Cole's Footbag Journal

Posi-Cole · Post by **Posi-Cole** » 27 Jun 2004 11:45

My name is Cole Hobson, I'm 20 years old, and I live in Nova Scotia and attend Acadia University in Wolfville.

I started playing footbag about 3-4 years ago, and played for about a year and a bit, getting somewhat serious into freestyle, at the time being able to hit the basics like clipper, around the world, mirage, butterfly etc (but still having a defined weak side). Then, when I went to university I stopped playing because there was no one there to play with, and the desire was lost. So a whole year of my 'career' was lost to inactivity. In my second year, I ended up meeting Sergey, who was a footbagger from Russia, and my love from the game came storming back. That was near the end of 2003, so I've been playing again for a little longer than half a year this time around. I'm a strong titltless player and am fairly both sided. I shred with Chris (TWEAK) and Colin (Serial Thrilla) here, and we are attempting to spread the word and get more people into footbag in our area.

The following are all the moves I can/have hit, and following that are moves, combos and goals for the future.

3 adds

Butterfly (BS)
Osis (BS)
Pdx Mirage (BS)
Symp Mirage (BS)
Symp Pixie (BS)
Pixie Legover (BS)
Smear (BS)
Pixie Pickup (BS)
Spinning Clipper (sometimes BS)
Refraction (BS)
DLO (BS)
Drifter (BS)
DATW
Barrage (one side)
Stepping SS mirage (BS)
Stepping SS clipper (BS)
Pdx Illusion (BS)
Ducking Clipper (BS)
Pixie SS Mirage
Pixie Op Clipper (BS)
Pixie Same Clipper
Smudge
Tap (BS)
Reverse whirl
Whirl

4 Adds

Ripwalk (BS)
Parkwalk
Sidewalk (BS)
Stepping SS Osis (BS)
Atom Smasher (BS)
Pdx Whirl
Legbeater (BS)
Ducking Butterfly
Crispy Torque (BS)
Dimwalk (BS)
Flux (BS)
Spinning Butterfly
Blur (BS)
Dyno
Ducking Osis (BS)
Spinning Pdx Mirage
Da Da Curve

5 adds

Symposium Blur
Pdx Dada Curve (BS - stands not only for both sides, but for bullshit move as well

The following are my short term and longterm goals. I will be updating these as I accomplish them, and crossing them off the old list when they are completed.

Short term goals

-Get way better at flipside stepping
- Hit a flipside ripwalk and a flipside stepping ss move in the same run DONE - I hit: ripwalk > drifter > stepping ss osis.
- Break a score of 100 in my shred 30 practicing
- Rubberman drill
- Get flipside whirl dialed
- Learn how to step out of osis.

Long term goals

-Be able to hit a lot more of my 3's and 4's midstring.
-Go completely guiltless.
- Hit a 6 add (kind of close to food processor)
- Increase average string length from 5-10 to 10-30.
-Hit a 10 contact GENUINE guitless run.

Posi-Cole · Post by **Posi-Cole** » 27 Jun 2004 11:47

Today's session wasn't too bad. Didn't really accomplish any of my goals, but had a couple nice combos as mentioned in Chris's journals:

Atom smasher > Atom Smasher (real clean)
Hop over > Dyno
And a pretty cool both sided run of stepping ss mirage > clipper > stepping ss mirage (attempted repeat).

Going to go school my flipside steppings now.

Posi-Cole · Post by **Posi-Cole** » 29 Jun 2004 11:45

Didn't hit anything remarkable good in today's sesion, but I had some decently long strings and everything just felt smooth and in control. It's such a good feeling when you just feel in complete control of the bag and don't feel as if you are going to drop.

Some cool stuff I hit today:

Crispy Torque BSOS
Stepping SS Osis BSOS

With every session I feel as if I'm getting closer to being able to start going more and more guiltless. The only real guilts I use a ton are clipper set mirage, and regular clipper. When I'm not worrying about guiltless I hit legovers and pickups too, but the only ones that come 'accidently' most of the time are those two. I obviously just need to replace the clippers with butterflies and the clip set mirages with either drifter, or DLO, or symposium clip set mirage, something like that.

I'm getting closer to blurry whirl too, although I'd much rather have whirl dialed on my flipside than be able to hit blurry whirl, so maybe I'll start schooling my flip whirl a lot again.

Posi-Cole · Post by **Posi-Cole** » 29 Jun 2004 13:54

After I got home I started to play some more, and I was really clicking, and I managed to hit flipside ripwalk > drifter > flipside stepping ss osis, which is a really sweet combo for me. I was super stoked, I kind of jumped up and let out a yell and then realized I was alone so there was no one to share in my excitement.

Oh well, that's one of my goals down. I've added a new one, learn how to step out of osises.

Posi-Cole · Post by **Posi-Cole** » 02 Jul 2004 19:05

I now believe it is reasonable to think that I will be guiltless by the end of the summer. Every session brings more control and longer guiltless strings - Even though they are usually fairly ungenuine, containing only a few moves that aren't butterfly, pdx mirage or osis.

A short while ago I posted this thread:
http://modified.ca/footbag/viewtopic.ph ... +butterfly

I'm now having a lot easier time stepping out of butterfly, and starting to hit it more regularly. I don't know what has changed, but I think it's just the fact that I'm concentrating more on the butterfly catch, and the position of it, making sure it's close to my support leg, and not too far behind my body. Learning how to step out of butterfly is going to be a huge step in my quest for guiltlessness, and especially somewhat genuine guiltlessness.

Didn't shred for very long today, hopefully I can get at least a couple hours in tomorrow.

Posi-Cole · Post by **Posi-Cole** » 04 Jul 2004 13:07

Had a fairly long session with Chris today. It started out pretty slowly but then we both started to turn it up later on.

I really like stepping ss moves, I think they look really styley, especially linked together.

Today I hit stepping ss clipper > sidewalk, which I thought was somewhat cool.

Posi-Cole · Post by **Posi-Cole** » 06 Jul 2004 13:14

Just got back from kicking with the new person Chris, Colin and I have recently met. Her name is Lacy, and she's been a circle kicker for a number of years, but is incredibly interested in learning to get better. Like honestly, it is sweet how motivated she is - she really wants to get better. Another plus it that she's a really cool girl, and totally fun to be around.

She hit pixie and legover today for the first time, so that was pretty cool. Still needs a lot of work on her clippers though.

Nothing too big from me, I was mostly just teaching her stuff, and demo-ing moves for her.

I did hit a cool run with crispy torque BSOS though.

Posi-Cole · Post by **Posi-Cole** » 07 Jul 2004 19:15

Sessioned tonight with Chris, Colin and Brian outside on the tennis courts. It was a late night session, and the tennis courts provide perfect lighting.

It was quite a fun session, and there was one time when the circle vibe was really good and it seemeed every person was getting props for doing something cool every time around.

One thing of interest is Colin's pixie set, he can only do it on one side, but it's SO good. He can easily set it over his head, and was attempting some phoenix today, but had to settle for pixie ducking clipper (with a duck that was a bit thin, but still there). On the other side of things, my pixies are terribly low (at times), and extremely inconsistent and disapointing. I would kill to have them as high as Colin's, as I can duck a lot easier than he can, and would be able to do a bunch of cool stuff out of pixie.

No new moves for me, I came really close to gyro mirage though, I think I've hit it before, but not for a long time, and I really wanted to knock it down tonight. I'm sure I'll have it by the end of the week. It's such a cool looking move I think.

I think a new awesome 2 move combo I'd like to shoot for is gyro mirage > atomsmasher or gyro mirage > legbeater. I don't know if I'd ever be able to bring gyro mirage down with enough control and close enough to my body to pull that off though, we'll see.

Hopefully shredding again tomorrow.

Posi-Cole · Post by **Posi-Cole** » 10 Jul 2004 20:03

Kicked with Lacy again today. It was a long and pretty fun session. She's really starting to get better and should be busting out once she gets her clippers down and gets more consistency with her 2 adds.

I had some decent strings today, one that stands out is:

Atomsmasher > Smear > Butterfly > Ripwalk.

That was decent for me, as I don't often hit midstring pixie moves, and it was cool to do a bit of a shuffle in the run.

I modded the canvas off of my toes the other day and that seems to be helping with my pixie sets. They are normally super inconsistent, but I'm not starting to throw down more smears, PLO's, parkwalks and dimwalks into my runs midstrings, which is a huge step towards me becoming guiltless.

I also hit gyro mirage today, which was cool, because I haven't hit it in a long time. I came really close to having a string with both gyro mirage and spinning butterfly, I think I'll be able to do that next session.

Hopefully shredding again tomorrow, until then, I'm out.

mosher · Post by **mosher** » 11 Jul 2004 02:05

nice shuffle combo, props cole, props.

Posi-Cole · Post by **Posi-Cole** » 14 Jul 2004 07:01

Another night session last night.

I think shredding in the night is my favorite thing in summer.

Last night was especially good because we were close to the water, so it wasn't hot at all.

I seemed to have a lot of stamina, as I was hitting some long (for me - 15+ contacts), and I wasn't really all that tired after them. Good stuff.

I hit one run with a flipside atomsmasher and blur on both sides, I was pretty pumped about that.

It's sweet that our footbag scene is starting to grow here, and I have people to play with, but I REALLY need to have some good solo sessions, as that is where I improve the most, and can really work on some stuff for my shred 30. I'll definitely have to set aside some solo time so I can work on some stuff. I'm starting to not really care as much about my shred 30. Sure I would like to do well, I would like to have less than 2 drops, with ground zero of course being my ultimate goal, but I really just want to get overall at footbag, so I'm ready to bust as big as I can once I step into circles at Worlds.

Posi-Cole · Post by **Posi-Cole** » 17 Jul 2004 11:34

So I almost ruined my life today ....

Shredding with Chris and Colin, first move of the day - an attempt at spinning pdx mirage. I don't know how it happened, but somehow I rolled my ankle and ended up on the ground and hit my knee kind of hard on the way down.

Luckily I didn't really feel any pain in my ankle, and beside the blood coming from my knee I felt just fine. However, it ruined my session, as even if there is little physical pain, I find getting back into shredding hard after rolling an ankle can be a tough thing to overcome mentally, so I took it pretty easy for the rest of the session.

Now that I'm home it still feels fine. I can walk around with no real pain or anything, it just feels a little bit weaker. I'm icing it right now, just to be safe, but I plan to be back shredding tonight some more, as I still need practice for Worlds.

Turns out the "NS Crew" is driving up to Worlds now, as we've met a guy from Cape Breton who is driving up and needed to fill his car. Sweet deal, we're going to save a ton of money, which can then be spent on footbags, shred videos, beer, or whatever else.

Anyway, back to icing my ankle. This is a PSA - be safe folks, Worlds is just around the corner, and NOBODY wants a sprained ankle going into it.

Posi-Cole · Post by **Posi-Cole** » 17 Jul 2004 11:40

I also forget to give major props to Colin (Serial Thrilla) for hitting a phoenix today. It was pretty damn clean, and as far as I know, he could very well be the only person in Nova Scotia to hit it. It could even be the only person in the Atlantic provinces. Not that that is saying too much, but hey, it still sounds cool to be able to say you can do something that no one else in your province can.

Props Colin.

Posi-Cole · Post by **Posi-Cole** » 19 Jul 2004 20:38

Today I had a 4+ hour solo session.

It was a ton of fun, and definitely worthwhile, as I hadn't had a solo session in at least 2-3 weeks.

I don't know what it is, but there's just something I love about skooling/playing footbag by myself. Sure, group shred is great too, but for me I find there is something so pure about just me and my footbag. I take breaks when I want to, I try to hit what I want to, and I don't ever have to stop because everyone else is leaving, or because someone else gets tired, or anything like that. Sweat just rolls off me like crazy and I continue not because I need to, but because I want to. It's like a crazy desire in me that just never gets satisfied. What this sometimes results in is marathon sessions like today, where it's always "Just one more run", "Gotta hit this combo", "Gotta school this move some more". It's really satisfying to put in a solid day of schooling and know that you've gotten so much better at footbag out the end of it.

As far as my session, it was spent mostly tweaking my shred 30 and practicing some lines I'd like to throw down. I also came pretty close to some double over downs on both sides. I think I've hit it like twice on one side, but I'd really love to start hitting those moves, as I feel that may be my next plateau, as I'm still unable to do any of those types of moves (double over down, paradon, barfly, etc).

innersmile · Post by **innersmile** » 19 Jul 2004 23:06

Cole, I am so with you on shredding solo. 90% of the time I really don't like circle play but with serious shredders it's not too bad. When I'm solo, I just listen to music, shred ilke mad, sweat, and love every second of the time invested in the session.

Nice blog too,
peace

Posi-Cole · Post by **Posi-Cole** » 20 Jul 2004 19:28

Had a fun session with Chris and Colin today, and I was tearing it up for the first half hour or so.

I hit one run with about 2 or 3 pixie moves on each side in it.
One run with appx. 5 ducking/diving tricks.

Then later after a few attempts, I hit tapdown BSOS.

tapdown > pdx mirage > tapdown.

I also came even closer to double over downs. I think I should be able to hit them soon. Hopefully someone at Worlds can help me out with them.

I'm getting so giddy about Worlds .. I think I'll start having trouble sleeping soon, in anticipation.

Posi-Cole · Post by **Posi-Cole** » 30 Jul 2004 10:08

WORLDS UPDATE PT. 1

This update is coming live from an internet cafe on Saint Catherine Street in Montreal.

This week can adequately be described in one word: Wow. Perhaps I will go into more detail.

We (Me, Chris, Colin and Rob) arrived in Montreal on Saturday night, and were originally planning on finding a campground since our reservations at the host hotel weren't made until the next night. Upon arriving in Montreal we had a great deal of difficultly finding the camp ground, and were all more interested in trying to stay somewhere in the city and going to shred that night. So we called the "Worlds Cellphone" and ended up talking to Yacine. Our first taste of the hospitality of footbaggers came when upon finding out we were looking for a place to stay, he offered us his apartment to crash in. So the first night was spent in the Fiend's apartment, which we all were really greatful for.

That night we ended up at Place Des Arts for some shredding, met some really cool people, and probably didn't play as well as we could, due to a 13 hour car ride under our belts.

The next day was the infamous Montreal Tam Tam Jam, and honestly, as soon as this event was over I could have left the tournament and have been perfectly happy. It was such a cool vibe, and so cool to see so many people playing footbag in one place. This was also my first taste of playing in a circle with BAPsters and those of BAP level quality. I played with Scott Davidson, Eric Windsor, Big Add Chad, Jonathan Schneider, and probably more that I can't remember now. It's so cool to see that the top players are all really friendly and open to playing with people far below their skill level. I also met and shredded with Ken S. at this event, and he still is one of the nicest people I've met all week.

So the tournament hasn't even officially started yet and already I've got hours of shred under my belt and am having a blast. The next few days are a blur of shredding, meeting a ton of new and cool people, and partying in the nights. Great sessions at Place des Arts, and lots of cool stuff I'll love seeing on video when I get back.

It was so cool to meet so many people from the forums. David, Mosher, Claudia, Ken, Brad K, Evan Lovely, etc, etc, etc, etc. I could list them all, but that would take a while. Bottom line, I've met a ton of new people - Sweet.

On Wednesday I competed in the Intermediate Shred 30. I didn't do nearly as well as I had planned, and kind of got flustered on stage, and ended up just doing random things instead of the combos I had planned. I dropped 4 times, which is about 2-4 times more than I had hoped. However, it was my first tournament, my first competition, and I'm just happy that I got the experience of competing. The most frustrating part is that one of my drops was on a CLIPPER SET MIRAGE. ARGGGH! I can do that move in my sleep and I was just doing an easy move in anticipation of something a little harder (maybe atomic something?) At any rate, competition is behind me, so no worries.

Anyway, my time is about to run out on this computer, and my thoughts are starting to blur. I will be posting more about the week once I get home, and of course about the things that are still yet to come in the next two days.

Posi-Cole · Post by **Posi-Cole** » 09 Aug 2004 10:50

WORLDS UPDATE PT 2.

So the last two days were more of the same crazy footbag fun. Lots of shred, some partying, some goodbyes.

I probably had my best session on Friday, at the last organized jam at Place Des Arts. That was the only day throughout the whole week where I actually felt like I got better at footbag. I think it was because I took a decent amount of time to play by myself, rather than stepping into a lot of circles.

It was a really cool session and it was funny because a lot of people had left already and it had started raining a bit when there were probably about 20 people left. Suddenly the sky opened up and it started absolutely pouring. Within seconds of the pouring rain, the bus heading back to the UQAM pulled up, so almost instantly, everyone stopped playing and ran towards the bus. It was definitely memorable.

Also memorable were some of the rides on the Metro after 50+ freestyler players would be getting on the bus at the Rialto. It was funny to see a bus packed with people who played footbag, while everyone else on the bus was probably wondering why on earth so many people wearing the same shoes had just got on the bus. They probably thought we were a cult or something.

Finals night was really cool .. there were obviously the problems that everyone has already mentioned (high drink prices, not the best lighting, not adequate seating) but all in all it was a really cool vibe and I think it was really good for the promotion of footbag.

It was cool to see Vasek crowned champion again live, but a part of me was hoping someone else was going to step up and take it, as that would have caused quite a stir. Honestly, when Honza finished his routine I thought that he could very well end up being the World Champion, especially if Vasek dropped like he did in the semis (twice). But of course, Vasek rose to the occasion

After finals was the all night shred. I had to miss out on shredding at the first one on Thursday because I went out to some bars with friends from Montreal, so I definitely wasn't going to miss this one. It was fun to play with everyone one last time, but it was also sad because I knew it was almost over, as we were leaving for home early next morning.

After the all night shred there was some girl outside spanking all the footbag players. She called herself the "Queen". It was odd, she just kept lining people up to spank and going on about how no one spanks better than the Queen. It was oddly kinky.

By the time I got back to the UQAM it was around 4 or 4.30, and we were planning on getting up to leave for home at 6, so I didn't get too much sleep. Morning came quickly and we were back on the road to Nova Scotia. My legs cramped up so terribly in the car and I felt like I was about 80 years old on more than one occasion. It killed.

Anyway, that's all for this installment.

I may have one more message about Worlds, before I move on to my regular entries.

Posi-Cole · Post by **Posi-Cole** » 11 Aug 2004 19:20

WORLDS UPDATE PART III

So I finished 13th out of 28 in Intermediate Shred 30. I was really surprised and happy about that as I was going to consider myself fortunate if I broke the top 20, and my only goal going in was to not finish last.

I got a score of 69.31 or something, and that is slightly disapointing, because I did a lot of video taping and scoring of shred 30's in prepartion for Worlds, and I was usually able to at least get somewhere in the 70's on my average runs, with my best runs topping out at 85-95. My ultimate goal for Worlds was to break 100, but the scores seemed to be low all around, so perhaps it can all just be attributed to nervousness and/or poor lighting.

At any rate, I was pumped to see that I came 13th and slightly disapointed because just a few more 3's and I could have been in the top 10. Overall though I'm really pleased and can't wait to compete again and try to improve.

Now on to general Worlds stuff. There was a lot of fun had at the players parties and such, but a lot of my good memories also stem from the nights when I just kind of chilled out at the UQAM residences. It was cool to just sit around and talk footbag with other players, or watch a couple guys shredding at like 2 in the morning either outside or in one of the hallways outside the elevator (I don't know how it took so long before there were complaints about that!). I remember having a good chat with Charles from Paris one night outside at 3 in the morning, and I also remember watching two guys play outside one night with Ricky and Justin, and listening to Justin school the guys (verbally) on a bunch of stuff.

That was one great thing about Worlds, so many people, so many tips and experiences to be shared. No matter what move or link you are trying, chances are there is someone there who has just recently hit it, had the same problem with it as you, or can just shed some light on how to get it dialed.

One person I also took the opportunity to listen to when he spoke (to me or to anyone) was Justin Dale. He just seems to have such a vast knowledge of the way the body needs to function and move in order to hit a certain move, and everything he says makes perfect sense and is stuff that a person wouldn't always think about, but helps quite a lot at the same time. It's opened up a whole new train of thought for me when playing. Now if I can't hit a move, say a triple dex or something, instead of just generally thinking "I just have to do everything faster", I will be more inclined to simply get to the root of why the move is failing by thinking about the way in which my body is moving. I don't know, it's hard to explain, but I really wish I had someone like that who lived near me. It would help my game a lot.

I must say that some of the most fun circles I was in during Worlds were those that were with female players. I don't know what it is, but there's a bit of a different vibe when playing in a female circle. It's hard to describe even, but it almost just seems like it's more of a group effort and everyone is more supportive rather than in a guy circle where at times it can become a big competition to see who can outdo each other. I don't want that to sound harsh though towards all guy circles, because, in all reality, 99% of the circles I was in were totally supportive and a lot of fun. I just want to clear that up so it doesn't sound like I'm saying that guy circles are no fun and not supportive. However, probably the most fun I had in a circle all week was when it was myself, Sunny, Camille, Lisa and guy from Texas whose name eludes me right now. I don't know why, it was just good times.

That's all I can think of to say. This may be my last post about Worlds stuff, and if it is, I must say that Worlds was one of the most fun weeks of my life. It was so rewarding and so valuable to my desire and progression as a footbag player. Anyone who has a chance to go to any Worlds in the future should not pass up the opportunity.