Cass shreds - Spring Training 2024

[CJ]

Hey Cassy
Missed your presence at Worlds this year.
I'm not sure if you know already, but the Women's Circle Contest at Worlds (Finals only - there was no semi's) was declared the "Open Women's Circle" (with Steve explicitly stating that it's not "Intermediate") and so, for the first time that I'm aware of, we competed with the same structure as Open - variety and density phases of three runs each. I'm calling this a win
Congrats too on your ongoing game. Loving your progress. Shred on!!

[Cass]

It's so great to hear from you Caroline!! I hope to visit you in Gdansk in the not-too-distant future

Baby steps I suppose. I would like to see high level women freestylers ranked with the men at worlds some day soon.

[Cass]

I had a really disturbing dream last night where my feet were cut clean off at the ankles. I don’t even know how it happened but realising I would never play footbag again in my dream was pretty much the worst thing ever. I was really relieved to have my feet intact when I woke up.

I had a routine practice session today for about 45 minutes. I would have liked to play longer but I was experiencing some pain on the inside of my left calf/ankle and thought it best to call it a session.

I’m starting to get the basic choreography worked out. It’s a really fun routine so I don’t mind practicing it.

I was thinking about how much money I spend on footbag events. Easily about $400-$500 per month. If I can save $400 per month for six months over the winter by chilling out on event attendance (bound to happen anyways because snow) that is $2400. That’s probably enough to get to Europe next summer before I get a grown up job and have more responsibility things. So that’s hopefully the plan.

<3

[J.Spano]

Going to that many events is rad though.
At least you spent your money on experiences rather than material possessions to fill your dwelling.

Also, I read about your skydiving + footbag bash...kudos on that. Coolest thing I've heard of lately.

[Cass]

Best money I’ve ever spent. No regrets there

Material things don’t make me happy. Footbag does.

And thanks! The skydiving event was super fucking rad! I want to organise more camping events in the future. They are great fun.

A couple of guys from my program defended their masters thesis this week and tonight was the party to celebrate. Honestly I was not really stoked for this non-footbag social event because basically the plan was to drink and play videogames, then go out to the bar. Not really my style but I felt I should go.

I ended up going and bringing my juggling bags and hoop. This was the right choice. There was also a soccer ball there and we ended up playing around a bunch in the back yard. A few people got really into hooping and some unexpected people had juggling skills. I also talked to a couple people about footbag and hacked a little. I decided not to drink which was the right choice. Having random toys to play with made this so much more fun than it would have been. It’s always cool to see non-footbag people getting into that sort of thing.

My friend Alycia has some nasty clipper crank. Holy shit. She’s not highly coordinated or confident though so I’m not super optimistic.

I think I'm in for a chill weekend which I'm looking forward to. I don't feel like going anywhere after last weekend. Gonna chill in Oshawa and practice all my awesome hobbies.

<3

[Ryan_Morris]

I'm neither coordinated nor confident, but I've been playing for almost three years now. I've seen people with tons of potential give up after a few weeks, while others––who at first seemed hopeless––develop the drive to truly excel.

[Cass]

That's a good point but we all know how difficult freestyle is so you have to really want it. I'm not trying to push anyone into the sport but I would definitely love to teach her if she seriously wanted to play.


I had a low key session this afternoon. The left leg is still bothering me so I didn’t want to do anything intense like practice a two minute routine or attempt badges. Spent a good amount of time on Ducking/Diving, Osis, and a bit of Swirl and Gyro stuff.

Osis>Diving Clipper rpt

I also made time again today for hooping and juggling. It’s a perfect way to take a break from school in the morning because I don’t really have to do any preparation and I don’t get too sweaty. I can just go outside for 20 minutes or so and mess around. I’m seeing progress on both fronts which is always good motivation. I feel really awkward hooping in front of people still so I might have to scope out some more remote spots around campus. I guess I’ll have to find an indoor spot once it gets colder too.

I’m kickin’ it (but not literally) with a non-footbag, non-school friend tonight just to change things up. It’s cool to have random friends that you can hit up to chill with like once every few months. I’m gonna try not to get into too much trouble..


<3

[Ohios1]

with your skills, that link in bold was the highlight? come on.. i know you have a lot more to share. lol

[Cass]

That was the highlight for me. I'm not trying to impress people. However it is important to me to be good at every basic concept. Considering that diving is one of the few that is completely missing from my game this is an important (if modest) milestone.

[Ohios1]

well good highlight then. meant no disrespect, just thought that link was beyond your level.

[Cass]

I have this pair of black and white Lavers that have been sitting in my closet neglected for over a year now. The main reason for this is the fact that the material buckles when I crank to clipper and the bag rolls off. I realised that a brocka mod might help with that so I cut them up today. It felt so wrong yet so so right

I'll have to grab some insoles for them and see how they shred. They are so stylish compared to my white/green lavers.

Depending how they feel maybe I'll brocka my main shred shoes also. It makes me a little nervous but maybe I was missing out all along..

[Cass]

I wasn’t even planning to shred today but I wanted to try out my newly brocka’d and insoled Lavers. I didn’t drill or anything, just played for fun for maybe 30 minutes. I played in the sun and it was really hot so I didn’t last too long.



The shoes feel awesome! The Brocka made a world of difference and the clipper is fabulous now! I played with normal lacing so the toe box wasn’t opened up. This made me drop toe stuff a little more but I can easily relace them if I feel like it. I’m also considering just completely removing one eyelet on these shoes and not having a toe box at all. It’s great to have another solid pair of shred lavers

Here's a couple things I hit today:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKM45-_rzi0[/youtube]

I just got a message from somebody from school that I approached about footbag. He’s interested in trying it so I’m going to lend him a bag. I don’t normally try to convince people to play but I think he has the right personality for it.

<3

[Matt K]

Shoes look good. Nice spinning and gyro stuff in the video.

[Cass]

Thanks Matt!

Played for about 1.5 hours today. I decided to forgo the sun today since the climate controlled gym was available.

Did a bunch of rake drills at the beginning which are a fun way to warm up.

Practiced my routine a few times until my leg started to bother me. It’s definitely coming together. I’m more focussed on cues, choreo, and being able to go dropless. I definitely put too much on my plate for my USO routine so I’m going to tone it down this time so that I have a better chance of really nailing it. I got it down to three drops today which isn’t too bad since I’m still figuring it out.

I worked a lot on diving and zulu clipper. Diving is getting pretty comfortable but zulu is kind of a mind fuck. It’s getting a little better but I took a look at some footage of myself and realized that my set is a bit too high so I’ll have to fix that.

The rest of my session was dedicated to Gyro tricks. I hit a bunch of new ones!

ss Clipper>Gyro Pickup 6 contacts
ss Clipper>Gyro Legover rpt. bs
Clipper>Gyro Bubba rpt.
BSOS Gyro pdx illusion
Whale tail! (Gyro DLO) So close to flipside.

Some of this stuff is on the video. I seem to be spinning a lot more for my flipside gyro/spinning tricks than my good side. If you look at the Gyro bubbas I turn a full 360 degrees for the first one and then only about 180 for the second one which is much more comfortable. I think the full spin looks kinda better but I have more difficulty with that side. If anyone has any tips or comments on that I would appreciate it! I'm looking at you brianbear

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aNArPXFQB8[/youtube]

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

The spins and gyros looked great. They fit your style well.

Props on Whale Tail too, that's a hard one at first.

I know you were asking Bear for tips, but I figured I'd throw some in, in the meantime.

I think about Gyro and Spinning both as any other uptime set. Since you're good at Pixies now, think about it like a Pixie set. When you do the Pixie set for a Smear, you want to have the bag end up exactly where you would do a normal Toe op Mirage. Similarly, once you spin/gyro, you want the bag to be in the same spot as a normal "whatever downtime component you're adding". Hope that's not too wordy/confusing.

The way I really improved my Spins is to constantly set and break my Gyro Clipper record. Gyro Clipper is a big key to any spin/gyro tricks (and further into this, the trick for Gyro Clipper is to make it feel like a Clipper> ss Clipper.. trick yourself that the Gyro set isn't even there). Also, consecutive Spinning Butterfly is great for helping these concepts along..

Hope this helps put some light on spinning/gyro.

Looking forward to kicking with you at EC.

I challenge you to have hit at least Gyro Clipper x10 by EC.

[brianbear]

Gyro Illusion is a strange one. I see what you mean by full spin vs half spin, though i would actually put yours at like 300 and 200 degree in this specific example (watch where your body is right before the gyro set happens). I am not sure which is better actually, maybe somewhere in between.
I think the most important part of this trick is separation: A quick and tight gyro set followed by an illusion. On the side you do a fuller spin, your support foot is still in the process of gyro-ing (just look at your support foot angle as you start the dex) when you start dexing vs the other side which has a distinct gyro. then illusion. I like practicing this trick muted to make sure my support foot is pivoting as much as possible.
One more thing to watch for is your arms. I like having the bag pass under my arm as i gyro, you do this kind of on one side, but the other kind of tucks in an awkward way.
I really try to focus on getting the bag to pass under my arms when I gyro, and tuck them only for full spin tricks.

Hope something in here helps you out, looks like you are making great progress with gyros!
whales tail is a really awesome trick


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QpUAAsXgHQ[/youtube]

[Derek]

Props on Whale's Tail, sweet trick, and all the new Gyro stuff. Gettin' down. Hope to see a dropless routine at ECFC.

[Cass]

Thanks guys!!

Today was a frustrating day for reasons unrelated to footbag. On the bright side I got to shred after a three day break. It felt good to vent into footbag a bit. I did some fun runs, practised some flip paradox whirls, and made some decent progress on my routine. I scored the empty squash courts. It's nice to have a completely private session once in a while.

Exciting things are happening soon. My Toronto birthday jam is happening Saturday. In two weeks Chris Dean is visiting and I'm driving a FULL CARLOAD to Gathering of Irregular Movers : Paris (Ontario) (https://www.facebook.com/events/6103103 ... r=upcoming). I'm super fucking stoked for this event. I know it's going to be so freaking rad.

Soon after that I am expecting a visit from Evan Gatesman! And it will be East Coasts in no time!!!

I think this will have been the MOST EPIC SUMMER EVER. At least until next summer

I am so looking forward to seeing a bunch great friends from far away.


April hit Fairy ss Pickup BS after watching my tutorial video. Her sets look SO GOOD already! That was quick! It feels good to actually be able to help out with something like that. Her style is looking real nice these days too


There seems to be a bunch of new players on the scene lately. This is really encouraging

<3

[bluevampire101]

April hit Fairy ss Pickup BS after watching my tutorial video. Her sets look SO GOOD already! That was quick! It feels good to actually be able to help out with something like that. Her style is looking real nice these days too

Sounds like next summer...

[Cass]

I am on the train to Toronto to session right now! I thought I would make a blog post because why not.

Here's some random thoughts.

I want to participate in the rubberhuman comp so there is some diversity. I'm not sure how far I'm willing to push myself in light of east coasts, the last proper competition of 2014 coming up. I think that upping the difficulty of that combo can only help my game. Unless I injure myself in the process..

I really want to create a perfect routine. I never give myself enough time though. I think my ECFC routine will be good but there won't be sufficient time to perfect it considering how much I have going on over weekends for the next while. I decided not to go to NYFA jam because of money and other reasons so I guess I will have next weekend for some good sessions.

I think that I would like to pick a new song (or two?) for after east coasts is finished. Take the whole winter to really perfect them. I'm hoping to make it to USO and worlds next year. I really want to step it up and rep in the open routine categories.

I realized that if I'm practicing a choreographed routine that I need it to be completely both sided in order to satisfy my OCD. Sometimes it's cool to have a trick only one side in a routine but it bothers me so much to not practice both sides so screw that. I'm also just so over dropping the last trick.

I'm stoked that a MI NYJ is going down. It will be my winter event to look forward to. It's not super far (4-5hrs) and they have a pretty rad scene of up and comers over there. Hopefully the driving conditions aren't too bad.

I'm going to shred hard today since I only had one solo session this week. My body should be fresh

<3