That was the most heart-felt post I've ever read about footbag. That actually brought a tear to my eye.
You feel so strongly about freestyle... As I know a lot of us do. I would say that if you love doing something so much, you won't just give up on it, no matter how much it sucks taking those shred breaks. I, personally would rather persevere through the shitty times and just nurse my leg back up to health.
Just my opinion, you do whatever you want... Just know that you've had a severe impact on how I play footbag. I thank you so much for all the positivity you've shown me about my game and for all the tips and everything else. You're the man... man. If I don't get the chance to see you again, then I'm glad we finally got to bump into each other at NYFA.
But then again, maybe there's a future for you joining these shredders.
(00:46... So THE)
hogan
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I've mulled over your last two posts, and here's what I think.
1. If your body is constantly breaking down from footbag, something needs to change. It sounds like you're addressing this with diet and exercise, which is good, but maybe there are other factors that need addressing. I haven't seen enough video of you to comment on form or trick selection, but those might be areas to look at too.
2. Related to the previous point, you may have to make the choice between quitting footbag, or playing footbag but doing different tricks than you want to. When I was younger, I loved symposium tricks and did a ton of them. I also loved shuffle. As I got older and my body got more cranky/annoyed with footbag, I had to consciously change some of my trick selection. I do a lot less shuffle and symp now, and more ducking and spinning. You may want to consider making a conscious choice to change your game for your body's sake. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as it can open your eyes to different aspects of the sport and lead you down paths you may not have considered before. One of my favorite tricks I've ever hit was spinning mobius, which I never would have worked toward if I hadn't decided to learn spinning in order to save my knees.
3. While footbag is indeed awesome and you clearly love it, don't discount the fact that there may be something else you'll discover that you'll like even more. You mentioned Clavens in your first post. He clearly loved footbag and was super dedicated for several years, and I remember when his website was about footbag. Go to davidclavens.com today, and you don't see a word about footbag. It's all about magic now, and he says he prefers magic performing to footbag now. So while it'd be sad if you left footbag after all the love and dedication, there could be something else waiting to replace or even surpass it.
1. If your body is constantly breaking down from footbag, something needs to change. It sounds like you're addressing this with diet and exercise, which is good, but maybe there are other factors that need addressing. I haven't seen enough video of you to comment on form or trick selection, but those might be areas to look at too.
2. Related to the previous point, you may have to make the choice between quitting footbag, or playing footbag but doing different tricks than you want to. When I was younger, I loved symposium tricks and did a ton of them. I also loved shuffle. As I got older and my body got more cranky/annoyed with footbag, I had to consciously change some of my trick selection. I do a lot less shuffle and symp now, and more ducking and spinning. You may want to consider making a conscious choice to change your game for your body's sake. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as it can open your eyes to different aspects of the sport and lead you down paths you may not have considered before. One of my favorite tricks I've ever hit was spinning mobius, which I never would have worked toward if I hadn't decided to learn spinning in order to save my knees.
3. While footbag is indeed awesome and you clearly love it, don't discount the fact that there may be something else you'll discover that you'll like even more. You mentioned Clavens in your first post. He clearly loved footbag and was super dedicated for several years, and I remember when his website was about footbag. Go to davidclavens.com today, and you don't see a word about footbag. It's all about magic now, and he says he prefers magic performing to footbag now. So while it'd be sad if you left footbag after all the love and dedication, there could be something else waiting to replace or even surpass it.
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slapdash21
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aww ha you little bitchass 
id love to play 3 times a month, and no, you dont want to be me
we already talked about this (we've pretty much been talking about this off an on since the first time i warned you about overdoing it like 2 years ago, right around when i had to take a year off due to injury.....) but we still gotta hit up habibis so you have more time to chew some shit over with someone that knows exactly what its like to get the proverbial footbag shaft.
kens got really good points...especially number two. it sucks having to even midstring about restricting what moves you can do and whatnot but it will bring out some interesting results sometimes and can bring you back to a uncomplicated love for keeping the bag off the ground.
i know you cant quit completely because i think even if you had never gotten as good as you have, and you were still only hitting tiltless shit or whatever that you would still be playing so to me its more like figuring out how much you'll be playing, and how hard/competitively, not so much whether or not you'll "quit"
hit me up to chill kid
pb
id love to play 3 times a month, and no, you dont want to be mewe already talked about this (we've pretty much been talking about this off an on since the first time i warned you about overdoing it like 2 years ago, right around when i had to take a year off due to injury.....) but we still gotta hit up habibis so you have more time to chew some shit over with someone that knows exactly what its like to get the proverbial footbag shaft.
kens got really good points...especially number two. it sucks having to even midstring about restricting what moves you can do and whatnot but it will bring out some interesting results sometimes and can bring you back to a uncomplicated love for keeping the bag off the ground.
i know you cant quit completely because i think even if you had never gotten as good as you have, and you were still only hitting tiltless shit or whatever that you would still be playing so to me its more like figuring out how much you'll be playing, and how hard/competitively, not so much whether or not you'll "quit"
hit me up to chill kid
pb
Last edited by slapdash21 on 08 Sep 2011 12:59, edited 1 time in total.
Pete Bowler
B$C
keeps it offah da ground.
617 FOR LIFE
B$C
keeps it offah da ground.
617 FOR LIFE
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F[uns]tylin' Eclectic
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Yeah I agree with Ken's number 2... I was actually just in class writing footbag drills down because the guest lecturer was so boring and making everyone eat their desks. I was thinking about your situation for a bit too... and I realized, maybe it was your trick selection. You're always going for Pdx Torque stuff and Stepping ducking stuff. That stuff is so sick, don't get me wrong... but they can definitely be stressful on your legs.
Spinning stuff is actually my favorite concept of footbag and I remember you saying that you weren't too great at it... I also remember that I didn't think I saw you spin once at NYFA! Maybe once or twice, but you were mostly all about shuffle. Maybe go out on a limb and when your legs start feeling better, give spinning a shot? I'm on eggshells waiting for your final decision whether or not to stay in or quit.
Spinning stuff is actually my favorite concept of footbag and I remember you saying that you weren't too great at it... I also remember that I didn't think I saw you spin once at NYFA! Maybe once or twice, but you were mostly all about shuffle. Maybe go out on a limb and when your legs start feeling better, give spinning a shot? I'm on eggshells waiting for your final decision whether or not to stay in or quit.
I felt the same way after my two injuries. Right after NYJ in 2009, I got tendinitis in the left side of my groin. It took 4 months to heal, and every session I had ended in pain before then. From mid-May to early July I worked my ass off to get back to where I was for USO, which I did. Right after USO I got tendinitis in the right side of my groin. Another 4 months of pain. I said to myself if that ever happens again I'll probably quit, because I can't deal with it anymore.
Having trouble while you're playing or training is hard, but wanting to play when you can't is by far the hardest thing to deal with in this sport. I hope you'll be like me and be healthy after your two injuries. You're a great guy, and you don't deserve all of this. Pizza's on me next time
Matt
Having trouble while you're playing or training is hard, but wanting to play when you can't is by far the hardest thing to deal with in this sport. I hope you'll be like me and be healthy after your two injuries. You're a great guy, and you don't deserve all of this. Pizza's on me next time
Matt
Matt Kemmer
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F[uns]tylin' Eclectic
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h0ag3yb3atZ
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still can't really find words but you's all posting in here means alot.
Matt It sounds bad but i would be so stoked if i just had tendonitis, missing 4 months sucks but at least i would know that my body isn't that weak.
I'm trying to be positive because my knee was only worsened by footbag and if i can fix it now it will only be better for me in the long run.
I've thought a lot about what ken said about finding other things (holy shit he posted in my blog fanboyism on max) and i think im gonna finally try to do something i've been saying for over a year and try to make sample based beats. I have so many ideas just no musical talent/time/dedication but im really excited to download that when i get home.
im not goin to the drs for at least a week, definitely going to have a session or two before i go. no matter what i love playing footbag. that will never change, i don't know about changing up the tricks i do and becoming erik chan but we'll see what happens.
peace.
Matt It sounds bad but i would be so stoked if i just had tendonitis, missing 4 months sucks but at least i would know that my body isn't that weak.
I'm trying to be positive because my knee was only worsened by footbag and if i can fix it now it will only be better for me in the long run.
I've thought a lot about what ken said about finding other things (holy shit he posted in my blog fanboyism on max) and i think im gonna finally try to do something i've been saying for over a year and try to make sample based beats. I have so many ideas just no musical talent/time/dedication but im really excited to download that when i get home.
im not goin to the drs for at least a week, definitely going to have a session or two before i go. no matter what i love playing footbag. that will never change, i don't know about changing up the tricks i do and becoming erik chan but we'll see what happens.
peace.
Kevin Hogan
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h0ag3yb3atZ
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actually mark i made a collection of about 14 cans from the end of the summer...so disgusting.
played today for the first time in 3 weeks. my knee feels not so good (not stress fracture bad, i find out wednesday, fingers crossed) so i know that i still have a long time before i can play again. I was sad because i knew if i were healthy i would have played really good. I hit blurry torque, alpine trip,whirygig, alpine legbeater, superfly, gyro dlo, spinning whirl bs atomic op dlo and ducking dlo, terraging opposite osis (new?) all after a few tries. i really really wish i could just play and continue to progress.
got a good look at alpine marius too.
i was gonna film but kevin broke my camera but he saw these:
bladerunner
alpine fog, finally.
he said alpine fog looked really good. meh. i'm just happy that if i take a 6 month break that i hit that before i do.
i did lots of spinning today and i really liked it.....you may be onto something ken.
wordpeace.
played today for the first time in 3 weeks. my knee feels not so good (not stress fracture bad, i find out wednesday, fingers crossed) so i know that i still have a long time before i can play again. I was sad because i knew if i were healthy i would have played really good. I hit blurry torque, alpine trip,whirygig, alpine legbeater, superfly, gyro dlo, spinning whirl bs atomic op dlo and ducking dlo, terraging opposite osis (new?) all after a few tries. i really really wish i could just play and continue to progress.
got a good look at alpine marius too.
i was gonna film but kevin broke my camera but he saw these:
bladerunner
alpine fog, finally.
he said alpine fog looked really good. meh. i'm just happy that if i take a 6 month break that i hit that before i do.
i did lots of spinning today and i really liked it.....you may be onto something ken.
wordpeace.
Kevin Hogan
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F[uns]tylin' Eclectic
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Spinning! 
Good for you man. Hope spinning keeps treating you well.
What's Bladerunner? Shit sounds dangerous.
Props on finally hitting Alpine Fog! I remember how badly you wanted that at NYFA.
I feel like if you learn Gyro and Spinning pretty well, you'd come up with some really dirty shit (Ha.. dirty shit). Like since you're pretty solid on drifters, torques, and other similar components, I feel like you'd be gnarly at Void and Vortex and and Mobius and Marius and Gyro DLO and a bunch of others.
Wish you were going to ECC :\ Keep it going man.
Good for you man. Hope spinning keeps treating you well. What's Bladerunner? Shit sounds dangerous.
Props on finally hitting Alpine Fog! I remember how badly you wanted that at NYFA.
I feel like if you learn Gyro and Spinning pretty well, you'd come up with some really dirty shit (Ha.. dirty shit). Like since you're pretty solid on drifters, torques, and other similar components, I feel like you'd be gnarly at Void and Vortex and and Mobius and Marius and Gyro DLO and a bunch of others.
Wish you were going to ECC :\ Keep it going man.
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h0ag3yb3atZ
- Egyptian Footgod
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h0ag3yb3atZ
- Egyptian Footgod
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hey dank i'm gonna respond to your pm after class. me and pete hung out this weekend and you weren't in town douche!
teehee [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaY_a8r6 ... tube_gdata[/youtube][youtube]
maybe play another two weeks from now.
teehee [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaY_a8r6 ... tube_gdata[/youtube][youtube]
maybe play another two weeks from now.
Kevin Hogan
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h0ag3yb3atZ
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I’m feeling really good about playing in the future due to a couple of factors:. Me and pete had a pretty extensive talk about shred on Sunday and I had one of the best sessions In my life two days later. Pete helped me realize that Its pretty tough for 97% of footbaggers to understand why players like us are frustrated by the game.
Not exactly a positive realization, but when I see people complaining about only playing 3 times a week it makes me realize that they don’t know the feeling of sitting on their ass doing nothing but wanting to play, the feeling of going into every single session with the thought in the back of your mind that it may be your last, and (maybe this one is slightly more relatable) but the feeling of genuinely being grateful that you can play, not bitching about how your last session was better or how this was easy last time, but just the great feelings that come from playing. To walk away from a session silently feeling like a fucking rockstar happy with your highlights no one else cares about and just happy that for two hours you can forget about being broke or your math homework. anyways, random list of positive thoughts:
-one of the best parts of not playing 7 days a week is my mind feels much clearer when i play. i need to move my leg this quick to atomic this high and eggbeater at this point to hit bladerunner as opposed to trying toget lucky. i think thats why alot of harder moves make more sense to me now.
-I DONT HAVE A FRACTURE...according to the xray
-my form is 3,000 times better then one year ago. I watched a session tape with just me and doug, and everything i do looks terrible. stalls rushed, poor clipper placement, super rushed sets. my form still isn't great, but i definetly look like i have way more control then i used to. i think this is because of working basics and strengthening my legs.
-spinning is super fun and unless i set too fast, painless. i started trying to break my gyro clip record every session and randomly figured out double spinning. also footed scorps with a super straight set first try and zoomed out of mobius for possibly the first time. i think spinning will help me even out the rest of my game and improve fom, cause although it is fun i'm not losing those ripped warriors.
-i played on tuesday and my leg feels really good. i'm gonna head back to the gym and start making my knee stronger. I feel i'm gonna have to do surgery/intense pt on it because it is fucked up from things other then footbag, but like i said flip torch sounds bomb. if i had to take time off for this or just do spinning clippers on one side i feel like that would actually be constructive.
generally stoked.
Not exactly a positive realization, but when I see people complaining about only playing 3 times a week it makes me realize that they don’t know the feeling of sitting on their ass doing nothing but wanting to play, the feeling of going into every single session with the thought in the back of your mind that it may be your last, and (maybe this one is slightly more relatable) but the feeling of genuinely being grateful that you can play, not bitching about how your last session was better or how this was easy last time, but just the great feelings that come from playing. To walk away from a session silently feeling like a fucking rockstar happy with your highlights no one else cares about and just happy that for two hours you can forget about being broke or your math homework. anyways, random list of positive thoughts:
-one of the best parts of not playing 7 days a week is my mind feels much clearer when i play. i need to move my leg this quick to atomic this high and eggbeater at this point to hit bladerunner as opposed to trying toget lucky. i think thats why alot of harder moves make more sense to me now.
-I DONT HAVE A FRACTURE...according to the xray
-my form is 3,000 times better then one year ago. I watched a session tape with just me and doug, and everything i do looks terrible. stalls rushed, poor clipper placement, super rushed sets. my form still isn't great, but i definetly look like i have way more control then i used to. i think this is because of working basics and strengthening my legs.
-spinning is super fun and unless i set too fast, painless. i started trying to break my gyro clip record every session and randomly figured out double spinning. also footed scorps with a super straight set first try and zoomed out of mobius for possibly the first time. i think spinning will help me even out the rest of my game and improve fom, cause although it is fun i'm not losing those ripped warriors.
-i played on tuesday and my leg feels really good. i'm gonna head back to the gym and start making my knee stronger. I feel i'm gonna have to do surgery/intense pt on it because it is fucked up from things other then footbag, but like i said flip torch sounds bomb. if i had to take time off for this or just do spinning clippers on one side i feel like that would actually be constructive.
generally stoked.
Kevin Hogan
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F[uns]tylin' Eclectic
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I was stoked to read all this positivity.
Congrats on not having a fracture! That had to be awesome for you to hear from the doctor.
I feel the same way about footbag... No one gives a shit (aside maybe some footbag friends) about what new tricks I hit or what runs I hit, only I do. It is such a break from society and school and life. You can play for like 2 hours and for that time, you are your own superhero. I'm really happy to hear that your footbag life is starting to look up into some bright skies.
Also stoked that you are liking spins. But I hear you, if my game turned into dexless spinning and osii, I'd hit myself in the face with a freshly baked thumb tac pie. Ripped Warrir is something I never wanna lose. (Double Spinning Clipper> Ripped Warrior sounds pretty nice though
)
All in all, I'm really happy you're getting back into it. I'm not gonna lie, I was getting kinda depressed when you said you weren't sure if you wanted to quit or not. I would constantly be dedicating little runs to you with atomic ducking or stepping ducking stuff. It felt like we'd lost a great player. I'm glad I can stop dedicating shit to you now
jk, I'll still be hitting shit for you. Especially that DS Osis... Oooh Baby! Best of luck with that one. You can do it.
Talk to you later, boss
Congrats on not having a fracture! That had to be awesome for you to hear from the doctor.
I feel the same way about footbag... No one gives a shit (aside maybe some footbag friends) about what new tricks I hit or what runs I hit, only I do. It is such a break from society and school and life. You can play for like 2 hours and for that time, you are your own superhero. I'm really happy to hear that your footbag life is starting to look up into some bright skies.
Also stoked that you are liking spins. But I hear you, if my game turned into dexless spinning and osii, I'd hit myself in the face with a freshly baked thumb tac pie. Ripped Warrir is something I never wanna lose. (Double Spinning Clipper> Ripped Warrior sounds pretty nice though
)All in all, I'm really happy you're getting back into it. I'm not gonna lie, I was getting kinda depressed when you said you weren't sure if you wanted to quit or not. I would constantly be dedicating little runs to you with atomic ducking or stepping ducking stuff. It felt like we'd lost a great player. I'm glad I can stop dedicating shit to you now
jk, I'll still be hitting shit for you. Especially that DS Osis... Oooh Baby! Best of luck with that one. You can do it.Talk to you later, boss
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h0ag3yb3atZ
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that means alot coming from you matt. although john has the right idea:
[img][img]http://i53.tinypic.com/9a1cb6.jpg[/img][/img]
session in boston was ill. most fun i've had playing for a long time, only part that sucks is now i want to play alot but my knee kills now, its worth it. im going to the doctors soon, i'm guessing im gonna be one sided and work spinning all winter, no biggie.
doug and pete played really good too. dougs pixie muted swirls are like the dopest thing ever.
-a few strings that felt beast. one was like stepping ducking clip>stuff>whirling swirl>stuff>fog>stuff>tomahawk>>stuff with both pdx torques midstring to a handcatch. i remember hitting gig and superfly deep midstring too.
-ripped>jani. meh
-alpine gig again.
-blurry drifter>superfly first try
-blurrage again
highlights don't look as good as i remember them but it was a really good session. i really cant wait to play again, even if i have to play only 1-2 a week with pain for the next few months as long as i'm playing its whatever.
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[img][img]http://i53.tinypic.com/9a1cb6.jpg[/img][/img]
session in boston was ill. most fun i've had playing for a long time, only part that sucks is now i want to play alot but my knee kills now, its worth it. im going to the doctors soon, i'm guessing im gonna be one sided and work spinning all winter, no biggie.
doug and pete played really good too. dougs pixie muted swirls are like the dopest thing ever.
-a few strings that felt beast. one was like stepping ducking clip>stuff>whirling swirl>stuff>fog>stuff>tomahawk>>stuff with both pdx torques midstring to a handcatch. i remember hitting gig and superfly deep midstring too.
-ripped>jani. meh
-alpine gig again.
-blurry drifter>superfly first try
-blurrage again
highlights don't look as good as i remember them but it was a really good session. i really cant wait to play again, even if i have to play only 1-2 a week with pain for the next few months as long as i'm playing its whatever.
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Kevin Hogan
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