Cass shreds - Spring Training 2024

[akprice]

how is jorden's drill going? very interested in that cause i think that would help out my game tremendously since i'm having trouble setting the bag where i want. also, Toe/Inside stall>Clipper rpt (hand catch after clipper or repeat back to toe from clipper and keep going?

[Cass]

Yeah hand catch is good to get used to it but ideally you want to just keep going back and forth.

I've been going kinda heavy on the clipper stuff lately just because I can. I got to drill some rev. swirls yesterday which was fun. Felt it a little today though.

Today I hit a new trick first try which felt really good. I decided to hit it again for the online comp and it took way too many tries and wasn't as nice as the first one. Figures

Today was my 7th day in a row shredding and I wasn't feeling anything high impact. I've been practicing lazy/floppy toe stalls for a while now and I decided to try to apply them to a new concept.

Qualified 3 ball juggling with two feet!

I only started working on this concept today. I started off with 2 bags and switching between feet. Then I worked on timing the addition of the third bag. It's not so hard once you get the timing. Just gotta remember to stay loose and set high so that the bag arcs back toward me.

I spent over an hour working up from zero catches up to an average of about 3-4. I was determined to qualify (6 catches>handcatch) and I finally managed to do it! Felt pretty damn epic. I think a couple more hours of practice and it will be soo easy. I've never even juggled two with one foot before. I'm not so keen on that though I think 3 ball is way cooler.

Yesterday I was driving home from my dad’s house and I was drawn to an abandoned building that used to be a huge grocery store. I have a soft spot for graffiti and I had a feeling I would find some. I hopped the fence and took a walk around back and found some neat (although not highly skilled for the most part) art. It kinda makes me want to pick up a spray can.. too bad it’s so damn illegal. Anways here’s some photos just because.











<3

[Asmus]

In my opinion graffiti isn't graffiti if it isn't illegal but if you just wanna play around with a spraycan there are plenty of options on how to do that in most cities.

Most big cities have legal spots where you can paint without any worries. I am sure they have it in Toronto and they could have it in Ottawa as well.
Many big cities also have graffiti workshops and schools for young people.
Last option is your dad probably has a shed or could put up a simple wooden wall for you to practice on.

Are you going to Worlds? Would be too bad if the World Champion didn't show up to defend her title.

[Cass]

Yeah the shed thing might be an option.. Not sure it'll fly haha

No worlds this year. I've got several other more affordable events planned in place of that. Titles don't matter. Pushing my level, the sport, and my local scene matters. I will be elite. I will show up at worlds some time down the road and put up a real fight in open. Just give me a year or two I'm gonna make the judges compare apples and oranges. That is, choose between style/variety and conventional difficulty.

[Asmus]

You can always promise to paint it over afterwards

I like your outlook on the Worlds situation but with that being said: Have you looked into the possibility of gettting a local company or organisation to sponsor your trip to Worlds?
You are afterall World Champion.

[Cass]

Reasons I'm not going to worlds (so stop asking )

I can only take so much I'm off work and I've already committed to USO

Getting sponsorships takes time and energy. I have already committed to organizing an event this summer and that is my priority.

If I did get a sponsor to go to worlds it would be on the basis of my current title. Given that fact I would be expected to place again which means I would have to compete in women's events. I honestly have no interest in doing this anymore. I would rather get eliminated in open.

If I'm going all the way to Europe I want to be able to stay more than a few days. I have every intention of making this happen in 2015. No point in rushing it to get to an event in a city I'm not even that stoked to visit.

[Cass]

STAHP

Worrying about ADDs. They kill creativity and put your game in a box.

Being so one sided. I know hitting whirls is fun but you shouldn't be doing it if you don't have a flip clipper. You will regret not practicing both sides equally.

Focusing on hitting huge tricks all the time. Those are cool I guess but long runs with nice style are even cooler.

Trying not to bail. Sometimes it's okay to bail - even a good thing! I wanna see those long controlled runs with lots of bails.

Treating your body like crap. Drink more water, stretch after every session, and consume less poison.

/rant

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Hey, are you going to Worlds?

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[Cass]

It has been about 15 months since I got back in the game seriously. I was looking back on some videos of my progress from early last year and it’s interesting to see how my game has grown.

I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m significantly ‘better’ at footbag than I was a year ago. I do however have a different approach to the game now and also better variety. I was very focussed on drilling bops last year and pushing myself to shred guiltless. This resulted in very bop heavy runs with not too much variety. Not so bad but not very exciting either.

Since Worlds I have been much less focused on shredding guiltless and more focused on style and variety. This in addition to eliminating clipper from my game altogether for a couple months has definitely affected my approach to the game. I sort of realised that having tiltless runs with good variety and harder tricks every few contacts makes for longer, more interesting runs than boppy guiltless does.

I’m definitely going to have to get back to drilling some bops again soon, especially Osis. That being said I am really happy with the way my game and my perspective have grown over the past year and a bit.

I remember how pumped I was about footbag the first year I started playing. I sort of lost that for a few years and I honestly didn’t think I would ever get that passion back. I’m so happy that I did. I attribute it to the amazing community, and especially FAT. You guys are amazing! Footbag events are the best. Not to mention that feeling when you hit a good run or a new trick. So good. I love footbag and I’m looking forward to the progress I will make over the next few years. I’m not planning on letting up any time soon

<3

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Yeah, agreed with like all of that. I remember when you came back on the scene at worlds, I saw you shred in person for the first time since I met up with you, that other dude (can't remember his name) and Nathan, and I just remember thinking how much of an improvement you had made already. Keep it up, I'd like to see you get really good. Your style/game is really shaping up too

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[C-Fan]

I'm coming up on 17 years of playing, and over that time my passion for the game has seen ebbs and flows. It's great your passion is at a high point now. You always need to be looking for ways to keep it interesting and to keep moving forward. If East Coasts is in NYC, will you go defend your title? Speaking of defending titles, are you going to Worlds this year?

[Cass]

You always need to be looking for ways to keep it interesting and to keep moving forward. If East Coasts is in NYC, will you go defend your title?

Going to events definitely helps keep it interesting. East Coasts is pretty likely.

[boyle]

Seems like you have a powerful passion for the game, which is only going to help the Canada/North America scene. Would like to kick with you some day.

Also, I agree with a lot of stuff you said about worlds. When they were in Oakland I went directly there, and directly back. The previous year (Berlin), I spent over a month in Europe and had the best time of my life. When I went just to the tournament, it wasn't really worth going at all, to go all that way and not really see anything of the country.

[Cass]

Would like to kick with you some day.

It'll definitely happen sooner or later.



I had my masters committee meeting yesterday. It' was a 30 minute presentation of my work and future plans in front of my supervisor and two other committee members and a bunch of questions after. Anyways it went pretty well I think. Today one of the other two prof's on my committee approached me. He seems to think I'm a very good chemist and I should consider going to a bigger school for my PhD. He thinks with my publication(s) my chances of getting into a good school are high and apparently a lot of American schools are subsidized so the money would probably be way better. So that conversation was a really good ego boost but also got me thinking.

Penn State is looking real enticing. They have a really good chemistry department. Not to mention the footbag club

I feel like my title(s) combined with the fact that there is an existing footbag club there can only help my chances of getting in.


Oh I also played footbag today. Nice quiet squash court session.


<3

[boyle]

If that was to happen, you really need to use up the resources with your "world champion" status (doesn't matter that it may have expired by that time, I hear you're not going to Worlds this year....)

I have received quite a few different payments, including through a university club for footbag travel, footbag events, well also now a complete footbag tour, though that's not going to come very often!

But there really is plenty of money inside these universities for all kinds of strange clubs - you could definitely do that now, maybe they could fund your skydiving adventure...

[Cass]

Wow what I weekend.

I rarely go out drinking these days. Saturday a good friend of mine from high school was going out for her birthday. I decided to go since I haven’t seen her in years. We had a really good time. I was drinking tequila which is my drink of choice and I’m usually really good with it. We walked to a bar downtown a 15 minute walk from my house. I had some more drinks at the bar and it was a fun time. At some point I decided to walk home and said goodbye to my friend.

This is the last thing I remember.

I come into consciousness in a part of Oshawa I don’t even recognise. I walk a little to find a street sign that reads Townline. TOWNLINE?!? I must have walked for two hours in the opposite direction of my house! I vaguely remember trying to find my dad’s house before that but I realise I must have been nowhere near his place. The rest of my memory is just completely blank. WTF happened? My keys are gone and so is my iphone that I dropped $800 on less than a year ago. Luckily I walk a little more and get to a Tim Hortons where the guy who worked there was nice enough to let me use his phone and gave me free apple juice. At this point it’s 4:30 am. I left the bar before 2. I don’t even know how this happened. My stepdad picked me up and drove me home.

So yeah that kinda really sucked but I am so grateful that I am okay! Anything could have happened. I was wearing wedge heel things and I managed to walk in them, apparently for hours, without hurting my ankle.

So I’m going to have to go back to my old shitty iPhone which means the picture quality in my blog posts is going to take a hit. The camera is definitely the thing I will miss the most about my phone. Whatever though, life goes on and I’m not going to get bummed out about a stupid object.. even if it was a rad piece of technology.

Needless to say I woke up feeling like hell on Sunday. I forced myself to go to Toronto for the FAT session because I was the one that initiated it and I thought seeing my friends would cheer me up. I slept most of my time on transit which was alright.

I met up with Erik at Christie Pits shortly after 2. I was kinda chilly but thankfully the sun made an appearance later on which helped a bit. Soon Camille and Johnny arrived and Tom also stopped by! He and Marnie just happened to be walking through the park with Hella. He didn’t play but it was nice to see him. They have such an adorable little family

I was hurting but I forced myself to play as much as possible. Johnny was totally on! He was just ripping it up which is always a pleasure to watch. It was a nice circle to play in but I felt bad because I feel like I brought down the morale of the session a bit. I think I had one or two decent runs a least.

Losing my phone has really put in perspective what I hold value on in life. I remember losing my first iphone4 a couple years ago and being absolutely heartbroken! It was the worst. This time around, while it obviously sucks , I’m not bothered nearly as much by the loss. I definitely place more value on the people and experiences in life now. Going to footbag sessions and events is so much more important the being able to facebook at high speeds on the go haha.. So that’s basically why I can’t justify buying a new phone. I could go to like 3 footbag events for the price of a new iPhone.

Anyways my feet are kinda fucked from walking so much in heels on the weekend and I’m still slightly hungover from Saturday. I think I will take the day off hack and get back to training tomorrow.

<3

[akprice]

sucks about your phone. maybe someone slipped you a rufie

[boyle]

What a pain. Good to see you have your priorities right, even if you can't follow your own guidelines (see post above about toxins...). It's true though, it's just a gadget, and it's pretty cool, but it's not going to make up for/change the experiences that you're going to have.

Sometimes those hangover sessions can be a good way to sweat out all the drink, sometimes, after a particularly rough night - then you just bring down everyone else and become "that guy/girl"...

But life goes on, there will be more phones, more photos, more footbag, etc, etc.

[Cass]

My phone came back to me for a $100 reward. I think it was because I had accepted it was gone.

I think I will start taking my own advice about the toxins.

[boyle]

hmmm...I would like to make that kind of thinking work to reduce the price of international shipping! Oh well, looks like we can look forward to more pictures from jams etc.

What's the next competition you're going to?