A Master with a Riceball

[Asmus]

I am slowly working on starting a footbag blog / online magazine. I got the skills and about 20 articles ready + a couple of people interested in the project. It’s gonna be hip, cover footbag as a lifestyle and have focus on content over everything else. I thought I would give you a little tease and show you one of the things I have written for it. Also this one might not be current and relevant when I get ready to launch. If any of you want to be involved feel free to get in touch.

The Great Shoe Crisis

Adidas semi-recently decided to discontinue the most used and arguable the best shoe for footbag in the entire world - the legendary Adidas Rod Laver. This of course upset the footbag community but what does it really mean? Will the Rod Laver never come back? Will it hurt footbag? Will it maybe actually be good for footbag?

First of all I am absolutely sure that the Rod Laver will come back. The shoe has been in production for more than 30 years and even though it might not be the most popular shoe in the Adidas tennis shoe line-up I am sure it’s clean design have it’s fair share of fans - also outside of the footbag community. The Stan Smith was recently discontinued and then relaunched with a big bang. Adidas is probably using the same marketing technique here. There was also this quote from World Footbag about the shoe coming back 'I just got off the phone with Adidas a few minutes ago checking availability. With my fingers crossed, we're hoping to see some real stock in early May through our booking order method that went away almost three years ago.'*

Of course this is annoying if you are in dire need of new kick shoes right now. Ebay or holding your horses might be the best choice right now but could this be good for footbag in general? The Rod Laver definitely revolutionized footbag when it was introduced to the game in the eighties(?) and people moved from the classic Converse All Star to the Adidas Rod Laver. But is it really safe to say that the Rod Laver is the perfect shoe for footbag? In the early 2000s people experimented with other shoes like the Clima Cool and the Reebok G-Unit and later came the short lived projects of shoes made completely for footbag with the Quantum and the Nucleus. None of them was able to take the throne from the Rod Laver though. But a shoe invented for tennis in the 70s seems unlikely to be the perfect shoe for a completely different sport. Shoes like the [url=ttp://www.adidas.com/us/product/mens-skate-ad ... =G99758%20]Adi Court[/url] are quite similar to the Rod Laver and could prove to be even better. New materials like Nike’s Flyknit could also revolutionise footbag shoes - who doesn’t like light and durable.

But even more important; this could be the encouragement needed for another attempt at making a shoe specifically for footbag. Yes, the previous attempts haven’t been great successes. Nucleus was just bad and Quantum got buttfucked on their third and final batch of shoes but the potential here. I hope somebody has the balls and funding to take another crack at it.

*http://www.facebook.com/saverodlavershoe/

[Asmus]

EPIC THURSDAY SESSION! LEGENDS, REGULARS AND SUPERSTARS!

Attendees
The usual suspects: Kim, Michael, Troels, Andreas, Jasper, Jan, Verena, Paul & Me
Legends: Mads Neuhard, Tobias (Aka Mr. Footbag Intellectual), Mads Hole (on camera duty!)
Special guest: Mathias Blau and Rasmus Rendsvig

I tried to get to play a little with everybody but it was pretty hard with all those people. Didn’t play super well since I had half a BBQ chicken with fries for dinner. But it sure was fun!

Tobias used to be the best player in Copenhagen and maybe in Denmark overall. He hadn’t played for 6 years or something like that but was still able to bust 5s! I have a feeling he will be coming back. He is a really nice guy so I sure hope he does.

Mads Neuhard didn’t play much. He thinks we start too late - apparently 9:00 is old man’s bedtime. It was good to see him though.

Mads Hole was as high-spirited as ever. He didn’t play but he filmed a fun little video project that I hope you all will see soon.

Rasmus flew in from Amsterdam. Didn’t kick much but good to see him. I hope to visit him before he makes his return to Copenhagen.
Speaking of returning - Nis will be back for good next week!

Mathias Blau is in Copenhagen for a week to look at universities and apartments!! That sure is exciting. He is effing good at footbag. My favorite things from him were Vortex > Janiwalk bs and Blurriest > Flurriest > Paradon Swirl
Hope to drink some beers and get at least one session more before he goes back.

As said I didn’t play well but people said a lot of nice words about my game. Feels good that people notice the progress. My only real highlight came when Kim tried Ripped Warrior and didn’t get it and then I hit it first try to a good run!

There is a bunch of photos on our facebook page.

Afterwards most of us went for a beer.

Other news
- After years of rebuilding the legendary ØF Gym is opening again. This is where I had my first session with other footbaggers, where most Danish Champs has been held and where the Copenhagen crew has had weekly sessions for years. Finally we are making our glorious return to the Mecca of footbag in Denmark. This means two weekly indoor sessions all winter!
Here is a video from the old ØF of Honza, Vasek and Dexter (filmed around the exact same days as King of Footbag):
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9bkcAZQKak[/youtube]

[Asmus]

Last saturday I had a couple of friends over for a little Soirée. My good friend Dreas did a couple of toe stalls with a shitty sandbag and I got him to put on my Lavers and try with a 32 panel. Before long he had hit ATW, Legover and Toe Stall b2b * 4!
He texted me yesterday that he wants to come to thursday session today. Sweet.

Here is a video of him rapping:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldx3UyX-wBE[/youtube]

On tuesday me and Troels did a two hour workshop for a bunch of “kids at risk” at a gym close to my place. The organisation was kinda retarded and we spend way too much time on stopping fights and engaging them. It was still pretty fun and most of the kids were really sweet. Troels did a good attempt at Blur and I asked if he had ever hit Pdx Mirage. The answer was no and he proceeded to hit it both sides first try. Boom!

Life has been a bit of rollercoaster lately mainly because of my own retardedness. I need to get focused again.

[Asmus]

The King Aka NZA Aka Nis made his return to the throne of FootbagDenmark yesterday.
For the uninformed of you he have been living in Moscow for the past 1.5 years but is now back in Copenhagen for good with a pretty little Russian thing on his arm!


As mentioned earlier my friend Dreas had his first thursday session. Kim hooked him up with a pair of Lavers. He hit inside stalls on both sides and a lot of toe stalls b2b. He will be decent soon. Yay!


Mathias Blau had his final session in Copenhagen for now. He hopes to move her permanently by the beginning of April. That would be sweet. Nis requested Blurry Double Pickup from him in a middle of a run and he proceeded to BSOS that bitch.


Troels were playing well. Lots of Pdx Mirages. Long runs in general. My favorite thing from him was probably Osis > Ducking Butter. On the above photo he is very excited that the King just invited him to a private session in his basement.

There was 11 persons at the session. Really stoked about how big these thursday sessions have gotten.
I played with Nis, Kim and Mathias with Dreas lurking in the background practicing the basic stuff. My only highlights were Ducking Butter b2b and DATW > Tripwalk bsos

Couple more shots:


NZA doing some post-session Ripstein practice.


Jasper -The Columbian Communications Officer looking mondaine.

[C-Fan]

"NZA" lol. Genius.

[Asmus]

Damian Gielnick posted this on his facebook page.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qckJ4nVzFUE[/youtube]
I thought it was really cool. A lot of cool stuff but also interesting to me because it’s close to a video project I have slowly started working on. Look forward to that.

It also reminded me of this video I did back in 2007:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ1hNsx8O08[/youtube]

[boyle]

That Polish video was really fun. There is a group of Australians that do similar stuff - particularly with rugby balls etc - the only problem is their big message is about getting people to go to church..

Nice try on the skate trick....

[Asmus]

Nice try on the skate trick....

That was actually my little brother.



Smaller line-up than usually at the thursday training. In attendance were the legend Tobias “Mr. Footbag Intellectual” Larsen, Trolls “Wild” Westh, Kim “The Duke” Mortensen, Jasper “El Hombre de Columbre” Johansen and yours truly Asmus “Big BOPPA” Helms.
I mainly played in a two man circle with Kim. Later Tobias left and Jasper stopped kicking so Troels joined us.

My highlights
- A lot of BOPs
- Revup > Pixie Symple Swirl
- Footed Terraging Butterfly with plant twice
- Down Double Down
- Some decent length runs at the end of the session

The limited amount of players was due to a number of things - Verena and Paul are in Austria. Nis got married yesterday! Congratulations and nostrovia buddy!

But the main reason must be that we have annual Christmas Lunch later today. Not that it is really an excuse to miss practice but whatevz.
The Christmas Lunch is after Danish Champs the most important tradition in FootbagDenmark. We eat a good dinner, drink beers and have a lottery. It is a chance for friends of the club and former players come out and catch up. It used to be on a thursday in December but I moved it to a later friday so we can party afterwards.

I highly recommend footbag clubs out there to create your own traditions. It is an important part of creating a community and getting people to stick + it's fun.

[Asmus]

Friday night we had the Christmas Dinner. Unfortunately a lot of the regulars were missing but it was still a hell of a good time. The food was delicious, the lottery went well and it all ended with dancing to the break of dawn.


Nis cut his foot before coming and came directly from the hospital. It's not easy getting married.

The prizes for the lottery.

Was good to see Jacob aka Mr. Spoon again. He haven't been around much since he has taken over the Art World.

Kim won one of the Footbag Intellectual t-shirts I donated to the prizes. Lise won the other one. People really liked them.

I won a unreleased Anssi DVD and a freshly stitched Lise bag. I might do a review of a both.

And then the night turned into this..

[Asmus]

Jasper made this masterpiece of everybody in FootbagDenmark:


Another thursday another session...

Playing this week were: Tobias, Troels, Andreas, Jasper and Verena
Nis and his friend Basse also came to hang out and film.
Lise was planning on coming (and playing!) but got swamped with work and Kim was sick.

I played the entire time with Tobias and a little later Verena joined us.
Tobias is pretty fucking good for an old man coming out of retirement.
He hit Drifter > Symp Whirl [rpt], Whirr and a run with Blurry Whirl and Spinning Whirl.

Saw Andreas hit Pdx Torque. That was badass.

I played well. Nis got a couple of good runs on camera. I really liked the link Stepping SS Clip > Down Double Down.
And I got super close to 3 fearless (Phoenix > Ducking Symp Whip > Scorpions Tail).

After a little over an hour I wanted to try Paradon > Barfly. I knew I started the dexes too late and overcompensated.
I heard a snapping noise, spotted the roof and then I was looking at the floor. I had twisted my ankle. Pretty badly as well.

I never twist my ankle. I am pretty sure my slightly too big and completely blown out shoes were the reason.
This was planned to be my last session in those shoes.

[boyle]

Too bad about the ankle. Of course, one of the worst footbag injuries. Can take a long time to recover from. I'm guessing you would have hit more than 3 fearless? Maybe 4 or 5, or more?

[Asmus]

I think I will back at playing next week. Still kinda young and flexible.

I am flattered by how good you think I am.

I could maybe do 4. But it would be something shitty like Backside Blur > Stampede > Phoenix > Ducking Symp Whip.
That actually sound possible. Not that I have hit a Stampede or BS Blur in ages..

My online footbag magazine might launch this week.

[boyle]

I would say you and me have a pretty similar level (probably a variety of tricks you can do well, that I can't do, and the other way around too). My best fearless is also 3, but I would like to hit maybe 4 or 5.

[Asmus]

It was rough going to the weekly thursday session without playing. But I am nowhere near being able to play footbag. Crossing my fingers for next week.

Nis has made this month video month and the good thing about not being able to play was that I had time to shoot a couple of clips on my phone.
I edited it together with a bunch of other random stuff. You can see the video here:

The password is tripwalk.
I might do more of these. Seem like people like the style.

The first video Nis released was this video from Roskilde 2011.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6623OkwVyl8[/youtube]
This was my darkest time for footbag. I basicly wasn't playing all week. I had a good time but it was all party and no shred.
I am happy that I have found my love for footbag again.

The magazine is pretty much ready to be launched. Waiting for a video to launch it with a bang.
I made a topic about it in the Projects forum but there is one thing I wanna address here. David wrote the following in the topic:

Not only will it be another resource for footbaggers, but it could even bring money into the footbag community through adverts and the likes.

I don't think I will earn any money from the magazine. But I plan on at some point doing some kind of business venture related to footbag. And this is definitely a step on the way. This is a big change in my mindset. I don't know if it is from working from the biggest financial newspaper in Denmark or if it's from earning some decent money or if it is just from growing up and not being so naive anymore. To quote the eternal words of one my favorite rappers Cam'ron "Can't get paid in a earth this big? You worthless kid!". I feel this refers well to footbag. The business side of footbag could be doing a lot better and there is great opportunity here. I'd rather earn a 1000 dollars and give 500 back to footbag than earn 0 and give 0 back.
Probably more on that later.

[h0ag3yb3atZ]

your blog title is clever.

hope your ankle heals soon dude.

[boyle]

The business side of things is something that hasn't really been focused on in recent years, and people keep wondering why nobody is supporting footbag etc etc etc. If some of the different players, former players etc start adding to the businesses that are based on the sport and surrounding it (Caroline is a perfect example with her hostel), then put that money back in to footbag, well, that's where things will start.

Once things start looking good, then we can build on that and maybe have people begging to support footbag. Or have a footbag specific airline...

[Asmus]

Thanks for the replies homeboys.


Another thursday training without me being able to play. Really frustrating but hopefully I will be back sooner than later. I never twisted my ankle this badly before and I need to let it heal fully. Atleast I did it before summer and not in the middle of competition season.

Rasmus flew in from Amsterdam as it was his 30th birthday. Happy birthday buddy! Here is a photo of the birthday boy:



Mathias Blau was also in town on his way to Berlin and then Gdansk. I filmed a really nice run from him.
Tubz the legend that has returned had a run with Food Processor and Stepping Blender. Pretty good for a man who hasn’t played footbag in 8 years or something like that.

Updated summer plans:

14. - April 21. April: Berlin with my family.
Coincides with Mr. Lino Schmidt’s 30th Birthday Party. Whoop!


2. - 4. May: Gdansk for Dzem Jam
Not really sure about this. Would like to go but tickets are really expensive for just a weekend.

11. July - 13. July: Euros in Turku
Euros is top priority for me this summer. I have never been to Finland and I have been to Paris a couple of times. I need to visit the land of pixies, fairies, unicorns and the great goddess of Dexio.

27. July - 3. August: Worlds in Paris

September: Cottage trip with FootbagDenmark
We have been looking at this. 10 beds. Indoor pool. Sauna. Room to shred inside and outside.

[Asmus]

In attendance: Andreas, Tobias, Kim, Nis, Jasper and yours truly. Foot Clan in full effect!

I played with Jasper and Nis. Jasper didn’t play super well but I still really like to play with him. Nis didn’t feel it himself but I thought he put in work. Highlights from him were Pdx Whirling Swirl > PS Whirl and his first Janiwalk!

I was mainly just testing out my ankle and my new Lavers. Played for about an hour. My ankle swelled up a little at the end. It feels perfectly fine today so I think it’s all good in the hood. New shoes were awesome. Obviously I have to get used to them but playing in shoes that haven’t been shredded to pieces by somebody else beforehand and fits is definitely gonna help my game.

As the attentive reader may know over the recent weeks a former player has made his glorious return to FootbagDenmark. That man is Tobias Aka Tubz Aka Mr. Footbag Intellectual Aka Tha Teacha. I have told you he used to be really good. Here is proof from 2008:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0TDDRzMdiE[/youtube]
He steps up every session. I will not be surprised if he is up to this level in a couple of months.

Really wanna launch bsos.it but I am waiting for a video.

FOOTBAG!

[Asmus]

I wasn’t planning on addressing this in here, but since there seems to be some rumors going around and that I have already gotten a few questions on facebook and twitter about it, I thought I might as well put it out there. Kasper, a Copenhagen footbagger and great guy died in an Avalanche accident in France this week. Kasper had an unique style in footbag and was a pillar in freestyle sports in general in Copenhagen. He was a chill dude who could never sit still and a helpful and warm hearted guy. All of my thoughts go to Kasper’s friends and family. This is obviously a huge loss and a big blow to footbag in Denmark. Yesterdays weekly thursday session wasn’t a party like it usually is. It was good to get together though, talk about Kasper and hug it out.

Mads Hole did a great video from that session:

[Asmus]

Jay's post about Milan bailing out and Ken's response has made me think about something. Footbaggers are too afraid of stepping on each others toes. Sure, the scene is small but if we all stay on our tippy toes and never do any symposium tricks nothing badass that really will push the sport is gonna happen. I know plenty of footbaggers have a hard time dealing with me and there are plenty of footbaggers I don't like. That doesn't mean I can't be in room with them or respect what they have done for the sport. The people pushing the sport like Jorden, Honza and Anssi will from time to time rub people the wrong way. That is obviously not a goal in itself, but it is inevitable.

Me and the rest of the club have just taken the initial steps to host Worlds in 2015. This is of course a long process and many things can happen that will make it impossible to do. Here are the main threats as I see them:
- Location
There is only one location in Copenhagen that I wanna do Worlds at and that is the best one. I have a connection, they are interested and we are gonna have a meeting. But getting a huge gym for free(or close to free) is problematic even in a semi-socialist country like Denmark.
- Funding
Even with the location for free and the money from the registration fee hosting Worlds is expensive. When Copenhagen hosted Euros in 2004 the club had a huge tele-company backing it. I don't think we will be able to pull something like that off. Public funding will not get us all the way.
- Winning the bid
Worlds this year will be in Europe. It usually goes back and forth between Northen America and Europe and the late decision this year makes it even harder for NAs to go than it usually is. A strong bid from NA will be hard to compete with for next year.

As far as I see it this is the last chance for Denmark to host a big tournament in a foreseeable future. People are getting too old for that kinda stuff.
*crosses fingers*

I will try to share as much of this process as I can in here without burning any bridges.
I think these things should be more open and public to the footbag scene.