The Fast and the Furious: Operation El Kemino, Tokyo Edition

[Matt K]

Thanks, Ben.

Dan and I had our last session before I leave for USO. Despite the shitty conditions (little light under the pavilion in the park we play at, rain, dirt everywhere causing dirty bags quick), it was probably the best session I could've had right before a tournament. Long strings and good control got my spirits high, and hopefully with good bags and good conditions I'll do even a little better.

Vortex>Janiwalker bs
Pixie Muted Clipper>Spinning Muted Clipper>Symp Whirl>Pdx Illusion rpt bs
Pixie ss Swirl>Superfly bs

[Matt K]

USO links so I don't forget

Whirr>Janiwalker bs
Janiwalker>Gravedigger bs
Whirlygig>Gyro DLO>Dolomite (my sick 3)

On the second day:

Blurry Whirl>Janiwalker bsos (pretty much to close the tournament)

other good stuff that I can't remember

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Sick highlights dude. Congrats on more than just the highlights

[akprice]

dude, congrats on sick and sick 3!!!!! tore it up!

oh and thanks for the analysis on my legovers.

[MetZelRio]

[Matt K]

Thanks guys, and Paul, where was that taken?

So I was in Portland last weekend for USO. Despite the plane troubles that made me arrive 10 hours later than expected, I had a really great time. Most of the people there I had either never met before or had not seen for a number of years, which was an interesting change from the very close-nit East coast jams of the past year that I've gone to.

I played a ton on both Saturday and Sunday, which I really had a fun time doing. All of the circles I played in were a great time and I got to see a variety of styles during the short trip. This was also my best tournament in terms of competition results, which was very exciting and liberating; anyone who's ever competed with me knows I get awful jitters, but I actually held it together for the most part this time!

I only decided to go a week before the event, so I opted to not throw together a bad routine and offered to judge that instead. I always enjoy judging, and I really enjoyed most of the routines I saw. I did, however, compete in circle, sick 1, and sick 3.

I slid through my semi-final circle not so gracefully on the first day before competing in the two minor events. I hit one of the combos I hastily jotted down on the plane (Whirlygig>Gyro DLO>Dolomite) for sick 3 but failed to hit anything else. I got up for sick 1 and really had no idea what to even try. Luckily, Alex got back at just the right moment to attempt a sick 3 that he almost missed because he was not present. I took the opportunity to warm up blazing for about 20 seconds and came back to hit one of the best Blazing Drifters I've ever done. I felt like these were about the best I could've done on the day so I was pretty satisfied. The results were announced and it turned out I won both! I had never won any event before, so it was really cool to win my first two within minutes of each other.

The next day was circle finals. It was me, Dustin, Brian, and Chris, in that order. I did OK in variety while everyone else did well. In density everyone else did crappy and I was the only one who did decently. Turned out I won the density round, and the judges announced that Brian was the outright winner (he did really great in this and routines). They announced that there might be a tie, and I figured that Dustin and I tied for 3rd (which I would've been plenty happy with; getting 3rd was the stretch goal for the day), but they followed up saying that Dustin got 4th and Chris and I had tied for 2nd. At this point I was already guaranteed 3rd, so I was pretty psyched and was able to just unload in the hack off for 2nd. I felt pretty confident by the end and the judges announced that I had won the hack off and took 2nd place in the circle!

Normally I'm lucky to make finals, so a 2nd in a major event and two 1sts in minor events makes me feel absolutely ecstatic and for once completely satisfied with how I did. I feel like this tournament will help to shake off my competition nerves, and I'm actually pretty excited for the next chance I'll have to compete.

So, sorry that this is not a full writeup, but thanks to everybody who went to the event and super thanks to Chris for his awesome hospitality and great job at hosting US Open. See you guys next year.

[Asmus]

Congratulations on the great results!

[Matt K]

Thank you, Asmus.

Dan and I played yesterday together for the first time since I left for USO. While I was gone I gave him a list of things to do in his solo sessions to give him more focus and they've really payed off. He looks stronger than ever and it's been his biggest improvement since the first few weeks that we started playing.

I also played very well. USO gave me a bit more perspective on my game and I already feel better than last week. I've slowed down again and am putting more strength into each trick (probably to the level that I was learning after Worlds 2010) and I'm trying to tone down my strings; I saw that generally in a circle I would be playing much harder than anyone else, but have much shorter strings. I'm pulling back a bit and I feel more consistent and satisfied to get many more long strings more often. The most notable thing I got in this session was Pdx Blender>Schmoe>Dimwalk rpt, which is not huge, but my blenders have been pretty sketchy since sometime last year, so it feels good to get a little control back with them.

I also had a solo session today that lasted nearly 3.5 hours! Definitely my most productive and best feeling drill session of the year.

Spinning Ducking Butterfly 5x bs
Pdx Blender>Blur 5x bs
Stepping Diving Clipper 5x bs
Legbeater>Blurriest>Blur 5x bs
High Stepping Cliper 5x bs

In addition to my regular practice I'm going to try to work my core fearless links each session so I can more easily build up a long string of them. I combined regular stringing with these, and most of the time got a pretty good string after the link:

Tomahawk b2b 3x bs
Blurry Whirl>Blurry Drifter 3x bs
Janiwalker b2b 3x bs (these were the best feeling janis I've ever got and the first time I've hit them b2b more than on a fluke)
Blurriest b2b 3x bs

Other cool stuff I got:

Pdx. Blender>Stepping Whirl bs
A good feeling Fury bs (one of the best I've ever done on flip; feels like it could be consistentish soon)
Spender>Blur bs (I don't wonder if Nick has hit this, and I doubt he ever could, especially not today of all days)

To top off my good drilling I was able to end the session by hitting my 120 bop warmdown dropless (and totally frying my body, yay!)

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Matt, you're a dirty beast at footbag. Go take a shower.

No really man, you're getting so good and I can't wait to see you take it to the next level soon. You've easily passed your skill level from before you started your hiatus. Also, want to publicly thank you for helping me a lot along the way with everything. I don't think I'd be where I am without your help.

Hope to see you at PSU Artsfest Jam. We'll throw down some serious beans in some circles.

[MetZelRio]

The picture of the street sign was taken in the city I live. Manistee, Michigan. They named the road after you because of your recent US open victories, or whatever 'n' stuff.

[Matt K]

n stuff, definitely.

Had another 2 hour drill session today and did mostly the same stuff from yesterday. I was in a rush so I did without the majority of my warmup:

Spinning Ducking Butterfly 5x bs
Pdx Blender>Stepping Mirage 5x bs
Stepping Diving Clipper 5x bs
Legbeater>Blurriest>Stepping Whirl 5x bs
High Stepping Cliper 5x bs

Tomahawk b2b 3x bs
Blurry Whirl>Blurry Drifter 3x bs (this is starting to feel easy again, yay)
Janiwalker b2b 3x bs (this is so satisfying, I can't wait till my next session to do it again)
Blurriest b2b 3x bs

Other shiite I got as an extension of these drills:

PS Whirl>Spinning Whirl>Spinning Ducking Butterfly bs
Pdx. Blender>Tombstone bs
Legbeater>Blurriest>Stepping Whirl>Blur rpt
Blurry Whirl>Blurry Drifter rpt>Blurriest>Blurriest

Ended with Spender bsos and then Jani>Food bs. Hot dog.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

You're going to be too scary to shred with soon. I gotta up my game to stay near your level. Can't wait to see this stuff in person... Hoping that will be this upcoming weekend

[Matt K]

A few things have happened since the last post:

My 12 year old car has been very unreliable this year and I finally had the last straw with it. I was trying to make it to November (when the inspection is due) to get a new one, but it wasn't worth feeling unsafe and unconfident in it so I bought a new car. On Tuesday I test drove vehicles, on Wednesday I bought one, and on Friday I drove it off the lot and instantly took it to PSU for the arts fest jam.

The gathering was a lot of fun. Besides the length, the drive was nice and I didn't have to worry about the car at all (except for dinging it or something like that). Dan and I rolled in right at midnight on Friday/Saturday. Much playing and hanging out was had. I don't remember many highlights from of my own, but I felt like I played very well (despite being exhausted from the heat the first day and not fully recovered the second). I had lots of long strings throughout the two days that I was really satisfied with and I already feel a lot better than I was at USO.

On the way back at around 10pm I was surfing around the radio and I said to Dan "Alright, let's see if we can find some good/bad late night talk radio. I want someone really impassioned but really wrong about something." Not a minute later we landed on godandcountryradio.org where the host was speaking against same-sex marriage with such great arguments as: 1) The same-sex marriage movement is not about equality, it's about pushing their agenda, 2) Gay people don't love one another like normal people so marriage is not the same for them, and 3) The government must regulate same-sex marriage for the good of the people who are fighting for it, just as the government must regulate hardcore drug use (Krokodil was his specific example) for the good of the people. Holy shit.

I'll be taking a few days off to recover and be back at it mid-week. Thanks PSU team for a great trip and see you all soon!

[Matt K]

I had my first session since I got back from PSU. It was pretty abysmal and cut short, but I did get one good thing worth noting:

PS Whirl>Spinning Whirl>Spinning Ducking Butterfly rpt bs

[Derek]

For being abysmal and cut short, that's impressive. Insane highlights, glad you got re-sparked back into footbag,'tis the best workout. Since seeing you in action, I have realized I adore your style a fair amount. Can't wait to see it some more.

[Matt K]

Thanks man. It was one gem in a sea of middling and lackluster strings.

Dan and I played yesterday in Saratoga for nearly 3 hours. Dan had the best strings I've ever seen him do. It's clear his drilling is really paying off and it's still exciting to see where he'll get to in a couple months. To my surprise, I felt really great and I'd say the grand majority of my strings were very good. Not a lot of link highlights, just long strings, and I did hit a couple of 6s that I haven't touched in years.

The most notable of which was Blurry Torque bs which I hadn't hit since the very last day of USO 2011. I vividly remember the moment as Nick Landes and I were wrapping up a very long day of playing with some final strings and combos. I told him "alright, Nick, this is the last thing that I'm going to hit at USO" and within a few tries proceeded to get a fantastic feeling Blazing Drifter>Blurry Torque (probably the best link I've ever hit). I hand caught and then took my shoes off, finishing the session and the weekend with that. That day and that moment represented the height of my pre-hiatus footbag ability, and even though today I feel better in almost every way, it's still significant to check off those mental boxes. One more down.

[Matt K]

I've had a few sessions since the last post, but nothing super noteworthy. Two with Dan, and one solo a couple of days ago. A little rusty because I've only been able to play about once a week, but I still managed to hit a new 9 fearless (almost accidentally?) during the last session. I think getting 12 by the end of the summer is perfectly attainable (and it'd be pretty stupid not to get it) so we'll see where to go from there.

[Matt K]

Just got home from a really kickass session with Dan in Saratoga. We both played very well, and I actually have some link highlights:

Tombstone>Stepping Whirl rpt first try
Janiwalker>Blurriest bs
Janiwalker>Blurry Whirl>Blurry Drifter>Blurriest bs
edit: High Stepping Clipper>Pdx. Torque bsos

In addition to those I had a lot of really nice runs. Furious is feeling back to great, which is awesome, and I did a lot of Scorpion's Tails today (probably subconsciously influenced by the new Evan video); it's definitely one of my favorite tricks, and I can do it fairly well, so there's no reason not to do more of them. I tried some fearless combos, but I kept getting stuck at 6. The pieces are all pretty close to coming together to break 10, so definitely soon.

Dan told me that two girls glanced at me as I was stringing. Nice.

[isirc10]

Man I hope those girls were taking video and will post it here.
All of those links are awesome. Scorps is one of my favorite spinning tricks to see people hit. I expect you to be even more badass stuff by the time ECFC rolls around.

[DC Clinks]

Dunno about the video, but here's a blurry picture taken with my smartphone:



Matt also said he had a dope camera so maybe footage in the future?