Cass shreds - Spring Training 2024

[Cass]

New years jam!

I had my partner in crime for this event. I picked Alex up from his old roommates house in London after work Thursday afternoon and we were on our way.

Even with a nugget stop the trip was only about three hours. How convenient.

We arrived at Anton’s place around 6pm and I was immediately greeted with a fantastic hug from Jordan! There were lots of cool footbag friends there already and many hugs were had. I was home

Zac Miley was there but it took me a while to figure out who he was. He’s cool.

Zach Jahner played a really well edited freestyle juggling etc. video. That was neat.

I was stoked to party tonight even though I came down with an annoying cold the day before. Not everyone decided to come out but we had a solid crew of Anton, his brother Christian, Jordan, Amber, Alex, and Derek! The club was a really short drive from Antons place. This was lucky since on the drive I got a huge figurative punch in the face. Whoa!

I had been to Elektricity once before and liked it but I was still super impressed with the music! The DJ’s at the tented outside part killed it all night. So much grimey trap and dubstep. I checked out DJ in the inside back room with Christian. It wasn’t that busy back there and they were playing some sick house beats. That was really cool.

Some random people came and chilled with our group and overall the night had super great vibes. Everyone that I interacted with at that event was great.

I dragged Derek to the free photo booth with me. The lineup was chill. And then we managed to get the whole crew in there! So hilarious. Definitely glad we made that happen.



Solid start to the new year for sure.


We're so cute

I didn’t sleep much Thursday night. Alex and I shared an air mattress that deflated pretty badly. I was a sick zombie most of Friday. Luckily we didn’t have anything to do but chill and wait for more shredders to arrive. So many cuddles, yay!

I always get up so early and never know what to do with myself when people are sleeping. I did get the chance to have a solid yoga sesh which made me feel better.

Evan made some kickass pancakes from scratch. Nom.

Perlers galore. These are some of the ‘trophies’ Jordan made for events. Alex made some colourful amorphous blobs. Derek made a dick.



Alex started with the ‘would you rather’ game. Asking the tough questions such as ‘Would you rather have a tiny dick on your nose or a tiny butt on your chin’ and ‘Would you rather have no feet or pinecones for fingers’.

There was a bunch of kitchen shred going down Friday afternoon. I kind of wanted to play but there was never a space and I didn’t feel like kicking someone out. Eventually at around 8 or 9 pm only Matt Kemmer and Kyle were left and I finally got in there and kicked a bit. Glad I got a little shred in that day.


The teapot Alex drew dicks on

Johnny breakdown also arrived friday evening and I got to meet his lady friend Brandy. She is super fucking cool and we did some serious bonding over the weekend.

It was great to see Johnny and spend a little time with him before we headed to the hotel for the night. He is such a cool person. He took care of the hotel situation for us which was a great help. I really needed a decent sleep after the night before.

Even though I was really beat it was tough to pull myself away from all the action at Anton’s place. Around 10pm we I finally made moves for the hotel with Derek, Alex, and Evan. We got hugs from Nick and Zach Hoffa (all of the zac(h)s at this event lol) on their way in! Was glad they arrived safely since the weather conditions weren’t the best.

At the hotel we grabbed some showers and grub was ordered before passing out. Hotel beds are so comfy.

We made it to the event site Saturday morning in good time. The weather was beautiful for the time of year. I was greeted by many more old friends and a few new ones. The venue was pretty rockin overall and only about 10 minutes from the hotel. It was pretty chilly in there though and I didn’t come prepared for that. Everyone else seemed fine but I think my cold messed with my body temperature. Luckily I had a blanket in my trunk which I spent much of the day wrapped up in.

I got some decent shred in Saturday but not too much. I remember playing really well in a circle with Brandon P and Brandon T.

There was a videographer recording the event that I talked to for a while. He asked me to do an interview and I obliged. I felt pretty awkward but hopefully he got something useful/semi-articulate from it.



Circle contest was later in the day. My low energy levels made it difficult to stay warmed up. My circle was with Scott Davidson, Matt Kemmer, and Kyle. I had no chance of moving on anyways so it was sort of a formality. I did have at least one decent run in variety and density and maintained my seed so that was alright.

After circle contest I had a really fun circle with Boats and Rory for a while. Glad I got a chance to play with those guys a bit. So much style.

Zach Jahner’s mom brought so much good food for the event that day. Including some scrumptious chili. It’s a nice treat having hot food for lunch at an event.

Anton’s family came out. I had gone to their place for dinner last year so it was cool to see them again. I had the most awkward conversation ever with his dad haha.

It’s always great to see how much new(er) players have improved in since I saw them last!! I was impressed to see higher level shred by Kyle, Steve Lanza, Christian, David Moutard, Ryan Morris, and others. Polini isn’t new but I was also definitely impressed by his game as well. It’s much cleaner and more enjoyable to watch. His consistency has also improved greatly.

There were also several new players at various levels that I met for the first time! It’s always great to have fresh blood at an event.

Back to the hotel for showers before Whirlyball! Dave Moutard came and chilled in our room for a bit. Glad we got some quality time with that kid, he is sharp! Some entertaining/sarcastic conversations went down.

Whirlyball was much easier to find this year than last time. They gave Alex his own personal giant bowl of salad.

I didn’t play whirlyball last year because of back issues. I have come a long way since then, thanks to yoga. I was still on the fence about playing but Derek managed to convince me. It was really challenging, especially considering my racket thing was crushed and not very functional. I didn’t stop smiling the whole time! It was super fun. It’s interesting trying to focus on doing completely different tasks with both hands simultaneously. Got a little beat up but not too bad.

Jordan and Amber had their sick LED hoops with them which were a lot of fun to watch!

Spent a decent amount of time chilling and chatting with Kyle and Zach Hoffa outside. They are cool dudes!

I can’t remember what led to this but Anton kicked me really hard in the crotch (luckily I don’t have balls) and I ended up falling over the back of the couch on top of him.

Hogan was missed at this event. At least was there in spirit through the awesome event T-shirts.

Time at Whirlyball flew by and soon it was time to head the the party suite for more shenanigans.

I commissioned Derek who hadn’t been drinking to drive my car. It was nice to not drive for once. And also the responsible choice since I did take advantage of the free wine a bit.

Kemmer rode back to the hotel with Derek, Alex, Evan and I. Between him and drunk Alex it was a very entertaining car ride. Kemmer made a point to notice everything in my car that is broken or non-functional. Turns out to be a surprising number of things.

We made an unsuccessful detour (which I was not on board for - I had to pee) to try and find more alcohol. Luckily Johnny made a more fruitful mission for it once we were back at the hotel.

The party suite was pretty chill. Polini brought a massive jar of amorphous animal crackers. He was really pleasant to be around at this event. I’m glad that we get along.

Rum shots and other party favours were had. So much fun chilling with everyone! Had some really good talks with Brandy and Johnny. Zach Jahner told me he considers me part of the Michigan crew which was a really nice compliment. So many shenanigans.

The size of the crew dwindled until it was just Johnny, Brandy, Christian, Kyle, and I. Derek left to go to bed and then ended up returning. The six of us stayed up talking until around 6 am. True NYJ style. I went out for a smoke with Kyle before passing out and had some good talks with him. He’s really cool.

The sun was going to be up soon so I dragged Derek back to our room for a little shut eye. I slept about three hours before I was wide awake before everyone else again. I wandered around, got our checkout time extended and waited for the others to rise. I felt good considering I might still have been a little drunk when I woke up.


The view from our suite

I was more prepared for the venue conditions on Sunday, wearing yoga pants and having a hoodie on hand. I felt better than the day before and got some good shred in. I finally got to play with Zac Miley which was enjoyable. I was really impressed with his skill level and hella clean style.


Love these guys!!

Overall sunday was a pretty chill day. I enjoyed hanging out with Christian and had some good talks with various other people including Ryan, Brandy, and Rory. I also talked to a few people including Adam and Ryan about yoga for a while. Mikie was also there (with Alyssa on Saturday). It was good to see them but Mikie was injured and couldn’t really kick.



These types of events are very different for me now than when I was a newer player. It’s more about the family and connecting with people than it is about the shred. Honestly, I’ve become somewhat disillusioned by conventional shred recently. It just doesn’t excite me that much anymore. Neither does poor circle etiquette. Instead of having a bad attitude about it I am looking to find new ways to have fun within this sport and community. It doesn’t always need to be about busting hard. I have more fun (and less pain) messing around with silly tricks like pinchers and dragons or just hanging on the sidelines with cool people.

You know how sometimes you hit a cool trick/link at an event and nobody acknowledges it? That has never once happened with ripstein. Everybody loves that trick, even if it is poorly executed haha. I think one of my highlights from the weekend was hitting Swirl>Ripstein BSOS on friday night.

The usual footbagger confusion/indecision ensued at the end of the shred day sunday evening. I wasn’t quite ready to leave yet so Derek, Alex, Evan and I decided to stop for some food and meet back up with people at the hotel for some final hangouts. I didn’t have much of an appetite so I waited in the car while the boys grabbed some thai food. We didn’t have a room at the hotel any longer so we chilled in the car while they ate and we waited for others to arrived. Derek and Alex finished first and headed in. This was a good opportunity for some quality time with Evan. Him and I had some good chats; it was really a great chance to connect with him. I love that he makes it to so many events! It’s always a pleasure.

The four of us waited in the lobby for an eternity before people arrived at the hotel. We were all pretty dead. Finally boats appeared! We went up to his room to chill a bit before people arrived back at the party suite. We had some good final hangouts there. Not everyone made it back to the hotel and I missed out on some goodbyes. You would think I would have learned to give more premature goodbye hugs by now.

Mini massage party!

Shortly after Anton arrived back at the hotel we made our goodbye rounds. Got hugs from Ben, Boats, Rory, Zach J, Anton, Johnny and others. So many great humans!

Finally I got back on the road, this time with Derek in addition to Alex! We left around 11:30 pm and the driving conditions were fantastic! Barely any cars on the road. Another stop for nuggets and we were back in Canada in no time. They even let Derek in. Phew

Within a couple hours I was dropping Alex off and heading home. Successful weekend is successful. What a fun event. The Michigan crew really pulled it off.



Derek is staying in London with me until the end of the month at which time we will go back to Michigan for more kicky bag and goodbyes. His injury seems to be improving and his game is looking good. We had a short session on thursday afternoon that was quite fun. Johnny Suderman is going to come over this evening to shred with us!! Yayyy.

Phew. I’m impressed that I managed to complete this blog in one sitting. I just want to take a moment to reflect on the awesomeness of 2015 and what’s next.

In 2015 I:

- Completed my masters
- Visited Derek California where I met David Clavens and Lon smith, kicked it at Goldbergs place.
- Went to Movement in Detroit
- Visited Denver for the ACS conference
- Visited Hogan in Boston
- Took 6th place in routines at USO in Portland
- Had a transformative experience at Solstice festival in northern Ontario
- Competed in Open and Women’s events at worlds 2015 in Copenhagen. Took home Women’s Circle and Shred 30.
- Completed my first full year of yoga practice and a 40 day yoga challenge; significantly improved my chronic back pain
- Found a kickass job in my field and moved into my own apartment in a new city.
- Started learning French (Consistent daily practise)

I might be missing some stuff but I would say that overall It was a pretty damn successful year!

I am in a lot of debt now and it’s time to get serious and focus more on my career. I don’t have any big plans for footbag travel this year but I do intend to keep kicking regularly and improving at concepts that are important to me. Lately I have felt a little out of touch with the online footbag community. I would like to change that but I can’t say that it is a top priority. Y’all will always be in my heart though.

I would love to host a small event in London Ontario this year. Get your passport

Have I mentioned how much I love the footbag community? You guys rock<3


EDIT: Some stuff I forgot

When we were chilling at Antons and the subject of the Beastie Boys came up. I made an offhand remark about the fact that I can’t stand the Beastie Boys. Nearly Everyone in the room simultaneously reacted negatively. I didn’t realise not liking the Beastie Boys is such an offense!

Sunday morning rolling into the event site hungover with McD’s and orange juice. SO looking forward to eating. The moment I put my food down a disc comes flying out of nowhere and annihilates my orange juice. That woke me up! Zac is such a sweetheart for replacing the orange juice. He didn’t have to do that.

Bonding with Alex about trying to learn French! Some day we’ll be able to have coherent conversations in French. They are pretty absurd at the moment. Duolingo friends fo lyfe.

Footbag people are so freaking helpful!

<3

[acxel22]

make that london event happen! nothing much going on in the east coast it seems

[boyle]

Good writeup as per usual. Good luck with getting into that "real life" business. How does it work for your student debt etc in Canada? Do you have to pay it back immediately, or does it depend on how much you earn?

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Good write-up! Nice to relive some parts of NYJ again. In response to what you wrote about me: I'm glad, too. Life is too short. Why hold grudges? Sorry if I acted pretty lame/ignorant towards you at other jams. I took some things to heart a little too much. It was cool to finally kick with you again. I've always liked your style. Not everyone does weird tricks. I happen to enjoy weird tricks. Keep pushing those and your game in general. Your game was looking solid and creative. I saw some cool stuff from you. Can't remember the one thing I saw, but I was impressed at the creativity of it. Hope to hit more circles with you in the future. Good luck at the new dream job. I thought it was cool that we both got our dream jobs around the same time. 3 cheers for not being low lives and having cool dream jobs! Peace!

[Cass]

Mathieu - Definitely! Stay tuned..

Daniel - Thanks for reading! I have a lot of government loans which are interest free until 6 months after graduation. They can be deferred longer if you're not making a lot of money but since I have a decent job I've started making monthly payments. I'm also paying interest on a line of credit from a bank that it would be good to pay down in the next decade or so

Nick - Thanks for your post! Weird tricks are super fun! That kind of stuff keeps me interested in the game after so many years. It's definitely amazing that we both landed cool jobs in our field! The hard work and perseverance pays off. Something that footbag teaches exquisitely.


Derek visited London for the month of January. It was outstanding! We did a lot of fun things. Let’s see..

Shred at my place with Zach a couple times a week! Those were really fun sessions. I would usually bail early and watch the guys. They vibe well together. Good intensity.

Shred at my place with Johnny suderman and Zach! Very impressive shred from Johnny. He was on point. Sushi.

FAT session at Bahen with Alex, Zach and Adam. Drinks and food at Sneaky Dee’s. It was neat to show Derek Toronto! He liked it. We hit up a DnB event for a while after and ran into Johnny and Kristen!

Eating out a lot. We did four different breakfast restaurants, sushi twice, shawarma, vietnamese, and greek. So good.

Derek was here for his birthday. That was the day we went out for Greek food. It was a fun evening.

So many pancakes. One particularly hilarious pancake fail.

Laundromat adventures. Arcade games, candy, and hack.

The weekend of Derek’s flight home Jordan threw Anton a surprise birthday party. Alex and Adam decided to come along! Hell yeah. Road trip!

Derek and I met up with Alex and Adam at the Greyhound station after work on Friday. We made good time. At the border there was virtually no wait. Just as it got to be our turn there was a shift change. The border agent talked to us for a good 15 minutes or so. He was so chatty! It was pretty funny actually. When I explained footbag and Derek showed him one he lightened up and just felt like chatting. Totally chirped Alex about being a philosophy major.

There was a nugget stop before getting to the party spot - a house outside of Flint, around 9 pm. The surprise had already happened and Anton was totally on cloud 9! He had no idea. Jordan made him wear a blindfold for the drive there.

The party spot was the house of Cobra, one of their friends. It was dope! So many cool people. Great music. Tons of space and even a fire in the back! Anton has a lot of great people in his life!

Within the party was a smaller footbag party. It was like a mini event! Johnny breakdown was there with Brandy; Adam Keith came out and so did Ryan Morris. The party had it all. Definitely a contender for best party I’ve been to. I had a ton of fun dancing. There were some seriously good noises happening. Also some pretty bizarre ones.

Slept for about three hours and then drove to Flint with Derek to eat at a greasy spoon diner. It was so good! Definitely needed. Both Adam and Alex were still sleeping and I decided to let them. When we got back to the house the guys were awake and hungry. They were bummed that we didn’t wake them up for breakfast. We got our stuff together and I brought them back to the same diner. Derek and I hung out and got gas while the guys ate. It actually worked out pretty well because Anton and Jordan were still in bed when we made it to Pontiac around noon. Gave them more of a chance to sleep.

Everyone was in recovery mode. Anton made some yummy smoothies. There was news that Zach booked a shred spot at an indoor tennis court for 5 pm. Great! More time to recover before the shreds.

I piled into Antons suv with Johnny Breakdown, Alex, Adam, and Derek. At the location we met up with Zach, Ryan, and Sean. Solid 9 person session! It worked out well with three circles of three. I played for a solid hour and a half which I haven’t done in some time. I kicked with Johnny and Anton a bunch at the beginning and managed to get some shred in with everyone else (except maybe Alex). Definitely a fun session!

Back at Antons it was a mini footbag party. Food was ordered and hangouts happened. It was chill. The waiting game began. We had to leave around 3 am to make the 50 minute drive to the airport to drop Derek off for his flight. I was pretty tired having only slept three hours the night before. I had no choice but to summon the energy to enjoy myself until it was time to do the thing. And not fall apart while doing it.

Sad goodbyes.

Don’t fall apart you have to drive!

Passing out hard on the pullout with Brandy and Johnny and sleeping until almost noon. Much needed rest.

Anton made a killer breakfast.

Sunday was a chill recovery day for me. Ryan came over and shredded with Alex, Adam, and Anton in the kitchen.

More hangouts until it was time to leave sometime after 3.

Shawarma back in London with Adam and Alex before dropping them off. Oh, and getting a speeding ticket. Whoops. The cop was pretty chill though at least.

I would say it was a successful January overall! The weather was mild compared to previous years which was a releif. Still, It was really nice to have somebody to share one of the tougher months with.

Now we’re into February and it’s already feeling a touch spring-like! It was 13C the other day which is unheard of for this time of year.

So now it’s time to shift focus to other things. It has been a challenging transitional week but I feel like I’ve gotten through the tough part.

2016 is off to a good start.

<3

[Cass]

Greetings modified!

I suppose I’m due for some sort of update. It’s been a while since I last posted but I’ve been fairly active. Zach and I kick once or twice a week. It’s not a great deal of shred but enough to keep my stuff reasonably sharp. I’ve been more focused on yoga and other things recently. I finally found a studio in London that I love; however my month intro pass expires Sunday at which time it becomes rather less affordable. Jamps is coming up in three weeks so it’s time to shift my focus back to footbag. Kicked with Zach yesterday evening and had my first solo shred in some time this evening.

Starting Monday I plan to kick before my morning yoga session for 10-15 minutes on weekdays. Get a solid start to the day.

Zach and I have managed to have one outdoor session so far. It’s been pretty cool lately though. I am so looking forward to warm weather and shred season!

I filmed a tiny bit at the end of my session today. Here is my last run of the day.[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KaPho0k2dM[/youtube]

[Kylescook]

I like how efficient your stepping set seems to be.

[Tjuggles]

Great stuff Cass. Looking smooth as always, and so nice to see the both-sided-ness. Can't wait to shred some more with you, whenever that may be.

[Cass]

Thanks for the comments Kyle and TJ!!

Looks like it’s time for another jam writeup!

This is going to be a fat wall of text cause I only took one photo at this event. I might see if I can borrow one or two off facebook though..

I almost wasn’t going to go to this event, but I seem to be easily swayed. Jorden decided he wanted to go and asked me for a ride. It’s tough to say no to that!

I took a half day at work Friday afternoon, gathered my things and got on the road just before 2pm. Johnny confirmed the day before which I was stoked about. I picked him up in Paris Ontario along the way and we were off.

Hamilton was our next stop where I missed the exit and made a slight detour. We obtained Jorden and were on our way. There was a bit of rush hour traffic but nothing unexpected. The border crossing went really smooth which is always a relief. There was hardly any line up. My step-dad fixed the motor in my driver-side window which allowed me to roll it down instead of having to make things awkward by opening the door to talk to the guard. What a luxury. The guard asked about food and as I started listing the things I brought he immediately lost interest. As soon as I told him we were going to a hacky sack tournament his demeanor relaxed and I knew we were in. He took our passports and I’m convinced he was browsing facebook or something because he took like 5-10 minutes. He barely asked any questions before letting us through.

The drive was long but familiar and uneventful. The last couple hours are tedious. We arrived at the house around 10pm, at the same time as Kevin, Pete, and Ben! Lots of people were already there. Nates moms house is huge. Downstairs people were shredding it up on the crazy plaid carpet. Other people were chilling in various spots. There were many hugs and greetings. It was really good to be back at this event. So many familiar faces! I met Chris T for the first time. Super cool guy. Him and Boats make quite the pair.

After the long drive I wasn’t feeling shredding so I opted to hang out. I missed my chance to play in the shred basement which is a little sad. I did have a really fun night though!

There were some good talks with various people including Jon S who took everyone's blood pressure for practice because he’s doing a first aid course. Mine was 110/80. Had some interesting conversation with some of the PSU guys about American politics. I think it was Ivan, Khoa, and Ryan. They ended up leaving the party fairly early.

I enjoyed watching some sick basement shred by Bonslaver, Polini, Mathieu, Jorden and possibly others. Lots of impressive stuff. Nick’s cloud stepping stuff is off the hook.



Apparently Parascoping is all the rage. Just learning about that.

I was hanging out in the basement when boats convinced us all to go upstairs for some reason. Everyone complied. When we got upstairs we started counting down but we didn’t know why. At exactly midnight we celebrated “Drew Year”! There were plastic 2016 glasses with Drews face in a variety of silly expressions covering the ‘2’. Thus began Drew-thousand sixteen. So many Drew puns. It was hilarious. Drew seemed confused by the whole thing.

Lots more footbag party shenanigans went down, though many people retired relatively early. I ended up being one of the last ones up, along with Drew and Jon I think? I drank half a bottle of cheap red wine which actually treated me quite well. I didn’t experience any hangover even though I only managed to sleep a couple hours.

The best hug of the weekend came from Drew. He’s a good hugger. I was grateful to see him at this event.

Saturday morning I went out for breakfast with Drew and Ben Little! Johnny also came along for the ride to check out a grocery store. The first place we went to was lined up out the door so we ended up at Denny’s. Breakfast was satisfying and we had some good conversations. I had some interesting talks with Ben about yoga and other topics.

Back at Nates house we hung out a bit more before heading to the shred location. It’s great when almost everyone can stay at the same spot for events.

It’s also really nice when the shred location is close! An easy ten minute drive to old main. Didn’t even have to pay for parking. Awesome.

We arrived around 1pm and the keeners were already there shredding. It was a beautiful day. A little warmer would have been nice but I was prepared with warm shred gear.

I decided to hang out a bit before getting down to shred. I greeted some people I hadn’t seen yet including Chrissy, and Kemmer. Hacky Sack Jack also made it out with Anthony. I talked with Jack for a while about various things. He’s such a sweetheart! I’m tempted to make it out the Erie Net event they are holding in a couple weeks.

We had a chat with the coach before I helped Hogan mod his new leather lavers so he could shred in two shoes the same size. I like modding shoes so it was kinda fun. He played really well in them, despite being so fresh.

Finally it was time to gear up for shred. I stayed in the same circle (the one in the sun ) for most of my time shredding. Various different people came in and out of the circle which was great. I remember Jon playing really well! I also shredded with Drew a bunch. At one point Jorden joined our circle and I immediately started playing better! That was weird. I also got to shred with Justin Dale a bit and Boats too. So many awesome people! What a pleasure.

After I tired myself out there were more hangouts. It seemed as though I was done for the day.

Chris bought everyone pizza which was really thoughtful! What a boss. I opted to stick with the tuna I brought.

Pete was trying some crazy tricks jumping off ledges and stairs.

Greg organized the events which were really fun and informal. The best kind.

Mirage race was first up. I figured I didn’t have a chance but I did it for fun anyways. The first time the distance wasn’t very far. I rushed myself and dropped almost immediately. Ivan ended up winning and they weren’t sure who came second. Since Ivan made the prize bags they decided to have a do-over. This time the distance was significantly further. I knew I wasn’t going to win but I just wanted to avoid dropping right away so I decided to pace myself and go slowly. At the beginning I could tell that a bunch of people (like everyone!) was ahead of me. But I just kept at it and got in the zone. Somehow everyone else dropped and I ended up winning! Slow and steady does win the race it turns out. I got first pick of the sexy prize bags Ivan was nice enough to make for the event. Hell yeah! Totally unexpected.


Mirage race!
Photo credit: Nathan Bonslavers dad

Next was request contest. I always have fun participating in this one. I got the first 5 or 6 rounds first try. No problem. The combo I got out on was Ripwalk>infinity swirl. I probably should have tried the other combo which was Sidewalk>symp rev swirl. Kevin ended up winning request with Nate P in second. No surprise there really.

Finally there was tiltless till you drop! I really like this event but I messed up around 35 contacts in. Definitely not my best performance. Nate P ended up winning this event no problem and just kept shredding. Somebody requested 69 and he hit it no problem after shredding for so long. His shred is so sick. It’s a pleasure to see live.

Khoa did a really cool footbag routine for us! It was so dope! About halfway through his track was Star Wars music and Boats started with the Star Wars puns. I was amazed with how many he came up with b2b2b. “Obi Khoa Kenobi”, “Show me your lightsaber” “Khao I am your father” there were a bunch more. Khoa didn’t react at all to these. I was impressed with his focus. Meanwhile Hogan is just cracking up in the background! Hilarious. Afterwards Khoa said he thought it was his best performance ever! He has crazy skills.

Jorden did a really neat impromptu footbag-juggling routine for us. He started out with one bag shredding and worked his way up to six bag juggling. He has really impressive juggling skills and it’s neat to see how he can incorporate footbag into it.

People got back to shred and I spent a little more time hanging out. I had some good talks with Mikie about food.

I shared my special cookie with Hogan. Even though it was only half it definitely did the job.

Apparently I wasn’t finished shredding after all (maybe it was the cookie ). I found my motivation again and had a really good circle with Kevin, Boats and Ben Little. Ended up being the last circle shredding. Such good vibes. Some of my favourite runs were ones I did where I messed up and ended up pulling off something completely different and unexpected, then continued to shred. It feels good to be able to do that sort of thing.

At this point Johnny pulled out a shuttlecock and started kicking that around. Him, Jorden and I had fun kicking that thing around for quite a while. In fact, everyone else left the event site to get food and whatnot. The three of us continued kicking there for quite a while before heading back to Nate’s place. It’s great practice for basic kicks. Way tougher to control than a footbag.

Saturday evening I was so burned out! I spent a good amount of time on the couch in my blanket not socializing. I was worried I was going to crash. I decided I needed some alone time so I slipped out and took a drive to the store to pick up a couple supplies including a starbucks energy drink. I managed to push through and find life again!

A bunch of people went to check out a bat cave. Sounded like a fun excursion but I had already been drinking and wasn’t up for leaving the house. If only I could be everywhere at once

Jorden brought some of his board games to show people. Board games aren’t really my thing but other people seemed to have a good time with them. Johnny and Justin played one game intensely for quite some time.

Nate made some tasty lemon squares. I learned he went rock climbing in Thailand. So badass.

Many drunken shenanigans took place. Jon brought a nice bottle of tequila to share! That was really cool of him. I only ended up having one shot, and finishing off my bottle of wine. That was just enough. There were many talks with the coach. Several of us were chilling in the basement; some people were playing ping pong, and later ghetto beer pong with glass cups. Greg would periodically come downstairs with full vape bags from the Volcano! They just kept coming! Eventually nobody even wanted the thing anymore.

Happy Drew Years Day!

Somebody (Ben Little?) bought Klondike bars to share. Yum!

Ben Little is sooo nice! Eye contact game strong. Intense.

Footbag people are just ridiculously nice! So many times this weekend people would be talking and some other footbag player would come up. Each time people would gush about how cool/nice/awesome that person is. It’s so great to be part of such a positive community of people that doesn’t really talk shit about eachother. Or if they do it’s usually to the person's face haha.

Ended up being one of the last people awake again somehow. Actually managed to get a solid four hour sleep in which I was grateful for.

Nearly everyone rose quite early Sunday. It made for a good amount of morning hang out time. I drove to McDicks with Hogan because I wanted some greasy breakfast and coffee.

Boats told some pretty intense stories about his work back at the house. He really brought the hilarity to this event. Definitely a solid addition to any footbag jam.


Photo credit: Mathieu G

Drew and Johnny got into some intense discussions about politics and the role of government in education.

Several people left to go on a hike Sunday morning before shred. I semi-reluctantly stayed back because I knew I would prefer to shred and had a long drive ahead of me. I’m bet it was really neat!

I hung out with Drew, Kevin, Pete, Ben, Dave, Chris, Justin, and Sean at the house. The back deck was a little sketch but half-decent for two-human shred. I played a fair bit with Sean, Chris, and Kevin at different points. When I was kicking with Kevin I accidentally kicked his new prize bag off the deck into some brush. It took three or four of us about 20 minutes searching before Kevin finally found it. I felt really bad! I was ready to give him my prize bag if we didn’t find it. Thankfully persistence paid off in the end.

Chris’ game is looking good. He is a great fit for this sport.

Sean has amazing passion. It really shows. I love seeing new players stoked about footbag!

Before long it was time for us to say goodbye to Ben, Kevin and Pete. It was the beginning of the end. Boston was a really cool presence at this event!

Eventually the hikers returned and we geared up to head to a place called the Creamery for shred. Some of us decided to get ice cream before shred. The Creamery itself was super busy but the line went fast. I got an incredible vanilla shake and also a pretty yummy turkey sandwich for lunch.

Again, people were shredding it up when we got to the spot. I really enjoyed spectating at this event. There was some really solid talent. I kicked a little but most of my energy had been exhausted with sketchy deck shred. No regrets there. I did get an opportunity to kick with Johnny, Matt K and some others, can’t remember. Everyone was playing way better than me but It was still an enjoyable circle to be a part of.

A huge shuttlecock circle was happening during the shred as well. Johnny was into it which was cool; I thought he was going to want to leave earlier. I enjoyed watching more shred and had a chill coach sesh with Dave in the trees.

Soon it was time to head back to Canada before lots of goodbyes. It went by too fast! The ride back was quiet and uneventful. I was grateful that Johnny offered to drive for a couple hours.

Other thoughts..

I didn’t do any yoga at this event and my back felt great. Hell yeah.

I felt like I barely got to hang/shred with some people including Ben B, Matt K, Chrissy, Justin, Khoa, Mathieu, Ryan, Ivan, Pete and probably others too. If you’re one of these people, sorry! It’s a challenge when there’s so many people at a short event.

TL;DR

PSU Jam was freakin’ fantastic!! Love to everyone who made it such a great event. The talent was unbelievable.

<3

[bobgreen]

Thanks for the awesome JAMPS writeup, Cass! I happen to like a well written, large wall of text. I wish I would have gotten to see the Happy Drew Year celebration. Boats was talking about some of the planned Shenanigans when he visited Cali, and it sounded pretty awesome.

Are you going to Boise for US Open?

[Cass]

Thanks for appreciating my wall of text, Bob! The shenanigans were top notch.

I will not be going to Boise this time, unfortunately.

[isirc10]

Thanks for the write up, definitely one of the things I look forward to post-event.

It was great seeing you at Jamps, maybe I'll get to shred with you more at Erie. So far it's looking like the freestlyers going are Zach, Khoa, Ryan, (Ben B?) and me.

[Cass]

Thanks Ivan, that's a really nice complement!

Whoa, now I really want to go to Erie! I didn't know y'all would be there

[isirc10]

Thanks Ivan, that's a really nice complement!

Whoa, now I really want to go to Erie! I didn't know y'all would be there

And now apparently Zach can't drive so none of the PA crew will be there. Oh well, we tried.

[DC Clinks]

Very nice write-up Cassie, super cool you got this up so quick. Seems like life is going pretty aight for ya, sounds dank yo. keep up the shred.

[Cass]

Thanks Dan!

Erie didn't happen due to the dreadful weather last weekend.

But I did have a fantastic session with Zach yesterday on his back deck! Heck yes. Feels great to shred in the sun. We were both going off! Almost wish I had filmed it..

The trick options just seem endless.

As I was composing this blog post a package came to my door!





Feelin' the love! What a cool gift

So grateful to be a part of this amazing community!

I'm hosting my first jam at my new apartment this August. There's lots of interest already. Should be laidback and fun with plenty of hardcore shred.

It's a bit early but I am seriously stoked for worlds 2017 Portland! It will be sooo awesome. Good motivation to keep kicking consistently.

<3

[boyle]

Hopefully see you in Portland! This year is not going to be possible but I have my fingers crossed for next year. It was 5 years between my previous World appearances so I hope the gap is not so long this time..

[Cass]

Hey Daniel, thanks for posting! Definitely hope to see you at worlds next year. It’s going to be unreal!

It’s been about four months since my last post so I’m definitely past due.

Derek came to Canada to spend some time after USO. It was so amazing having him here again! Especially in the summer this time so we could actually go out and do stuff without freezing our butts off. There were a couple rough patches. Derek lost his cousin while he was here and he had to go home to California to be with family. While he was there he hurt himself and almost didn’t make it back. Thankfully the injury wasn’t so bad and he was able to return.

It felt like a very busy summer for me with working full time and doing things with Derek during all my free time. It was great though! We had fun hanging with Zach Forth a bunch and shredding on his back deck. We even semi-successfully raced electric boats on the river that one time.

Do London Ontario was a great success!

I got off work early on Friday afternoon and soon it was time to pick up Alex from the bus station! I got distracted while catching up with him and drove in the wrong direction for like ten minutes. It was good to see him again.

Alex was first to arrive by several hours. It was fun hanging with him and Derek and shooting the shit.

That evening Zach came by and a bit of kicking happened. Alex devised some sort of drinking game where whoever did the best run had to drink. He was the only one who wanted to play though. I think he won.

Nearly everybody else arrived at almost the same time! Two cars from Michigan (Adam Keith and Sean Nyman, Ryan Morris, and Brandon Beals) and one from Pennsylvania (Nick, Ivan, and Kat). So cool! I got to meet Brandon for the first time as well as Ivan’s lovely girlfriend Kat.

Shred went down in the lot outside of my apartment for a while. My best shred of the weekend happened during this session I think. I was kicking with Nick and I didn’t even play for that long but every run just felt so on point. I love the feeling of finishing a run to a handcatch.

After shred people chowed on the huge pot of chili I made. It seemed to be appreciated. Alex ate like 4 bowls. Such an easy meal to make for lots of people.

Kat and Ivan brought brownies. So nice of them!

We chilled out in my apartment Friday evening. Some sock shred even went down in my living room. Sean passed out pretty early in the spare bedroom before the last of the michigan crew (Anton, Jorden, and Christian) arrived around 11. Alex passed out pretty early too. Now that he is working for the man his partying stamina has decreased. He also started drinking when he got here so I wasn’t surprised.

Friday was pretty laid back chilling. Sometime not too long after midnight a few people headed over to Zach’s place to crash. It’s super convenient that he is only a five minute drive from my place.

Saturday morning those of us that slept at my place went out for breakfast. Let’s see, it must have been Derek, Anton, Jorden, Christian, Alex, Brandon, Sean and myself. Solid crew. Overall the day was pretty laid back since everyone got up at a reasonable time and we didn’t have much travelling to do.



Everyone met up at my apartment before heading to the “venue”. It’s so cool having my apartment filled with footbag people!

Despite rain being in the forecast, the weather ended up being awesome! We headed to Ivey park and found a decent enough shred spot with some shade. People seemed to really dig the park, especially the splash pad that was available to cool off after shred.



Erik Chan came out to Ivey park and shredded hard even though he wasn’t planning to play much. It was so awesome that he was able to make it and have a good time.

We had about a dozen shredders in total which is a perfect number for about three circles. It was awesome! I think I managed to shred with nearly everyone, but I didn’t play the whole time. I just had a good time enjoying the day and seeing everyone else kick ass.



Jams are the best because they are super laid back and take little organization. It was also really neat having some intermediates come out and seeing everyone's improvement! Christian is starting to come into his style and get more fluid. Sean has improved significantly as well. It’s great to see them stoked on the game.



Once everyone had their fill of shred we all walked to a nearby shawarma spot in downtown London and took the place over to grub out.



Back at my place everyone showered (which took a while) and by the time we were finally ready to head over to Zach’s it was starting to get dark.

Zach has a decent sized house so he hosted the party Saturday night. By the time Derek, Alex and I arrived it was already in full swing. People were loving Zach’s ninja star set up! The caricature of Trump was a nice touch.

Johnny Suderman came out! It was nice to see him as always. His antics with the giant hulk hands were pretty hilarious.



Alex and Kat were the grill masters, making sure everyone got fed. Alex got pretty wasted and went on his usual mission of telling everyone how much he loves them (what a sweetheart). Not long after that he disappeared (passed out in Zach’s basement). He had better up his party game for our next adventure!

Overall the party was great! Zach’s place has something for everyone - retro video games, board games, a deck to shred on, ninja stars, etc. Footbag parties are just the best.

I bought a sick red performance bag from Ivan. It plays great, despite being huge! I love it. Thanks Ivan!

People were pretty beat and everyone retired fairly early, not too long after midnight. Sunday morning there were fewer people at my place which was lucky because my kitchen isn’t very conducive to cooking for large groups of people. I managed to feed everyone eggs and potatoes and toast.

It seemed as though people at Zach’s place had gotten a later start and would not be making it to the bog with us. Too bad but not too surprising. Once we were all fed and ready to go we made the short walk over to check out the bog. No sooner do we arrive does Zach’s van appear. It was like a clown car - so many footbaggers piled out of the back! It was insane. We didn’t even coordinate this (since I failed to check my phone). It just worked out so perfectly well!



The sheer number of bog puns and jokes were fantastic. The bog is the best! Fun times.



Once we were all finished getting bogged down, we went to the school around the corner from my place to play four square! This was one of the most fun parts of the weekend for me. There were a lot of talented kickers in attendance and we had some great rallies.

Soon it was time to say goodbyes. Time flies. Everyone had to leave around the same time shortly after noon. Except Alex again; his bus wasn’t until around 8pm. It was great hanging with Alex and Derek all afternoon. We went out for lunch and then chilled at my place and consumed various things.

Overall DLO was fantastic. I will definitely be hosting more jams like this. It was a pretty chill event to host. Despite that, I still felt a little disconnected. It’s more challenging to relax and enjoy when there are so many things coordinate (even for a chill jam). I would have liked to connect with people more; this is something I am going to continue working on in the future. Everyone said they had a really good time though so that totally made it worth it.

Huge thanks to Ivan for making this fantastic video to remember the event. What a wonderful gift.
It’s funny how any time you want to do anything with people at a jam you have to ensure there is a buffer time period. If we are going to leave for the event site, you have to announce it and then give everyone time to get there shit together, get changed, go pee, etc. etc. Once you understand this it takes a lot of the stress out of planning since you are expecting those delays.


The weekend after DLO Derek and I went home to Oshawa to meet the family. It was a pretty busy weekend but it went fine. On the way home on Sunday we stopped in Toronto for a FAT session! Derek hadn’t really been able to play at DLO so it was nice to see him shred it up. Alex, Adam, Erik and Maciej (a super good Polish player) came out. It was a fun session, despite not playing that much since the number of people didn’t work out that well (it was too hot for two 3 person circles so one or two people sat out a lot of the time). It was just a beautiful day and Adam was playing some sick beats that I really enjoyed. Everyone played pretty well! Alex is getting much smoother with his style and hitting harder stuff. Adam is a beast as usual. Erik continues to kill it with style and doesn’t seem to be that injured. Maciej hit a super clean Janiwalker Swirl. So dope.

The following weekend after that Derek and I went to Michigan for a visit!!. Michigan has the sickest crew. Even when some people can’t make it out, they have enough people to rep hard.

Friday was a busy day. I took the day off work. We did laundry in the morning and then went swimming. Derek and I headed to Anton’s place in the evening. It was cool to see him again so soon! We hung out and watched shred videos. Anton has an inversion table which I tried out. Those things are incredible!! So good. I did it for about 5 minutes and my back felt great all weekend!! I’m planning on purchasing one soon.

Saturday morning Anton made a delicious breakfast for us and Zach Jahner came by to hang out! It was great to see him since it had been a while. In the afternoon we made the hour-ish drive to Adam Keith’s place to meet up with more shredders! Greg Wenner, Christian, and Sean also came out. We all drove to a park not too far away to get our shred on. It was fantastic! I played for a solid couple hours which is really long for me (that inversion table though..!).



I got to play with everyone except Adam I think. I really enjoyed shredding it up with the janitor. He has such sick style and flow.



Back at Adam’s place we hung out, showered, and grubbed. Sean brought really yummy shish kabobs for grilling and Adam made a huge pork roast thing as well as cheesey potatoes and salad. Yum! Some four square went down on the back deck until it was too dark. Jordan showed up to surprised Anton! She is the coolest and it was good to see her again.

Soon it was time to head out to party! Anton, Jordan, Zach, Derek and I said our goodbyes and headed out to a techno event, getting up to some no good during the half hour drive there. We had a lot of fun! The music wasn’t the best ever but the people certainly were. That makes all the difference. We all had a really good time dancing and being silly and partying. Derek had a special connection with the men’s bathroom attendant.

Back at Anton’s place the five of us got up to some more no good. We stayed up pretty late hanging out and chatting. I think it was nearly six when I finally passed out.

Sunday morning was a little rough. Anton made us some yummy smoothies. I made a point to use the inversion table again. Anton and Jordan had family things to do that day so Derek and I headed out fairly early. We stopped at a Tim Hortons where we experienced astonishingly slow service and got a dozen free donuts in exchange!

Next we made the short drive (in Michigan time ) over to Greg’s place for more hangouts! Greg bribed us to come over with promises of food and a kitten. The kitten sold me. Sean and Zach also came out again, and David Moutard came out as well!! It was really cool to see that kid again. He’s awesome.

The six of us walked to the nearby park to shred. There was no shade and the sun was hot! It was a good detox session for sure. We didn’t kick for too long but it was a lot of fun! I enjoyed kicking with Dave, he is getting more flow in his style. I kicked with Zach for only about five minutes but it was a damn good five minutes. We were going off. Then we died.

Back at Greg’s place we hung out and played smash bros and tetris on 64. I got attacked by a kitten. It was awesome.

Greg made the best steak I’ve ever had. I’m not exaggerating. It was so fucking good. He also made some dense ass delicious smoothies. He is such a good host. I hope he doesn’t leave Michigan. What a cool cat.

Once we got our fill of chillin Derek and I said our goodbyes and headed home.

That was labour day weekend. That following weekend Derek flew home to California. The goodbyes don’t seem to get easier. In fact this one was particularly difficult since it was such a long trip. I had become so accustomed to being part of a team that flying solo just feels really weird now. I have to get used to doing things on my own again.



While it sucks saying goodbye, it’s not all bad. I now have the opportunity to focus on other things that are important to me. This includes catching up on chores and errands, getting back to yoga on the regular, and starting to train footbag solo again. I should also probably work on fostering friendships outside of footbag. What a pain in the butt though. I really want a cat but I don’t want the responsibility.

Work has been going well. I got a raise recently. We have been very busy and are in the process of expanding. I have been taking on more responsibility which is exciting and also somewhat exhausting. I’m stoked to see where things go.

I had my first solo session in a long while on Thursday. It was short and sweet. I spent the whole time getting the feel for a song that I’m thinking about using for a routine. I was nice having a quick and dirty session by myself and stopping not because of pain, but just because I had enough.

I think that is just about all I have to talk about for now. I love footbag and I love you all.



<3

[jooles]

It reads like you had a lot of fun, for me that's always the most valuable outcome of a footbag event

[boyle]

Awesome photos. A good friend of mine has just got a year long contract in Toronto, so I'm hoping to visit him based on a trip to Worlds as well. Hope it can happen. That DLO jam looked great in the video from Ivan and the photos make it look fun too. Great job on organising it.