In reality the lists from Ian Pritchard, Jeremy, Phil or Dan Ednie would be much better....I was kind of around when the Australasian scene was at its peak, but only just starting to get into it. I only remember the name Liam Johnston vaguely. Don't think I ever saw him play. Both Ian and Dan went to NZ champs sometime around 2004-6, maybe multiple times.
Lynton won the first Aus champs, and I think did pretty well up until around 2004, which is when Dan and Jeremy were beginning to create a "new guard", even though both had been playing for quite a while. Problem is there is no new guard and the scene is Australia is diminishing as each of us get older, have kids or move to another country (or all of the above).
I mentioned longevity in my earlier post, but there is really no beating longevity in terms of Lotus.
I think Phil is definitely well clear ahead in the top sport, it's too bad he hasn't been able to go to Worlds the last few years, he was consistently making finals. Also too bad Lynton never got to Worlds.
Speaking of worlds, when Evan was here, I got thinking - when Worlds were first in Prague, to "go to Europe", this was some kind of exotic experience, where countries just manufactured kids that played incredibly like machines. It was also a good holiday to a place many had probably need before.
So, the new step that footbag could need is to create some child prodigies in South America, get a Brazilian/Colombian/etc to win Worlds, have this little prodigy have three friends who are just as good, then hold Worlds in that country, then Bob's your uncle, the sport is saved.
In reality it would take a lot more than that, but there's potential in expanding the horizons of the competitive footbag scene.
Canberra, Australia via SCL - Daniel Boyle
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Re: Canberra, Australia>Santiago de Chile - Daniel Boyle
Hi blog. Been a little bit. I bought a new phone the other day, it can make a bit better videos. Still need to play better to make the videos better, but I was just having a test of it today.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SS8WzsnLzeY[/youtube]
So today was an election day, nobody really cared, more than half the people didn't turn up to vote, but still way more than I expected (my tip was for under 10% of potential voters). This was the second round of the election, just between two candidates.
Anyway, that doesn't have much to do with footbag, but I named the video "election day", just to have something in the title.
I played the other day with a GoPro for the first time. I was using the chest strap and a guy who was helping at the magazine was putting an edit together. It's a bit dizzying watching the footage from that angle.
This tour idea of mine is being to get a little more momentum. It's only in the early stages, but I'm thinking that it can work. Looks like I'm going to have some good help on that, so we will have some more news in that regard coming in the reasonably near future. Don't want to say too much at this moment, because there's not much actual information.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SS8WzsnLzeY[/youtube]
So today was an election day, nobody really cared, more than half the people didn't turn up to vote, but still way more than I expected (my tip was for under 10% of potential voters). This was the second round of the election, just between two candidates.
Anyway, that doesn't have much to do with footbag, but I named the video "election day", just to have something in the title.
I played the other day with a GoPro for the first time. I was using the chest strap and a guy who was helping at the magazine was putting an edit together. It's a bit dizzying watching the footage from that angle.
This tour idea of mine is being to get a little more momentum. It's only in the early stages, but I'm thinking that it can work. Looks like I'm going to have some good help on that, so we will have some more news in that regard coming in the reasonably near future. Don't want to say too much at this moment, because there's not much actual information.
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boyle
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Re: Canberra, Australia>Santiago de Chile - Daniel Boyle
I just watched the video of Juho and read the blog post from Michelle. I had some Finnish friends in Austr and I had said something about footbag. they said - I went to school with someone who played footbag, I think he wws pretty good - they weren't wrong as it was our man from the video today.
So a bit more info on something I have mentioned in here. We are working on setting up a Europe tour involving soke of tye best players in the world. Jay is going to be my man on the ground and that post on his blog reinforced exactly why he is the right per for it. One hope is that it can become a template for a world tour...something I have always dreamed of.
There will be much more info on this in the coming months. It is something I can do for the sport while I have this funding opportunity.
So a bit more info on something I have mentioned in here. We are working on setting up a Europe tour involving soke of tye best players in the world. Jay is going to be my man on the ground and that post on his blog reinforced exactly why he is the right per for it. One hope is that it can become a template for a world tour...something I have always dreamed of.
There will be much more info on this in the coming months. It is something I can do for the sport while I have this funding opportunity.
Re: Canberra, Australia>Santiago de Chile - Daniel Boyle
I am excited about this project Daniel. I have a meeting with my partner in crime Kim later today and this is the main thing we will discuss.
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Re: Canberra, Australia>Santiago de Chile - Daniel Boyle
The key is to have good organisers like yourselves involved in each country to make it a real success. Basically if we can show that it can work in one place, there is no reason it can't function in any other place in the world.
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Re: Canberra, Australia>Santiago de Chile - Daniel Boyle
Man, I came back from a good footbag session then logged in to this very site. It told me the link I should hit today was atomic drifter>nemesis. I like how it said "I dare you to try this" at the end.
Well, before reading that, I had a very good session. And it was still a very good session. Like your mum says, as long as you gave your best, that's all you can do. And I started out feeling really quite stiff, and unable to get into a good flow. Eventually that changed and I came ever so close to hitting ripped warrior back to back. I had this ongoing "flip ripped" in my head which kept me trying that out, and on one go I had it almost there.
Evan Lovely was back in Santiago last night and was staying here. Unfortunately we didn't play any footbag, but I did tell him to watch the Juho video and he did and he said woooooow. They are off to Patagonia which should be fun. I would like to go to Patagonia again, I didn't get to really explore when I was there. I did play a bit of footbag though, I have posted that video before.
So, I hit a new little link, and I was trying to remember before playing "hey, what's the BAP combo or drill or whatever it is" (that was the exact sort of thinking). And of course, I came up with something that it is not, and was very pleased with myself for hitting Blur>Atomsmasher>Paradon which of course is not the famous drill. Still a good combo that I have never hit before.
I have a few videos I am going to post in the next days, they are all pretty interesting. Maybe not worthy of the famous calendar, but something a bit different. I finished the session today with that great feeling of enormous amounts of sweat where you feel you have given your all and that you deserve your all, so I drank a beer, and then another and another. I actually got them for free after going to the launch of the ATP tennis event which will happen in Viña del Mar. Funnily enough, they launched it in Santiago.
Time for a shower now, happy with my session. Would like to get in atomsmasher b2b and ripped warrior b2b before the end of the year, maybe even in the same run.
In the next post, I might tell you what I think of there being no South American Championships and no Australian Championships this year. A few of the famous Chilean slangs, abbreviated to "CTM", may be needed to be used. But this is meant to be a positive post, so I'll save it for another day.
In another positive, La U went through to the Copa Libertadores, which is good. I went to the game for the first half, but I actually was having trouble with a bit of a headache. I was there by myself and it was 2-0 about halfway though the first half. Aránguiz had already scored a goal in his final game for Universidad de Chile, so I saw what I needed to see. In the end it was 4-0, but it was a two leg tie, so it was basically over (actually it looked over when they forced a corner in the first minute).
Things are going pretty good here, I have to say.
Well, before reading that, I had a very good session. And it was still a very good session. Like your mum says, as long as you gave your best, that's all you can do. And I started out feeling really quite stiff, and unable to get into a good flow. Eventually that changed and I came ever so close to hitting ripped warrior back to back. I had this ongoing "flip ripped" in my head which kept me trying that out, and on one go I had it almost there.
Evan Lovely was back in Santiago last night and was staying here. Unfortunately we didn't play any footbag, but I did tell him to watch the Juho video and he did and he said woooooow. They are off to Patagonia which should be fun. I would like to go to Patagonia again, I didn't get to really explore when I was there. I did play a bit of footbag though, I have posted that video before.
So, I hit a new little link, and I was trying to remember before playing "hey, what's the BAP combo or drill or whatever it is" (that was the exact sort of thinking). And of course, I came up with something that it is not, and was very pleased with myself for hitting Blur>Atomsmasher>Paradon which of course is not the famous drill. Still a good combo that I have never hit before.
I have a few videos I am going to post in the next days, they are all pretty interesting. Maybe not worthy of the famous calendar, but something a bit different. I finished the session today with that great feeling of enormous amounts of sweat where you feel you have given your all and that you deserve your all, so I drank a beer, and then another and another. I actually got them for free after going to the launch of the ATP tennis event which will happen in Viña del Mar. Funnily enough, they launched it in Santiago.
Time for a shower now, happy with my session. Would like to get in atomsmasher b2b and ripped warrior b2b before the end of the year, maybe even in the same run.
In the next post, I might tell you what I think of there being no South American Championships and no Australian Championships this year. A few of the famous Chilean slangs, abbreviated to "CTM", may be needed to be used. But this is meant to be a positive post, so I'll save it for another day.
In another positive, La U went through to the Copa Libertadores, which is good. I went to the game for the first half, but I actually was having trouble with a bit of a headache. I was there by myself and it was 2-0 about halfway though the first half. Aránguiz had already scored a goal in his final game for Universidad de Chile, so I saw what I needed to see. In the end it was 4-0, but it was a two leg tie, so it was basically over (actually it looked over when they forced a corner in the first minute).
Things are going pretty good here, I have to say.
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Re: Canberra, Australia>Santiago de Chile - Daniel Boyle
Merry Christmas footbag friends, this has been an interesting year and I think the next one will be even moreso. Let's see what the new year brings but hopefully some of my footbag plans will come to fruition in the way that I envisage. I actually had written a long post at work the other day, but I didn't post it. Hopefully it will still be there when I return to the office.
I have a bit of an injury problem after the session the other day and have had this ongoing pain with a blister in my foot. So planning on a few days off to recover that.
Something else I have been thinking about too...I have been working on a little project. I have been working on many little projects and some big ones too, but this one is just a personal interest thing, which is to create a new ranking system that could eventually be used for any sports, with a very simple formula - if you beat a team ranked above you, the two teams switch places. Draws go somewhere in the middle, winning is rewarded and losing is punished.
I would like to make some kind of ranking system for footbag, taking into account historic performances. Probably not with that system, it's more for team sports. But I will have to think of a good way to rank players, which is based on more than just worlds performance. It would be more a look at historic performances, rather than current day, which is a project all on its own.
I have a bit of an injury problem after the session the other day and have had this ongoing pain with a blister in my foot. So planning on a few days off to recover that.
Something else I have been thinking about too...I have been working on a little project. I have been working on many little projects and some big ones too, but this one is just a personal interest thing, which is to create a new ranking system that could eventually be used for any sports, with a very simple formula - if you beat a team ranked above you, the two teams switch places. Draws go somewhere in the middle, winning is rewarded and losing is punished.
I would like to make some kind of ranking system for footbag, taking into account historic performances. Probably not with that system, it's more for team sports. But I will have to think of a good way to rank players, which is based on more than just worlds performance. It would be more a look at historic performances, rather than current day, which is a project all on its own.
Re: Canberra, Australia>Santiago de Chile - Daniel Boyle
Merry Christmas my friend. I am sure next year will be amazing for you!
Ranking systems sound interesting. We should have another facebookchatideasession soon!
All the best!
Ranking systems sound interesting. We should have another facebookchatideasession soon!
All the best!
Re: Canberra, Australia>Santiago de Chile - Daniel Boyle
With regards to the ranking system are you familiar with the ELO ranking system?
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Re: Canberra, Australia>Santiago de Chile - Daniel Boyle
@Janis - I have read a little bit about them, but never in great detail. I was looking at it a bit more now. Interesting that both Chile (by a few places) and Australia (by a lot of places) are ranked much higher in the ELO than the FIFA rankings. My plan is more for club based tournaments. It's more I'm just doing out of interest, particularly to measure a team's "power" at any given time in the competition, and if having the consistent power means you win the comp.
In this particular competition, Universidad Católica, renowned chokers (9 champions, 19 second places), had all the power, but in the end it was tied on points, and they had to have a final, which unsurprisingly, they lost.
Also, I didn't know Chile was ranked above Australia in Chess. You learn something new every day.
@Asmus - hope you have a great Christmas and a great 2014, let's chat soon, have a few ideas that are fermenting. Big hopes for next year, there's definitely going to be some exciting challenges in there.
You know what's not an exciting challenge - I'm planning to go to a conference in Sydney in April, except the flights are currently $3000. That's highway robbery and I won't stand for that. There are some flights that go through the US first...maybe I could take one of them and go to the Vegas jam. That could work...that was just a thought I had now.
I ended up having a little kick around today after all. In reality I wanted to test out a couple of things - mainly how this injury would feel while playing, it generally didn't feel too bad, unless I did some specific movements, which I avoided. I also had a very nice swim in the pool.
Here's me taking it easy in the pool on Christmas Day. I guess that's a weird thing for most footbag players, with the majority of the footbag world probably freezing. Not here in the Southern Hemisphere.
I think I have improved my game a lot this year, particularly for playing solo almost all the time, aside from the recent visit from Evan Lovely. I believe that next year I can really leave a stamp on the sport, and that's going to be from something outside a playing level. That's something for another post.
In this particular competition, Universidad Católica, renowned chokers (9 champions, 19 second places), had all the power, but in the end it was tied on points, and they had to have a final, which unsurprisingly, they lost.
Also, I didn't know Chile was ranked above Australia in Chess. You learn something new every day.
@Asmus - hope you have a great Christmas and a great 2014, let's chat soon, have a few ideas that are fermenting. Big hopes for next year, there's definitely going to be some exciting challenges in there.
You know what's not an exciting challenge - I'm planning to go to a conference in Sydney in April, except the flights are currently $3000. That's highway robbery and I won't stand for that. There are some flights that go through the US first...maybe I could take one of them and go to the Vegas jam. That could work...that was just a thought I had now.
I ended up having a little kick around today after all. In reality I wanted to test out a couple of things - mainly how this injury would feel while playing, it generally didn't feel too bad, unless I did some specific movements, which I avoided. I also had a very nice swim in the pool.
Here's me taking it easy in the pool on Christmas Day. I guess that's a weird thing for most footbag players, with the majority of the footbag world probably freezing. Not here in the Southern Hemisphere.
I think I have improved my game a lot this year, particularly for playing solo almost all the time, aside from the recent visit from Evan Lovely. I believe that next year I can really leave a stamp on the sport, and that's going to be from something outside a playing level. That's something for another post.
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Re: Canberra, Australia>Santiago de Chile - Daniel Boyle
So here are a couple of videos that I have done lately. The first one, I mentioned recently I played with a GoPro for the first time. We had some high school kids doing a "practica" for a couple of weeks and one of them had a GoPro. I don't really know why he had it, but I said he better put it to good use.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqdLpm3pDV8[/youtube]
Well, this is the back garden area of the office. This second one you can see a bit more of the story and explanations behind it here - http://sportslashlife.com/2013/12/23/au ... -of-death/
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9cUrxd33sw[/youtube]
I am completely re-doing my Sport/Life site, I want to have it ready to "kick" on the first day of January, that will mean completely ready with the potential for making the donations and everything.
Here is a picture from that session anyway. The basic idea was to go and play some footbag in front of the street corner that is "Holanda" with "Chile-España". Some Chileans have joked to me that it is just like the World Cup group, with Australia missing in action...
Feeling a bit sore after that long session yesterday. So maybe no playing today. I may go for a bike ride instead. I had my bike sitting and gathering dust after I got a puncture and had some problems with my seat. I finally took it to the shop and for quite a low fee I got that fixed up again.
I just created the Twitter account @footbagtour - let's see what that's all about in the new year. It's going to be about much more than my idea that I have mentioned in passing in this blog. But I wanted to snap it up before forgetting about it and letting the opportunity to get it pass by.
I will just say something briefly on the South American Championships, or lack thereof. After going to Colombia last year, I was very excited about the potential to do one in Chile this year. This was met with great excitement by the players who were there at the tournament (though of course, some trepidation about the high costs of getting to Chile). Unfortunately in the following online discussions, the Venezuelans were not at all interested in that happening, and expressed that due to the "rotation of cities" between Colombia and Venezuela, that it should happen in Caracas. At that moment, I left them to it and began thinking on something for the following year.
Not so long ago I heard that a "net-only" South American Championships would take place. That got me even less interested, particularly considering I hadn't heard anything particular about the tournament, only seen something on footbag.org (as well as the huge prices of the tickets, for somewhere within South America). Seems that the event never took place at that something may come in January.
The unfortunate thing is that right now at this moment, I could have made an excellent tournament with a nice budget, it would have been an excellent way to launch the Sport/Life project. I may do something instead around the time of the ODESUR, which is the South American Games. That would be the perfect time to really launch a sporting project.
I mentioned I made this post the other day, but never actually got around to posting it.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqdLpm3pDV8[/youtube]
Well, this is the back garden area of the office. This second one you can see a bit more of the story and explanations behind it here - http://sportslashlife.com/2013/12/23/au ... -of-death/
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9cUrxd33sw[/youtube]
I am completely re-doing my Sport/Life site, I want to have it ready to "kick" on the first day of January, that will mean completely ready with the potential for making the donations and everything.
Here is a picture from that session anyway. The basic idea was to go and play some footbag in front of the street corner that is "Holanda" with "Chile-España". Some Chileans have joked to me that it is just like the World Cup group, with Australia missing in action...Feeling a bit sore after that long session yesterday. So maybe no playing today. I may go for a bike ride instead. I had my bike sitting and gathering dust after I got a puncture and had some problems with my seat. I finally took it to the shop and for quite a low fee I got that fixed up again.
I just created the Twitter account @footbagtour - let's see what that's all about in the new year. It's going to be about much more than my idea that I have mentioned in passing in this blog. But I wanted to snap it up before forgetting about it and letting the opportunity to get it pass by.
I will just say something briefly on the South American Championships, or lack thereof. After going to Colombia last year, I was very excited about the potential to do one in Chile this year. This was met with great excitement by the players who were there at the tournament (though of course, some trepidation about the high costs of getting to Chile). Unfortunately in the following online discussions, the Venezuelans were not at all interested in that happening, and expressed that due to the "rotation of cities" between Colombia and Venezuela, that it should happen in Caracas. At that moment, I left them to it and began thinking on something for the following year.
Not so long ago I heard that a "net-only" South American Championships would take place. That got me even less interested, particularly considering I hadn't heard anything particular about the tournament, only seen something on footbag.org (as well as the huge prices of the tickets, for somewhere within South America). Seems that the event never took place at that something may come in January.
The unfortunate thing is that right now at this moment, I could have made an excellent tournament with a nice budget, it would have been an excellent way to launch the Sport/Life project. I may do something instead around the time of the ODESUR, which is the South American Games. That would be the perfect time to really launch a sporting project.
I mentioned I made this post the other day, but never actually got around to posting it.
Re: Canberra, Australia>Santiago de Chile - Daniel Boyle
I want a go pro because of your video now!
Mathieu Gauthier
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boyle
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Re: Canberra, Australia>Santiago de Chile - Daniel Boyle
me too.... it was fun to use it, though it's not mine. I may consider getting one in the new year.
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Re: Canberra, Australia>Santiago de Chile - Daniel Boyle
Hi blog, started off the year with a 25km bike ride. Not a bad way to wipe off a hangover, some pretty heavy uphill parts along the way. As I was going along I came across a couple of skateparks. Here is a quick video I shot which didn't really work properly but I'm going to use it anyway.
Yes, that is a fridge behind me, and yes, I did do a few tricks on the fridge (not in this video, but I got some on film, but the dimensions weren't quite right to really play well on there).
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6GCoc13mgA[/youtube]
I have a little idea in mind to play every day this year, even if it's just for a short amount of time, and to have something on film to put up. Something I have been doing lately is putting videos onto Instagram. I couldn't do that with my old phone. People seem to like them, and they only go for about 15 seconds. I'm also planning to play more at skateparks this year.
Did I mention I got myself a skateboard for Christmas? I think it's going to be a bit of fun getting back into that.
Yes, that is a fridge behind me, and yes, I did do a few tricks on the fridge (not in this video, but I got some on film, but the dimensions weren't quite right to really play well on there).
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6GCoc13mgA[/youtube]
I have a little idea in mind to play every day this year, even if it's just for a short amount of time, and to have something on film to put up. Something I have been doing lately is putting videos onto Instagram. I couldn't do that with my old phone. People seem to like them, and they only go for about 15 seconds. I'm also planning to play more at skateparks this year.
Did I mention I got myself a skateboard for Christmas? I think it's going to be a bit of fun getting back into that.
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boyle
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Re: Canberra, Australia>Santiago de Chile - Daniel Boyle
After the constant churn of incredible, just amazing videos, I thought it was important to bring the content back down to average. Here is a little bit from today's session. I played during the day and it was quite hot. Played for a while though, maybe 40 minutes.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkfrM8ACBF0[/youtube]
Something I would like to try and do is add a bit more variety to my game. I do a bit of that "unusual" kind of stuff, but I would like to add more, and do harder things out of the back. That trick I did for the online comp a while ago was something along those lines, though I would like to do harder stuff. That was atomic cloud kicking into whirl. What I was working on today (with no success) was double switchover out of a knee bump. I think that would be a fun trick, but maybe it's beyond me.
Here's an article I came across today. Every now and then I search for media mentions of Footbag or Hacky Sack. This is quite a reasonable article though. The sport is still facing the exact same problems, although maybe the community is not as close, because of the increasing power of the internet, which means you don't have to go to a tournament to show yourself off at all.
http://articles.latimes.com/2002/aug/09 ... hackysack9
The article is from the LA Times about the 2002 Worlds.
I have revived a little footbag project I started early in my time here in Chile. I'm not going to say anything about it yet, because I want to build some more momentum and keep doing it. It will be pretty simple, basically a (non automated) aggregation of footbag content. If after a month I am still powering on, then I'll tell you some more about it.
Something else I'm excited about is the development of the "Latin Heat" Rugby League team. I have always wondered why there was no league here, only Rugby Union. Then that is only played by the "cuicos" (upper class, private school, country club, etc). Rugby League could really get back to its roots here in Chile, back in the beginning it was for the miners, the working class, the down and outs.
Once I met one of the old presidents of the Rugby federation here (my friend's uncle was also in this position, so he introduced me to the other guy). I told him I was more of a league man and he said "yeah, me too". That was a funny little surprise.
Here's an interview I did with the coach of the team - http://sportslashlife.com/2014/01/01/he ... by-league/
There's also another interview I have on the site with some Chilean mountain bike legends - sportslashlife.com/2013/12/28/chilean-mountain-bike-legends-claus-plaut-chichi-garcia/
I went to the Trans Andes Challenge mountain bike race in 2013, and it was awesome. I won't be able to go again this year, but I went to the launch. The first thing that "ChiChi", probably Chile's best female rider of all time said to me was "did you bring the pelotita", referring to the footbag. A lot of people were super impressed with my footbag skills there. The first stage begins with a boat crossing and I played a little there on the boat. I remember getting some footage of that, I'll have to find it.
I'm going to Arica on the weekend. My flight goes at 1:45am. Comfortable. My friend is getting married. I was umming and ahhhing right up until the last moment, but I decided I should buy my ticket today. We were considering going down to the beach this afternoon, then we decided against it, and that was when I made up my mind to make the booking. It's good having a little money in the pocket so I can actually do that. It's very close to the border so I may pop over into Peru, as I'm going to spend a few days there.
I was really impressed by that Tom Mosher/Andrew Grant video. Those are two people that the sport could really do with having "back in the fold". Like many, Andrew Grant came to Australia, then when he finished there, he didn't really play too much anymore. He's not the only one that has happened to.
That's enough rambling for today. I've been thinking about my "footbag resolutions" for the year, but I haven't decided on exactly what they are, so I will leave that for the coming days.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkfrM8ACBF0[/youtube]
Something I would like to try and do is add a bit more variety to my game. I do a bit of that "unusual" kind of stuff, but I would like to add more, and do harder things out of the back. That trick I did for the online comp a while ago was something along those lines, though I would like to do harder stuff. That was atomic cloud kicking into whirl. What I was working on today (with no success) was double switchover out of a knee bump. I think that would be a fun trick, but maybe it's beyond me.
Here's an article I came across today. Every now and then I search for media mentions of Footbag or Hacky Sack. This is quite a reasonable article though. The sport is still facing the exact same problems, although maybe the community is not as close, because of the increasing power of the internet, which means you don't have to go to a tournament to show yourself off at all.
http://articles.latimes.com/2002/aug/09 ... hackysack9
The article is from the LA Times about the 2002 Worlds.
I have revived a little footbag project I started early in my time here in Chile. I'm not going to say anything about it yet, because I want to build some more momentum and keep doing it. It will be pretty simple, basically a (non automated) aggregation of footbag content. If after a month I am still powering on, then I'll tell you some more about it.
Something else I'm excited about is the development of the "Latin Heat" Rugby League team. I have always wondered why there was no league here, only Rugby Union. Then that is only played by the "cuicos" (upper class, private school, country club, etc). Rugby League could really get back to its roots here in Chile, back in the beginning it was for the miners, the working class, the down and outs.
Once I met one of the old presidents of the Rugby federation here (my friend's uncle was also in this position, so he introduced me to the other guy). I told him I was more of a league man and he said "yeah, me too". That was a funny little surprise.
Here's an interview I did with the coach of the team - http://sportslashlife.com/2014/01/01/he ... by-league/
There's also another interview I have on the site with some Chilean mountain bike legends - sportslashlife.com/2013/12/28/chilean-mountain-bike-legends-claus-plaut-chichi-garcia/
I went to the Trans Andes Challenge mountain bike race in 2013, and it was awesome. I won't be able to go again this year, but I went to the launch. The first thing that "ChiChi", probably Chile's best female rider of all time said to me was "did you bring the pelotita", referring to the footbag. A lot of people were super impressed with my footbag skills there. The first stage begins with a boat crossing and I played a little there on the boat. I remember getting some footage of that, I'll have to find it.
I'm going to Arica on the weekend. My flight goes at 1:45am. Comfortable. My friend is getting married. I was umming and ahhhing right up until the last moment, but I decided I should buy my ticket today. We were considering going down to the beach this afternoon, then we decided against it, and that was when I made up my mind to make the booking. It's good having a little money in the pocket so I can actually do that. It's very close to the border so I may pop over into Peru, as I'm going to spend a few days there.
I was really impressed by that Tom Mosher/Andrew Grant video. Those are two people that the sport could really do with having "back in the fold". Like many, Andrew Grant came to Australia, then when he finished there, he didn't really play too much anymore. He's not the only one that has happened to.
That's enough rambling for today. I've been thinking about my "footbag resolutions" for the year, but I haven't decided on exactly what they are, so I will leave that for the coming days.
Re: Canberra, Australia>Santiago de Chile - Daniel Boyle
I totally read "Africa" the first time. It wasn't til I got to the "border with Peru" that it made any sense to me...I was like: "wow, he really has a little money in his pocket!"boyle wrote: I'm going to Arica on the weekend. . It's good having a little money in the pocket so I can actually do that. .
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boyle
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Re: Canberra, Australia>Santiago de Chile - Daniel Boyle
It is only "a little" change in the pocket. I don't think I can fly my private jet to Africa, not yet anyway!
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boyle
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Re: Canberra, Australia>Santiago de Chile - Daniel Boyle
Hi there blog, reporting live from Arica. North of Chile, not any part of Africa. You could see Tacna in Peru when arriving at the airport. I was thinking of crossing the border, but then I remembered that coming back from Peru to Australia, you need to have a yellow fever shot. I don't have one of them, and that are very expensive, so I won't go to Perú this time around.
Let's talk footbag. Yesterday I played during the day. Short session, very few good tricks or runs. But the first importance is going out and playing at all. I went with my friend and his son to the skatepark in La Reina, I mentioned it the other day. The fridge didn't last long, it was gone when we were there yesterday. I have no pretensions that I am any good, or will get any good, but it's a bit of fun to roll around. New challenge.I spent practically my whole life around skateparks, but inline skating. I may get my old skates out when I go back to Australia.
In the evening I had a meeting, with some great potential for footbag. Last year I went to the "Feria del Futbol", which had thousands of people coming through. They have said I will definitely be involved, and definitely get paid for my time, however I would like to do a competition there, I think that has great potential. More news on that in the coming weeks.
Well I was going to do a long writeup about my journey here. My plane left at 1:45am. I was kicking a bit in the airport and some people were impressed and came over. I was thinking about it, a lot of people are arriving at an airport to uncharted waters, somewhere they've never been before. They're ready to be impressed.
So I slept a little on the plane. I booked a hostel for tonight, but decided to just wait until the sun was up at least until checking things out. So I arrived in the city around 5am, when people were just being thrown out of the nightclubs. I found myself this good little amphitheater nearby the beach, that was fun to play in. In terms of my little goal to hit more unusual stuff, I hit swirl out of pincher, which was a fun link. Came closer to the double switch from knee bump. That is pretty hard. Have to bump at just the right angle (in particular, not too high).
After a while I decided to start doing some consecutive kicks. A good way to pass the time.I was in really good rhythm and going well, was around 500, then the last went off! Talk about a distraction. Unfortunately nobody had turned on the sun quite yet. After that I went down to the beach, did some running on the sand and had a quick dip in the water. That part of the beach is near the port so it didn't seem all that clean. To dry off, I went back to my "coliseo" and did 2014 kicks. I probably should have gone on and beaten my record, which is only a couple of hundred more, but I decided to stop directly on this year's number.
I went by my hostel after that but there was no answer. I'm not due to check in until lunchtime, so I will go and check that out shortly. I'm writing this from McDonald's, where it is actually the first time I have eaten in Chile. But the key thing I needed was to plug in my phone. Wifi was an added bonus. I was hoping they might have something like hash browns on the breakfast menu, but the desayuno really leaves a lot to be desired. Also, Max K from Germany is in Chile for quite a while, so we have been in touch on Facebook and will hopefully catch up in the coming weeks. He said he doesn't play much anymore, but it seems the season to be dusting off the boots.
That's exciting though, he's a nice bloke. I only met him at Worlds, I wasn't really around on the scene when he visited Australia. I am really beginning to feel exhausted now, so hopefully this hostel is ready for me.
Let's talk footbag. Yesterday I played during the day. Short session, very few good tricks or runs. But the first importance is going out and playing at all. I went with my friend and his son to the skatepark in La Reina, I mentioned it the other day. The fridge didn't last long, it was gone when we were there yesterday. I have no pretensions that I am any good, or will get any good, but it's a bit of fun to roll around. New challenge.I spent practically my whole life around skateparks, but inline skating. I may get my old skates out when I go back to Australia.
In the evening I had a meeting, with some great potential for footbag. Last year I went to the "Feria del Futbol", which had thousands of people coming through. They have said I will definitely be involved, and definitely get paid for my time, however I would like to do a competition there, I think that has great potential. More news on that in the coming weeks.
Well I was going to do a long writeup about my journey here. My plane left at 1:45am. I was kicking a bit in the airport and some people were impressed and came over. I was thinking about it, a lot of people are arriving at an airport to uncharted waters, somewhere they've never been before. They're ready to be impressed.
So I slept a little on the plane. I booked a hostel for tonight, but decided to just wait until the sun was up at least until checking things out. So I arrived in the city around 5am, when people were just being thrown out of the nightclubs. I found myself this good little amphitheater nearby the beach, that was fun to play in. In terms of my little goal to hit more unusual stuff, I hit swirl out of pincher, which was a fun link. Came closer to the double switch from knee bump. That is pretty hard. Have to bump at just the right angle (in particular, not too high).
After a while I decided to start doing some consecutive kicks. A good way to pass the time.I was in really good rhythm and going well, was around 500, then the last went off! Talk about a distraction. Unfortunately nobody had turned on the sun quite yet. After that I went down to the beach, did some running on the sand and had a quick dip in the water. That part of the beach is near the port so it didn't seem all that clean. To dry off, I went back to my "coliseo" and did 2014 kicks. I probably should have gone on and beaten my record, which is only a couple of hundred more, but I decided to stop directly on this year's number.
I went by my hostel after that but there was no answer. I'm not due to check in until lunchtime, so I will go and check that out shortly. I'm writing this from McDonald's, where it is actually the first time I have eaten in Chile. But the key thing I needed was to plug in my phone. Wifi was an added bonus. I was hoping they might have something like hash browns on the breakfast menu, but the desayuno really leaves a lot to be desired. Also, Max K from Germany is in Chile for quite a while, so we have been in touch on Facebook and will hopefully catch up in the coming weeks. He said he doesn't play much anymore, but it seems the season to be dusting off the boots.
That's exciting though, he's a nice bloke. I only met him at Worlds, I wasn't really around on the scene when he visited Australia. I am really beginning to feel exhausted now, so hopefully this hostel is ready for me.
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F[uns]tylin' Eclectic
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Re: Canberra, Australia>Santiago de Chile - Daniel Boyle
Nice video above man. I watched it a few times. Smooth style. Also, I agree, do more with unusuals. I think they really amp up someone's game. Your unusual trick for Weird 1 was one of my favorites in the lot. Cool to read about the trip. I never really thought about playing footbag at an airport. Every time I want to do it, I kind of get embarrassed and that people will think I'm just showing off, so I end up not taking a bag out. But you're right, people want to see something they've never seen before. Will try it next time I find myself in an airport. Looking forward to reading about your sessions with Max K. Wishing you a great 2014!
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boyle
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Re: Canberra, Australia>Santiago de Chile - Daniel Boyle
Cheers man. 2014 is shaping up to be an exciting year. The beauty of the airport late at night is it's easy to find a place. Most of the time during the day it's hard to get somewhere that's not in the way, or the people tell you to stop doing that.
Had a short session today. Had a deep hangover after the wedding. I did manage one run of about 20 guiltless though. Most of the time I dropped on the first trick. Also hit spinning hat stall, then down to legover from that.
At the end of the wedding, at like 3am or so, a few us played some hack on the dance floor. I spent most of the day in bed today. Did drop by the soccer game. They were playing on this crappy outer field, so you could actually just watch the match from outside the stadium, which is exactly what I did. I didn't watch for so long, but I did see a goal get scored while I was there.
Had a short session today. Had a deep hangover after the wedding. I did manage one run of about 20 guiltless though. Most of the time I dropped on the first trick. Also hit spinning hat stall, then down to legover from that.
At the end of the wedding, at like 3am or so, a few us played some hack on the dance floor. I spent most of the day in bed today. Did drop by the soccer game. They were playing on this crappy outer field, so you could actually just watch the match from outside the stadium, which is exactly what I did. I didn't watch for so long, but I did see a goal get scored while I was there.