, Stefan, and now Dylan) together for a shred. Oh and on top of that, I forgot, but my room mate, Matt, who was getting into hacking the other day... He asked if I wanted to kick tomorrow(?!?) He thinks footbag might be something cool to start dabbling with. So I told him he could borrow some old Lavers and join us soon. So maybe we can add Matt to the picture, as well... Either way... PSU Crew is looking good for this year

[DTank126]

Tell Nathan, "I fuckin hate you" for me. He'll know what it means....

Also your a nut-job for having mob>mob be your easiest 5-5. Your also probably gonna get really good bc of it...
































Dick.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Hey thanks Doog! I hope you're right, that would be great I forgot to tell Nathan that, but we're playing tomorrow, so I'll for sure let heem know.

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Realy gotta make this one quick, cuz I have a Dendrology quiz tomorrow and I gotta study my shit after I post this... I had a session with Brill, Pipebomb, my room mate (Matt, the guy I blogged about in my last post) and Dylan (the other guy I blogged about in my last post ) It was their first session. Dylan and Matt both hit 6 alternating toe stalls on tape, and Matt got 4 alternating insides on tape. Matt also hit ATW on bs!!!! So sick. I got chills when I saw that... I live with the guy!!! He said he wants to start coming to more sessions too! Both of the new guys said they do... Plus we have our other member, Stefan. He'll be coming to a session soon. So PSU Crew is actually a crew now! We've got 6 members now! Balliiinnnn! Ian hit some good stuff for the camera and Nathan was flowing, and he got like 3 Fearless on tape, but he said he wasn't really stoked on any of the footage. It's understandable since the kid rips at footbag. He was just kind of having an off night. He'll scrape the rust off soon. I got some good footage tonight that I was definitely pleased with.

Highlights:

Ian told me to try Symp. Atomic, so I tried it and got Symp. Atomic Toe... Strong side only.... gonna futz about with weakside on that set soon.
Got some pretty cool weird stuff on tape
Ripped Warrior BSOS'ed in a Guiltless string. Definitely hyped on that. I bsos'ed it in tiltless before, never guiltless

Ian taped on his macbook and once we all get one more session in, he's going to edit the footage and post a full-on video. I gotta study some trees now (uh huhuh... study some trees.. uh huh..) Ian made that joke But for real, Dendro is calling. Peace.

[Ian Brill]

Hey Nick- you're the man. I made the video early. Forgot to add the 4 consec. insides, but I'm sure he'll hit 8 before I see him next.

The PSU crew is tight. This is gonna be fun.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FakXH2OfYsk[/youtube]

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Ian, you weren't being a dick at all. It's understandable that you've taught so many people how to play and now you just want to play. I gotcha covered man I had a little session with Matt tonight and I tried to teach him some stuff... it worked Great job on the video and props on the off camera Tomahawk and Blurry Whirl. We need to assemble the crew again soon. This weekend sounds good to me!

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So, as I touched on, I had a duo session with Matt tonight at the rec hall. That kid learned quick. His highlights tonight were Clipper bs, Toe> Far Clipper, 11 alternating toe stalls> footed atw, and he ended the session on ATW BSOS! So sick. He's learning madd fast. It's great that I live with him. He's buying Lavers this weekend. He also has not shut up about wanting to go to the East Coast Champs I told him that we're probably going. He's really excited about footbag right now, it's great to see. We've been friends for 3 years now and I never thought he'd get into footbag... He said the same thing. And he was really surprised when he hit atw bsos. So was I though And Dylan facebooked me a bit ago about the kind of shoes he should get. It's nice we have such a substantial sized club up here at PSU now. Still haven't gotten Stefan in on a session yet. It's tough to communicate with everyone though, since my phone got fried by the earthquake we had the other day. A new one is coming in the mail soon. Then we'll be able to organize sessions a lot more easily.

Highlights:

Spinning Clipper> Ripwalk rpt (This is actually my first time hitting this one. Sad, I know. But while working on it, I felt my ripwalks getting smaller (motion-wise) and more controlled, so that was a small sort of breakthrough)
Worked with Vortex a bit... Realized it's way easier to zoom into it than just clipper, so I'll be working on that until I get good at it, and hopefully, then I should figure it out from clipper.

I recently found out that Ian lives a few streets away from me, which is really cool. Anyway, that's it for now. Not much great stuff from me tonight, though I'm happy I figured out ripwalks a little better. Improvements are improvements :\

Hoping to kick with the White N Blue Crew again this weekend.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Hoping to kick with the White N Blue Crew again this weekend.

I hoped right Played with Nathan and Stefan today. This was their first time meeting eachother. It was such a fun session. Stefan really learned a lot. He had an internship over in London this summer, where he met up with Matt Bailey... Matt apparently showed him a shitload... Because Stefan was looking sharp today. He hit a couple firsts: What I'm most excited about.. FLAPPER!!!!!! Haha and he also was getting madd close to flip Flapper. They were definitely good Flappers too, for just starting out, he had so much control of them. He also strung MUCH more consistently than I saw him last before summer started. Nathan and I helped him with DLO, he's hit a few of them, but we really broke it down for him... now he totally gets it. Nathan showed him Symp Mirage, and he hit his first one today. He came really close to spinning clipper a few times too.

Nathan was looking flowy as normal. His style is definitely one of my favorites in the game. It's so liquid and effortless. He never breaks a sweat, meanwhile, every once-bright red brick that surrounds me within a yard radius is now stained burgundy from my sweat lol I suggested PS DLO to Nathan and he hit his first one ever today. Looked so good.

My highlights:

Nathan totally broke through to my Pdx Whirls. He gave me the final tip I needed and afterward, he said they were all clean. That felt great to hear, since they've always given me troublems.
Flipside Pdx Tap> Hand Catch rpt> Try again- drop> Try again- drop> Flip Pdx Tap> Hand catch rpt... So essentially, these were my 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th times hitting it. It felt pretty good. I can't wait for flip Sumo and Matador. I came close to flip Matador... Not yet though.
Nathan and I both ended our sessions on 22 Guiltless... He said next time we're gonna shoot for 30 to end. Kind of scared me, but he assured me that I could do it. I like how positive he is.


Oh yeah, My room mate Matt wanted to kick with us too, but he came home completely trashed this morning around 4 am lol So he was in no condition to play. He wants to kick again soon. Annnnnnndddd good news, Nathan's pretty much 100% down for East Coasts, and so is Matt and Stefan... Just waiting on Dylan to get back to me.

I study trees now.

[Empty]

I love hearing about nuclears!:) I'm really into this set, If I can give you advice I'd like to say that you need to set the bag as late as possible. Try to keep bag on your clipper longer, and set when your feet will be higher, that would makes your set higher Matador it's great trick, sumo is harder (for me). Great you're doing it both sides
Try that drills

pdx tap > dimwalk (rpt)

Nuclear osis b2b

Good luck and keep it up!

PROPS on everything you've hit so far.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Yo Pawel! Thanks for the props on all that stuff. I'm glad you're a fan on Nukes.. I really enjoy them too.. Just need to get better at flipside and thanks for all those drills. I'll be sure to try them once my Nukes get better.

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So, yes... This is my second session of the day. As I said before, Matt was wrecked this morning and couldn't play.... But he felt better tonight and was itching to freestyle... So He and I walked down to this bridge with light and played under there... What an amazing session... Matt learned Mirage bs, Pixie toe bs, and he ended the session on clipper> clipper! We were so stoked. Also... he schooled some of his 2 adds for most of the time. I hit a dream link...

My highlights:

I'll start it off with a banger... RIPPED WARRIOR> RIPPED WARRIOR!!!!!!! Completely inspired by Kevin Hoganator. Thanks for the inspiration man.
Then I tried to hit that link from my flip ripped warrior, but I fucked up and hit RIPPED WARRIOR> STEPPING DUCKING OSIS!!!!!!!!
Schooled Pdx Whirls and had a bunch of cleanies on bs, since Nathan helped me with them His advice was awesome. I really get this trick now.
Schooled atomsmashers for a bit too
These drunk kids walked through the bridge and wanted to see what we were doing... So I gave them a nice demo with like a 15 contact guiltless string, and then hit Ripped Warrior first try after that string. They all applauded. So excellent.
I also schooled Ripwalks for a bit... Definitely beat my record of 7 b2b with what I think was at least 10... I forgot to count *FACEPALM*

So that was fucking gnarly, needless to say.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

I plan on shredding with Matt later today... But a fun story. I wake up and get some breakfast and sit in the livingroom... I hear all this thumping coming from Matt's room... I walk up to the door and peak in... He's standing in the middle of his room, ghosting smears and ripwalks LOL HE'S ADDICTED! Will post highlights here later.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Yep, so I just came back from a session with Matt... and 2 NEW MEMBERS!!!!! Matt hit his first Pickups on bs, and he hit the link Pixie Toe> Mirage bs, and he nailed Butterfly! First 3 ADD. He's really coming along... Towards the middle of our session... 2 dudes who didn't know each other and didn't know us, walked over and asked to join. They started kicking with us and crazy enough... Both of them started pulling out mirages and around the worlds, and legover kicks and all sorts of basic tricky bag stuff like that. Both of them were interested in joining our club, George and Brian. One guy is a junior and the other guy is a senior, graduating this semester. He seemed a lot less into it since he had all 400 level Econ classes... Plus he played every sport and did every unusual activity... Chances are he's not going to take footbag very seriously... Ya never know though.. He did hit Butterfly bs today. But George was so into it. He couldn't stay long, but he was very excited to meet up with us.

Anyway, That was awesome to meet up with some new skilled hackers interested in getting into freestyle. Can't wait to meet up with them again, or at least George.

Highlights:

Jacknife bs (new on both lol) I don't know why, but I just never tried this before, and now that stepping ducking isn't so bad for me, this came fairly quickly.
Schooled Flappers for a while too. It's time that I start putting more weird stuff in my strings since I'm getting gradually longer guiltless runs. Flip flappers are feeling much easier to delay the bag on, especially from a big drop, like ducking flapper. NICE.
Hit another Ripped Warrior first try for a family who was being our audience

So now our PSU Crew is up to around 7 or 8 members, depending on how serious our new members are.

[g00d33]

Dude, you are like catnip for people who just randomly may have an interest in footbag. I laugh every time I read how you got another player. I laugh in a good way though. Like, shit, how many days have you been at school, and you're up to 7 or 8? That is most definitely quite ballin.

And props on shred stuff too! Jacknife is a cool trick

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Thanks for those there props, John Always appreciate thems 'uns..

I laugh every time I read how you got another player. I laugh in a good way though.

You should start LOL'ing because... PSU JUST RECRUITED 2 NEW PLAYERS!

Nathan, Matt, Dylan and I played out front of the HUB tonight.

Dylan is starting to get a feel for his basic stalls. It looks awesome.

Matt Hit his best string ever tonight: "Pixie Toe> Mirage> Op Toe> ATW> Op Toe> ATW" He's totally stringing. He also hit his first legovers both sides! The kid is so anxious to start stringing. He was starting to develop a case of the ADD-Hunt-ington's Disease, but we slowly turned him away from it, thankfully.

Nathan was killin shit, as usual. He hit a high guiltless of 27, we were shooting for 30 to end the session, but neither of us managed it.

THEN! The fun parts... Mid-shred, we noticed 3 guys standing off to the side, watching us. We asked them if they wanted to try. Apparently, they all played soccer. The one guy gets the bag and, to our surprise, he nails madd alternating toe stalls, some atw's, and a legover. SO RAD! Got his contact info and he wants to meet up with us soon. His name is Colin. I will hit him up. He was definitely into it... But cool-y enough, his buddies kinda seemed into it too. I told them to join Colin when he met up with us.

THHHEEENNN!!!! Coolest part of the session... Nathan had just left to go to a club meeting, and almost as soon as he peaced, we see this kid come over toward us... and this kid uttered the COOLEST WORDS I'VE EVER HEARDZ!!! They were so cool, that they deserved their own segment in my blog...

"I knew there had to be some footbaggers up here! I own Rod Lavers!"


MOTHAFUCKIN BINGO!!!!!

His name is Ian, he owns Rods and he's been dabbling with Freestyle for a little while. I got his info and we're meeting up with him asap, too.

This year will be so fun

Highlights:

Flapper Stepping Ducking set????? Barefoot, but nonetheless, I did it... Has this ever been hit?
Toe ss Torque bs (new on both sides.. just wanted to add a new trick to my repertoire)
Came close to BSOS Ripped Warrior again. Missed the last butter.
Stepping Ducking Legover... Not the first time.. Gotta start using more of this, though.
Tried to end the session with 30 Guiltless, but could only manage 25 (only reason I stopped was because I accidentally bailed to a clipper :\ )... was dropping on 19 and 20 often. Nathan has really been pushing me hard this year. I love it.

Here's to new members and a fun year at PSU!

Gotta do homework now

[Tripp]

you're making me want to head out to psu to kick.

[Jazzkid]

^ + 1....that sounds like a fun session.

Dude,,

Ive been reading your blog and its great. You have been recruiting so many footbagers its unreal. That awesome for the sport and for your crew.

MAD PROPS on flapper ducking....I dont know if its been hit before. A little part of me feels that Vasek has hit EVERYTHING when shredding by himself, but hasnt claimed all of the tricks so we can feel good too. Maybe so man...I think it might actually be yours.....but you have to ask ....Jon Scneider might know....if you ask a couple of shredders you will have a good idea whether or not its a true invention. Either way SICK SHIT ......
try to get a stall after it and post it .....try to hit a couple of variations. try to maybe hit sole stepping ducking sole. Call it soley shit......maybe not.....anyway......

props on the guiltless strings...

Im looking forward to going to jersey...I was playing every day then messed up my knee a bit so im gonna take 5 - 7 days off and ice, cold dip, brace, rest, hope to recovery soon....then use the remaining time before the comp to hit my game and get ready for routines.....looking forward to a session with your crew....are you going to compete at the comp?

[mtoolan]

i'm pretty sure you're almost solely responsible for doubling(if not tripling or quadrupling) the pennsylvania shred scene. i don't understand how you do it. write a book or hold a seminar at worlds or something, it's useful information.

good job with the shred buddy, sorry we couldn't meet up before you left, it hasn't exactly been a good year (summer especially) for me. the good news is i get a weeks vacation at the end of september and another at the beginning of october and a buddy and i are planning a trip to psu to visit some friends, and you know what that means; shred session and thai food.

see you at east coasts man.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Josh: Get your ass over here one of these weekends!

Mark: Thanks man! I just wanna do flapper stepping ducking with shoes on now. I think I can get it eventually, because I started off only being able to flapper step with barefeet, now I can set for a belly button-height flapper ripwalk with shoes on... So I'd like to think that I'll have Flap step ducks eventually. I really hope it's an invention. I posted it in the "Has (insert trick name) been hit?" thread. No one replied yet, which is always a good sign I hope your knee gets better in time for East Coasts. Most of my crew and I are definitely going, just gotta get stuff sorted out with where we're gonna stay. And hell yeah, I'll be competing. Hopefully I place "not last" this time... Doubtful lol Looking forward to meeting you dude! It's about time!

Toolan: Thanks for the kind words dude. I guess that's a big part of my mission in footbag.. recruit as many new players as possible and teach them the basics, hoping they take off with it and really get into freestyle. It's made my life so much better and I want to share that with everyone so their lives can get better too

I have a few small tips about how to get new players, but seriously, most of the time, we're just playing and having a good time when people walk up to us and are interested in learning.

For soccer players who generally have a nack for keeping the bag up and stalling it, I tell them that a lot of professionals started out with soccer and got into freestyle, which usually excites them (and it's not a lie either). I've recruited a few soccer players this way.. Going to be teaching one of them tonight.

For hacky slackers that don't know about footbag yet, they're a lot easier to convert... They often have the control, they just need instruction on how to start doing stalls.. These guys react well to being shown a few cool tricks, as listed above.

It also helps to have a bunch of old lavers laying around your room that they can use to learn.

I often let them borrow my old bags that I've stitched, and if they show some good improvements, I'll usually just let them keep that bag to practice with... Sometimes, I do the same with old Lavers.

Show them cool tricks, and also some weird ones. Ripstein, Whirling Swirl, Spinning Clipper, Mobius, Swirls are all good. I feel like new people like seeing the odd side of freestyle too.. Tootsie rolls, Flappers, Spinning Flapper, etc...

Always be really supportive. Give props for their first toe stalls, inside stalls, atws, clippers, etc... Even their first few alternating kicks. New players thrive on receiving props.

Always offer to teach them what you know... If they know they will have a personal teacher for the sport, chances are, they'll be much more content and way more into it.


There's definitely more... Just can't think of the rest off the top of my head... Mainly, be really supportive, extremely nice, and show them that it can be so much fun. I'll try to add to this when I can. Thanks for this idea, Toolan. Also, looking forward to kicking with you at East Coasts and at PSU this year. Dude, I live right next to that Thai place we at at last time It's called "Comfy Thai" but I keep calling it "Comfy Noodle"... Ian corrects me and assures me that "Comfy Noodle" is something COMPLETELY different

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Anyway, I got bored after studying last night and had a mini barefoot session in my room at 12 am. Drilled a lot of toe to toe stuff that I suck at also experimented a bit.

Highlights:

Drilled Illusion, Legover, Eggbeater, DLO, Magellan & PLO... My legovers are definitely good now, I just don't use them at all... I think it's because I used to refrain from using them, since I sucked at them, but now that I'm a lot better at them, it's just been drilled in my head from my past mentality, that "I don't use them, since I bad at them". This will change.
Surprisingly consistent Frigid Heel Delays bs ... Keep in mind that I was barefoot
Solesis> Zooming Frigid Heel bs! That felt really bad ass.

Session with some of the crew tonight around 7. Teaching a few of the new guys tonight. Really looking forward to it.


AND HOW FUCKING COOL IS IT WHEN YOU GET A DELIVERY GUY KNOCK ON YOUR DOOR TO DROP OFF SOME NEW LAVERS THAT AREN'T YOURS!!!! Oh yeah, that just happened! Matt is gonna be so happy when he gets back from class!

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

So pretty much as soon as Matt got home, I asked him if I could mod his Lavers. I did so. He got the light blue/white ones. They look so fresh. We tested them out tonight with a session of Matt, Stefan, and I... And a nice surprise, Nathan stopped by just to watch our session because his back hurt.

Stefan got Illusion bs some really nice both sided strings, and he's finally figured out Osii.

Matt hit Inside Pixie Toe bs (WTF...) and Illusion bs, along with some Legovers, and Pickups.

Nathan hit Void in Osiris skate shoes (*FACEPALM*) He's nuts.

Highlights:

Witch Doctor bs
New 6 ADD: Stepping Ducking Solestice!!! Footed it flip a few times, but couldn't seal the deal... Feels so sweet though.
Ducked Atomic sets on bs a few times each.. Getting easier..
Stepped out of Mobius finally! Mobius> Stepping Osis
Had a run with Ripped Warrior BSOS & Spike Hammer
Little Apple bs (THis got so much easier since the first time I hit this last month.
Schooled Symp Mirage a bit toward the end.

Might have another new crew member... Not sure about it yet.. Will get back to you on that one.

Tomorrow around like 6 I think the entire crew is trying to meet up with everyone and play for a while. Not everyone has met each other yet, so tomorrow will be cool if we can pull that off. Will update some shit tomorrow.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Woke up this morning for class... 2 HOURS EARLY... Fuuuu.. Couldn't get back to sleep afterward so I convinced myself that I could hit Spender with Non-modded Lavers while still half-asleep.... I couldn't But I did hit something I was kinda happy about

Highlight:

Dragon> (pull the dragon into an outside stall? Dunno what it's called exactly)> Symp Swirl BSOS

Will be blogging later tonight... Session with most/all of the new/old members of PSU Shred Crew tonight.