-=Silencer=-

[Lycanthrope]

So I've been mixing running into my shredding practices frequently, and that has pretty much been all of my practice for the past few days. I took Sunday off because I felt the need for a rest day.

A Wild Polish Group Yesterday, I was shredding in the park under the shade of a tree with my small bluetooth speaker, when I was approached by the primary school kids that were playing soccer in the field nearby. In my broken Polish and their broken English, I got that they wanted to play soccer with me. Then I found out that they wanted me to do tricks with the ball which I was unfortunately poor at. After four points or so on the small field, they asked me if I would do a show at their school which was the next building over.

It was about 11am, so I was confused why these students were not in class. It turns out that they were having field day. The kids faces were painted, and there was group dancing going on. They asked me to show them tricks, and I did. They introduced me to their English teachers, thankfully, otherwise it would be very hard to set up the impromptu kick contest for a free bag that I set up after I did a short one minute demo for the students. They loved it, and were suffocating me on the small stage with a lack of proximity. After the kick contest was over and the bag was rewarded, The students all rushed in asking for a turn. It was pretty overwhelming at that point, and started to raise my voice saying "Koniec!" or, "It's over" in Polish.



After the field day, the kids asked me to return to the park and kick with them. At first I gave them each a bag to practice, and then I showed them circle kicking. I tried to take some photos. What an adventurous and impromptu day. The kids were so enthusiastic that it made me feel the fuzzies. They were kind of mean to each other, but most of them treated me like some type of Justin Bieber. The little girls all wanted photos with me, so if you see me as a profile picutre on some little girls facebook page, I hope it doesn't come off as creepy.



I told the kids that I would sell them bags for 20 zloty ($6) not because I wanted their money, but more because I didn't want to give them away as free. It seems that when people get things for free they really dramatically undervalue them.. Well, I lost it? oh well. Well it's broken? It was free anyway.

[MetZelRio]

No. That sounds right. I met some dudes playing hacky, so I showed them freestyle. They about dirtied their drawers. I gave the one dude who was most interested a bag and some quantums I happened to have in his size. "Let's keep in touch and I'll show you some more stuff next time"
There was no next time. Perhaps the giveaway made footbag worthless to him.

[C-Fan]

Sounds like an epic day; I bet you weren't expecting that direction when you woke up.

As for selling newbies bags so they value the sport more, I tend to agree. Its tough for me, because I love footbag so much I don't want an economic barrier to be what prevents people from playing. But at the same time, I don't want them to undervalue the equipment because its free too.

Sounds like Poland has been good for the soul for you. The thought of you going into Worlds with a full head of steam and fully charged is awesome. It'll be great to see you there!

[Lycanthrope]

I played with the kids a few times this week, although on one rainy day I ended up being 25 minutes late for our meeting time, and surprise, nobody was there when I got there. I had been running all over a mountain and ended up in a different town on the other side of the mountain. By the time I had returned and made it to the park, It was too late.

It's great to have the enthusiasm of these kids. It is really refreshing and helps me have more fun and less seriousness about footbag.

I did ripwalk x 74 the other day. I was proud of it since it beat my previous record by 20 or so. My endurance was really the limiting factor. I ended with a handcatch. I hit some other really good stuff, but I'd rather not share too much around worlds.

[Lycanthrope]

I've been really sick. I had a fever that broke a few days ago, but ever since, I've been cursed with debilitating stomach issues. I may need to further refine my diet, but if the problems dont stop soon, I may need to find a good doctor. It's been 5 days or so now. The timing couldn't be worse.

On the bright side, I mustered up the strength to kick with the guys again yesterday. The turnouts are always very good. 7-8 players, usually some new faces mixed in. This random kid between 11-14 years old did atw x2 yesterday! It was obvious that he had prior experiences with soccer, but still, it was very impressive. There have been a couple of older kids showing up too.. maybe mid to late teens. They're quite a bit more coordinated than the young kids, and the young kids respect and wish to become the older kids much of the time, so that is a really good thing.

Now if I can stop myself from crapping myself while I play, I'll be in decent shape. I still have too many routine song ideas. I have probably 3 in mind that I am highly considering, of which I may only use one for all rounds for additional practice like Jindra did last year as opposed to the typical 2, 1, 1 strategy that I used last year and David used in 2010.

Kuba Mosciszewski is coming into town in a couple weeks, and even sooner, Anna's sister and family is coming in next Monday. Boom boom boom.

[Sporatical_Distractions]

Routine song? Hahaha

edit: my phone hates posting YouTube. routine song: Say my name by destinys child. Lol

[C-Fan]

I've been cursed with debilitating stomach issues.
It's been 5 days or so now. .

Being really sick while in a foreign country is always a character building experience. Sorry to hear you've been hit so hard. I think our bodies get really used to our normal microbiome, so when we step out of it sometimes microbes the locals shrug off can hit us super hard. Have you tried eating yogurt from local dairies? That might contain stuff that could help fight whatever you got going on.

The timing couldn't be worse.

Well, it could be hitting you right before/during Worlds, so at least you're getting it out of the way a month beforehand.

Good luck Evan, and see you in a month!

[Lycanthrope]

Yeah, I think I might have been eating too much dairy, actually. Maybe my small intestines were having too diverse a population. Anyway, I have yet to shit solid in the last 6 days, and yes, I guess it could have been closer to worlds. good point. Mathias Blau was sick on finals day last year, and still had very solid performances, which is pretty damn viking status imo.

Oh yeah, and Ken.. speaking of character building.. remember the bag that we played with at the wetlands park for uyet.. the one that fell in the water at the end.. it fell through this nasty walkway grating while it was raining yesterday as I was kicking with da boyz, and we ended up getting it out eventually, but anyway it's pretty vile at this point. So I could just wash it, right? As it turns out, it doesn't have stainless steel in it, so when I wash it rust gets everywhere and the fabric becomes rigid haha what luck.

[Lycanthrope]

I had a good session this morning. Then ran for a 5 mile or so run in the forest with Anńa which was beautiful. I'm really feeling like I'm bouncing back from the sickness. I also kicked with the kids for 2 hours..

codziennie means every day in polish. zbyt proste.

Now that I heard about euros, and USO is this weekend, I might just have a third session today. Nothing super dense, but drills

I felt that this deserved a blog post. I took a short video of how many kids there are at the skate park, and there's a ton. We often have to make it a thing to widen the circle because there are too many people so it gets too chaotic. It's a good problem to have.

Shredwise, my double down swirls are feeling good. double spinning is feeling good. I just kind of play around when the kids are around, so I teach myself new things.

[Lycanthrope]

[Lycanthrope]

Kuba Mościszewski is in Gdynia right now to train with me for worlds. Dude is so viking. He went to get water during the session, and I said something like, "no breaks!" and he said, "breaks are for the weak. just a sip of water then back to shred."

I feel that we were both fairly disappointed with our levels of shred. He was of course exhausted from the 15 hour bus ride from a town in southern Poland, Rzeszów, and I am still getting over my illness, although it's definitely headed in the right direction.

When I had asked him how many times he plays per week, he said, "everyday since we last met." Damn. Scott Davidson, Taishi Ishida, and Kuba all have this extreme persistance thing going on. I don't feel like it's the best way, but it's pretty damn viking.

I kicked with the kids at the playground today as well. 2:00 pm everyday at the skate park. One kid did clipper > unwrap today. pretty stoked about that. So I kicked with the kids, which was mainly just solo shred for an hour and a hacky circle for 30 mins, rode my bike to visit kuba, 3 miles or so, and had a good 1.5 hour session with kuba before riding home. My ass hurts, my legs hurt, everything hurts, but it's all for the love of the game.

I hope everyone had fun at USO and [euros]. Too bad it just wasn't in the cards this year for me.

[boyle]

Interesting on the playing every day. I like to try and play most days, but have a couple of days of rest, or of doing other things.

Also...Worlds hasn't happened yet...

[Lycanthrope]

.

[Lycanthrope]

Thanks for catching the typo Daniel.

Now that Kuba is in town, we went street performing for a couple hours and also shredded for a couple hours on the side. I want to say that we put in 4 hours, but it might have even been closer to 5. I'm feeling a lot better now that today was so much better than our previous session. He is a great training partner, and I'm very fortunate for that.

I've been eating really well and I can poop solid again. I went through probably 10 days without it, so just a couple lines about general health I suppose.

My ass is really sore from riding a bicycle so far yesterday. I guess the phrase, "It's like riding a bike" should mean that 'it's easy to pick back up again, but your ass might hurt the next day.'

Kuba and I were exchanging challenges near the end of the session, and I didn't think I could hit it, but I ended up nailing flurry > phoenix > jani walker > repeat

I was pretty stoked about it. Kuba was like, "It's all in your head," and obviously it was.

Shred on players!

[Lycanthrope]

I street performed with Kuba twice last week. Once by the beachside in Gdynia. It didn't go super well. We had fun, but only made something like 20 zloty to split. Oh well, a free meal just for practicing is always good. The second time we played on the main streets in Gdańsk near where Caroline and I performed last year. It was much better. We brought in something like 40 zl pure profit and another 40 from selling a couple bags. Not too bag.

We played the next morning after that as well, but it was so hot that it was almost unbearable. Not just hot, but muggy, and it was only 9am! A random passerby bought a couple bags that morning bringing in another 40 zloty. Later that day I had the pleasure of meeting Anńa's parents. I wasn't expecting much from what I was told, but we had a good time at their friend's cottage house on the country side and even went swimming in the lake a fifth of a mile or so behind the house. It was super sweet.

Today, Kuba and I went street performing again. We took chalk and wrote Zośka 20 zloty on the street, but nobody bought any. Oh well, I only have 10 or so left to sell, but I can't wait to sell them since they significantly increase my pack weight. We did alright. The streets were packed, so we had high hopes, but there was tons of competition as far as performers and street vendors. Right after we set ourselves up, a guy selling birds or bird food or something set up right in front of us. What a dick. So we moved slightly to the side, and had no luck, then we moved along the pier, and brought in 40 zlotys throughout the day. I think the pier worked better for us since our speaker is so small, and we had a little more of a bottleneck effect.

Everytime we street perform we use the playlist that I got from street performing with rafał and Norek in Słupsk last year. It's pretty much a list of routine songs that flow together somewhat. Good stuff. Thanks for the playlist guys.

As far as shred content, things are going well. I didn't have much endurance at the beginning today because my diet wasn't so great yesterday. I did a little indulging, and the effects were very noticable, so now, onto a healthier diet again. huzzah

[Lycanthrope]

I have become passionate today. I don't know how. I was shredding with Kuba this morning and we were practicing shred 30s. The session was good for me, but he lacked focus. He decided to cut the session a bit short and go to visit a friend that he met while online gaming, so I made myself some stir fry and listened to motivational speeches.

I decided to go for a run in the forest and I was just sprinting mad fast. I felt like a monster and I loved it. It wasn't a super long run, but I've never felt better. I came home and ate more and listened to more speeches. I've never felt so passionate in my life. Here I come, worlds! Expect big things.

[Derek]

I've never felt so passionate in my life. Here I come, worlds! Expect big things.

This has me SO AMPED, oh my. Can't wait to watch you annihilate all the things.

[Lycanthrope]

Thanks Derek.

Unfortunately my training partner Kuba was involved in a car accident yesterday where the car he was in was apparently flipped onto the roof of the car. Fortunately he seems okay. He has a sore throat, but this is the least of his worries.

I went back and reread the Vasek Manual for playing footbag. It got me pretty pumped and has helped my attitude and gratitude a bit. It's just so strange how short our time is here and what we have to achieve in such a small time. Personal Growth. Personal Growth.

[C-Fan]

Unfortunately my training partner Kuba was involved in a car accident yesterday = Fortunately he seems okay.

Yikes. Pass along good vibes to him from me. Glad he's OK.

[boyle]

Sounds like a sign of Polish toughness. ...the car rolled over and now he has a sore throat. Hope he is alright though.

Sounds like you are pumped right up. Looking forward to see you in action.

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