Fanzine

[C-Fan]

Thanks for the super nice comments guys. Work is brutal this week, so I'm using your posts as encouragement to keep plowing through the Worlds account. It may not be my best work, but I want to at least get something down so I can remember the week in the future. This may be disjointed and come in fits and starts, but I really want to get it done.

Day 1: Saturday

I don't know how I made it through work the day before my flight. I was so excited and nervous for my trip, I forced myself to get in a session after work. I figured it'd physically burn some of that energy off, and also reassure me I was prepared if I hit some dropless routines. I did, and it did. Back home I checked my bags one final time, to make sure I'd packed all the important stuff. As is my custom, I made sure my g-units, competition bags, and one set of shred clothes traveled in my backpack and on my person. I haven't had an airline lose my luggage in over 15 years, but I wasn't about to chance it at Worlds. I also did one final silly thing, which requires a bit more explanation.

Back when I first got into footbag, one of my goals was to appear on a shred video. Watching videos of tournaments was such a thrill and made me want to get better. The fact that you had to wait for somebody to make a tape (later DVDs, later internet videos, later nothing) made it that much more of a big deal for me. When I first appeared on the Worlds 99 video, it made me feel like I was making a name for myself. After appearing on a few videos, an idea for a subtle prank occurred to me. The idea was to buy 2 identical temporary tattoos, with a design that could plausibly pass as something I might actually get tattooed. Then, I'd put one of them on my right arm and try to get on a shred video that summer. A year later, I'd put the other temp tattoo in the same location on the opposite arm, and try and get on another video, and see if anybody would notice. I think this could have been pretty funny, but the heyday of videos passed and I never did it. But as a tribute to this idea, I bought some fake tattoos right before Worlds, and had my fiancee affix a small one of a skull on my back. I figured the placement would make it more credible that I didn't do it solo, and also would be more believable, given that I have a government job. The box promised the tattoo would last a week, which sounded perfect.

I somehow manage to sleep through Friday night, and Saturday morning I head to the airport. For some past tournaments I make a point to listen to my routine song on the flight over, but at this stage I feel like my primary routine song is in my bones; a fundamental part of my being. On the flight I listen to my Amelie routine song a few times, but mostly just try and relax and stay in a good competition mindset. Keeping control of my emotions and excitement is something I've occasionally struggled with, but I did pretty well with it at this tournament. The primary use I got out of my ipod at this tournament was listening to songs to help me temper my mood...calming songs when I was getting nervous or excited, and peppy songs to get me pumped up. My top two calming songs were probably "Into the Ocean" and "Someone Great," while my pump-up songs were "Tongue Tied and "Let's Go!.

The only hiccup on my flight is that I didn't print my boarding pass, so I had to wait in the check-in line for Air Canada at the airport. They only have one person at the counter, so I wait a good 30 minutes in line. I air shred my routine or parts of my routine with no self-consciousness.

On the flight itself I'm pleasantly surprised to find individual screens for each seat. It's a nice set up that lets you pick your own movie/tv show what have you. I normally sleep on flights, but this time I mix it up and watch Iron Man 3 and a couple shows. I don't get any inspirational takeaways from them that I can use at Worlds.

I make it through Customs OK. It's my first opportunity to use French, and I do well enough that the agent doesn't switch to English on me. They also don't seem very interested or intrigued by the purpose of my visit. They must hear all sorts of weird things on that job. I find the airport bus without much issue, and hop on. Initially I thought I'd have to take another bus once I got into town, but the route map on the bus shows a stop at Berri UQAM, which I know is walkable to the host hotel. Score! I get off at that stop, look at a map, and then spend the next 15 minutes walking in the wrong direction. D'oh! At least the weather is nice, a good 15 degrees cooler out than it was in Denver. I walk back the way I came, and bump into the first footbagger of the tournament. I always remember the first and last footbagger I see at an event, so it's exciting to me to bump into my first.

[Matt K]

Enjoying the subtle jokes. Looking forward to how the tattoo thing plays out.

[C-Fan]

Thanks Matt. Your Worlds blog was so well done, it kind of kicked my ass into at least trying to get my thoughts down. I'm also using your blog as a bit of a cheat sheet, to help me confirm that events occurred on the days I thought they did. On that note, here's Saturday:

Saturday: Day 1 of Worlds

I almost don't recognize the first footbagger of Worlds 2013 as I'm crossing the street on the way to the hotel. For some reason he's always taller in person than I remember, so I notice the footbag shirt he's wearing first (the French Open one, with a footbag wearing a beret), which prompts me to look at his face and realize it's Aleksi Airinen! I give him a hug right in the cross walk, and then we roll over to the curb to catch up quickly. Aleksi's on his way to return a charger to a store, and I'm headed the opposite way to the hotel, but we agree to catch up at the event site which he tells me isn't far from the hotel. Seeing Aleksi makes Worlds feel all of a sudden more real, and I get pretty pumped up.

As I make my way down the block to the UQAM, I feel my brain transitioning from travelling mode to vacation mode, which is a great feeling. Right as I come up on the building I bump into the next 3 footbaggers of the tournament: Ben Benulis, Chrissy Fryer, and Derrick Ogden. I hadn't met Derrick before, so I introduce myself. I knew Ben and Chrissy from past tournaments, but not that well. At the time I wouldn't have been able to predict it, but I got to hang out a ton with Chrissy and Ben and getting to know them better was a highlight of the tournament. I pick up my room key without issue, though I have my first French stumble of the week. My French is basically just my Spanish with an accent, but there are words in each language which don't translate the way you'd expect. So when I ask for a towel at the front desk, my mind "frenchifies" the Spanish word "toalla" to "toaille," which draws a blank stare. I say towel in English, and learn it's "serviette" in French. Which is weird to me, because "servieta" in Spanish means "napkin."

I check into my room and am happy with the size and cleanliness of it. There's a fridge, which I didn't expect, but know will come in handy. In my room I put all my clothes into the shelves, taking special care with the shirts I plan on competing in. Once I'm settled in, I head out to the event site. Halfway there I stop at an intersection. As I wait, I see a group of people headed in my direction. Caroline Birch, Hania and Evan! I also recognize Cassy from her videos. I exchange hugs with everybody and we make our way to the site.

I get sidetracked by hellos on my way to check in, but get there eventually. I'm registered to get a medium shirt, and Luka asks if I want a small instead. Looking at the sizes of the shirts, I change my mind...and ask for a large. All of my footbag shirts always shrink ridiculously, so this time I'm taking initiative and getting a big one. Maude Landreville explains to me the system for getting discounts/getting into parties. In past years it was often a wristband, but this year they were using...wait for it...temporary tattoos! The tattoos look like little blue footbags, and all week you'd see them on people's legs/necks/faces. My gut reaction is that this will make my fake tattoo even more obvious. Maude asks where I want the tat applied, and I decide to go with my bicep. Some people put them on their legs, but I was afraid it might throw me off while playing.

Once I'm checked in I head back to the UQAM. I end up hanging out in the Multi 8, which ended up being the social hang out spot for the entire week. There's a party on the official schedule, but I kinda of want to take it easy and socialize in a quieter place. So I spend the evening in the Multi8 drinking beer and playing games. Evan and I introduce the "States game," which consists of everybody in a circle saying the name of a state. A couple people figure out the rules, but a couple don't, and it's fun watching them struggle to figure it out. Waylon doesn't understand the rule, but somehow gets something like 8 turns in a row correct, which is funny and crazy. We also play "Cards Against Humanity," which is basically just a raunchier version of Apples to Apples. It's a lot of fun. The best card I won was this combination:

Q card:"What's that sound?"
My winning response: "AIDS."

The only real drawback to the UQAM all week is the fact that it's not air conditioned. There are ceiling fans in every room (nice), but with a ton of people the rooms got hot fast. I use this as an excuse to wear a basketball jersey, or go shirtless a couple nights. Nobody comments on my back tattoo, though Hania touches it at one point, which leads me to think she suspects its fake. I'm hoping at least a couple people consider it may be real.

Laughing a lot and socializing put me in a good mindset, and I'm pleased to sleep through the whole night without issue. This was a huge contrast to last year's Worlds, where I never got more than 3 hours of continuous sleep due to jet lag.

Next: Sunday

[C-Fan]

Sunday: Day 2

I wake up feeling good. I slept through the night without interruptions, and I didn't drink too much the day before either. I feel optimistic about my body being in good shape for the week, and after the first night of hanging out I also feel optimistic it's going to be a fun week socially. I bump into a group of people headed to breakfast, and join them. I can't recall our whole group...definitely Drew Martin, Dante, Chrissy, and Waylon. Anyway, we eat at a cafe that's less than 2 blocks from the UQAM. It's a pretty straightforward breakfast, but it ends up being my go-to place for competition days. The first time I ate there I got 2 eggs, smoked roast beef, hash browns, 4 slices of toast, some fruit cup, and coffee. Every time I went after that I got some variant of the above, but with one less egg, for $8 (so $10 with tip). Good fuel for footbag, and better than what I could have whipped up in my hotel room, since I didn't have a frying pan.

The only competition I cared about at Worlds was routines, which probably doesn't surprise anybody who reads my blog. If it came down to it, I would scratch in everything else if I thought it'd give me a better shot physically or mentally at doing well in routines. But routines didn't start until Tuesday, so I knew that Sunday was likely my best chance at getting in a fun shred and just enjoying myself playing footbag. I therefore made it a point to eat a solid breakfast, cause I knew I'd need the energy more than on any other day at Worlds.

After breakfast I walked to the grocery store with Waylon and Chrissy. I got juice, chocolate milk, some bananas (I didn't know there'd be free bananas on site yet), and some pastries to tide me over throughout the week. I also picked up 2 boxes of Just Right cereal for my fiancee, since they only sell it in the UK and Canada apparently. After dropping off groceries at the UQAM, I hitch a ride with Drew to get to the Tam Tams. There are people already playing when we get there, but I decide to enjoy the beautiful summer weather and warm up by tossing frisbee with Drew and Ivan for a bit. Its fun and relaxing, and when we're done I feel warm and ready for footbag.

As I warm up and dip my toe into a few circles, I'm aware that this may be my only opportunity to play with a lot of people, much less to play for fun with them. I therefore make a point to play with as many people as I can, taking periodic breaks to say hi to players trickling in that I hadn't seen yet. I don't remember too many specifics from this session. I do remember asking Johnny if he could hit nuke grifter (like a 69 but second dex reversed), and him hitting it for me like nothing. I also remember seeing Ianek hit a beast (locomotion-mullet-spender), but waiting to give him props since he did it in another circle. I also remember Felix doing surging spinning butterfly (like double spinning butterfly but with an uptime mirage in the middle), and some very good bubba sets. I also remember seeing Derrick hit a very clean gyro food. The main thing I remember though, was how weird it was to shred again. For the previous 3 months, my sessions were made up of 90-100% routine practice. I'd have sessions which consisted of nothing more than a warmup, followed by 3 routine run throughs. I believe this made me more prepared for routines than I otherwise would have been, but it's a very different kind of footbag than shredding. Going for interesting links and long runs for the first time in months was fun, but also took some adjusting to. It was like speaking a foreign language for the first time in years. This was particularly acute when I was playing in the more elite circles, like one which had Felix, Rene, and Johnny in it. Like, I'd start off a run with 10-15 strong contacts, but if I stopped or dropped at that point, I wouldn't get any props for it. Shredding hard enough to get props in these circles was a fun challenge, but it was definitely a challenge. I don't remember many specific highlights from my own shred...I think I had an 8-9 fearless string at one point, and I also hit atomic grifter. Mostly though I was just happy to shred and work off some nervous energy, and to be out at the Tam Tams.



Shredding, and shredding hard, wore me out. I decided to quit when my body told me to, since I didn't want to risk injury. I cooled down by tossing frisbee with Mathieu Girard Montpetit. He's been playing lots of ultimate lately, so he's very good at throwing and chasing down long tosses. We threw for a good 20 minutes, which was super fun. I go fill up my water bottle for the walk back to the site, and end up walking with Caroline and the Stanford Crew. We stop at the Canadian equivalent of walgreens on the way back, where Dustin notices my back tat through my jersey. I sell him some line about me getting it after USO, and I think he buys it. We snag some pizza on the way back, most of which I eat at the site while watching net. Dustin and I end up having a very long conversation in the stands about our goals for the week. His goals are to make routine finals and shred30 finals. I tell him he definitely has a shot at both. We discuss the schedule for the week, and I casually mention that I will almost certainly scratch from Shred30 on Monday, to stay fresh for Tuesday's routines. Dustin does a little fist bump at the news, which makes me laugh. At some point in our conversation, I notice Pipenberg, Polini and Kemmer enter the gym. I wave, and they come up. Hugs and daps go around, and it strikes me as weird when Dustin introduces himself to a bunch of the crew. I feel like I've seen Dustin at so many events over the past few years, its weird to me that he doesn't already know everybody. I catch up a bit with Nate and Nick, and they tell me their plan is to go home and clean up, then go to a party at Nick Laroche's place. I don't have anything on me I need to take back to the UQAM, so I decide to tag along with them. We stop by a depanneur (bodega) on the way to the car, where I buy Nathan a bottle of my favorite local beer, Trois Pistoles, and pick one up for myself too.

It starts raining hard on the drive to their place, and we get a little lost. I don't care though, cause it just means more time to joke around in the car. I'm impressed by the place they got through Air BnB. It feels like a home, which must be nice to return to after shred. The UQAM rooms are more like a dorm, which I also like in that it made the whole week feel like the first week at college, but it was also similarly chaotic and overwhelming. The PSU pad on the other hand, had the feel of a place you could recharge and relax after a long day. Nick lets me use his laptop to check my email and facebook. I brought my phone on the trip, in the hopes that I could get reception somewhere and be able to access the internet or send texts with it. But for most of the trip it was "roaming," and I didn't want to risk using it since it's a govt work phone and I didn't want to get audited. So it was nice to shoot an email home letting everybody know I made it safely and was having fun.

I don't remember if we got lost on the way to Laroche's or not. But at some point on this trip we realize we are hungry. We don't want to show up late to the party empty-handed, eat all their food, and then leave, so we decide to eat someplace along the way. We pull into a minimall where everything looks closed. It's getting late, we're hungry and late for the party, and we just need some food. We suck it up and decide to do McDonalds. I feel lame, but whatever, it suits our needs at the moment and is cheap. I swap the drink in my meal for a milkshake, and really enjoy dipping my fries in it. We talk a little about music, and then at some point Nick reaches over to Matt's plate to snag some pickles, and ends up bumping Matt so he spills ketchup on his pants. Matt takes it in stride, but Nick's eyes expand comically as he apologizes profusely over the innocent accident. He rushes off to the condiment counter, and we all assume he'll come back with napkins to help clean up the stain. Instead, he comes back with a napkin overflowing with ice. For a second I wonder if it's some folk remedy everybody else knows about, but when everybody reacts with the same WTF face as mine, we all burst out laughing. We leave on this good note, because frankly, Canadian McDonalds at dinner time on a Sunday is just as depressing as it is in America.

For some reason, I didn't think there'd be that many people at Laroche's. Instead, the place is overflowing with footbaggers. It's kind of overwhelming actually. I get a quick house tour from Nick and his wife, then I sit down to drink my beer. I end up having a long conversation with Ivan and Wiktor about the viability of doing Worlds in Penn State. The cons I list are the fact that you can't easily fly there, so international players would have to tack on an additional bus ride once they arrive, which can be logistically daunting. On the pros side, they'd have access to university money through their club, which could greatly help with costs. Also, since Worlds are in the summer, they might have access to cheap dorm housing, which could be significant. There was talk all week about where Worlds would be next year, which had the dual effect on me of making me sad I can't go next year, but also determined to make this year count. For the record though, I really hope I don't miss Worlds in Venezuela.

The party winds down, and transportation plans are made on the fly. I end up in Drew's car again, and we're back at the UQAM sooner than I expect. I don't recall if I socialized more or went right to bed, but either way, here's where this entry ends.

Next: Monday

[Matt K]

I think the sauce would've spilled regardless if Nick reached over or not.... but the more we say it, the more true it becomes.

[C-Fan]

Indeed, so let's keep telling it that way.

Monday

Woke up feeling good. Having two nights in a row with good sleep in the UQAM makes me feel confident I'll be able to rest/heal properly all week before competition, which is a big deal to me. In other good news, my legs don't feel that sore despite the session at the Tams the day before. I hadn't played that long or hard in quite some time, so I wasn't sure how my body would react. For breakfast I eat some pastries and chocolate milk I got at the grocery store the day before. Pastries were pretty bad. I listen to my first round routine song while I eat, then swing by the multi-8 afterwards to see if anybody is stirring.

The freestyle schedule for Monday is incredibly light. There's women's circle, but it's only to determine seeding (no cuts). There's also circle qualifiers, but I got a bye to semis...I'm guessing because I finished a spot out of finals in Poland, or because I took silver at USO. Either way, I know I'm not playing at all, so my only real goals for the day are to relax, not drink too much, and get enough rest that I'm sharp for routines the next day. I walk over the site early with Caroline and Cassy so they can warm up for women's circle. I carry Caroline's heavier bag while she carries a boombox speaker. Halfway to the site she suggests we make a more dramatic entrance by blaring some tough -guy music, ala boxer's entrance music. I sweep through my ipod quickly and settle on "we takin over" by DJ Khaled, which edges out "hypnotize" by Biggie. We get some disapproving looks from passersby on our way into the site, but we also get some admiring looks too:



Once at the site, everything seems to move slowly. I pass the time by judging women's circle contest, then go get lunch with Evan. We find a nice microbrewery near the site, where we get excellent burgers and some solid local beers to go with it. I have a taste of a rye smoked porter, which is delicious, but I don't think will go with my burger. I get a coffee stout instead, which is a great match. It's really nice to get some 1 on 1 time with Evan. I've been enjoying the crazy social atmosphere of Worlds so far, but already I was craving some more subdued quiet time. We catch up a bit on life, but its clear both our minds are on how we'll do in comp that week, so we talk about it. It's nice to discuss our hopes and expectations frankly and directly, with somebody else who's in a similar competitive situation, and therefore understands what the other is going through.

Before coming to Worlds I got really tired of having conversations with friends and co-workers who have no idea about what's involved with comp, much less comp at Worlds. "Are you going to win?" "Bring home the gold!" And all sorts of other stupid shit. Stupid is a strong word...ignorant is more accurate. How are people outside of the sport supposed to know what my chances are compared against a Honza or Aleksi? Or that the average age of people who beat me at Worlds is probably close to 23, and that being 10 years older than them and being in Finals is a rarity itself (when was the last time a 33 year old was in finals? 2005?). Even if they did understand all that, how could I expect them to know what it feels like to be attending Worlds for the eleventh time, coming close to my goal so many times before and not making it, and knowing that my next chance would come in two years when I'd have an even tougher path?

Evan may not understand all of those things, but of anybody at Worlds he probably comes the closest. I took advantage of this bond a couple times during the week when I needed to talk out my jitters and feel grounded again. Based on what I know he can do, and what I've seen that week, I tell him I not only expect he'll make circle finals, but I think he has the best shot at gold. I do this not to build pressure or expectations on him, but to reinforce his confidence and self-efficacy. In the same conversation he asks me point blank: "Do you think you can win it all?" I honestly respond that my goal is to make finals, and hopefully a top 5. He responds: "I think champions know and believe they're going to win, and that's why they do." I let the words sink in...I think there's definitely truth in them. Confidence in footbag is a weird thing...I think having that type of attitude has helped me in circle contests, where it's more about reacting and responding to what your opponents do in the circle with you. With routines though, it's all about hitting what you practiced, and sticking to that plan. Believing I can win, or telling myself where I should end up, almost feels like a distraction from paying attention to the plan and letting the training do the work. Nonetheless, I think about Evan's advice.

I go back to the site, where it looks like nothing much is happening. Circle qualifiers are wrapping up, but I want to clear my mind of footbag for a bit. I head down to the pool on the bottom floor of the event site. At first it's just me and Chris Dean, and we have a great time messing around with this little plastic basketball hoop stationed by the pool edge. We eventually figure out the best way to shoot hoops is to jump straight up out of the water, use the buoyancy for a second of hang time, and then shoot. It's like an exaggerated jump shot, and each time I do it I imagine Craig Ehlo in front of me.



We also play around with doing alley oops, all which is incredibly fun. Over time other footbaggers trickle in, until the non-lap area of the pool is basically a footbag pool party. There's a lot of basketball shenanigans, a lot of fun side conversations, and a lot of handstands for me. It's one of the most fun moments of the week for me for sure. By the time I get out, I figure I've probably been in the pool for well over an hour. Despite my promise to not exert myself today, I ended up getting a pretty decent ab workout by just swimming and messing around in the pool.

I don't remember Monday night all that well, but I'm pretty sure I just hung around the UQAM. There was definitely a night shred. Pretty sure Cassy, Chris Dean, and Evan all played. I watched for a while to distract myself, then I headed to bed. I listened to my Amelie routine once, then my relaxing songs as I drift off.

Next: Tuesday, and 1st round of routines.

[C-Fan]

I've really struggled to blog Worlds 2013. I've had 2 week-long business trips in the past 3 weeks, and I have another one in about a week. It's hard to blog from the road, and of course when I'm back from these trips I have all my normal work to catch up on, plus I just want to enjoy being back home. That said, I'm still going to try and get at least a rough outline of Worlds down. I owe that much to myself.

As I mentioned earlier, its been both fun and helpful to read other people's accounts of the week of Worlds. It jogs memories, and in some cases makes me realize when I've written about events on the wrong days. For example, Chrissy's blog clued me in to who was the mystery person missing from my memory of breakfast the first Sunday (Dante), as well as what I did on Monday night (spent an hour at the site coaching Chrissy on her routine, and giving tips to Caroline and Hania as well). Apparently the pool party didn't happen til Tuesday either.

Anyway, I'm going to make an effort to blog Worlds a bit more this weekend.

In the meantime, not much footbag news on my end. Because of my work trips, I haven't been playing much footbag during the week. My sessions have been sporadic and rather unfocused. That's not to say they're not fun, but I've definitely noticed my motivation has been lower now that I don't have any tournaments or goals left this summer. Between the end of Worlds and Thanksgiving my weekends are remarkably open schedule wise, with one exception. That weekend is the weekend I have to move apartments, which also happens to be the weekend of East Coast champs. Just amazingly shitty timing...I literally would have been able to attend any other weekend. Sucks I won't get a chance to defend my title, or hang out with NYFA. It also probably means less motivation for the rest of the summer too.

My new laptop doesn't have Adobe Premiere, but I'm tempted to download windows media maker and see if I can't get back to at least making rudimentary videos. That might help me focus more during my shreds, and make them more fun and interesting for me.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CD_yVj_I9Q[/youtube]

[Matt K]

I was just about to post here that I want your writeup to continue. I guess we synced our minds back up when we saw each other again.

Nice video, can't believe you didn't finish that vortext>ps whirl drill. I think this is the second video I've watched with sound in about 5 years; I enjoyed the ambient small talk.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Hahahaha The gate keeper comment was prime. I loved the fact that the guy believed you! Nice gyro stuff. I think that Vortext> Gyro Clipper *rpt looked the smoothest out of any drill I've ever seen. I'm going to try that one tonight.

[Pasquar]

Nice gyro dlos!

[C-Fan]

I've got some good and some bad news for this post. But before I get there, I wanted to apologize for the unintended, but still misleading way I ended my last post:

My new laptop doesn't have Adobe Premiere, but I'm tempted to download windows media maker and see if I can't get back to at least making rudimentary videos. That might help me focus more during my shreds, and make them more fun and interesting for me

I followed that up by posting a video with no other explanation. The video I posted though, is at least a year old, and I threw it in there so I wasn't making a video-less post. But given what I wrote right before it, it sure made it seem like that was a recent video I slapped together with WMM. And it wasn't. But thanks for the compliments on the shred...it ended up having a positive effect which I'll get to.

So let's start off with the bad news and end with the good.

Bad news #1: I had a 3 day weekend, and I didn't write a single word of my Worlds 2013 blog. I had some reasonable excuses, but still, I need to make it a priority to finish my Worlds account. Embarassing it's taking this long.

Bad news #2: I injured my hip flexor/groin really badly on Sunday. I think it was from overdoing it with nuclear set, especially a new way of doing it. Or maybe I didn't stretch down enough. Whatever the case, it hurt on Monday, and it really hurts today. Like, I have trouble getting in and out of bed/cars, and sometimes just standing up. Its hard to say without checking my blog, but I think it's likely my worst footbag injury in the past 2 years or so. All that said, I'm taking it pretty well. The fact that I made it through my entire training season and tournament season without getting injured at all, and that I achieved my competition goals, makes me feel really lucky. Getting injured now basically doesn't matter. Sure, it'd be nice to get in some more outdoor sessions, but I think I have a good indoor winter spot lined up, so that's not even a huge consideration. I just need to take it easy for a bit, let it heal up, and make sure I don't come back too early. Don't get me wrong; it sucks getting a bad injury. I'm just really happy that the timing of it didn't get in the way of my summer goals.

Now onto good news.

Good news #1: I think I had a minor breakthrough with nuclear set. I was getting sumo more consistently at least...but of course I also got injured. Not sure if the injury is from overdoing the new technique, or because the new technique is bad. But I'm hopeful that, once I heal up, this may open the door to 69 for me.

Good news #2: I downloaded Windows Movie Maker on my laptop. I think I was partially motivated by the comments my last misleading post generated. So I decided to take the first step and at least get the most basic video editing ability on my laptop. On my old laptop I used WMM to cut my clips, then export them to adobe where I'd do the after effects. Unfortunately, the exporting process usually led to "visual hiccups" in the clips, to the point where I'd have to edit them out, or do multiple exports until I'd have video files where the hiccups didn't overlap on clips. Long story short, it was kind of a pain. That said, I didn't really know of any other options, so I DLed WMM on my new laptop and hoped it would work better. It did. I don't want to celebrate just yet, since I've only done one project, but my first attempt yielded a video clip with no visual hiccups! I'm not sure if it's because my new laptop is better, or if it's that I'm using a more recent version of WMM, but whatever the case it seems to work better than my old setup. So now I just need to learn how to do slow mo, transitions, titlecards, and add audiotracks. I'm sure it won't be too hard. The main thing though, is now I can film and make videos again, even if they aren't as high quality as my old output.

Here's the clip I made. The footage is from a session right before Worlds, where there was a quinceanera happening nearby. Apologies for the lack of editing. I'm just happy though to have made a video for the first time in over 4 months.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyqkkB_nc10[/youtube]

[C-Fan]

Couple quick updates on my end:

Bad news #2: I injured my hip flexor/groin really badly on Sunday. I just need to take it easy for a bit, let it heal up, and make sure I don't come back too early.

In good news, I'd say I'm 90-95% healed. I took off 5 days completely, and then played very lightly on Saturday. Sunday I felt pretty good, so I played without restrictions, though making a point to listen to my body to ensure I didn't overdo it. I still have some tightness in that area, but nothing I'm worried about. Especially if I take my time warming up and cooling down, which I plan on doing.

Good news #2: I downloaded Windows Movie Maker on my laptop. The main thing though, is now I can film and make videos again, even if they aren't as high quality as my old output.

I've now made three movies since getting WMM again. The first had no music or editing (the vid in my last post). The second vid had some limited transitions and slow motion. I'll post that vid in a bit. The last vid is from my session on Sunday. I filmed at dusk, and played in the shade. It didn't seem that dark, but it was dark enough that the footage definitely came out in lower definition than I'd hoped. I didn't bother with slow mo because of it, but I did experiment with putting on a musical track. I still don't like WMM as much as Adobe, so I might try and get it again. We'll see.

Anyway, here's the footage from my last session. Right before going out I read Hogan's blog, and was inspired to try some of his combos. So this vid is dedicated to the Hoagster:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP_Lma2frZA[/youtube]

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Yeo Ken,

First off, great shred in both vids. I know Kevin was hyped about that last one haha.

Referencing the video above with the little kids everywhere... The little guy that walked in front of the camera. Toward the end, when he appears again, I could have sworn he would step back into the shot, which immediately made me think of this clip from one of my favorite movies:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOMZ-Buj2n0

"That kid is BACK in the film zone again!"

Great strings/links though. Keep 'em comin!

[C-Fan]

Nice Nick, your post and video made me laugh out loud.

Not much new on my end really. Denver is in the middle of an uncharacteristic period of rainy, cool days. It's like it went from sweltering summer to fall overnight, but I'm guessing we'll actually have at least a full month of summer weather before fall truly arrives. This temporary reprieve from the heat is kinda surreal, and its forcing me to sit out some sessions. But that's likely not a bad thing either.

I'm still pretty bummed about having to miss East Coast champs. I have the money, vacation time, and motivation to fly out to defend my title, but the (completely arbitrarily picked) date of the tournament is literally the only weekend in the entire fall that I can't make it work. I even found a new routine song that I was super excited to use, which makes me even more bitter.

In less than 3 weeks I'll move back to the suburbs. Part of me is sad because there'll be less interesting stuff nearby, but on the other hand I'm excited about some of the features of the new place. I'll have an indoor basketball court where I can shoot hoops and shred during the winter, and I'll also have cable, so I can watch more NBA. We'll likely only stay at that place for a year anyway. After that, there's a decent chance we'll move from Colorado to wherever my fiancee goes to grad school...I'm crossing my fingers for Seattle.

Footbagwise, I'm still kind of drifting since I don't have competition goals. My hip is feeling good enough that I'll probably get back to (cautiously) working on nuke set, with the end goal of trying to hit 69. I think it'll happen. I also want to work on improving my flip spins. I think the root cause why my flip stepping and spinning have always been bad is that my clipper timing/form on that side isn't perfect. Kinda a crazy realization to have 16 years into your playing career. Not a total surprise, and it also hasn't held me back that much over my career, but still.

Anz and Jay recently posted some basic and intermediate drills, which I enjoyed watching. I think my next session I'll dedicate to drills, and make a video of whatever I get. I'd like to hit a bunch of the ones from the Anz/Jay series, and also throw in a few personal favs of mine as well.

Here's the second vid I made on WMM. I filmed in good light, so the slow mo came out very sharp. This was a fun session...threw more flurries and in-out double dexes than I normally do, and was happy with how clean they were.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mzS-4cG-A4[/youtube]

[Matt K]

Thanks for the life update. I'm sorry that we won't be seeing each other this month, but maybe at Vegas Jam?

That HPD>Flurry looked really nice, and the Pixie Almost Everything looked better than the one in the last video you posted, nice job.

[h0ag3yb3atZ]

i listen to del and eat hoagies too, good combo and good combo. its an honor to be guyed by the same greats i frequently guy.

wish you were coming to east coasts, that means we haven't played in a year, which sucks.

good stuffz hopefully see you soon, ken-sayne in the membrane.

[C-Fan]

Colorado recently went through a 10 day stretch of biblical rains; you may have seen something on the news about Boulder flooding out, etc. Denver was relatively unscathed in terms of flooding, but we got a lot of rain over that time. I took off that entire stretch from footbag, mostly because my knees felt way off. That in itself isn't a good sign...most people who feel atmospheric changes in their joints are elderly and arthritic. I'm 33. So yeah...not looking forward to my old age when it'll likely get worse.

Anyway, my knees finally felt back to normal this weekend, so I celebrated by playing 3 days in a row. My Friday session was cut short since the sun is setting earlier, but Saturday I got in a long session where I focused on drills. I figured drills were a good idea, since they require less stamina and I was 2 weeks out of shape. They also let me see which components had faded the most. I filmed the session and made a quick video too:


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b01b2yA5wQU[/youtube]

Sunday I also played. It rained early on, so I had to play inside of a parthenon-like structure (visible in the background of my drills vid), which protected me from the rain but was also way slippery. At the end of the session though it cleared up some, so I went out and tried to film a Sick3 for the online comps. I was stoked when hit a new beast to a handcatch, but when I looked at the footage my heart sank. My framing was slightly off, so the top of my head was cut off. And this beast had 3 ducks in it, so that made it even worse. On the positive side, I know I can hit it again, and probably in better light than I did that first time anyway.

Towards the end of the Sunday session, I caught the attention of a group of hippies who were out there as part of an art commune. They expressed interest in footbag, so I let them kick some bags and taught some of them how to toe stall. I closed out by showing them how to play 4square, which they got into. I'm going to try and find them again next Sunday and see if I can't get them more into it.

In other news, Japanese Footbag Champs happened this weekend. Henmo ended up sweeping all 3 events: routines, circle, and big 3. Here's his winning routine:

[youtube] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SB0ou07QAA[/youtube]

Reading all the Facebook posts leading up to the tournament, as well as posts between the first and second day, and then seeing some of the results...brought on a wave of different emotions. Foremost among them was pride in the Japanese scene for continuing their streak of tournaments. Both Japanese Footbag Championships and the Tokyo Shredder Gathering have happened every year for the last 11 years, which is an amazing streak. Following the event online also made me really miss all my Japanese friends, and the camaraderie of the scene over there. It's been 8 years now since I left, and 7 since my last visit. Hopefully I can go visit in the next couple years...it'd be even sweeter if I could attend a tournament too.

I recently did a little prank for a friend involving footbag, but I'm going to wait and see if I can get video of it before blogging it.

Thanks for the life update. I'm sorry that we won't be seeing each other this month, but maybe at Vegas Jam?
.

That'd be sick. I'm almost a lock for Vegas...just need to confirm dates and buy tickets

[C-Fan]

A couple weeks ago I badly tweaked my left hip flexor by overdoing it with nuke practice. It healed up after about a week, and I got in 2 pain free sessions after that (one was my drills session). The second session, I hit a sick 3 for the online comps, but it was out of frame:

Sunday I also played. At the end of the session though it cleared up some, so I went out and tried to film a Sick3 for the online comps. I was stoked when hit a new beast to a handcatch, but.... My framing was slightly off, so the top of my head was cut off.

On Thursday of last week, I got in a session after work where I tried to re-hit and refilm this sick 3. Unfortunately, I got out of work a bit late, so i was racing the sun. I literally had to move spots and my camera to ensure I was in the sun, because my camera films badly when I'm in the shade. The whole thing was a recipe for disaster, since I ended up rushing my warmup, which made it harder to rehit my sick 3. I got really frustrated, since I kept having the bag roll of my foot on the third trick. I ended up rehitting it once, and I was in frame this time, but it wasn't as tight as the first time. I know I can hit it a lot tighter, and if its a choice between submitting the current one or the badly framed one, I'd probably submit the badly framed one. Why not just refilm it again? Well, the hip flexor injury that went away before is back now. I didn't do any specific motion to reinjure it, but I think rushing through my warm up and cool down just pissed off my body. It still feels off as of this morning, but I think if I take a few more days off and am careful to do slow sessions, I'll heal up again. Hopefully I can get that combo on film better at some point, but at this stage the priority should be healing up more than anything.

As you may know, I work for the federal government. All signs are pointing to a govt shutdown starting tomorrow, with no set date to return to work. It's possible the govt reopens on Monday, and it's also possible it'll take a month before that happens. Nobody knows. But I've saved up enough money that I can wait it out even if it lasts a while. The real question now is, how do I spend this new found time? I'm moving apartments tomorrow, so the next couple days will be taken up by moving and unpacking. But I'm already thinking about making a trip to Arizona to see my folks, or maybe NYC for a week. Regardless of where I end up, I think it's a good bet that I'll be getting in a lot of footbag and gaming. One of my TF2 friends gave me a full copy of Grand Theft Auto IV, so I think I'll explore that game for a bit. Anyway, if anybody reading this lives in a cool city where I don't need a car, and can put me up (put up with me?) for a few days, I'd consider coming to visit you.

I recently did a little prank for a friend involving footbag, but I'm going to wait and see if I can get video of it before blogging it.

I checked with him, and nobody got video, so here goes. About a month ago, I was shopping in Target when somebody says: "Ken? Is that you? From Brown?" I look up, and am shocked to see a college friend I hadn't seen in about 13 years. Amazingly, I immediately recall his name and we catch up a bit. I'm glad we remembered to exchange numbers, because the whole experience was so surreal and unexpected that I was left kinda shell shocked. This friend, Jamie, was more of a friend of my sister's, but one time in college we performed together at a talent show. He did a rap using a mario brothers sample, while I dressed up as mario and did footbag during the bridges. It was pretty fun. Anyway, about a week later I get a call from Jamie asking me to participate in a prank for his friend. His buddy was getting married, and as part of his bachelor party Jamie was hosting a variety show type event. There were several teams which were asked to answer questions and perform tasks for the groom, who would then decide who won each event. I didn't know anybody at this event, but joined a team and tried to fit in. At the end of the night, one of the final challenges was for each group to send up a representative to perform a 1 minute choreographed hackysack routine, to a song that Jamie randomly picked. Of course, it was set up so I would go last, and my "random" song was actually one I picked out ahead of time.

The first three guys actually did pretty creative routines on the spot. The first guy tried kicking the bag and doing well-timed pauses. The second guy basically did neck stalls and then ran up to people in the audience and twerked on them. The third guy did this thing where he held the footbag in his hands, and pretend kicked it with his feet, using his hands to guide where the bag was going. He performed several ducks and spins and stuff like that using this technique, which actually looked pretty good. When it was finally my turn, I was a little nervous. There was no opportunity to warm up at all, and I was wearing cargo shorts and a normal tshirt to look less suspicious. The song I used was "la noyee," the same song Penske used at Worlds 07 when he won silver. I used the same dirtbag that everybody else did too, so as not to look suspicious. The music starts, and I do some toe stalls on the beat. Already the crowd starts going nuts. As the music builds, I do a few clipper tricks like spinning and ducking, when I become aware that other people are on stage. Yes, the rest of my trivia team had stormed the stage and were going nuts next to me, kind of like a Girltalk concert. Once I hit a DATW, the crowd gets hype to another level, and then I feel hands lifting me up into the air. My team literally lifted me into the air and off the stage...I felt like Rudy: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txisvYZl-Tk[/youtube]

The whole thing was pretty hilarious.

Anyway, the short term plan is for me to continue taking time off from footbag until I heal up more. The next two days will be consumed by moving, and then potentially Thursday I'll already be flying somewhere. If the body feels good by then, I'm hoping to get in light sessions Friday and Saturday, and if I feel really good maybe I can rehit that sick3 and submit it. While it's been annoying dealing with injuries the last few weeks, I'm not complaining. I stayed injury free from January through September, which enabled me to train hard for my tournaments and perform well at them. If I could have planned my year out, and picked when I would deal with injuries, this is how it would have played out in a perfect scenario anyway. I made my goals at USO and Worlds, so who cares if I have to miss a few sessions now, when the season is over anyway.

[C-Fan]

Posting from Tucson Arizona! If you haven't been following the news, the federal government did indeed shut down. That happened on Tuesday, which was also the day of my move. I moved from downtown Denver to the burbs, which has both positives and negatives. Tuesday was consumed with the move, and Wednesday I spent cleaning the old place and unpacking the new one. Thursday I gave blood and finished unpacking, and Friday I was already making my way to Arizona. In a weird bit of timing, Friday was also the first real snow of the year in Denver. That made for a hairy trip to the airport, but also made me feel good I was heading to warmer climes.

When I arrived in Phoenix, I met up with Mike Green. I hadn't played in 8 days, since my last session I re-aggravated my hip injury. My plan for my time in Arizona was to spend my first couple sessions just rebuilding strength and getting my touch back, and then hopefully spending the last couple sessions hitting stuff for Matt's online comps. Mike picked me up at the airport and we played under a bridge nearby. It was a pretty laid back session, but it felt great to kick a bag again, especially outside in beautiful weather. Mike's form is a lot better than the last time we played, and it was fun giving him pointers on tricks and seeing him implement them so quickly. I didn't hit anything of note, but I also didn't reinjure myself. My hips felt a bit weak, but the session overall was a confidence and hopefully muscle builder. After the shred we got some In N Out, which hit the spot. I then made the mistake of taking the Greyhound to get to Tucson...never again. I don't even want to get into all the ways it was horrible. I eventually met up with my folks in Tucson though, so at least I made it.

The last two days with the family have been great. I go for walks at dawn with my dad, and we walk through the wash (empty riverbeds) by the house. This morning we saw coyotes on two separate occasions, and we also see cotton tails, hawks, and lizards. We take shopping bags with us and pick up old bottles and trash, and I just have a good time listening to my dad tell stories. Even though it's fall here, it still gets really hot by midday. So my schedule has been to wake at dawn, go for a 90 minute walk, eat breakfast, digest for an hour, then go footbag before noon. My first session here I played in the backyard. I filmed, but I was playing in the shade so it's not the sharpest quality. I think it'll make for a decent video, but I wouldn't submit anything from that spot to a contest. My body felt good enough after my first 2 Arizona sessions that today I played in the sun by the YMCA. I found a good spot in a garden, which had flat areas in the sun and in the shade. I warmed up in the shade, and when I was ready to film I moved into the sun. When I'd get too hot physically or mentally, I'd cool off in the shade for a bit before trying again. It worked out pretty well. The main thing I wanted to hit was my Sick 3, which I first hit 2 weeks ago, when it was out of frame. I rehit that a week ago, but not as well executed, and ended up injuring myself. So the goal today was to hit it cleanly, in the sun, in frame...and I did! What a relief. I also hit a safety Sick 1, and a good Weird 1. I'm going to see if I can't hit better tricks for both of those. I also want to film a Sick 10, but I feel some pressure to make it all fearless. Last year I made that video of 11 or 12 combos which were 10 fearless, so I kinda feel like anything less than that will be lame. I dunno. Probably better to submit something rather than nothing. Tomorrow I'm going to play in the same location and film again, but more with an eye towards making a video, and less focused on getting stuff for the online comps. That said, I'll put in some attempts.

[Cass]

It's already snowing in Colorado? I don't feel so bad about the weather in Canada now

As somebody who recently spent 20+ hours on Greyhound buses I totally feel you. Still worth it for footbag though

I think you can hit a super fucking rad sick 10 with good form that's not fearless and it would potentially be cleaner/more interesting than 10 fearless.