Ivan I's Footblog

[Nathan]

Nice! That's actually a butterfly swirl though, not reverse. it's hard to remember the difference at first, esp because it's counterintuitive with how whirls/rev whirls are named.

either way, great trick and well executed.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Madd props again on the butter swirl. Looked great.

Rubberman: Blur> Atomsmasher> Legbeater *rpt

Just try that 3 pack on both sides first. Once you can hit it on both sides, go for the repeat. that's what got me to hit it at first.

[isirc10]

Cool. It's on the to-do list. I will try to hit butterfly reverse swirl next. Footbag is fun when you have goals.

[isirc10]

Had another quick session tonight. Worked the basics (consecutive clippers and osis)
Noticed that my clipper was feeling good today so I tried some ducking. This resulted in:
clipper>ducking clipper X 3
Here's to finally getting my ducks in a row.

I also realized that I had neglected guay for way too long and had a go at that trick.
guay (both sides)
reverse guay (both sides)
atomic guay>atomic guay (both atomic sets were done starting from my insides, which felt really cool)
I also did some whirls and what not - gonna have to spend more time on those in the future.Tried some spinning before I closed the session out but couldn't get the set to stop hitting me in the back. Oh well, baby steps.

[isirc10]

And another session today. Was feeling quite fresh today and had an opportunity to kick with some friends so I figured I would not take a day off. Went at it for about an hour and a half, didn't really hit anything new. Mostly just repeats of previous highlights, but I figure I might list them anyways - most of them I consider to be difficult tricks so its nice to know that i can hit them day in, day out.

Nuclear set. very weak, but cleared the dexing foot. (I hit this set last summer as well, but it didn't stick)
Symposium stepping butterfly (Okay, I lied, I have never hit this before. Did I mention it was flipside? yeah. feels good)
Blur>Atomsmasher>SS Butterfly>Blur>Atomsmasher (needs more work, took about 10 tries to hit)
Flux (only hit once, still working on turning my body enough)
Ducking clipper
Atomic osis (BSOS HELL YEAH!)
Ripwalk (BSOS - needs some work to get it BTB again)
Ducked a stepping set.
Whirl (BSOS - yeah, I do this every session, but WTH, might as well write it in)

Things are going well. I don't know what is driving me to kick so much, but I hope it lasts throughout the summer. At this rate, I am running out of clean shred shorts before the week is over, which is a good thing. My legs used to get really tired from atomics but these past two weeks they feel fantastic. My flip stepping is picking up and strong osis is on lockdown. I am ignoring pixies for the moment because I am on a roll with my other uptime sets. Now I have to go stitch a footbag order. Will be kicking tomorrow. And Friday. As long as I have highlights to post, Modified will have another unread post every other night.

[mtoolan]

I was just telling Corey earlier how I was glad you were playing more. Good stuff, man, definitely keep going with it. And make it to a session every now and again, please. Keep it up!

[isirc10]

I wouldn't mind kicking with the rest of you PA dudes but its pretty hard to get a session in with my work schedule so that everyone else can make it.
Anyway, kicked today for the third day in a row, had a low key session this time.
Started with my mile run, then did 50 alternating toe stalls to get my feet moving in the right plane (for footbag, not running)
Transitioned to 30 alternating clippers without dropping the bag. Went for an osis and dropped the first one. LOL.

Needless to say, I spent the rest of the session drilling osis (from ss clipper). Ended up doing 50 individual osis on each side. My strong side was at about 90%, but my weak side was at 10-15% and I am being optimistic. I guess my legs were just tired and didn't want to turn in time with the stall on that side. Oh well. Tomorrow I am taking a day off and will be back at it on Friday. Ended the session with a few whirls.

[isirc10]

Kicked with ECFU yesterday, had a blast. Man, I love kicking with those guys - even if I don't hit much, it's still a good way to spend an afternoon.
Now, things that I did hit:

Drifter (from toe - I have wanted to hit this trick for at least a year. Now I need to hit it flipside)
DLO (yeah, I should be hitting this a lot more, but at least I got it both sides, and from clipper and toe. PDX was close but I decided I wasn't quite there yet)
almost ducked a symp atomic set. By almost, I mean it hit me on top of the neck because I didn't move my head to the side.
had some decent 10-15 contact strings with both sided pdx mirage and pdx illusions, as well as osis and other fun stuff

Overall, a pretty laid back session, didn't really have any goals to meet and just enjoyed myself. Back to the drilling now.
I almost forgot, helped teach legover to one of our newer players and he made good progress. It's satisfying to see your tips improve someone else's game.

[isirc10]

I may not be going to worlds, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't get better at hacky sack this summer. That's all folks.

And so, in the best way possible, I eat my words.
I week ago, I mentioned offhand that it would be really cool to go to worlds to my parents, and tonight they said they would cover $200 of expenses. Within minutes, I talk to Nick on FB and he both has room in his car for me and a place at their apartment! What an awesome guy.

So I am GOING TO WORLDS THIS YEAR. SO FREAKING PUMPED. All caps were necessary. Good thing I have been kicking throughout the summer - although I am still nowhere near where I want to be, but oh well, it will be fun, regardless of how bad I am. That was the worst sentence I have written in the blog and I don't care. CAUSE I'M GOING TO WORLDS!!!!

Time to go to sleep.

[boyle]

You will have a great time at Worlds and it will be great for improving your game...awesome stuff!

[anhkhoashevakt]

I may not be going to worlds, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't get better at hacky sack this summer. That's all folks.

And so, in the best way possible, I eat my words.
I week ago, I mentioned offhand that it would be really cool to go to worlds to my parents, and tonight they said they would cover $200 of expenses. Within minutes, I talk to Nick on FB and he both has room in his car for me and a place at their apartment! What an awesome guy.

So I am GOING TO WORLDS THIS YEAR. SO FREAKING PUMPED. All caps were necessary. Good thing I have been kicking throughout the summer - although I am still nowhere near where I want to be, but oh well, it will be fun, regardless of how bad I am. That was the worst sentence I have written in the blog and I don't care. CAUSE I'M GOING TO WORLDS!!!!

Time to go to sleep.

I'm so jealous right now!!!!!!

[etphonehome]

SICKKK! Good shit man, highlights, and WORLD HIGHLIGHT. So jelly.

[isirc10]

So I just spent a week working a lab in Toronto, and am two hours away from meeting Adam Greenwood and Anton and driving up to Montreal for another week in beautiful Canada - this time with more fun and less work. I haven't kicked this past week, been working long hours overtime doing testing at the lab, so my first few circles at worlds will be rough. I brought two cameras (gopro and a P/S that films in 1080p at 60 fps) so I hope to have a decent bit of footage to play with once the week is over. I am also bringing 20 bags.... That is the most footbags I have ever possessed at a single point in time. Hopefully by the end of the week, I won't have nearly as many, but who knows, this is Haniabag territory (and deservedly so). Regardless, it should be a great time - as my first worlds, I have no idea what to expect. Guess I better go guiltless overnight.

[Asmus]

I was no where near guiltless at my first worlds and had the time of my life. Enjoy! First worlds (as all worlds) are amazing!

[isirc10]

Well, Worlds so far has blown my mind out of my head and completely surpassed whatever expectations I had of it. I had lofty goals of putting up an update/writeup every few days on my footblog, but instead I am uploading and categorizing video in that time. Oh well. It's one or the other. I am happy to report that sideline shred is heating up and I have been getting some good strings on camera - it's gonna take a lot of time to put it all together once worlds is over.

Anyway, Worlds is awesome, even if you are not competing. I have not hit anything new yet, but I have gotten many awesome tips from the best players in the world on how to improve my existing concepts (which is arguably more valuable)

[isirc10]

Mildly hungover update from finals friday:
Frontside atomsmasher
Symp atomic legover
Symp swirl
ripwalk to ripwalk

Getting props from everyone was awesome, and that last circle I played in totally ripped.

[isirc10]

So everything is happening so fast after worlds. Editing video (still have at least 15 minutes of good publishable footage left over, just looking for some inspiration to finish the edit), playing footbag every day with some breaks every now and then, and moving back to Penn State for another year of learning is making time fly. In terms of footbag, I have not been this excited about the sport - well, ever. My legs may be tired at the end of sessions, but I will still push for whatever goal I set until I hit it. Session length has gotten pretty good, sometimes going over two and a half hours (2 hours on average). Kicking every day allows me to school basics, as well as experimenting with all of the sweet advice I got at Worlds. I am so thankful for everyone putting up with my questions and requests for tips on this trick and that trick. I have a notebook full of tips for tricks that I can't even hit, and a bunch of drills that lead me up to those tricks.

Anyway, no more boring stuff, time for highlights for the past month:
getting my clippers sorted out (hitting clipper>op clipper x 10 consistently, consecs on both sides are consistently in the 15-20s now. Thanks for the tip Evan!)
4 contacts of ripwalk >ripwalk
actually hitting ripwalk in strings (replacing my stepping far legover bail) on both sides
Stampede! First fully symposium trick, got that on both sides within one session
Tap - so much easier to hit midstring than atomsmasher, integrated into strings immediately
Ending just about every session with 20+ contact tiltless strings (recently been having some go past 50 contacts)
Atomsmasher x 4
Legbeater > ss pickup rpt x 4
Drifter (from clipper) bs finally
Stepping far dyno - what a name!
DLO (from toe) x 5
Symp butterfly > PS mirage rpt
Backside atomsmasher
PDX DLO
Maverick
Ducking legover bs
Ducking mirage bs
Ducking ss mirage bs
Encouraging people to play footbag (whether it be current club members or new recruits) Just got one freshman today - time will tell if he sticks with it, but he seemed very enthusiastic about it.

Overall, getting back up to PSU while still inspired by everyone at worlds is the best thing that could have happened. Decided to cut down on some extracurricular to focus more of school and footbag. Everyone in the club has improved over the summer and its great to see people leveling up. Kicking it up a notch myself to at least get to finals in intermediate circle at ECFC next month.

[Muffinman]

Nice stuff, Ivan!
I'm really impressed with your bothsidedness -- stampede both sides stood out to me.
I really dig that symp butterfly drill too -- gonna have to try it!
It was nice meeting you at Worlds and I'm really looking forward to your next video.

[Matt K]

Nice progress, Ivan, looking forward to seeing you soon.

[isirc10]

Thanks guys! Erik, it was great (what a lame word to describe such an event) meeting you at Worlds. I hadn't seen any videos of you before then, so after our first meeting I thought your shred was going to be very relaxed an nonchalant (based on your persona). Boy was I wrong - it was an all out attach on the footbag every round. I especially liked the rev whirls (whip?). I certainly am appreciating symposium tricks much more nowadays - that symp butterfly drill was probably my favorite out of 5-6 drills I did with them (the rest were pretty mundane).

This summer I really worked hard on my core components on both sides, and with some help from Matt Kemmer at worlds, my flip stepping has actually gotten to be as consistent as my strong stepping (I just need to get out of the mental block that tells me that I am going to drop if I go for weak stepping in the middle of my strings). I have also changed changed how I look at video when I am trying to learn new tricks (as opposed to paying attention to the dexes/sets, I now take a good look at the footwork, rotation of the body, and movement of the player's hips). Anz Tricks tutorials, get ready for another hundred views!