Nick "Houdini" Polini

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 11 Oct 2011 22:30

Yes, this is me posting a few hours after my first session... Just finished a second session of the day with Matt. He drilled some basic tiltless. 11 b2b legovers. Nice. Oh and he hit Far Legover bs. Also Nice.

I drilled for the first half, then slowly started to experiment with things...

Highlights:

Drilled a shitload of Symp Swirl from all set spots... clip far, toe ss, toe far, clip ss... yada yadda. They feel so nice now. Some experimentation went down with symp swirls...

Hit my second flipside Whirling Swirl! Fuck yeah! So pumped on that.

Ripstein> ss Symp Swirl

Spinning Osis> Spinning Swirl (straight BALLIN')

Stepping ss Symp Swirl only one side :\ Flip will be soon.

Then I went on to drill Blender... Blender has easily become my easiest 4 ADD... Drilled regular Blenders for a while, the experimented

Gyro Blender bs and multiple times on each! Woo! Damn, this trick got easy in the last month! Happy happy! Joy joy!

Drilled some Toe Blenders on bs

Blender b2b x3!!! and x2 starting on both sides

Kind of really stoked about this one... I hit this one purely for Kevin Hogan... Tripwalk bs!!!!!!! This is my first ever Quantum trick on flipside. Thanks Kev.

Footed flipside Blurriest but I fell hard on my ass and almost whacked my head on the cement... Heh.. I said Hard on. So, needless to say, I stopped trying that.

Drilled Vortex for a bit. Hit a good heaping handful on bs. Totally going to use it midstring more often.

Was DYING to end my session on Flip Janiwalker.. But I return home with no cake in my mouth (Q_Q) HOWEVER, I fondled with my form on Furious sets and I really figured out how to get them higher. I was getting some of them up to around waist height. So my set is getting better at least. Happy about that. SInce I couldn't end on flip Jani... I still really wanted to end on a new 5...

So I remembered Surging sets... At NYFA this yeah, Pete Bowler was teaching them to me. He said I actually cleared 1 or 2 without pulling through. So with this and the first time John Goode posted about his first Bigwalks... I hit my first, Non-pull'y-through'y Bigwalk. I remember that John said he knew it was clean because he saw it clear his dex... I felt the same thing... The bag was set, I spun, and I could see it come through my window. So thank you for the help Pete, and thank you for the inspiration John and Pete.

I should probably take a shower now and pass the fuck out.

NOTE TO SELF: TAKE THE DAY OFF TOMORROW... YOU WHORE.

Good night, all.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 12 Oct 2011 05:49

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic wrote: Spinning Osis> Spinning Swirl :.

Props on this and bigwalk.

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic wrote: Blender b2b x3!!! and x2 starting on both sides :.

I'm completely confused. Did you hit blender x6? Blender x2 on three occasions?

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 12 Oct 2011 06:28

Lol I guess I'm still a noob... I hit Blender> Blender> Blender starting on one side and I hit Blender> Blender starting on both sides.

How would you denote that?

Thanks for the props, Ken

Both things you gave me props on felt amazing to hit. The Spinning Osis> Spinning Swirl was probably my favorite.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 12 Oct 2011 06:56

blender x3

blender x2, bs

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 12 Oct 2011 09:02

Haha word. I'm hoping I just learned my last piece of footbag knowledge to take me out of noobdom. Thanks man.

g00d33 · Post by **g00d33** » 12 Oct 2011 13:44

Dude, awesome highlights! Seriously! Like dayum!

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 14 Oct 2011 14:04

Yeoooo Jawn! Thanks man! I was definitely happy with those highlights.

Just had myself a little pre-session in my livingroom to get ready for the big PSU session with special guest, Mike "L.L. Tool Jay" Toolan. That's goin down at 8:00 tonight. So stoked. God, I freaking love the feeling of being in a shred circle.

Mini-Sesh Highlights:

Blender Heel bs! Thought it was an invention, but I guess not. Ken just informed me. Oh, well... fun trick. And I'm going to try to use it in my game a good bit.

Nice little drill I just hit: Swirl> Reverse Swirl> Osis rpt

Goddammit, Tool Jay, hurry up

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 14 Oct 2011 22:46

So, Tool Jay never showed up. He got to Penn State alright, but we lost communication toward the end of our session. We were all supposed to go out for pizza at the end of our session, but Mike's phone shut off. Madd weird. Hope he's alright. We should be playing tomorrow too... If Mike ever gets back to us.

Tonight was a special session... My crew back home had a session at the same time my crew at PSU had our session. Synchronized sessions ftw.

Look, we're lame as hell and both crews took photos of ourselves before our sessions:

White & Blue Crew:

(Left to right) Ivan, Matt, Nate, Me

Philly Footworks Crew:

(Left to right) Jeremy, Jackson, Bob (I really fucking miss you guys. Can't wait to shred and chill with you all when I come home for Thanksgiving vacation. ERR DAMN DAY. ALL WEEK.)

So that was kind of awesome we all texted each other our highlights back and forth. Really cool to kick with them as we all kicked too.

Nathan had some really good stuff, one run in particular had a trouser load of alpine stuff and that looked madd sick. Ivan was stringing like a champion today. He looks like he's really a freestyler now. He's got that nice magic hop and spring leg going. Looks great. Matt kinda went off on the side of us and drilled solo for a little. I played pretty alright... kinda. Legs still sore. Some sweet highlights though..

Highlights:

Symposium Whirling Swirl (Best I've ever hit... felt so buttery... it was all like *Schwiiiing!*)

Had a really smooth-feeling Nuke Clipper midstring. Nathan gave me props for it and said it looked good.

Nuclear Legover (Inspired by Pawel) Thanks buddy

Had some good furious sets on bs

These next 3 were how I ended my session, which felt amazing... these are in order of when I hit them too:

Flip Sumo!!!! First ever on flipside

Flip Matador! First ever on flipside

Double Spinning Osis!!! First ever. Tried it on flipside, but I was way too tired.

After the session, Nathan and I walked downtown to get some pizza. Toolan was supposed to join us, but noooo he's just too cool for that

The pizza was kick ass... and cheap

The ranch dressing was 3/4 water 1/4 ranch though

Oh and to top off our entire experience, the restaurant had a tv in back of us that was stationed on this tv show about some guy falling off a mountain and getting crushed by rocks. We could hear his blood-curdling screams for help as we ate. Must say, very nice ambiance

After that, Nathan and I parted ways. He went to his friend's birthday potty while I walked back to my apartment.. BUT WAIT!!! Today was Friday at PSU... Of course I've got some drunk imbecile stories!!!

Ok, so I was wearing bright orange short shorts, a bright lime green hoodie, and that blaze orange beanie I'm wearing in the pic above... I feel like that's important for my stories... anyway, so as I was walking back, I was kinda minding my own business walking by a drunken mass that was yelling "FREE HOTDAWGS!!!!!!!".. There were indeed free hot dogs. I didn't really want one, but then this dude calmly looks at he and says (keep in mind the cacophony of drunken yelling and rambling that surrounded me at this point), "Hey man..." "Hey" "You want a hot dog?" Just then, this girl in back of him, directly in my line of sight is holding up a golden hotdog and I SWEAR TO YOU it was like glowing... like that shit was magical... And she had an uncanny and disturbed-looking wide grin on her face... so I walked over and took that shit and said thank you. Hell yeah, free hot dog. I wasn't gonna go out of my way to get one, but I felt like that dude CHOSE me to have a free hotdog. So rad.

Anyway, I continue my walk down the road toward my apartment. Passing groups of drunken lunatics on the sidewalks. Then I bump into this group of gangsters walking the same way as me. I over hear their conversation, "Man, I can't believe she didn't suck my dick!" "I know man, what the fuck?" Just then, 2 slutty-looking gals walked by them. And the one guy turned to them and says, "Yo, lemme holla at you for a minute. Cah' I holla at you? ...SUCK MY DICK!" So I laughed at that for a good solid few minutes. Then almost right after that, I bumped into this group of 2 white dudes and a black dude. One white dude lagged behind, dropped his pants and started to piss on a tree.. Yeah, in public

And the black dude in front was obviously drunk. He was struggling to stand up straight. SO he's like, "Yo man hurry up!" to the pissing guy. I'm about to pass the black dude and I'm just about to finish my hot dog, when I figured I'd make his night a little better.. I turn around and say to him, "Hey man, free hot dogs up at the corner." He looks at me land gives me a look as if he'd just seen Steven Hawking running a marathon (ooo harsh, you're muh boi Steve!) and he says, "YOU FUCKING ME?" I say, "Nah man, right up at the corner of this street on the right hand side." He looks at his friend and says, "Yo man, there's fuckin free hotdogs at the corner if we just stay on the right hand side!" Then I started to walk away, and looked back at him, took my final bite and yelled "...And they're fuckin' awesome!" Then he looks at his friend and says, "...And they're fuckin' awesome!"

So that was my night. Off to bed for work in the morning. Tra la la.

Edit: I'm sorry, to end my night, I look out my bathroom window and witness an ambulance strapping this unconscious, droopy-limbed kid to a gurney and rushing him to the hospital. Yeah, that's about right. Ah, Penn State

Empty · Post by **Empty** » 15 Oct 2011 05:08

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic wrote:
Flip Sumo!!!! First ever on flipside
Flip Matador! First ever on flipside

That's what I'm talking about! Now bsos and then drill it

!
I'm sure that Matador > ripwalk is a perfect challenge for you:)!

Keep it up!

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 15 Oct 2011 17:06

Yo thanks Pawel! I shall give your challenges a shot later!

Worked earlier today. Brought a bag with me. My co-workers were asking me about footbag. So I did some demo... IN DRESS SHOES

Highlights:

Ripstein in dress shoes

DATW in dress shoes

After work, I had a session with Nathan, Ivan, and LL Tool Jay! Had great time... No one hit anything too crazy, just a fun time shredding. The discussions during this session kind of depressed me, though. We were talking about how Modified is dying, and I refused to believe it. Then I remembered that on the main page, my name is normally the last to post in the majority of the fucking forum sections!!! What the fuck! Also, we were talking about how everyone is quitting footbag or stops playing. Fuck! It's so true. I hate that. Also, a bunch of other shit is getting me down. But that's besides the point. Mike is one of those guys who kinda stops playing after a tournament. I joked that I would call him to play every week. He said, "Seriously, do it." So from now on, every week, at least a few times, I am going to call Mike and encourage him to get up and play footbag.

Highlight (Just one highlight, like I said, nothing notable, but a fun session):

Flip Matador (2nd time)

Cool.

Then I got home and I see that Corey Allen hit Nemesis today!!! That boosted my spirits a lot about footbag and life in general. I'm so happy for him. Only met him one time, but it doesn't matter, I know how happy he must be, and that makes me happy too.

Edit: Oh shit, I almost forgot. So the other day after class, I was biking home through the main mall (Sidewalk thingy.. we call it the mall, because I guess we're cool or something?) through the campus park. There are tons of squirrels throughout this park. So, as I'm biking by, I see this creepy-looking fellow with a small, white box of floss in his hand... and the floss was tied to some little tan ball... Couldn't quite make out just what it was... He walked toward a squirrel next to a tree... he threw the tan ball next to the squirrel... The squirrel ran over and picked it up.... GOOD LORD, THIS MAN IS TRYING TO CATCH A SQUIRREL...

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 15 Oct 2011 22:29

Up kinda late tonight. Wanted to post this non-footbag video, because I'm really missing my old non-footbag friends back home, along with family, my girlfriend, who is really sick and has some sort of virus right now

and, my shred crew back home. I miss all of them so much. College life at PSU is really fun and great and all, and I love my newfound shred crew, but being so far from everyone I love is really starting to take a toll on me.

So, here's the non-footbag video (filmed about 1 year ago) that I'm ending the night on. Enjoy. Filmed with some of the coolest people who don't actually play footbag.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcAOktBhwT4[/youtube]

Corey · Post by **Corey** » 16 Oct 2011 15:26

Props on double spinning osis.

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 17 Oct 2011 22:35

Hey thanks a lot, Corey. A lot of the inspiration for that trick come from you actually, ever since I saw you hit it in John G's video a few weeks back. So thanks for the inspiration. Have yet to hit it on flip (Which is my strong spin? weird..)

Anyway, been doing homework all day, and then... I saw my Quantums out of the corner of my eye. IT WAS ON.

Highlights:

Symp Double Pickup bs (So like Furious ss Toe) Never hit it before, and I feel like this will help with my furious set. I was actually surprised I did these without making a lot of noise to wake up my room mates.

Some good Nuclear sets bs. Flip actually feels like less effort to hit a good one :\ Need to fix my right leg out-in dexes apparently.

Bubba set!!! lol for those of you who know my game *ERM* Bob Riefer *ERM*, you know that I've always had so much trouble with bubba, and I actually hit this one uptime with like a sort of "stepping" feel to it. It was awesome. I definitely had enough time to add a butterfly, which is "Mxyzptlk" or something like that? I'm gonna go for that sometime soon, see if I can't scrounge something up. I've always loved that name.

Almost forgot, Ivan hit his first 3 ADD today, which oddly enough, was DLO. Nice.

Fuck. Class at 8 am tomorrow... rather today... BED! NOW!!

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 18 Oct 2011 22:35

So I had a lot of work to do today.. Then I read a lot of blogs that said people kicked today... So, me being the junkie I am, I went downstairs and had myself a 2 hour drill session. Really pleased with a couple of my highlights!

Highlights:

Drilled some Nuclear, Atomic, Illusions, Pixies, Swirling Gyro, and Legovers tonight

Pixie ss Clipper> Stepping Far Legover rpt

Flip Nucleosis! (First on flip and first try!)

Flip Nuclear ss Clipper! (First on flip!)

Flip Barfry! (First on flip!)

Swirling Infinity (2nd and is starting to feel pretty easy)

Swirling Gyro Toe BSOS (FOR MARK!!!!)

Really wanted flip Jani tonight, so close, but no go, I'll eventually get it. Since I couldn't get it, I did 10 good Furious sets to hand catch bs.

I know how much my Drifters suck, so I wanted to end my session on x10.. Tried a few, and only got to 4... Then I realized... "Fuck x10... I'm happy if I end on x5"... So I did it a few times and kept dropping on my 5th!!! Then one more time and I got to 5.. still going-holy crap-6-7-8-nofuckingway-9-10-areyoukiddingmerightnow?!?-11-12-drop on 13-HALLELUJAHHOLYSHITDUDE!!! Drifter x12!!!

This was insane and I'm pretty stoked right now, since my old record before today was only 3

So I'm a happy camper tonight and can go to bed being stoked as heyll!

Good night all. Happy footbaggings!

Oh and word to the wise, y'all best be readin' up on Nathan Pipenberg's blog now that he's blogging more often. Nate is playing at the best level I've ever seen him play at. Yes, I just started playing regularly with him this year, but shit, he's kicking ass and taking names. I'm really stoked to have someone like him to shred with this year, as well as all of our n00bs. Anyway, read his blog. That's it. The end.

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 20 Oct 2011 15:18

Just had a great hour session with Ian Brill! Ian calls me up on the phone sounding frantic, "Nick Polini, I'm 3 minutes outside your place, I have wheels, let's play footbag." "Fuck yeah, I'll be right out!"

Ian's stepping set was soo good today!!!!! I don't know what he did, but oh man, he hit some blurs and ripwalks and BLURRY WHIRLS that consisted of such nice stepping sets!!! Also, is Pixies were ON today. Great stuff man. I was really happy to see that stuff from you today!

Highlights:

Blurry Drifter bs!!! First time on flip!!!!! And 2nd time on strong, first time strung out of it on strong!!!!! So happy!

Fume!!!! (first one!!!) Never thought I'd hit that!

But seriously, Ian was almost able to DUCK his stepping sets. That's how spicy (good word) they were.

After the quick session, Ian dropped me off at his place since he was in a rush, and I walked home. But I didn't know where I was... so I got lost for a bit. And while I got lost, Mark Monistere calls me and I talk to him for almost 2 hours haha Got a lot of really good tips and hits for things from him. Always inspiring talking to him. He rules. Hey, Mark, You rule. Hope your gig goes well.

Oh yeah, I HIT FLIP BLURRY DRIFTER!!!!! This may not seem to amazing to anyone else, but to me, it's been one of the biggest milestones in footbag. I'm so happy. I'm gonna go watch drunk people now.

Ian Brill · Post by **Ian Brill** » 20 Oct 2011 19:51

Dude- I'm sorry you got lost! I didn't know that was possible in State College!

Great session. Wish I could have played more. I need to think long and hard about why stepping feels so natural on one side now, and not the other. I feel it will help me correct my clipper form on the other side.

Glad you got blurry drifter on the other side. I love those crossbody drills, with swirls/rev. swirls, etc.

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 21 Oct 2011 08:56

Hahaha it's all good Ian. The only way to get lost in State College is if you're me, apparently

I found my way back pretty easily though. But yeah, thanks for kicking yesterday, I had a great time, even though we were rushing lol Please keep thinking about why your stepping set was so choice yesterday. I hope you have a breakthrough.

===============================================

Almost forgot to add this... Yesterday, when Ian and I played, a girl came up to us and asked us if she could join. We happily invited her and she said she might want to start learning freestyle. I added her to the club facebook group. Maybe we'll see her tonight?

Oh and I hit two kinda cool things last night...

Last night, I went to my friend's party and toward the end of it, someone brought up the topic of street performing, and I said that I used to have a job doing that for my town backhome. They asked what I did. (Keep in mind that I'm wearing Vans Slip-Ons and slightly intoxicated at the time.) I took a bag out of my pocket and hit a long string of tiltless. They were all pretty amazed. Then I asked them if they wanted to see some cool tricks. They said they did, so:

Ripstein.. intoxicated, in Vans Slip-Ons, FIRST TRY sealed with a hand catch. The one kid's mind was totally blown away and he was freaking out about that haha Then, he tells me to do another...

Whirling Swirl.. intoxicated, in Vans Slip-Ons, FIRST TRY sealed with a hand catch... Minds blown.

It's always fun freestyling in front of drunk people because it really is like a baffling magic trick to them that they can't seem to figure out for the life of them lol

Oh and something kinda sick happened at the party. These girls showed up and one was a professional hoola hooper. She showed me how to do some tricks, and when I told her about footbag, she told me she met a guy in State College who plays footbag, by the name of Scott, but she wasn't sure if he still went here... She's going to find out his last name and give it to me... I was stoked about this, then I remembered... Scott Bevier... I hope she's not talking about him, that would be disappointing since he's not here anymore. I really wish I could have caught like one year at PSU with Scott. Sucks he's gone. Whatever. I would love to kick with him eventually.

Oh and here's some cool new footbag news...

My house next year consists of:

Nathan Pipenberg

Ivan Iakamenko (one of our most promising new guys)

Myself

Can you say "FOOTBAG HOUSE"!?!!?!!?! So stoked for that.

DTank126 · Post by **DTank126** » 21 Oct 2011 11:49

My house next year consists of:

Nathan Pipenberg
Ivan Iakamenko (one of our most promising new guys)
Myself

Can you say "FOOTBAG HOUSE"!?!!?!!?!

Siiiick. I'm so jealous. I totally wanna live with footbaggers. Can I move in?

Anywho props on blurry drifter bs. I still get wicked psyched whenever I hit that trick. Hopefully I can make it out for the PSU jam. I just gotta figure out some type of transportation system.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 21 Oct 2011 11:55

DTank126 wrote: I just gotta figure out some type of transportation system.

I vote for flying cars. I've been waiting for somebody to figure them out since I was a kid.

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 21 Oct 2011 19:23

Yo Doug, nice to hear from you again! I do hope you can show up to PSU Jamps. And thanks for the props. Blurry Drifter really does feel so sick to hit.

Ken, I hope you can make it to PSU jam too.

boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooop

So, today I... Holy shit I just realized I played footbag for about 4 1/2 hours today. Wow. This guys typing has problems. Anyway, we started our session today at the rec hall. Started out with Ivan, Ryan, Nathan, and I.. George came and stopped by for a while. He got his first pair of lavers. The new cardinal red/white ones. So sick. Anyway, he also had a surprise up his sleeve. He hasn't been able to kick with the group for a while, and when he showed up today, he was spitting out some mirage links. He said he had been drilling and it certainly looked like it. Props George.

Ryan had some big ol' breakthroughs! He finally figured out how to solidify those mirages he's been having so much trouble with. He hit a bunch tonight. Really proud of him.

Ivan was killing it as usual with lots of legovers and mirages and long kickless/tiltless strings.

Nathan, needless to say, sick shred.

Then after not too long, a new guest showed up in her Lavers... Yes, I said HER. Hillary, Nathan's "friend"

He's been teaching her a lot and she's hit almost every 2 ADD bs. Also... GOOD LORD! DID YOU SEE HER ANKLES!?!?! This girl has some CRANKLES, son. Really cool girl, and very dedicated, she would not stop trying and she was so determined. Really awesome. (Props, Nate

)

Anyway... Oh yeah, me

My stuff really was lacking tonight. I was pretty disappointed in how I played, but I'm thankful to be able to play even at the level that I am. It still amazes me that I've come this far in the sport. No where near BAP or anything, but I've come a hell of a long way since I've started. Excited about that... But yeah... I think I had one highlight... no, two, sorry..

Highlights:

Symposium Whirling Guay (Nathan gave me the idea when he saw me trying Reverse Hopover Reverse Swirling inside)

Then my next highlight shouldn't even be a highlight, because it took me almost 45 minutes to hit, but I told myself I wasn't allowed to leave until I hit it... And there was an annoying pep rally going on in the gym next to me, so I REALLY wanted to gtfo:

Pixie Pickup> Magellan rpt

Yeah 45 or so minutes... Fuck that. That's bad. LIke not good at all. I was not happy with myself after hitting that. I realized how badly I needed to work my Pixies. Big stupid gaping hole in my game. So...

After everyone left the session (which was actually way before I hit that drill), I drilled Pixie ss Clipper bs x 100. In my time I spent with this trick tonight, I actually finaly think I figured out my Pixie set once at for all. Mark M texted me some good Pixie tips during this part of my session too, and they helped a lot too. Thanks for those, Mark. Now I just need to put everything to work and teach my legs that motion until it sticks.

Ahh... Anyway, after those 200 Pixie ss Clippers, I rode my bike home. Now I'm here and I might actually go to bed soon. Really beat.

Driving to the camper to meet up with my parents and Jackson!!! He and I are kicking all day tomorrow!!!!!!! I'm so excited. Miss that little bastard. I miss Bob and Jeremy too. I'm just counting down the days until I have my crew back again for a week. Damn I miss them. They've all been progressing though. Jackson's got Paradons bs and Drifters bs and Jeremy hit his first Ripwalk the other day, and he's been bsosing dimwalks and parkwalk. Bob has really been kicking ass. He's been figuring out his Fairy sets and hitting more tricks with them, and he's hitting Pdx Torques and some other sick stuff like that. He's killing it. You can expect footage from all of us during my week at home for Thanksgiving break.

PEACE BITCHES.