Double AA's Footblog - Feeling Lost!!!

[MetZelRio]

What....? I told you Saturday was no indication of your true talent... wow. Didn't see that coming!

[akprice]

well i had an absolute blast in mass last week! what an incredible trip and my biological mom and i have so many memories to take away from this. we stayed at pheasant hill b&b in marblehead, ma. nancy and bill were awesome! they had so much knowledge about the area and were spot on in everything that they recommended. i will skip most of the highlights of the trip and keep it to footbag. although i will say that one of the best parts of the trip was going on a whale watch.

we went out a good ways into the ocean to a place called jeffreys ledge (took about an hour and a half to get there). once we arrived the whales did not disappoint! the first one we saw was named hancock. he was a humpback whale. he was literally like 50 yards from the boat and i got some great shots of him coming out of the water to eat. he would blow bubbles underneath the fish in a circle to keep them confused and corralled. the water would turn a greenish color from this and you knew that any moment the whales head would crest the surface and then... click click click!



we ended up seeing 15 whales that day including humpback, minke and fin. bonus on the way back to land was seeing 2 baskin sharks. they are the biggest sharks in the ocean next to the whale shark. they only feed on plankton and are HUGE! the second one we saw was prob 25' long. you could see their fin and they swam just below the surface with their mouths open to eat. pretty fucking cool!

so, let's get to the shred! my mom and i drove up to salem to meet bob green and kevin hogan. they had shred in salem before and had a cool spot picked out. they told us to park in the parking lot garage that was close to the spot. we came out of the garage and on the wall was one of the coolest murals i have ever seen. the shading was so cool! love shit like this!



bob and kevin arrived and we exchanged pleasantries and started to kick. it was awesome to kick with actual humans again. took me a while to warm up but we shredded for a couple hours. all of us had pretty good sessions. i didn't really work on strings; i just wanted to keep drilling legovers and mirages. not a ton of highlights but it was just good to kick with some cool cats.

legover > op legover > mirage (challenge from bob and kev and i finally hit it toward the end of the shred)
clipper > mirage (getting better. bob wanted me to hit clipper > mirage > ss mirage. i kept trying but the 2nd mirage ended up being some sort of fucked up flying clipper, dragonfly, something something. i have on idea what was going on. my brain was just fucked up every time. i think i was setting too far in front of me and then my brain was just trying to foot the bag. kevin thought it looked styley though so that was cool).
clipper > osis (hit some more of these. tried to slow them down. bob and kev thought my form looked pretty good on these... especially my clippers)

i think that's really about it. not much but had a blast! here a couple of pics from the shred.





afterwards we all went across the street to a seafood place a buddy of mine recommended called the lobster shanty. guy fiery has a show called diners, drive-ins and dives. i guess he featured this restaurant on one of those shows. their specialty is the lobstertini. so they boil a lobster claw and then make a martini. they use some of the boil to put in the martini and then garnish with the lobster claw. sounds kinda nasty to me so i didn't try it but i did pay the $20 for their lobster roll and it was out of this world! it was cool to meet bob and kevin! they were awesome and i was glad they were able to eat lunch with us. i learned that kevin and i are both designers so we had a lot in common and talked about our jobs and our creative process. i sent my portfolio to kev cause he wanted to check out some of my work. bob was super cool as well! he's old school like me and has recently got back into freestyle. he is much better than me but it gave me some hope that i can still do this sport at 42! i hope to see them again in the future.

we had to leave on tuesday. mom and i were exhausted from the trip. we did about everything you could do in boston and the surrounding areas. tuesday morning was laid back and i decided to have a session before we left. it was pretty decent. again just trying to drill legovers and mirages so i can start incorporating them into strings. here are the highlights of that session...

legovers b2b x2 (still not sure on lingo - basically legover > op legover > op legover > op legover. please someone help with the shortcodes here)
mirage > op mirage
clipper > mirage > mirage!!! (i finally fucking got it bob and kev. had to concentrate on the set from the 1st mirage to make sure it was still close to my body so i could hit the 2nd one)
osis b2b (just fucking around with it and hit it. not very pretty but still...

mirages are getting easier now. bob and kev wanted me to start holding the stall a little longer instead of sweeping my foot up for the set. still working on that. legovers are just killing me though. just can't hit these consistently. gonna seriously drill these this weekend.

other than that it was an awesome trip. darren kautz is moving here soon from ohio. he is going to be down here for a few days around june 12. we are hopefully going to meet up thursday after work and get a session in while he is here. i'm really excited to have someone to kick with!!! i'm also gonna try and get david wilder back in the action as well. we have been talking about getting together in june to kick and i saw he posted on his blog the other day that he thought about footbag. he used to kick a while back and then had some injury and got out of it for a while. his blog is North Carolina Shred - BigDirtyFoot if you want to check it out.

til next shred...

[bobgreen]

Awesome writeup of your vacation, and excellent job on the challenges! I thought you would be able to get the clipper > mirage > mirage soon. The legovers b2b x2 you can just call legover x4 if you want to (or op legover x4, but I think normally that is implied if you just say legover).

Your whale photos look awesome, and it makes me want to go out for a whale watching tour. The graffiti is cool too, and even though I've been to Salem a number of times I've never noticed the wall that you took the picture of. I am glad the shred session was so fun and that you guys had an awesome time on the vacation as a whole.

Looking forward to hanging out with you in the future!

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Yeah, I agree. I read this at work and it was enjoyable. Would have been sick if it worked out that you had to go to MA when I went up last month I liked Salem. Really interesting place.

Props on the highlights! Starting to link tiltless is a great sign! Krupp it up!

[MetZelRio]

!!!!! I've been waiting to read your write-up on this... so very glad you had a productive AND fun experience.

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[akprice]

evan gatesman added me as a friend on facebook - tee hee (blush blush)


had my usual sat morning sesh. not anything groundbreaking to report but i thought it was decent. really just tried to tighten shit up with legovers and mirage. also tried to start everything off with flipside. will prob continue to do this.

highlights (sort of):

atw BS (really need to drill these more)
legovers BS (figured out what i was doing wrong. dexing knee was not angled enough to create the triangle. fixed that and was hitting them more easily)
mirage BS
clipper > mirage BS (flip was much better than strong, go figure)
far clipper BS

tried to vid some of the sesh but could not hit anything while taping so scratched that idea. maybe next time.

also feel like i don't have goals during my sesh, so this time at the end i decided to not stop until i hit 3 of everything i worked on that day both sides. felt like i accomplished something after that.

that's about it. darren kautz will be down here this week getting ready for his move. we are scheduled to shred thurs night. he won't have a car so i'll go pick him up in raleigh and we'll find a shred spot for a couple hours. looking forward to it!

[akprice]

i had my early early weekly session this morning at 5 am... ugh!! i hate getting up that early but i'm glad i did.

i have been drill drill drill machine for the last few months. i'm getting tired of it. i want to start stringing tricks together. i had gone back to erik chan's footbag foundations website to look at a tutorial on pickup and wandered over to the tiltless section. he had a tiltless drill that consisted of clipper>far legover>mirage then repeat on flip. i wanted to try it! i warmed up this morning with some toe stalls as usual but jumped right into drilling some legovers and mirages. i had never tried clipper>far legover. i started trying those and was getting pretty close. i found it weird that far legover from clipper was much easier than trying legover from toe. i started hitting em! i tried some on flipside but could not get the set right from clipper and i was getting tired. so i tried strongside clipper>far legover>mirage. it took me about 30 tries or so but i finally hit it! i ended my sesh on that hand catch. i can't tell you how good it felt to hit that. my first real string! now i need to get flipside down so i can string the entire thing together. that would make a 6 contact string. my goal in the fall was to have a tiltless string of 20 contacts by the end of the summer. not sure if i'll get there or not but at least i can start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

here is a short vid of the highlights. i especially like my "war cry" at the end of the string (as vince called it)!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnJed8en9O8[/youtube]

[Muffinman]

Haha. Awesome
Sorry for being on hiatus. I'm subscribed to your blog now, so I can keep closer tabs. The reason clipper-set far legover is easier for you is because you need to learn the magic hop for toe-set. It's not necessary for clipper-set because the setting foot stays off the ground the whole time -- there's not fancy planting footwork required.

Great stuff. I look forward to working more closely with you on your goals and helping to develop new ones

[bobgreen]

Nice job man, props! Just watched the video and your war cry put a huge smile on my face. That is an awesome feeling, and you should appreciate it when you get it.

[Muffinman]

Hey Aaron.
I threw together a video that should hopefully help you understand the magic hop better. I started super basic without a bag and just doing the double-hop movement. Then I did it with toe stalls, after showing what they look like without the magic hop. Then the same with legovers. And then mirages. Then the last clip is from the side showing the legovers and how doing the magic hop automatically makes you play more on your toes than on your heels. Then I slowmoed the whole thing for you to watch more carefully if you want.

It may be super nuanced without the slowmo, and the biggest indicator of the magic hop will probably be the sound in this video, so listen for that and then listen for it when you try it yourself Hope this is helpful. Let me know what you think and if you have any questions or need further clarification.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18WYUsAzDRA[/youtube]


EDIT: I should also add that part of why the magic hop makes tricks easier is because it gives you leeway to more easily reposition yourself if the bag goes anywhere other than exactly where you need it to (which you can see a little bit of in the video -- especially the sideways clip).

[akprice]

a few people were interested in the session darren and i were supposed to have last night but mother nature had other plans and i didn't have an indoor location available. so we'll get together after he moves down here in july!

[MetZelRio]

I'm one of the few. This is not a Marines Ad. Although that would be good too.

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[akprice]

well my session on saturday wasn't that great. i had no stamina or energy to work on legovers or mirages like i wanted to. got pretty discouraged and then remembered that erik told me to try and end my sessions on high notes (especially if i don't have a great session). so i decided to try and beat some personal records with basic kicks and got these:

all personal records

toe kicks - 8x
inside kicks - 35x
strong outside kick - 10x
flip outside kick - 7x
knee kicks - 10x
inside stall 10x
legover 5x

i also really need to work on my clippers big time. i was trying a basic string that paul showed me of clipper>toe>op toe>clipper. i could get strong clip>toe>toe> but when i got to flip clip i was having trouble landing it. i know i really want to learn some strings but i don't have any tricks nailed down yet. nick told me to work on 4 tricks a month and own them. well i don't own any tricks right now. so how am i going to be able to put strings together if i don't own any tricks. so... i believe it is back to drilling for a while. my goal (not sure if i'll get this nailed this month or not) is to work on clipper, mirage, legover and maybe pickup. the month of may was dedicated to mirage and legover but i'm still not there yet.

on another note my lower back has been killing me after the last 2 sessions. i'm not sure what is going on. i think it's either drilling clippers or mirages that is doing it. my body is soooo old.

[Muffinman]

I feel you.
I have lots of pain too. I know you're older than me, but I still feel like I'm a lot older than the average player, and my "career" has been so riddled with injury. So I relate. I'm glad you remember to think positively I think that's one of your major weaknesses -- too high expectations of yourself. I'm sorry I missed the stream! I had a similar session today though, where I hadn't played in a week and I wanted to try fun things, but my body wasn't feeling it, so I just worked on setting fun and productive goals at a much lower difficulty level. I wanted to do fogs and mobiuses, but I ended up working on just clippers and basic 2s and 3s, and I was still able to have a good time, knowing that my body needed to ease into it and not having super high expectations of myself. Listening to my body.

Nick has great advice. But I think that you could take that one step further and adapt it to how your body is feeling and what feels more comfortable for you at your current skill level. I think that Paul;s suggestions are more fitting and may be more productive for you right now. You can still work on strings and combos, just lower the difficulty a lot so that your strings consist of 1 add tricks instead of 2 adds tricks. No reason to push further than you're ready. A strong foundation only means those tricks will eventually come much more naturally

[MetZelRio]

What I do when I drill a string that has a flip component that I'm not so great at is start with the flipside, so for your string, start with flip clipper, near toe, toe, near clipper and from there keep this pattern going eventually. It feels really good to be able to keep that pattern going when you do, so keep it up bro!

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[akprice]

thx for the encouragement guys... means a lot!

erik - i agree that i need to just listen to my body and then just concentrate on whatever i can do that day. i'm trying to not be so hard myself but i've always been that way and its stuff to stop.

paul - i will try starting with flip on those strings. good idea!

[akprice]

OMG!!!

so i had an epic session this morning. i really needed it after the shit one i had this weekend. paul gressett (metzelrio) gave me a challenge earlier in the week. he wanted me to try clipper>ss toe>toe>clipper>ss toe>toe>clipper. i tried hitting it this weekend but was just not getting the same toe from clipper. so this morning i tried again and still was having issues. so instead i tried far toe and was hitting it. i also started with flip clip every time because they are still weak. after a few tries i finally hit paul's challenge. i taped it and was pretty excited. it's not the prettiest thang but i accomplished it. i rested for a bit and then decided to try again but to just keep going. this run was 16 contacts and towards the end i ended up hitting clipper>ss toe and wasnt' trying to. paul pointed this out to me just a little bit ago. he was like "dude, was that clip>ss toe intentional or shred?" i was like, wow, it was shred. i kept screwing up coming out of flip clip and going to ss toe for some bizarre reason. paul said, dude, that is shredding. your mind and muscles are finally working together. HOLY SHIT!

here is the proof. i know it's just toe stalls and clipper but this was huge for me. it can def be cleaned up as well.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM8B2T0pPtM[/youtube]

[Muffinman]

[akprice]

well i had another kick ass 5 am morning session! really starting to like these early morning sesh's. takes a little bit to get going but i seem to get a lot more accomplished.

started off working on legovers and mirage. really tired that theses are taking so long to get the hang of. feels like i've been drilling them for months. let's dive into both for a minute.

legovers - i think i'm on the crest of these becoming a fluent part of my game. erik told me to use the magic hop more with these. i thought i was but have been concentrating on using it more. this morning it clicked. i wasn't necessarily hitting them consistently but it was the "sound". my feet sounded like a galloping horse, so i know that the hop was working. erik's vid that he made me was awesome. i really concentrated on the sound that legovers made with the hop and tried to emulate it. it was so cool to hear that sound this morning. now my problem is the set after i hit one. i kept setting too far into my body which made it impossible to repeat another one. just gotta keep drilling them but at least i know i'm close!

mirage - this trick just seems strange to me. choppy! i finally downloaded vasek klouda's footbag manual. unbelievable! i was reading the section on mirage and he had a tip that no one has mentioned yet. here's an excerpt...

"The main problem is the set. The set is on the side you are making the dex, so you could imagine the Footbag coming up diagonally from your right foot to your left hip. When you set, put the set foot immediately back on the ground but now on a 45 degree angle pointing outwards. Then when your dexterity foot comes around the Footbag, it is actually following that support leg's new direction."

MIND=BLOWN!

i had been setting the bag straight up which made it hard to dex around with other leg. tried setting toward the dexing leg this morning and they were much easier. thx vasek manual!

the other funny thing in his manual about mirages was that he sucked at them. check this out...

"Vasek explains that he could do blenders before he could do mirage. He couldn't do the downtime quick switch in mirage. He would set, do the mirage and then hope that the Footbag would fall on his toe while it was still on the ground. If it ever worked he was really happy. He says everyone teased him about it. This was a clear way as well that the other players like Ales were much faster learners than Vasek in some ways. It's great for us to know that he was so bad at this, and that he had to work really hard to be so great at them now."

i don't feel so bad now about having issues with mirage.... HA!

here's some other highlights from the sesh...

204 cons toe stalls. paul gave me a tip on lacing. i told him my funky lavers toe box didn't seem very big. he gave me a lacing technique that would open them up more and boy it seemed to help. i could've kept going on the toe stalls but my hips were killing me. here's a pic of the new lacing technique...



so you can see, the tighter you pull to lace them, the more they'll pull on the toe box to open it up. thx paul!!!

ss mirage - first time trying these and strongside came pretty easy. flip was not. could not hit one. keep drilling
clippers - new pr on consecutives - 7 strong and 4 flip (6 and 3 were old records). only beat by one but it felt good. vince and i discovered that we both had the same records on clipper so i'm officially laying down the gauntlet to vince so we can push each other to get these numbers higher. hear me vince???
clipper>legover - these are getting better. tried on flip and finally hit one. need to keep drilling flip.

i think that's about it. tried some more strings with clipper and toe. erik wanted me to exaggerate the toe stall more in those. i tried but figured out the problem is my set from my flip clip isn't going very high, thus i don't have much time for the stall. just need to keep working on the set. i also tried to hold the stalls longer, especially the clippers.

i'm really happy where my game is right now. things are starting to click and maybe my goal in the spring of hitting a 20 contact tiltless string by the end of the summer is still reachable. i hope so!

-kish

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Damn, so much improvement since Jamps. Looking forward to the next time we meet up at a jam. Krupp it up dude

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