The Lord of the Strings: A Footblog of Nathan

[Nathan8]

This may be a little odd.. But I noticed that if you haven't met me and you just read my footblog, you wouldn't know much about me. So consider this "intro to my footblog part 2."

My name is Nathan Bonslaver, I am 15 years of age. My youtube channel is Footbag NJB2. I reside in Pennsylvania, USA, and have already found a group of footbag friends in my area. I am primarily taught by Nick Polini, but I pick up things from all kinds of people. We have been meeting up for sessions since last November when my footbag career began. I have been up to PSU twice so far to kick with that awesome crew. I've met some of the coolest people in the world already through footbag. I've had an opportunity to kick with the dictators; David Clavens, Jim Penske, Johnny Suderman, and a whole bunch of others at Jamps. My footbag experience so far has been 100% positive and has been a bonus to my life. I have footbag on the mind all the time. All the time. I learn from studying videos of professionals and imagi-shredding in my down time. I pick up the bag and everything I've been thinking about comes so much easier. I haven't been a part of this sport even a year yet, and I don't pretend to know the ins and outs and secrets to success, but I feel like this is much more of a mental game than some people realize. I look forward to my personal future of footbag, as well as the future of the sport. I have so much ahead of me, so much to learn that it's just downright exciting.

Now that you've read that, go hit something cool!

[Asmus]

I liked the introduction! You should do one of these as well: http://modified.in/footbag/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7027

Seems like your future in footbag is looking pretty bright.

Did you know the Prague footbag crew(Vasek, Ales, Dexter, Honza etc) was actually called the Dictators back in the day?

[Nathan8]

Hey thanks Asmus, I did that survey and read some others. Very interesting! I hadn't known about them before now. And yes, I did know about the "Dictators," I just though I would throw that in there. I've learned a lot from Vasek's manual.

[Nathan8]

Hello footblog,

It's been a while and a lot is to be said. I was on a week long vacation last week and I hit symposium whirl bs, and my first 5 add, PS whirl! So that was fun. After vacation I hit spinning butterfly on strong side, but it is obtainable on flip. I was drilling rev swirls and doing rev swirl>clipper>hand catch ten times bs in a session. Today at my session with Nick and Jeremy I hit dyno for the first time bs, dyno b2b, G.Y.B.A.S first time on strong and rev swirl from toe on strong. Rev swirl same toe will be easy to hit on flip, and is on the list of things to do tommorow. Dyno feels really good. It feels great to hit and not even that bad to miss. I like it. I see myself drilling them in the near future. Flip Gybas will likely come before PS whirl on flip. My shins feel great. Best they have felt since before Jamps. I still practice, but I've learned to take days off. In the winter I would go weeks at a time without rest days. That probably wasn't helping my legs at all.

Summary of just tricks if you don't want to read all of the above:

On vacation:
symposium whirl (bs)
PS whirl (strong)
post vacation:
spinning butterfly (strong)
today:
dyno (bs)
G.Y.B.A.S (strong)

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

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


This kid is going to be so good one day. I'm scared. Mommy.

[MetZelRio]

"And you young Bonslaver, we will watch your career with great interest."

[Nathan8]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp2RhEe1B8c[/youtube]


I am proud to present... My new footbag video!

It's a while since I've updated this lonely footblog, so here it goes:

I left off in my blog with with my first 5 add, PS whirl, and I was learning dynos. A lot has happened since. I have been playing almost everyday, but treating my body properly to ensure that I don't over do it. I'm working towards guiltless, but definitely not forgetting about tiltless. If you asked me to do a string in a circle right now, the string would be about 2/3 guiltless, even if I was just going for tiltless, so I consider myself at a transition point. I have been incorporating new concepts and tricks into my strings, for ex: zooming, pixies, stepping, whirls, dynos, and blenders make the occasional appearance in my normal strings. so they are at the point where I have brought them out of the workshop and into the world, but they're not yet go-to tricks or bails. In the workshop I have been conducting some experiments. I'm getting soo close to my longish term goal of 30 infinity, I hit 28 the night I filmed this video (but it's not shown). I've been making improvements on my stepping game, and as far as I can tell, the stepping drills in my video look ok. In the workshop I'm also trying to incorporate a new learning technique to make my solo sessions more structured. Now if I'm working on improving a trick, whether it is new or not, I will practice linking it to other tricks. Ex: I started with rev swirl. So I would do rev swirl>pdx mirage, then on flip. Now do that link 5x on each side (separated by a hand catch), and then move on to linking another trick with rev swirl. Nick suggested I should try this method, as many great players have used it before. As far as big tricks go, eh. I have big tricks in my video, and I do big tricks, but to me they're not really that "big." Just because it's worth 5 adds does't mean I spent a week of unhealthy drilling on it. If I think hit it right then and there, I move on. Ex: pdx torque. Nick said to me at a session "try pdx torque", he explained, demonstrated, guided, and enabled. We spent 5 minutes on the topic, but mostly talking about podcast anyway, and I hit it right then and there. So with "big tricks," I don't spend full sessions trying to do them. I try to practice as efficiently as possible. (I did continuously attempt PS for two days until I hit it on vacation, but that was my first 5 I as ecstatic. Now THAT, in my opinion, is a big trick. and that's why I freaked out/danced/spazzed.) And so that wraps up my footblog update. Now that video is out and no surprises are being held back, I might as well regularly write up about my session highlights.

PS - Some footage went missing in the process of making the video, so I will put them here.
Ripwalk x5 or 6
Double pickup>paradon
Phoenix

Note: Do the level one badge. <--- Note to self.

*Life update* I got my drivers permit today, woohoo!

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Your PS Whirls are gooder than mine Man, that video ripped. I had so many instances where someone would come up to me this weekend at ECFC and be like "Yo, your student, man... WTF? He's gotten so good already." and other statements like that. Congrats on the awesome footage. Really stoked to be your Sensei.

Shred later this week for sure. Gonna do a write up of ECFC in my blog. You should check it out, so you can get stoked for next year.

[Nathan8]

Short session tonight while waiting for the Leiderkranz to start. It was just unstructured random stuff. I hit blurry whirl bs and mobius on strong. I came to the realization the other day that if I bend my support leg more while spinning, the bag doesn't end up ten feet away from me (learned that from watching Jindra footage). So with my improved spinning, I gave mobius a shot and hit it!

[Nathan8]

Nick and Jeremy came over for a late session tonight. It was fun, but I didn't hit anything noteworthy. I was very meh. Jeremy on the other hand hit fairly legover b2b, which was awesome! And Nick was Nick. In many ways. He hit.. Phasing ss mirage? I think. I hit things. But nothing new other than flapper>reverse swirl. It felt like a Vasek link.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Fun session, man! Stoked for Sunday's late session!

If people were wondering what kind of a role model/teacher I am to you, I just want to say that I make sure Nathan does nothing stupid to get himself injured.

Also, here's a cool video of Nathan from tonight's session:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iM3Bv5tBa4[/youtube]

[MetZelRio]

Tonights practice session goes out to YOU! Thanks for your inspiration!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_syrhOxBtQ4[/youtube]

Nathan is 16 and I'm over twice that age, but when I grow up, I want to be just like Nathan! I added the Flushing clip because after the review of the footage, the blink was CLEARLY "THE". ALSO, the sped up footage is simply legover b2b2b2b2b2b2b2b2b2b2b2b2b2b2b2b2b2b2b2b...Aint nobody got time to watch that.

[Nathan8]

Thanks Paul! I loved it! I watched it a few times, and my favorite parts would have to be blink, even though it was "the," and the drifter>pdx mirage>PLO. Glad to see your drift(er)ing into blinks. They are a lot of fun, and so are rev-ups. Oh great... I sound like Nick. *facepalm* Ehh its ok, Nick's a cool cat. But yeah, go blinks! And the legover string was cool as well. I actually did the exact same thing in my session today, as many b2b legovers as I could muster up.

[Nathan8]

Tonight I did a ton of op clippers. Then, first try, I did achieve a long-ish term goal. I broke the infinity x30 barrier! I made it to 33 when I hit the drop barrier. I'm now going to try and raise that drop barrier to 40.

[Nathan8]

It was a good session for me tonight. It was about an hour, and I was really wanting to continue. I would have played for another 2 or 3 hours if I didn't have to get up for school the next morning. But here's my highlights:
Flip mobius! tonight was the first time I had practiced mobius since I hit it strong side for the first time last week. I didn't hit flip right away. I majorly footed it many times, then I finally sealed it.
Strong mobius at least twice I can now consistently foot this, and occasionally hit it.
Rev swirl>ripwalk bs
A nice (mostly) guiltless run I pretended I was at Jamps V and I gave myself one shot to hit a string I would be happy with in the circle comp. It turned out pretty nice.

At the end of my session, I was working on improving my ripwalks and setting a PR, but I decided I had to go to bed It would be so much easier if humans only needed 3 hours of sleep a night. Or if there were 30 hours in a day. Or if it were always day time and we never had to sleep. Imagine... A world without night time. We wouldn't know the difference.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Young Grasshoppah... Da day has finally come where you have proven yourself worthy of the Mobius using both side. I give you a half-bow and a prop *half-bow & prop*. However, if Grasshoppah want the full bow and another prop, Grasshoppah must hit the Mobius both sides in one string. Grasshoppah has almost proven himself as Golden Child Number 2, but he still has a long way to come.

*erm* Hi! I have this new multiple personality disorder thing, never mind it. I'm stoked that you hit Mobius on flipside dude. Time to take a break from trying Mobius now and just set out to mastering Gyro Clipper, Spinning Clipper, Spinning Osis, and Torques. These are all the key things you need to have locked in for a solid Mobius. You have hit them all a few times, which is why you can do Mobius on both sides now. That is awesome, don't get me wrong, but once you can hit all those tricks both sides and BSOS, in and out of other tricks you already have locked down, you will win the game and have a really powerful, clean Mobius.

Keep stretching those ankles, Grasshoppah. Session this Sunday around 6:30?

[Nathan8]

Nick, why must you be so weird with your timing ? Very weird. I had no idea what a multiple personality disorder was... and then today in wellness... all class long... we watched videos about a girl with multiple identities disorder, or "Dissociative Identity Disorder." While watching those videos, never did it cross my mind that someone would actually it bring it up in my footblog tonight. Very odd.
On another note: I got a lot of flip gyro mirage practice tonight by bailing to it when going for mobius. And yeah, spinning could be a focus for me. I tried to hit spinning osis out of blender tonight, I thought it would be cool to spin out of I didn't quite get it though.

[Nathan8]

Blog updated of the past week:
Last Tuesday the 14th: I studied for my big bio test later that week. And footbagged. At the same time :O I have a technique of footbag-studying when I have to memorize something. I pair a trick with saying whatever the term is in my head. So this time I made a footbag routine to the endomembrane system and the organelles of a cell. It was as follows - ((begins with endomembrane system)) legover (nuclear envelope) > legover (ER) > clipper (golgi) > op clipper (lysosome) > near mirage (vacuole) > butterfly (plasma membrane) > ((string continues, but the terms transition to the organelles now)) far legover (nucleus) > mirage (ER) > legover (ER) > mirage (golgi) > clipper (lysosome) > op clipper (vacuole) > infinity (mitochondria) > infinity (chloroplasts) > osis (cytoskeleton) > osis (peroxisome) > inside kick (cilia) > inside kick (flagella) > hand catch (cell wall) > bow (plasma membrane)
I worked at this for two hours, performed it for my parents, and by the end of my session I did the whole thing dropless. It's not a hard string footbag wise, but it can be hard to say the terms as fast as you hit the tricks. But it did drill it into my head. I took the test Friday and I just wrote that whole thing from memory
10/15/14: I started out with doing my bio strings again, but quickly transitioned into a ripwalk night. There was definitely some tora that night. going into the session, my ripwalk record was 5. I played for about two hours that night and the second half I was learning so efficiently. I hit ripwalk x5 a ton of times, x6 a ton of times, and then x7, x8, and x9. I pushed for ten, but I had to yield to bedtime. Still, it was fantastic. Ripwalks were making sooo much sense, and they have ever since. B2B is a piece of cake for me now.
10/16/14: I had a short session in the grass. I hit ripwalk>ripwalk>blur>dimwalk. But the cool part was that I hit the same link on flipside first try. I think I also had some other shuffle highlights that night as well, but I can't remember them.
I had sessions everyday between then and now, but nothing notable on some of the days.
10/20/14: I hit a neat clipper shuffle string. blur>toe op butterfly>ripwalk>ripwalk>rpt. In the future I would like to replace the butterfly with dimwalk or parkwalk, but my pixies are too lame at the moment. My toe game in general is lame. I also randomly hit spinning clipper>pdx whirl. It was the cleanest pdx whirl I could imagine, the best one I have ever done. I don't know how I did it though...
10/21/14: Tonight I hit the blur>toe op butterfly>ripwalk>ripwalk>rpt again. I also hit pdx torque first try, so that was cool. I just threw it in there. Tonight was also a short session.

Summary if you don't want to read it all:
Ripwalk x9
ripwalk>ripwalk>blur>dimwalk bs
blur>toe op butterfly>ripwalk>ripwalk rpt
spinning clipper>pdx whirl (super clean)
pdx torque first try

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Dude the biology routine is incredibly creative. You're getting really good. Looking forward to our session tomorrow

[Nathan8]

I didn't kick at all today. I managed to hold myself back. I've had some pretty intense back to back sessions over the past few days and my legs are feeling it. But I did do some reflection/thought today.

Topic 1: I've spent he past week drilling ripwalks and basic shuffle. I have been doing much more blurs than I normally do. I learned blur a few months ago, and I have been kinda able to hit it since. but in the past week I have made major progress on success rate of blur. And it's because I have unconsciously made it more "streamlined." Have you ever noticed how Penske does his paradox mirages? I think he has the most efficient pdx mirage I have ever seen. And I think I have begun to treat the mirage part of the blur like his pdx mirage. My dex leg doesn't fly all around to get around the bag. It's up, across, down. It gets the job done. It gives me more reaction to time to pull off a set from toe. And it makes the blur feel "stable." my legs aren't flying all over the place, so it is much easier to keep my balance.

Topic 2: As mentioned earlier, I have spent time in the past week drilling ripwalks. My ripwalks are no longer "lazy." I think this is the part of ripwalks that most intermediate players struggle with when learning them. I sure did. i will do my best to describe my old thought process while doing ripwalks - "clipper landed. ok, now whip that support leg up. GET THAT DEX LEG ON HE GROUND! MOVE THE DEX LEG OUT OF THE WAY. phew cleared that uptime part, that was a close call. oh yeah, the butterfly. dude, you know how to do a butterfly. *does butterfly*." Ok so that might have sounded weird, and not all of that actually went on in my head while I was doing ripwalks. I'm also not schizophrenic. I think you get the point. But anyway, my NEW thought process while doing ripwalks - "clipper. CRANK. peek through legs and wait for the bag to come op. *bag reaches peak* peak through legs to see where bag should land for butterfly. CRANK. seal." So now I really focus on crank and peeking through my legs, whereas I used to do lazy crank and look OVER my support leg for the first part while in clipper, and look OVER my support leg in the ending clipper. When I peek, I can imagine the bag coming up through there, and it does. Same thing on the way down.


My footbag philosophy for the day.