boyle wrote:
I have been working a bit on putting some unusual surfaces and kicks into my combos to make things a bit different. Things like symp mirage from a stall on top of the knee, pixie sole kick, etc.
Sounds pretty cool, how about hitting:
Muted pixie flapper kick > spinning clipper. Bonus points for spicing up the spinning clipper with a swirl or something.
On the way back from Vietnam, we are in KL now. have about an 8 hours stopover, so we booked a hotel in the airport which was an excellent idea. Our flight leaves close to midnight so we can get some rest, especially for Nico, take it easy. They also had a buffet here, which included 3 beers so that was good.
I took a bunch of footage in Vietnam on the gopro, but I haven't looked at any of it. Hopefully I can come up with something, as I hit a few good things. Overall I think I was generally playing poorly, but I think there were a few gems here and there, such as spender on a rooftop, that was cool. I had a bit of a session in the airport this morning, got really sweaty. Finished with zipper set locomotion. Hit atomic ss blender during that time which I haven't done that many times.
It will be a bit of a shock to the system to get back to the start of the Canberra winter after the tropical heat, but we are going to have a couple of days in Sydney before we begin. So back to work on the weekend and I will also be starting my practical experience for teaching shortly. Could be a bit of a busy period. We will also see The Wiggles on Saturday.
Getting back into the swing of things. Today is my first day back at work and it has been a nice and easy one. We are going to see The Wiggles today, I think Nicolas will have fun with that. I made a video of a session I had in Kuala Lumpur before we got to Vietnam. I will put that up, it came out ok, but I didn't have that much to work with. I mentioned a few of those unusual surface type things and then just generally adding in kicks and things. Or moreso, not just coming to a stop when you muck up, but continuing on from a kick.
Kicked for a short time at lunch today. double pickup>pixie blender was a highlight, that was my finishing touch to the session. I'm starting my prac teaching next week. I asked if I can do a footbag lesson at some stage and my supervisor said that would be great.
Here is a little video from my time in KL. We had a bit of extended time as we missed our flight... but I didn't really get any more footage. Actually I got some in the airport but the light wasn't very good.
This is definitely not a spectacular one. I haven't really had too much of a look at any video from Vietnam, but I'm sure I can get some thing together.
Started my practical experience for teaching today. Next week I'm going to give a footbag lesson to the class, which should be quite fun.
For a start that video works now, I hadn't completed the uploading process, but I could see it as I was logged into my account. Haven't looked too much at the footage from Vietnam, I'm sure I'll come up with something, but it may not be any time soon. I've been having a variety of issues with my computer.
I went and had a proper session today, probably the first since returning from Asia. I got that app that Anssi (more info in his blog) has developed and it has a link generator which is quite interesting. I had suggested to him a future addition could be some "game-ify" elements and I did my own version of a game, which was a points system. I just added the points in my head.
I had the link on intermediate level, some tricks are reasonably hard, but I think it's good if you look at a top standard player being able to hit the hard links, then someone my level should be doing most intermediate and having a go at a few hard ones.
Anyway, the system was as follows.
3 attempts on each side to hit the combo. 3 points first go, 2 points second, 1 point third. (These apply on both sides)
BONUS - You get 10 points for hitting the combo BSOS in a guiltless string (10 first go, 7 second, 5 third)
or if it's BSOS but not in a guiltless string, you get 7, 5, 3
3 zero rounds and you are out. Set a target and see how many rounds it takes to get. Unfortunately for me, I was really sucking it up. There were some combos such as
pdx drifter>gyro legover (no score, but I hit it first try later on)
spinning osis>sidewalk
blender>rev swirl
There was a lot of this kind of stuff I saw and thought, yeah no worries, but it wasn't like that at all. Anyway, it actually took me 15 rounds to reach 50 points, somehow I had not eliminated myself we the 3 out rule, but I had a couple of tens (sidewalk>schmoe was one.).
Interesting idea in the app, there are other features as well, including themed runs and other links that go from one concept to another. Anyway, it kept me playing for quite a while as well, but I've been feeling a bit sore in both legs, and that's really not giving me the usual "pop" from some tricks. Hopefully it's just soreness and not anything more.
I got in a rare session with Mr Nathan Cope yesterday. I don't think I had even seen him since we did the event in Sydney last year, let alone had a kick. I was actually in Narooma a couple of days before, standing on the wharf that provides most of the action is this video.
I was going to film a little clip for Instagram from there, but unlike most of the time I really wasn't feeling like showing of the footbag and interrupting the tour, or getting someone else to film it. I was just thinking of how annoying I must have been when I went on this trip to Patagonia, and I was always getting these people who I had recently met to try and get a video of me. Video turned out alright though.
Anyway, back to the point. I was kicking with Copey and neither us were really playing that well. Caroline came out, she's got this long term injury at the moment which is not much good, but she did a couple of really basic tricks and some two bag juggling, which is something she picked up while she was in Europe and really is quite good at it. That's something I'm hopeless at.
Spinning swirl>spinning osis was probably the best combo from me. Haven't played too much aside from that. I'm into my prac teaching now, so things are going to be pretty hectic. I am actually going to give a footbag lesson tomorrow which should be fun.
I had a really good late night session last night, getting home from work about 11:30pm. I opened up a beer and put on some music. I was getting quite good numbers of contacts on pixie everything attempts, a lot of 10, 11 kind of numbers which is good for me. Some with all pixie pickup and pixie illusion which are my hardest ones.
Today I went up to a little town called Gunning where they have opened up a new skatepark. I didn't take my gopro to make another little skatepark video. I was planning on making a whole bunch of them this year, but I think my total is still at zero. I had a short kick and filmed a sick 3 that I might just put on Instagram for the "Sick 3 saturday" (spoiler alert: phoenix>blurry whirl>mobius). I finished with spender at the end of the session. It was an interesting trip to a town I had never been to before.
There's a couple of freestyle football guys coming down to Canberra next week, so hopefully I will meet up with them and we can get in a session. It's quite quiet at work so I have been playing Yahtzee with my colleague. On the last game I got two Yahtzees in the one game so it was a comprehensive victory.
I just had a short kick during my dinner break. I hit whirl war for the first time. I haven't spent that much time on it as my flip pdx whirl is pretty much non existent, but after quite a lot of goes at it I got it. I also had pixie op whirl on both sides and close to bsos so I guess those whirl tricks are starting to improve.
Here's the sick 3 I mentioned for the Instagram page.
Haven't had too much time to play lately, but even when I'm on a short time I try and hit 10 guiltless in a session, even if the session only lasts a few minutes and I'm just in jeans. I had the shorts on today, but still had the collared shirt and whatnot from the day at school. Actually I went home for about 5 minutes before coming to work and changed into Lavers but didn't bother about the rest. I just put an extra jumper on because it's starting to get pretty cold.
Anyway, after a slow start, I got 37 guiltless and finished with spinning symp mirage. The prac is quite interesting, we've got excursions the next few days and I don't have to work in the evening, so that's going to be much better.
I kicked last night after getting home after midnight. I was a bit worked up because as I was riding home, someone had reached out and pushed me while I was going along. Nothing happened aside from the fool saying "yeaaaaaaaaaaahhhhbbroooo" but it was enough to have me thinking things like, what if my head had've hit the gutter on the way down and I was left in a ditch.
The session started pretty slow but I got into things, I think my best run had about 47 guiltless and there was another one of 28 that started with a ripped warrior. I was trying to finish with a food processor but I've had a lot of problems with my blender lately so that's something to work on.
There were a couple of freestyle football guys in town today, Dylan Stipack from Newcastle and Tom Kentta from Wollongong. The weather has not been particularly flash, but we got in a short kick. They both did some footbag. Dylan did some good clipper work and a few butterflies and Tom did a swirl. I had a couple of decent runs, but just as they were building momentum I would drop it.
Nice to have some guests, even for a brief stint. Still going on with my prac, I'm halfway through and my most recent lesson went quite well, so hopefully things keep improving.
I've been working on something for a little while now, hopefully it will work out fine, but it's going to be a footbag newsletter. That'll be coming out every couple of weeks, once I get the first one going. I have the content done, just figuring out a couple of things on the formatting.
I haven't played a whole lot. I had a really quite good session around midnight the other night. This time last year I was having a lot of these sessions as I was trying to train up for Worlds. I don't have so much to look forward to in this time, so I'm just getting in there when I can and not making it a huge priority.
Just writing that reminded me that I have a session lined up tomorrow with Dianne. I will have to check and see if Caroline is available to come along. These days doing the prac at school and then working at night have been a slog. I've basically been going today since the early morning and I still have another hour until I finish at 11. At least tomorrow I don't follow up the day at school with a work day. The Raiders are also playing tomorrow night and they are travelling quite well, if they win this game they will be in the top 4, which would be nice.
My friend is running a tipping competition and I am on the top of that. It's for cash as well, so hopefully things stay the same, I think as long as I can keep in the top 3, I should get a return on my investment.
Went up to Mt Pleasant after the school day. I have made a few short videos up there. It didn't take long at all to get up there from the school, as it is quite close. It was good to something in between going from the school to work. Once there I had a look at the view and did a bit of footbag. I had hiking shoes on which aren't great for footbag. My goal was to get 20 guiltless, but I didn't quite get there. A lot over 10 and a couple around 17, which was alright. I also hit a whole bunch of 5s and even a couple of 6s (food processor, pixie motion) so that can't be that bad. I actually got a stepping set to come out of the pixie motion, couldn't complete any trick from it, but I felt that was a really good sign, particularly in the wrong shoes.
I'm wondering if I will be able to bash out a session once I get home. I'm pretty tired after the week, but we'll see. I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, though my next whole day off is in 2 weeks from now, but the days were I have both work and school are only a few, so that will be a big improvement in the life.
I have had a couple of short kicks in my dinner break in recent days. Each of them I've done a couple of reasonable combos and done a 20+ run. These are 15 minute kind of sessions so you can't get too much from them, but I was quite pleased with spinning legover>smoke, drifter is not really a massive strong point of my game, so to get a trick like that at the back end of a combo felt pretty good. fairy beater>ps mirage was my combo for today. Nothing particularly pleasing, but I went in with the idea of hitting that, and came out with it marked off.
Going to kick with Dianne tomorrow, so it will be good to get in a proper session. Think Caroline will come along too. We had a lot of rain last week, but it's been quite sunny the last couple of days. Seems a waste to spend good weather at work...We went to the National Portrait Gallery this morning and that was a good little journey. We'll probably go to Sydney in a few weeks from now, hopefully I can stir up a kick up there.
I mentioned a while back about doing some more of those skatepark series and I finally got some time to go to a skatepark today, and brought my gopro with me. Had to cut things short when a bolt fell out of my skates, so I don't know if I will get enough footage for anything. I also didn't have my lavers on, so the footbag stuff won't be much good. Maybe enough for an Instagram clip.
I'm pleased to say that I have kept my tracking system going, and we are now halfway through the year. I really fell off that when we were on our trip, but I have put all the spending in there, so I can keep calculating averages etc, and I am bit by bit catching up on the rest of the blanks. It feels good to keep maintaining that. I am coming to the end of my prac, just 4 teaching days left. We had another cross country event, it was the ACT event, I was heavily involved on the finish line, so that was really good to be a part of.
Kick with Dianne was pretty good, not for any tricks that it yielded, but for the fact that we kicked at all. I did however to this trick with a soccerball - I shot a goal into the basketball ring, then did an around the world when it fell down. I think that might have been in the background while Dianne was filming so I'll have to see if she has that. I had some runs with 30+ contacts, which feels good when you struggle to pass 5 with the ball.
I just recently picked up a ball to try some freestyle football stuff. Only used a size three ball to start out with and could hit Legover and orbit and some basic butterfly kicks. Not sure what you call those tricks in football but I imagine they all end in ATW
Envious of all your recent travels, looks so glorious. Vietnam will hopefully be in my not too distant future. Liked the idea of game-ifying Anssi's app. Look forward to seeing this Footbag newsletter, regardless of what you think, I'm sure it'll be awesome. As is much of your work. The world could use some more Boyle shred, your style is so balanced and dense. Still baffles me how Pixie Gold eludes you, and to find out you haven't hit a Quad? Whoa. Maybe I underestimate the difficulty of 4 dexes, but still. This soccerball trick intrigues me, so I hope it was on film. The final stretch of teaching, nice! How does it feel?
Vietnam is definitely worth a look, we only were around the Ho Chi Minh City area, so it would be good to return and check out the rest.
I'm pretty close with the pixie everything. I could probably also get the gold with some extra tricks in there. I think 4 dexes are pretty hard, though it's not something I've really tried. I haven't done much work with double dex sets, I've done a few sailing tricks, I think that same one you did might be possible for me, I'll have to give it a go.
It's just the final stretch of my first practical experience. I have two more pracs to go, but by this time next year I should have completed my degree, then we'll see how it goes from there. Just one day left on Monday for this prac, it's been a good experience, I feel I have learned a lot. It's given me some ideas and also showed me I have plenty to improve on.
Yes, I think the newsletter will be a nice touch once it's going consistently. I don't want to start it up and then have nothing, so I might get the first one going after Euros is done with, which is coming up soon.
