Had a really weird session yesterday. But I’ll get to that later.
On Sunday I drove up to Boulder to shred with Pipenberg, Luis, and Ben Sarvey. It was another scorching day, but they had a good covered spot under a library, by a creek. It was a good 20 degrees cooler down there than in the sun, which made for a comfortable session. We shredded for a while, then I did 3 routine run-throughs (2 good, none dropless), followed by filming a bit for the Pipenberg video, followed by 4square. Sure enough, 4square was the most fun. I did get some good links from Nate for the video though. It’s really interesting (weird?) how trick difficulty is relative. Some of the challenges I gave him would be ridiculous for most players, but were easy for him, while some other suggestions I thought would be cake for him were not.
After shredding Sunday, Nathan and I walked a few blocks over to the Pearl Street Mall. We watched Pete Irish and his girlfriend do a street performance, and then had beers together afterwards. Pete’s performance was impressive. Unlike some street performers, most of his tricks are legitimately hard. At one point he juggles three balls on his feet and three in his hands, and for his finale he balances on a rolo-bolo while balancing a spinning hubcap from his mouth, and juggling three machetes. Catching up with Pete was fun. He’s 10 years older than me, but still looks in solid footbag shape. I’m hoping that we can get him out to play some, and maybe even film. He says that while he isn’t as consistent as before, he still has days where he plays as well as he used to. That gives me hope, both for when I get older, but also for my ability to still achieve some dream goals while I’m in my early 30s.
On Monday I got in a solo session in Denver. It was triple digit heat, so I waited until early evening to play. Even then the heat hadn’t fully dissipated, and there was a decent wind blowing the whole time, probably due to the heat coming off the ground. Because of this (and the fact that the indoor space was locked), I decided to just shred and take a break from routines. I played in my usual space (as seen in the Stamina Strings video above), which is a popular outdoor space for running, concerts, weddings, etc. I saw a couple bouquets of flowers on this bench/wall near where I play, and didn’t think much of it. I figured they might belong to this couple that was doing a couples photoshoot nearby, but then I noticed people stopping to look at the bouquets. Eventually curiosity got the best of me, so I went to check it out. It turns out that the previous night a fight broke out at the free jazz concert in the park, and an off duty
police officer was shot and killed while trying to break it up. Officer Hollis was a 28 year old single mom with a 12 year old at home, who wasn’t even on duty, and wasn’t involved with the idiots who were fighting. I found this all out when I went home, but I got the rough information there at the park by talking to people. A few of them had been there at the concert the night before, and were shook up by it. Thinking about the senseless death, from people being stupid and having guns…it kinda made it hard for me to play. Truthfully, I’m still processing it. On one hand, it probably shook me up that anybody could get shot and killed in my neighborhood, much less a cop. It also hit me that Officer Hollis was younger than me, and that she died for no reason. It also shook me to think that, if I hadn't gone to Boulder on Sunday, I might have been playing footbag right there at the time of the shooting.
As I was standing there contemplating all this, a group of 4 white guys in their early 20s/late teens swing by on their mountain bikes. I overhear the first one say in a tone of mock shock: “oh noes, somebody’s been shot!” as the others laugh. I snap at them sternly “have some respect!” to which the original guy responds: “I was making fun of everybody’s reaction, not what happened.”
Ken: “You shouldn’t be making fun of anything here.”
Guy: “Are you starting something? Do you want to fight?”
That comment really shocked me. There we are, less than a day after the shooting, not 10 feet from where it occurred. Somebody died there because of senseless violence, and now her 12 year old is an orphan for no reason. And this guy wants to start a fight, there, then? I give him an incredulous look, like “really?” I don’t think he realized how inappropriate and disrespectful his behavior was, because he misinterpreted my shock as fear, and yelled back “yeah, that’s what I thought!”
Just wow. You would hope that a tragedy like the one that happened would shock the community into some self-reflection, into reconsidering mindless violence and the attitudes that foster it. But apparently not. Never underestimate people’s inability or unwillingness to empathize with others, or the crass selfishness of entitled teenage American youth. I guess everything is fair game for jokes, and we should threaten anybody who dares tell us otherwise.
So where do I go from here? Well, I’m not going to stop going to that location to play footbag. I refuse to be a hostage to stupidity and violence in my own community. That said, I will think twice now before intervening in any arguments or altercations in the future, since you really don’t know who is armed or what they can do. It just saddens me to see not only the effects of mindless violence, but to see that some people have learned nothing from it.
Footbag is a lot of fun, and obviously lately I’ve been putting a lot of importance on it, and the achievement of my goals in the sport. Yesterday though, kind of put things in perspective for me. Getting better at footbag, and achieving my goals in competition are important to me, but they are not the most important things in life. Being grateful for the life I have is important. Contributing to my community is important. Making an effort to be positive and patient in my interactions with the world, is important. I’m going to continue to train and train hard for Worlds. But I will also make a point not to lose perspective, and to try and put in as much effort into the rest of my life as I do into footbag.
I went to a couple yoga classes with my girlfriend over the weekend. Beyond the physical exercise, I really enjoyed the classes for the mental aspect. The whole process encouraged me to develop a more positive outlook in general, and to let go of unnecessary stress in my life where I can. I'm hoping to apply some of the lessons I learned in yoga towards my preparation for USO and Worlds. I agree with the idea that in order to achieve my goals, I need to have a positive mindset and really convince myself that I can do it.
