Canberra, Australia via SCL - Daniel Boyle

[boyle]

Really good session today. It was only pretty short, but the best thing was the final combo. The dear wife had given me the time up signal, as we had to give the little man a bath, and I said to myself, well you have one opportunity to do this.

ripped warrior>ripped warrior

The session started out really cold. I was still wearing a jumped but I struggled to warm up. Later on I was really sweating, but I was still cold. Something that helped me get into things was 116 clippers. There was a post on the Facebook group recently about the 500 clippers from the Vasek manual.

I think I've only read it once. And it may have been redone, but there were so many spelling errors that it made me cry.

I'm sure this post will be filled with various errors after writing that sentence.

Anyway, this short session was all about the stepping ducking. I hit spikehammer and stepping diving butterfly for the first time on my flipside, and "zulu warrior" (I'm certainly hoping that's what stepping zulu butterfly is.)

Did a couple more tours today. First group showed to about 40 people, the second group I had was very small, but another group was around so it was probably about 50 people there. In that one I nearly fell over and rolled my ankle. Saved myself somehow, so that was good.

Interesting the topics some time ago about falling. We are teaching little Nicolas how to sit up and trying to get him to get his balance when falling. So important to be able to fall or to recover from a slip up.

Got a good response from Paul Harvey, who practically runs freestyle football in Australia and the surrounding countries and has a lot to do on a world level. I think he'll be my key man on the grant application, which I would like to submit pretty soon.

It's good they have the seedings all ready to go for Worlds. My one thought is that Taiishi is going to go well above his seed, as he's been really training and performing lately. I hope next year we see a bigger field.

I guess if there's time in advance a club like PSU could make an application to send a bunch of players anywhere in the world.

Something that's great to see is there are quite a few people going to the East Coasts from all around the place.Once you start travelling for tournaments it's pretty difficult to stop.



We got this thing the other day. I just realised that we haven't gone and spelled out FOOTBAG as yet. Something for tomorrow. Next week he will be 6 months, and in the not too distant future I will be 30. Time flies....

[MetZelRio]

Ripped warrior B2B? What would you say is the secret to getting stepping set consistently alpine?

[boyle]

It's all about the set, and having set it consistently for years into my face, that's not the way to do it. I've been working on getting a straighter release of the bag from the foot, and also less effort/force into the set, and letting the technique take the bag up, I think that's really important.

But that's the first time I've done it, so I'll be qualified to give the tips once I get it a bit more consistent!

Something to add from this impressive yet short session, was darwalk bsos for the first time.

[Asmus]

Ripped Warrior > Ripped Warrior is huge! Props!

Looks like your kid have a pretty fast left foot. I can see triple dexes in the future!

[boyle]

Stoked on that one, it's been on my dream list for ages. Think the little guy will have a bit of competition in the junior categories! A few of the players here have babies, then on the world stage there are people like Tina, Tuukka and Wiktor who are....developing the future of footbag!

[boyle]

I didn't really play today. I had a tour this morning at 8:30, did that and did a short footbag demonstration. I had a couple of drops in that, which wasn't so good. Hadn't warmed up...I was mainly looking after Nicolas, then we had a friend over for dinner. I've felt quite tired today as well. Lot of excuses there. I was hoping to play every day this month, the other goal was to write about footbag each day in here, which is still going strong.



We went into the hostel today, had some good chats with the old friends there. I hope that at some stage in the near future a job opens up there. Then the timewarp will be complete. We're living in pretty much the same street as when we left, I'm working back at my old job, and I may even go back to my old uni...but the addition to the family definitely makes things different....

My hope is that the ripped warrior b2b combo will open up my ability to put together longer fearless strings. I mentioned a while back that I was working on getting a few of those kind of combos together which should make it easier to get things going longer.

My parents are coming up this weekend, hopefully I can make some time to have a kick around.

Evergreen Terrace recently put something on Twitter about coming to Australia. I really hope it's during October, that would be a lot of fun.

[boyle]

Another strong session today. I was trying to do the ripped warrior b2b combo the other way, so that I was going into the weak side. Haven't got that as yet, but if I can get that, it shouldn't be too much more difficult to do do x3. Something I remembered I had been challenged when I was in Europe, in Switzerland as a matter of fact, was whirling swirl x 2. I've still never done it, so I tried a bit of work on that. It's not really a trick I do too much, so I need to train on that some more.

I was also trying whilring swirl into ss butterfly swirl. I think that could be quite a good combo. I did dimwalk swirl and was close to having that on both sides. Also hit stepping ss dlo, which I'm not sure if I've done before, however it was much much easier than previously.

One thing that disappoints me about being in this "golden run of form", where I'm hitting new tricks and long runs, even just doing the basic stuff well (107 clippers today), is that the big tournaments are all flying by. There was a post on Facebook about how many Worlds each person has been to. After coming back from Worlds in Berlin, I'm sure I said "I want to go to Worlds every year", to Caroline. She said yeah me too, and it seems she really meant it...

Anyway, I have my heart set on going to Worlds next year. I've been applying for more jobs, but it has been a little slow on that front. I was looking at the plan ahead, and the last week of August is very good, I should earn at least $700 in that week, but up til then it's much less than that.

In reality I though I could just waltz back into the hostel - at least with one shift a week or something, but seems there's no opening there at the moment, though they know I'm looking, and I think I will be first cab off the rank if someone leaves, which they generally do soon enough in that kind of industry.

Anyway, I'm quite enjoying my footbag sessions lately. The fact that I am hitting new tricks and combos can always help that. Fun new combo that I hit today was pixie diving osis>blurriest.

Will have to get in touch with Copey for a kick around sometime soon.

[boyle]

Had a session this evening, though it didn't have the same impact as the previous days. I got pretty sweaty, which I guess is the same result, but there weren't many breakthroughs and I thought to often about how it would be nice to be at Worlds.

Think I got my best go at pixie everything, I started with pixie ss illusion on each side, pixie ss mirage on each side, then into my usual drill of magellan>smear>plo rpt. I'm not sure if I was counting correctly, so I finished with somewhere between 9 and 11, with a pixie pickup at the end. I'll have to go with 9 as my best, but it's still better than my previous, which was 8. Which I did in the first couple of weeks I was in Chile.

I think I can do it though, or at least get say, 12 or 13 contacts. I'm going to work on that some more this week.

It's going to be my 30th in just over a month. I'm thinking I'd like to do something footbag related for my birthday. Maybe have a tournament in this recently mentioned garage. One comp I've always thought would be good fun (though it would have to be in real life, not online) is "best Sick 3 with a full can of drink in hand".

I submitted the application for this grant for keeping friendly with the Latinos. Since I've been doing exactly that for the past few years for free, I think I may be in with a shot. I guess the application is a bit unorthodox, but I think that could help me get over the line, we'll see.

Last year it went from 150 to 30 (that's where I am now), and that went down to 14. So the chances are pretty reasonable (especially considering that Start Up Chile went 1300 down to 80).

Back on the tours tomorrow. I've picked up a little more work, so that's good. Hopefully each day I can just add one or two more and that'll keep me plugging along.

It would be pretty amazing if I got that grant. Although there's not really any salary in it for me, there are a lot of other opportunities. It would also be a piece of "real sports management experience" and a successful job, aside from being strong exposure for footbag, would make me pretty employable.

Let's see if I get it at all. At least I've applied for it. My decision to push the button was spurred on by the fact my Mum asked me about this job I was applying for, at the Judo federation. It would have been reasonable potential, though I probably would not have got it, but I was maybe halfway through the application and then just forgot about it, and now the time is up. Oops.

I think I mentioned a while back that we got a fridge for $20. That's already being relegated to the shed, as we got a bigger and better one for free...

[Allan]

Hey Daniel, I don't think I've ever commented to you how much I appreciate the work you've been doing in promoting and writing here. I always look forward to your posts. I just wanted to say as much. Keep up the great work

[boyle]

Thanks Allan, it's always nice to have people stop by and say nice things.

My recent posts have been a good mixture of new tricks as well as interesting possibilities for the sport.

I think it's really important to write things down, whether on here or anywhere.

A good place to let thoughts build into momentum.

[boyle]

Switched my session up from night time to daytime, nice to play outside. Was a little bit of sun around so that was good, as it was colder when I left.

Along the way I did phoenix>blurry whirl>spinning ducking osis>tomahawk. That's the second time I've done 4 fearless, and that's the second time I've done 4.

Was a bit annoying today, I walked over to the tours, which is reasonably far (maybe about 6km), then I had a break, which was good for my footbag session, but then the next tour that was meant to be on never happened, so then I walked back home.

I want to buy a bike in the next few days. My bike is on the shipping which is still a long way away, so I'd just like a cheap one to get around in between.

I am listening to the Raiders game on the radio. They are playing very badly. It seems they will come last.

It took me too long to do this combo during the session today, but I got it eventually - pixie ss clipper>blurry pickup rpt.

Anyway. Glad I'm not there in the cold at the stadium!

[akprice]

i like your idea of having a sick 3 with full drink in hand at your 30th. need to have vid of that! thx for the compliment on my logo. think it turned out pretty sick!

[Asmus]

That's the second time I've done 4 fearless, and that's the second time I've done 4.

You seconded yourself! Props on 4 fearless!
Maybe you could start it with Spikehammer and get 5?

We need to have another idea-bouncing-session soon!

[boyle]

I've been working on my flip spikehammer to go into some longer fearless combos, might take a while still, but I think I shouldn't have too much trouble getting 5 or 6.

I kind of want to see what happens in regard to this grant, that's going to set up the next year ahead for me and will set where the ideas should be going (and give me the money to actually do it).

I had a Skype chat with Paul Harvey, a guy I mentioned before. On thinking, I should have got in touch with him when I kicked off my time in Start-Up Chile. I did get in touch with some guys from the freestyle football federation, but he is probably the guy who could've been on the right wavelength to fit in with what I was doing.

Anyway, potential footbag tournament (nationals?) alongside the Oceania freestyle championships, and lots of options for working together, particularly on wider scale projects, as he is also running an Oceania federation. That has always been something I'd like to do, just journey around the Pacific and pop in to the islands and teach a few sports and get things going. There's grants for that too, so maybe next year...

I had a short session today, didn't hit much good. Can't even remember anything remotely interesting. Was working on, but not hitting drifter>torque rpt.

That video for Ivan was really awesome. Nice community spirit. Wish I had've known, I could have contributed something.

So I'm going back to uni, going to study teaching. The course is two years full time (it's graduate entry, so cuts it down a bit), so I'll see how that goes. At least I can power through this first semester full time and we can see what happens from there.

I watched that video with Clavens and Brian the other day. So smooth and stylish, both guys. It looked they were having heaps of fun too, which is what life's all about, so that's good.

[boyle]

Sometimes I make these long posts on the Facebook group. This is a very interesting topic, came up about Battles and the different events within the competition.

This was what I had to say.

I liked the look of battles from the Austrian champs, in terms of bringing in accessibility, things like consecutive kicks (but not 5 mins, just 1 min is easier to run), golf are good for giving anyone the opportunity to play.

From what I have seen in freestyle football, the judging is wrong almost all of the time. A lot of these events have been sponsored though, and the thing they love to do is bring in a "star judge" (too bad those guys don't know anything about what they're judging.)

The key problem with routines is that most people don't put enough training into the routine itself, particularly at smaller tournaments, plenty of people just make them up on the spot. Not enough focus on the performance, the pre-planned moves on the beat etc etc.

Sick 3 is a weird one, like Ianek said noone really does it "right", and just keeps dropping, though I prefer to have it open rather than having to set your combo.

Circle is an interesting one, as it displays most of how we play in a general session, though I do think a battle scenario could be better for a crowd.

Marco mentioned the small stages, I think the battles good be a really cool thing to do in a bar, show off the sport to an audience that's already there, maybe in between sets when a live band is playing.

The smaller tournaments don't need every competition, but there is a great opportunity to try things out, which is what the Austrian guys did.

[brianbear]

The key problem with routines is that most people don't put enough training into the routine itself, particularly at smaller tournaments, plenty of people just make them up on the spot. Not enough focus on the performance, the pre-planned moves on the beat etc etc.

100% agreed. I understand that it is less "fun" to train a routine over and over and you get sick of the song etc. But there is a great satisfaction that comes from working on a routine (at least 100x) and then hitting it. If it weren't for routines, I would not even compete. I am quite guilty of procrastinating when it comes to getting ready for routines. The only time I did it 100+ times before an event I did go dropless though. Hard work = results.

[boyle]

I really like routines actually, and enjoy preparing for them. It really is a sensational feeling to do a dropless routine and perfect something you have been working on so long.

[boyle]

Just had a short session today. It ended with double spinning butterfly, which is not a trick I do that often (I find DSO easier). One link I was trying to get was tapdown>diving legover rpt. I got the combo on both sides but couldn't link it up. Neither are tricks I really do regularly, so I think that could take a bit of work to get done, would be good to then go into legbeater>ducking legover rpt following up from that.

So today I had four tours and I had a couple of night tours, well I just had the one tour, but I showed the other group my footbag skills. So that was 150 people during the evening, and probably about 300 or more in total. Things are picking up a bit, but it's still very patchy. So I'm really hoping that I will get the Austudy payment.

That would be a really good help. The uni season will actually start the week after next, so I need to get things started.

And today is 6 months since Nicolas arrived in our lives. Here's a photo that Francisca just posted up. This is the future of footbag....



In reality I have been saying when people ask if he will be a sportsman that I'd like him to play tennis. Reasons - if he becomes the best, he'll be a millionaire, and treat his parents well. If he's not that good, he can just play on the Futures, and choose some nice places to go along the way. It's also not as boring as something like cricket which goes for too long.

It's gone pretty quick those 6 months, I don't know if this is where we thought we'd be half a year, or one year ago, but it's definitely been a journey.

Brian wrote something on his blog about recognition, including self recognition. I'll touch on that another day.

[boyle]

Had a good last session of the month. In recent days I have been starting out with 100 kicks with a soccerball, then sometimes going on a bit and doing some freestyle football. Today I did swirl, diving clipper and a few reasonable length runs. I also worked from those regular tricks, to moving through smoothly to the on the ground tricks. I am improving quite a bit at that actually, might have to put a bit more time into that.

Started out going for 100 tiltless. Dropped on the first trick, so that wasn't a good start. Got 95 a couple of goes later. That was enough for today. Dimwalk swirl on both sides, parkwalk swirl was my final trick. Need to work on some more tricks that connect the clipper and the toe, that would help me increase my fearless. I also hit fairy diving osis, it felt pretty awkward so I have a feeling that would be first time.

Interesting that Rene topped Vasek in the semis at Worlds, I had a feeling he was going to have a pretty good tournament, as he has had strong results the last few years. I reckon Tina in Open would be an interesting proposition, in reality this year she would have a pretty good chance at a medal with a dropless routine, I think she'd be in the finals for sure.

So we're off for the weekend tomorrow. Have an early start on the tours, 8am kickoff, but I'll be finished before lunchtime and we'll be off on our way.

Not sure if I'll go for the daily blogging, or kicking, for the next month, but I'll definitely be doing both regularly. It's been good to get my thoughts down each day. Definitely have my fingers crossed about this grant. And toes. But I have to not think about it too much, rather than hype it up and get disappointed.

Anyway, that would be the third time that I would have got a grant, so that would be something, including for job applications....

[boyle]

We have spent the weekend in a place called Kangaroo Valley. It's actually on a property a bit outside of town, but it's still a valley and there are still kangaroos outside each morning. It's been a big family trip with pretty much all of my Dad's family.

We have had a pretty good time down here, there are kayaks and a tennis court, as well as table tennis and a pool table indoors.

I got in a couple of short sessions over the weekend, though I didn't play at all on Friday. Yesterday I hit dimwalk>stepping ducking clipper>vortex. I like that the combo came with the stepping ducking not as the first trick.

It could also be good to "upgrade" that combo to phoenix>ripped warrior>mobius. I reckon I could hit that. I was also thinking today about the kind of tricks I could hit out of mobius to continue on for a good string.

Here is the tennis court I was playing on. Nice view...





There have been enough kangaroo photos here, so here is a wombat.



Here is a video from the last month. Some nice views, kangaroos and a few near misees.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebd2kvUz0bQ[/youtube]

Despite playing a lot, I didn't capture much good to put into a highlights package.