What a weekend.....
Figured it best to get all of this blogged while its still fresh in my mind. The feeling is certainly still fresh in my legs. Makes me glad for once that my job involves me having to sit down for eight hours
Anyway... It all started saturday night. Nick and Matt arrived around 8:30 I think, to find me already getting into the spirit of things stitching up a trade bag. It didnt take long before i was picking Matts brain for advice on different patterns
Thinking about it, I took the opportunity to get advice on anything and everything that I could think of.
It didnt take long before we were up at the beach, hunting down a well it spot to shred on. That was my first proper circle, playing under the lamp posts, the music murmuring quietly in the background, only intermittently disturbed by the sounds of the North Sea sweeping along the coast line. Thats one hell of a footbag-based memory for me. Again, the advice was free flowing, my toe set was cleaned up, and legover followed shortly afterwards. In shoes. With a proper bag. This was closely followed by an unexpected double high five, a hit-a-new-trick celebration ill be carrying on into every circle I join from now on
The next day saw blue skys with a little cloud and one of the hottest days I recall this year. We hit the beach just after ten in the morning, and I tried not to focus on how busy it was. I was there to represent a sport I love and god dammit I was gonna give it everything I could give (as it turns out, by the end of the day, I pretty much had....
).
We returned to the spot we'd played at previously the night before. It was a quieter area of the beach, not as much foot traffic, but there were still plenty of heads being turned, and the occasional "Hold on, look at this" could be heard. As the circle flowed, I lost track of time and the nerves slipped right away.
We went looking for another spot, and found a great raised area just in front of the fairground rollercoaster. Our enthusiasm was obviously not shared by the ride owner, who when asked why we couldnt play there said, and I roughly quote "Because its a public walkway.... and its private". It took a lot of self control but i managed not to laugh in the guys face, and temptation resisted we did as all well behaved boys do and moved about three feet away onto the main walkway. Im still puzzling over how an area can be both public and private at the same time!
Eventually we moved on again and went to shred near.... you know what, theres a video coming, im not gonna spoil the surprise, needless to say, I think Nick and Matt would both agree it was certainly an unusual backdrop to a video
. Again there were lots of turned heads, I watched some people walking backwards at some point trying to catch glimpses of what was going on.
The midday sun was becoming relentless at this point, and lacking any area of shade in which to chill out in, we headed back to mine, where Nick made a family visit, and I sat while Matt stitched an entire bag to my half of one. I still conceed that if i hant been cooking hotdogs on the barbecue at the time, Id have finished at about the same time
Matt was kind enough to leave me enough material for two bags, and some filler for both. Itll come in handy, as the way my legs feel right now, I dont think ill be doing much shred today.... not too much anyway
Upon Nicks return we headed up to the beach again for one last session, but I was truly feeling jelly-legged by this point. Again, more interest, and one young lad who had been watching us in the morning session returned. He is now the proud owner of my purple sand-filled bag. Who knows, maybe we'll see more of him next year. He certainly seemed keen.
And thus, my first footbag jam did draw to a close. A full 24 hours of nothing but footbag, footbag and more footbag. I cant thank you guys enough, youve boosted my confidence a hell of a lot. Shredding in the back garden just doesnt have the same level of appeal anymore.
You also helped me produce the following highlights, I hope Ive got this list right
Legover bsos
Mirage
Far legover
Clipper > Op Clipper
Yeah ok it wasnt Worlds, and the turnout may have only amounted to three, but a jam is a jam, and I enjoyed every single minute of it!
Still, he cant clipper yet 
). I can stay kickless for strings into the teens and occasionally beyond. 
