Nick "Houdini" Polini

Keep a diary of what you're hitting, what's frustrating you, and your goals.
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic »

Thanks Erik :) That drill seems great so far. Did it again tonight..

So, thinking about this next month, I finally decided what I'm going to try to get good at:

-Blenders
-Pdx Illusion (for Double Down's down the road)
-Atomic sets
-Whirling Cloud Kicks
-Flapper Delays

(Also, going to keep slowly but surely fine-tuning Pdx Whirls and Drifters)

So a little bit of thought about tonight's session. I was kind of exhausted from everything today, but I still wanted to go out tonight and drill something. I remembered that I chose Flapper Delays as one of my new concepts. My strong Flapper is way too good. I can pretty much use it as a Clipper. It's more like a weak side Clipper right now, which is still really good, I just can't catch EVERY SINGLE trick on it. I have hit Ripped Warrior Flapper before, so that gives you a clue at how strong my good Flapper is. However, my flipside Flapper is pretty awful, and I think once I get that up to speed, my game is going to be really unpredictable and much more fun. So I set out tonight hoping to get some work done on my flip Flappers.

I accomplished some amazing things, really. I'll list highlights below, but my flip Flapper went from being nowhere near the consistency of my flip Clipper to just about near the consistency of my flip Clipper. Pretty awesome improvements on it tonight.

Highlights:

:arrow: Consecutive Flapper record: from 3 to 7! I do have the actual world record for Flappers (12):, but 1) I was wearing Nucleus for that and they made Flappers RIDICULOUSLY easy and 2) I just got really lucky during that, I think. But I nailed 7 in Lavers tonight, so that's my current record.
:arrow: World record (?) for Solstice (Osis on the sole): 4 consecutive.. I'm pretty sure it's a world record… because, well.. no one does those lol
:arrow: This one made the biggest improvement on my Flapper game… Flapper delay> ss Flapper delay x10 bs! My old record for this was 3 on flipside. What a push! My strong side still felt so much better than my flip, though.
:arrow: Then I incorporated what I teach my students for learning Clippers.. freeze clipper for 3 seconds, set from all surfaces… Except I did this for Flapper Delays. Got every surface with ease on bs. That's pretty awesome, since I had little faith in my flip Flapper before I started the session. It's definitely already improved a good bit.
:arrow: Flapper delay> Whirling ss Cloud Kick> ss Butter bs.. Never was able to whirl set out of Flapper before. Pretty stoked on that. Looks stylish.
:arrow: Cloud Kick> muted op Flapper bs (cool new weird link)
:arrow: Whirling Flapper bs (not new, but was really hard on flip last time I tried. Not hard anymore.
:arrow: Tried using some Flappers in a string and it turned out well. Got something like midrun Flapper Ducking Flapper> Spinning Osis> Solstice> run.

Can't wait to see where these Flappers take me. Really hoping the new Lock Stitch shoes Johnny & Tom are creating have a nice sole so I can keep doing cool Flapper stuff.

This session was kind of funny, because a while ago, like 3 years ago, maybe?.. I was so focused on drilling Flappers and being so good at them, but the rest of my game really sucked. So at some point I decided to take a rest from all the unusual stuff and come back to it once my game was strong enough to incorporate it… And I think my game is finally strong enough. I almost got sort of upset that I wasted so much time drilling Flappers back then. I would constantly do them before class, after class, everywhere.. Then I really cut back on them in the last 2 years. After leaving the concept for so long, I think it gave my flip Clipper some time to catch itself up and now I'm ready for them :) No wasted time at all.

Reminds me of digging up a fossilized dinosaur skeleton half way, then taking a long break from it and letting the rain and elements loosen up the surrounding dirt/rock, then coming back in several years and almost have them fossil completely revealed.

F[Uns]tylin' is coming back in a big way.
Nick Polini

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"Yeah dude it's all mental. Then it's physical" ~Evan Gatesman
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by C-Fan »

God damn you top post Polini. :evil:
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic »

Just wanted to reflect on my previous post a bit. Man, that top post sure felt good. Better than a back massaging roller coaster. You know what doesn't feel good, though? Slipping up and not getting top post. That has to burn. Really badly. (Suck it, Ken :P)


Tonight was sick. I made so much visible progress in 2 parts of my game. Hung out with Nadiah tonight before the session, and that was really nice too. All of our plans fell through though :P We had like 5 things set up and everything fell apart in front of our faces, but we still managed to have a really great night. Oh and I got a new phone and it's water proof and I took a shower with it because I could. It was… eh.. it was ok lol Just nice to know if I dropped it in the toilet or a pool, it would be fine. Nadiah made me an egg sandwich with pickles and thousand island dressing. It was probably the best sandwich I've ever tasted. Sorry, rambling… but my point is that my girlfriend is really awesome.

Anyway, footbag.. Got home and wanted to drill more Flappers. I really don't plan on being the best in the world at any single concept in footbag, except for Flappers. They've been my calling since I got into the sport. I mean, I'd like to be awesome at a lot of things in footbag, but I want to completely own Flappers. Tonight was the start of that..

Highlights:

:arrow: Did my frozen Flapper drill again, 5x for all surfaces on each side.. Easy on flipside finally. Only dropped 2 or 3 times in all my tries.
:arrow: Also did Flapper> Far Flapper (freeze 3 seconds) *rpt (I think I got around 7 contacts before a drop
:arrow: Had a pretty decent part of a string with dense [uns], but also Pixie shuffle, a Barfly, some Stepping, etc.. I think it'll look awesome once I figure out the flow a bit more. Spinning out of Flappers help lead into the shred flow though… Which leads me to my next highlight that I'm really proud of…
:arrow: Flapper> Spinning Flapper> Spinning Flapper> Spinning Flapper BOTH sides. It was nice to hit on my strong side, but it was AMAZING to hit on my flipside. YES! Now I can finally start putting them into my game. I need more stuff to do out of Flapper though. Blenders, Reverse Swirls, Infinities, Ducks (flip needs work), and now Spins. If anyone has any suggestions or requests that they think might look good/be too difficult, hit me up.
:arrow: Anchor BSOS. Flip Anchor got easier with all this Flapper work.
:arrow: Invention?: Clipper Far Anchor
:arrow: Flapper> Spinning Solstice b2b (that's Fearless, not that it matters ;P
:arrow: Solstice x4 (that's gotta be a world record… I beat my own world record. cool lol
:arrow: Blender x7! All controlled, except the last one!
:arrow: Ss Blink> Far Flapper bs
:arrow: Revup> Far Flapper bs

Really liking the Flappers right now. I think they are what my game has been missing.

Stoked for PA Net Championships this weekend! My car is Ivan, Khoa, and me. I definitely have room for anyone else either on the way (picking Khoa up at a bus station, so any other State College players that wanna take a bus) or local to me, contact me before Friday.

Good night!
Nick Polini

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"Yeah dude it's all mental. Then it's physical" ~Evan Gatesman
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by Ryan_Morris »

Spinning flapper sounds epic. I've seen Derek hit flapper ducking. Can you?
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by boyle »

How about whirling swirl out of flapper? That would be pretty awesome.
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic »

Ryan: Yes, I forgot to mention I hit Flapper Ducking Flapper bs the other night. That wasn't a huge highlight, but I was happy to hit it.

Dan: I will definitely try it this weekend. Cool challenge. I think it's doable.

Tonight, I drilled some more. Mostly Blenders.

Highlights:

:arrow: Big highlight… Pdx Blender> Blur bs, then SO stupidly close to BSOS, but I dropped the final toe stall because it was starting to get dark. It started to feel kind of natural. Especially for the side I didn't Step Duck out of in Part II of the Boston video WOOPS! Spoiler Alert! :P Can't wait til Kevin gets that video finished *wink wink nudge nudge say no more* jk, I know he's busy. He'll edit it eventually.
:arrow: Mindbender like 3 times on just strongside :/ Weak side just needs to get a little stronger. I feel like that's a trick I'll be doing a lot in the future, though.. on both sides… son of a beef bunghole..
:arrow: Worked Pdx Whirls a bit too. Coming along slowly but surely. Managed a new link.. Torque> Pdx Whirl bs. Did it a few times too.
:arrow: Almost forgot.. First undeniably clean Flipside Symposium Whirling Swirl. I just treated it like a lazy Flaring ss Swirl and it worked :P
:arrow: Flare bs
:arrow: Did another N= 12 contacts of BOP It: Extreme. Starting to really be able to control my breathing through it. Added some random Guiltless after the 36th contact tonight. I've stuck to my guns and did it once every session. Happy about that for sure. I think I'm gonna up the dosage when I come home from PA Net Champs.

Leaving tomorrow after work to pick Ivan up, then we're on our way to PA Net Champs. Should be a great time.
Nick Polini

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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by Matt K »

Image


Nick, Nick
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic »

Just got back from PA Net Championships.

I'm trying to go to bed soon, so this will be a short, but unfortunate post.

The jam was really fun. Joe and Brenda are awesome for letting all those people crash at their mansion for the weekend. We all tried net and I think we all really liked it. Freestylers were paired up with a net player and we competed. Ivan and Jim Hogan were killing it and advanced to the top to play another team who had advanced to the top. Ivan made a quick move to return a serve and he ruptured his achilles and he was taken to the hospital, which was an hour away. We don't know how long he'll be out for. Hopefully it won't be an obnoxiously long time. Ivan is thinking 6-8 weeks, since it wasn't torn or a major rupture. I'm really hoping he's right. We'll find out tomorrow when he goes in to the doctor to determine when he will get surgery.

It was a sad end to the jam and made Matt and his crew (Khoa and Dan) head home Saturday night and I left bright and early Sunday morning. Ivan was totally calm about everything, which was strange at first, but I really thought that was cool of him after I thought about it. He's a wise dude. I really learned an important life lesson from him this weekend about dealing with unfortunate occurrences. His sense of humor about this is incredible and he's still pushing to come back to footbag after he recovers. Last night, when he got back from the hospital, he was hopping around in our room to get his sleeping things set up and I asked him if he needed help. He replies, "No, my symposium hops will really improve from this." I cracked up. Ivan is the man, though. Seriously.

Aside from Ivan's injury, we had a great time. It was really cool to meet Dan, Kemmer's student, and it was great to see Khoa, Cassy, Drew, Ryan T, and everyone else. I met a lot of cool net players who I would have otherwise not really communicated with much. Aintno is the shit. He reminds me of myself when I'm older. Funny funny dude. Dan Greer, Hacky Sack Jack, the entire net crew, all awesome dudes. Also, Mark Hunsberger's (really good net player) son, Noah, is interested in learning freestyle. He's currently a net player. Found out they live about 20 minutes away from me, so I'll probably be meeting up with them to play some net (kind of scared to get back into net because of this weekend, but Ivan said he wants to play again once he recovers so I might as well give it another go) and I talked to Noah and he wants freestyle lessons! He actually could already do a ton of stuff on both sides too! Like Butterfly, Osis, Legovers, etc… I was really surprised. He's going to be fun to work with.

Anyway, highlights:

:arrow: Spike Hammer> Smoke BSOS I was pretty amazed by that. Felt great. I think that was one of the links in the Eurotour request video, so I wanted to prove to myself that I could sort of keep up with those guys.
:arrow: Stepping Diving Osis b2b This one was a big big highlight. It felt so easy too. Alpine stepping out of Osis is a lot smoother than out of Clipper for me. Pretty sure I'm gonna run with this concept.
:arrow: Stepping Diving Clipper x4 weakside, x2 strong side (new record for each)
:arrow: Kemmer and I both did workshops for each other and for some of the intermediate guys. Kemmer schooled me on Atomics and found out what was wrong with my flipside. I'm gonna run with those too. My body gets them now that he critiqued them. I schooled Matt on Alpine Stepping and even Alpine Atomic (I can duck my good side really easily.. go figure) and he hit some good Ripped Warriors and ducked his first Atomic sets.

Jam highlights:

-A mud hole ate my entire leg
-Lanterns were set into the sky for Ivan, while he was in the hospital (Video below)
-Dog stole my seat
-The view from the balcony.. Wow.
-We saw UFOs over the the mountains...
-Great food. Thanks Joe and Brenda!
-Annoying cow mooing loudly from way down the valley the entire time. Sounded really cool though.
-Talking to Aintno about music and why we think lots of people in this world suck.
-Not playing Footbag Golf. I have a sort of thing where, every time I have the opportunity to play, something happens. It's happened about 5 times now. It's kinda my thing. At ECFC '10, I played net for the first time and my foot really hurt. Then someone asked me to play Footbag Golf and I asked if it hurt like net does. Dave Clavens, sitting behind me, interjects "It only hurts your reputation".
-Walking around seeing horses closed in by an electric fence. Me: "Careful, don't touch the electric fence" Everyone, one by one: "It's not electric. It's just rope." Matt: *picks up a plant and touches it to the fence* No, it's not electric. Cassy: *bumps it with her shoulder covered by shirt* I just touched it, it's not electric, it's just rope! Me: "…But you touched it with your shirt.. If it's definitely not electric, then touch it with your finger" Cassy: *touches it with her finger and jumps back, and yells while running into the deserted road "It's definitely electric!!!" That was hilarious. She's fine though.. said it was only a light zap.

You can count on it that Ivan and I will be there next year.

However, I got some really cool news when I got home. My parents went to check out a new campsite for our RV. They found one. But they were originally going to try to get one near a big river but they said it was too white trash for their taste. Then they randomly found one called Bay Shore Campgrounds, in Rock Hall, MD. They said it was the nicest campground they've ever seen… so, they bought a spot there and put my name on the paper too, which means it's also mine! So if anyone wants to come down for a weekend for some footbag, fishing, and fun, hit me up! We move our RV down there in August. I'm excited. It should be a sick area. Maybe I'll eventually hold a jam there. Who knows?

Here is a picture of the site map. We got spot number 8, which is ridiculously close to a ridiculously close and directly across from a private beach and the bay:

Image

And this is the campgrounds website if you wanna see pictures of it.

Also, here is the video of Ivan's Hope Lanterns.

Ivan's Hope Lanterns
Nick Polini

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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by DC Clinks »

Hey Nick --Dan here-- this is my first modified post so sorry if I'm doing something wrong or whatever but I'm gonna steal your thread for a bit, hope you don't mind. Figure I'd give my own perspective on the past couple of days as a newcomer to the sport.

Matt first asked me if I would be interested in some event like this a month or two ago, back when I was probably still having trouble getting alternating toe and inside stalls. I was likely a bit more hesitant back then as my mindset was undoubtedly something along the lines of "What would I even do there? There's no way I could keep up with intermediate/ expert level players!" Only now do I realize that isn't the point at all; it's about having fun, trying your hardest to improve and succeed, and inspiring others to do the same.

Anyways, the days leading up to it I was getting more and more excited about it. A bit nervous but mostly just happy and thankful that I had such a great opportunity ahead of me (all thanks to Matt). The day finally arrived when we set out for PA, grabbing some quick breakfast at a fast food place at some rest-stop. We mostly passed the time just talking and/or listening to Star Wars and Lord of the Rings soundtracks. I might have dozed off at some points (had 3 or 4 hours of sleep the night before), but eventually we made it to Penn State to pick up Khoa. Since Khoa was at a lab helping to make some future generations of chickens grow up to be healthy and strong (or something like that, most of it went over my head honestly), Matt and I decided to kill some time in Walmart and kicking a bit at Old Main.

Khoa made it out of his lab and we were soon on our way to the site/ destination. However, we were interrupted as we learned that someone else from Penn State, Cazembe, might have wanted to come along as well. After a number of interesting phone calls and errors in communication, we eventually just left for Doylesburg without him unfortunately. This following summary will be mostly footbag-oriented as Nick already highlighted most of the events that transpired.

I soon realized we were traveling out to the middle of fucking nowhere-land (we actually played a game counting the number of silos around the various farms). Fast-forwarding a couple of hours, we make it to the house at around "I have a horrible memory and can't remember shit" o'clock. I kicked a bit with Khoa and Matt if I recall correctly, but soon Nick and Ivan came, along with Cassy later at like midnight, and Khoa went to sleep.

We eventually set up a circle of Cassy, Nick, and myself I think, with Matt and Ivan doing a workshop/critique session. Matt went to bed to get some nice beauty sleep at around 11 or 12, and the rest of us had fun shredding and talking (they talked, I listened; had no clue about the people/ tricks they were referencing) until 2 or 3 in the morning. Sleeping was really great because there was this very cool bright light directly under me and Nick that we couldn't figure how to fucking turn off.

Jesus this post is becoming long as hell, sorry. I'll skip most of the events that happened Saturday and just sum up my opinions on everyone (all positive).

Nick: I'm having trouble finding the right words in my head to adequately describe you. You're probably one of the most optimistic, energetic, and genuine person that I've ever met. You seem to have a natural love for all things footbag and even just the world around you. Hanging out and footbagging with you was absolutely great, thanks for all the help and critiques on my form and timing.

Khoa: You're a really cool dude. Shredding with you was amazing, the level of enthusiasm you have for everything is incredible. Watching you freestyle football was really interesting too, it looks like a lot of fun. Keep it up dude.

Ivan: Sorry we didn't get to footbag more other than that session on noon-ish Saturday. You were really helpful with tips and pass-backs whenever I was struggling with something. You seem like a really chill, go with the flow kinda guy and I'm sorry about your injury, hope you have a swift recovery dude.

Matt: We didn't really footbag together much Friday or Saturday but I guess that was kind of the point of the whole thing, wasn't it? Meet new people, shred with freestylers with different abilities/ styles, and learn some more about footbag forms and techniques and the history behind it all. Thanks so much for the opportunity to come to an event like this; even though I didn't really hit anything new, it was a bunch of fun and it's inspired me a lot more to progress and grow.

Cassy: We didn't get to talk much, sorry about that. It was cool watching you shred though, everything you did seemed very controlled and stable, really interesting to see. Definitely a good lesson for me to learn.

There were a bunch of other people that were really cool that Nick already mentioned, mainly Dan, Drew, Jim, Aintno, Ian, Micky (Nikki? Might have heard it wrong and was too embarrassed to ask :| ), Quinn, and a lot of others. Very special thanks to Jack and Brenda who hosted this thing and I'm very grateful for their hospitality and care. Another thanks to Jack, as well as Ian, for teaching me some more about the history behind footbag, net footbag in particular. The vibe from everyone was so just welcoming and friendly, it was really amazing to experience. Almost felt like leaving a second family by the time we headed out on Saturday night. Looking forward more competitions/get-togethers in the future and I hope to shred with you all again sometime!
-Daniel C. NY, USA. "Sacrifice a goat to our Lord and Savior Evan Gatesman".
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic »

GET YOUR OWN BLOG, SCUM! :P Just kidding dude. Totally honored to have your first post be in my blog! I enjoyed the tag-team highlight reel we just did :D Thanks for the kind words about me, I was touched, but not in a creepy way. It was seriously awesome meeting you. You're an awesome dude and I have so much faith that you'll go far in this sport as long as you stick to it and keep practicing… oh and listen to Matt! You are ridiculously lucky to have him as your teacher. So many people would kill to have Matt their teacher. Can't wait to shred with you again and see how much you've improved. I think my most stoked moment of the jam is when you nailed the Wrap x3 string in front of me without even mentioning that you were going to go for it. That was awesome. Reminded me of when people see their child trapped under a car and develop the strength to lift the car. You should make a footblog too. Just click "New Topic" in the Footblogs section, add your title, 3 cups of water, a teaspoon of horse piss, and bang! You've made a footblog.

So I just got off of work and I'm going to have a session :P This post was basically to reply to Dan. Will post after the session.

I think I'm going to do N= 16 BOP It: Extreme drill tonight. Probably also practice some Atomics.

Meow meow.
Nick Polini

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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic »

Pretty awesome drill session. Funny, Jackson told me he wanted to kick again tonight after work… I call him when I get home and he tells me he went fishing. He's very unreliable. It really upsets me. He "PROMISED" he would kick with me tomorrow. It sounds too familiar.

But just as Jay said in his blog.. It's kind of refreshing to play by myself. Also, Jay, if you're reading this.. I'm getting close to the link we talked about that you hit, Spinning Twirl b2b. I hit it to Spinning Whirl again tonight. It feels natural to do a whirl afterward, I don't know why. I know I can get it soon. Only tried twice tonight. No hurry.

Session:

:arrow: Drifter War 8 contacts! I've wanted that for a while.
:arrow: Messed with some Symposium stuff, like Swivel and Symp Blink. Got both on both sides a handful of times.
:arrow: Smear> Atom> Smear 5x bs, then 1 full drill on both sides.
:arrow: Drilled some Alpine Stepping just to fine tune it a bit more. Really want Ripped x10.
:arrow: Matt helped me realize I had to separate my Pixie/Fairy/Atomic sets into uptime, then downtime… Because of this I could finally BSOS Smog with ease.
:arrow: BOP It: Extreme N= 16, first try. Added a handful of extra contacts into it too. A bit winded by the end of it tough. Have to work on that.

Atomics are feeling better. Will keep working on them. Might try to go for a few badges in the near future. Especially this one badge that I find very fitting with my most recent game.

Oh yeah, also, I'm about to set a pretty ridiculous conceptive op Flapper Delay record. One that would make The Outsider proud. I just need to dedicate a time slot to it.

I R Done. Goobnite.
Nick Polini

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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic »

Well, today was my first session with Jackson in a very long time. Of course he was trying stuff that was out of his league. Especially trying this stuff on his first session in like 3 weeks… Long and short of it… Jackson tried a Whip and landed on his ankle. He thinks he might have broken it. He was able to walk on it, so I don't think it's broken. But for the love of 80's british pop, am I like a bad luck charm or something??? Everyone keeps getting hurt around me. Even I almost ended myself doing a Blender tonight. I'm really sick of seeing this happen though. I really hope people stop getting hurt around me. It's really crappy. Jackson was about to give up earlier in the session because he couldn't do anything. I convinced him to keep playing and soon after, he had his mishap. I couldn't help but feel guilty of his injury today and in result, I didn't have the best session ever. I hope I don't have a black cloud hanging over my head…

Highlights video:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mbW-H8O-Ls[/youtube]

Also talked to Ivan tonight. He went in today and got surgery. He's home now and starting his recovery. Should only be around 8 weeks :) I was pleased to hear this since everyone at the net jam kept saying it could be a year. Ivan is strong. He'll make it through. Random side note.. Ivan is an excellent jam partner. I've traveled to 2 jams with him recently, a total of 11 hours in a car with him. Our conversations were always awesome. Really can't wait til he comes back into it.

Well, good night.
Nick Polini

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"Yeah dude it's all mental. Then it's physical" ~Evan Gatesman
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic »

Hi blorge and blorge readers!

Today after lunch, I got a call from the other Nick P. Nick Pasquarello. He was coming back to the area for his brother's wedding. He hit me up immediately for a session. Of course I agreed. Went over after work and we had a solid 2.5 hour session that was a lot of fun. Stuff was hit. He still plays only a little then improves a significant amount. If he played a few times or even once a week, for like 30 mins to an hour, he could get really good. He hit a bunch of new stuff, but I won't spoil it because he usually blogs after a session with me. I was definitely impressed with his game though. Lots of decent improvements for not playing much.

Highlights:

:arrow: One really sick string. This string helped me realize that I need to just string some easier shred together, then slowly start shredding hard in little bursts. Will use this technique more in the future.
:arrow: Revup> Guillotine bs (Love this)
:arrow: Near Grifter bs (first one I've hit on flipside!) That was a challenge from Nick.
:arrow: It's cool that Ripped Warrior b2b isn't a highlight anymore for me because I can finally do it whenever I want. I opened an ok string with it though, so that was cool.

Then later, I had a solo session when I concentrated on proper Blenders. I always pull mine, which is why all I can do is spin out of them. I had my first pretty good proper Blenders bs tonight. Strong side was an easy fix, but flip was hell. I did manage to figure out how to go about fixing them. Matt Kemmer texted me today and told me I need to trust the turn a bit more and commit to the dex-turn more.

:arrow: (Proper) Blender> Stepping ss Mirage 5x bs

If I focus on an extra hop-turn at the end of my flip Blender, it starts to feel good and natural. It's a work in progress though.

So is sleeping right after drinking a large coffee. ...Why do I do things?
Nick Polini

Footbag is good for the SOLE

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"Yeah dude it's all mental. Then it's physical" ~Evan Gatesman
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F[uns]tylin' Eclectic
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic »

Slept at Nadine's last night. Drove home this morning because she had work and my patents and I are currently driving to our RV on The Susquehanna river. Kind of like our farewell to the spot before we relocate to Maryland. Also cleaning some junk out this weekend. I might be able to meet up with Adrienne Craver (used to be A. Dukes) because she doesn't live super far away, but it is a bit of a drive.

Anyway, when I came home, I did a mini session before leaving. Really had a itch to get better at proper Blenders. Accomplished several things. You'll hear about the other stuff down the road because I don't feel like I'm very good at it just yet. I will say that Pdx Illusions are coming along just about as well as I had hoped.

I did get one great highlight that might not be tough for some of you, but it feels like a severe milestone for me.

Highlight:

:arrow: Blender> Stepping Mirage> Atomsmasher bs

That might honestly be one of my most proud moments in footbag specifically because it displays 2 of my 4 concepts from this month 1 of my 4 from last month and it also felt really smooth and easy on each side. Even the flip Atomsmasher felt easy and just happened without much effort, which was a first.

Been training for my Weird 2 link. Got the first part really easily today on both sides, so that was cool.

Anyway, finished ranting. I'm just stoked on footbag right now... What else is new? :-P

Until next time... Krupp it up.

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Nick Polini

Footbag is good for the SOLE

Funblog

"Yeah dude it's all mental. Then it's physical" ~Evan Gatesman
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F[uns]tylin' Eclectic
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic »

Went to the camper this weekend. Brought lavers, forgot all footbags. Tried to drill Blenders with a rock. Failed. Fiending for session tonight with Nick Pasq

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Nick Polini

Footbag is good for the SOLE

Funblog

"Yeah dude it's all mental. Then it's physical" ~Evan Gatesman
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DC Clinks
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by DC Clinks »

A rock? Nah dude, it's all about shredding with a pool ball. Wow, I was an idiot.
-Daniel C. NY, USA. "Sacrifice a goat to our Lord and Savior Evan Gatesman".
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F[uns]tylin' Eclectic
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic »

Well crap… I just typed a bunch of stuff and then my computer was like like "wait a minute, my tummy hurts. Let me just defecate on everything you typed up." So it did.

Anyway…. Damn. Session tonight with Nick P. Good session. Met some of his family that I hadn't met before. Hit things I hadn't hit before.

Highlights:

:arrow: Pdx Whirl> Pdx Drifter> Pdx DLO bs (stole this from Sunil's part in Where The Ripwalk Ends)
:arrow: New PR: Ripwalk x21! Old PR was 15.
:arrow: New PR: Ducking Butterfly x6.. old PR was 4. Progress.
:arrow: Rubberman! The atomic links were a lot easier this time and practically no struggle finally.
:arrow: Dream drill in the following video… So happy I finally hit it and a kinda cool seal too.
:arrow: Ended session with Blender> Stepping Mirage> Atomsmasher bs again. Love that link.

The Following Video:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL8v61MF1_g[/youtube]

After the session, I went home and drilled:

:arrow: Blender> Stepping ss Mirage 5x bs
:arrow: Stepping Mirage> Atomsmasher 5x bs
:arrow: Stepping Mirage> Atomsmasher> Atomsmasher bs
:arrow: Stepping Mirage> Atomsmasher> Dimwalk *rpt
:arrow: BOP It: Extreme drill, N=16

Now here are some non-footbag pictures of my life from this weekend since I don't want this blog to be ridiculously unbalanced…

This is our RV and our current camping spot on the Susquehanna River…
Image

This is the view on our boat in the Susquehanna River next to our current camping spot.
Image

This is my family and me on our boat in the Susquehanna River next to our current camping spot.
Image

This is my family minus me, plus a fish, on our boat in the Susquehanna River next to our current camping spot….. Along with a video of everything leading up to it...
Image
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lERXX0tuxo[/youtube]

As I said, this was like our final hoorah at this campground. We told the people who run it that we were giving our 2 week notice of relocating and they sounded pissed at us. We've been at the grounds for 21 years.. We definitely needed a change. The fishing was starting to die in the river, too. I haven't caught anything in that part of the river for around 3 years. So excited to try catching some blue fish, stripers, weak fish, and other cool species in Chesapeake Bay at our new spot. Really excited for that, to be quite honest.

Time for me to get to bed. Hope you guys enjoy the pictures. I think I'll try to post more pictures in my blog from now on, so it's not just a boring read.
Nick Polini

Footbag is good for the SOLE

Funblog

"Yeah dude it's all mental. Then it's physical" ~Evan Gatesman
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Cass
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by Cass »

Am I the only one that types blog posts into a word processor first?
F[uns]tylin' Eclectic wrote: Session tonight with Nick P.
Totally thought you were referring to yourself in third person there..


Killer highlights. I liked the one in the video.
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akprice
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by akprice »

Tried to drill Blenders with a rock.
HAHAHAHAHA!!!! a footbagger will find anything to shred with sans a bag. awesome! :D good shit as usual dude. you make it looks so smooth and easy.
Aaron Price
No reason why extreme cardio should be boring. -Salem Straub
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isirc10
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Re: Nick Polini: Operation: DSNY (Don't Suck Next Year)

Post by isirc10 »

Sweet posts, I actually went back and re read the last few pages of blog posts because I was feeling down and couldn't sleep last night. Double edged sword, as I feel warm and fuzzy inside but I also already miss kicking with you and it's only been a week. Looking at all of your drills that have atomsmashers, I know from personal experience that once you stop thinking about that atomsmasher and start doing it automatically, it helps to switch it out with omelette. That does a nice job of tightening up any slop in those drills.

On a personal note, I moved my fingers on my left foot for the first time since my injury. Baby steps I guess. Making sure I can still curl my toes when I go for clipper. Also got a massive plastic boot to put on my foot on Wednesday.

Keep kicking and keep posting. It's my turn to live vicariously through your blog.
Ivan Iakimenko

Maker of I^2 Footbags!
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