The big news on my end, is that I decided to go to Green Cup. I couldn’t find cheap flights, but at the end of the day I sucked it up and just went for it. My pros and cons list was as follows:
Cons:
•Expensive flights.
•I don’t have a routine prepared.
•Current shoes are falling apart, not enough time to break in a new pair.
Pros:
•I don’t have to use any vacation time to attend.
•My girlfriend is out of town that weekend anyway.
•Great opportunity to play with several high level players (Clavens, Gatesman, Dean, Dale, Bear, etc.)
My ultimate justification though, was that money is just money, and when I die I won’t look back and regret overpaying for a weekend of footbag. I’d much more likely regret not attending a footbag tournament, especially during a time in my career when I’m healthy and still competitive.
Ideally, I’d like to compete in intermediate singles net, as well as all the open freestyle events. I’m not sure if the schedule/logistics of the tournament will make this possible (freestyle and net are at different locations for part of the tourney). Beyond that, I’m also not sure my legs are capable of doing both. I don’t have a very good track record of doing both in the same weekend. In any case, knowing that I’m competing a week from now is great motivation for me to stay focused and get ready. I’m making a point to sleep well, drink less alcohol, play footbag every day, and stretch (for net).
One thing working against me, is that I don’t have a good practice spot this week. The weather has been atypically bad lately, with highs in the 40s and 50s and lots of rain. Normally I’d just play inside at my gym, but my regular gym is closed for renovations, and my backup gym lacks a good spot for freestyle. The weather is supposed to improve over the weekend, so hopefully I’ll be able to train outside starting Saturday. Until then, I’m going to continue sneaking into rooms at the new gym, and continue getting kicked out when yoga classes come in. It’s a tough situation, but I’m determined to make it work.
I don’t have a routine or even a song ready yet. While I could exhume one of my old routines, which would be the safe play, I think I’d rather go with something new, even if I don’t have time to really develop strong choreo for it. I’m not particularly worried about circle comp, partially because I see myself as a huge underdog. Given the strength of the competition, I think it’ll be a challenge just to make finals. Yesterday I tried out a couple sick 3s,and after knocking the rust off some old concepts, I’ve found a couple combos which I’m happy with. I think if I pick two good ones and practice the key links over the next week, I’ll have a good shot of landing them in comp. I can’t even recall the last time I competed in sick 3…
I have a couple video projects on the backburner, but now I think they may have to wait until I'm done with Green Cup.
Here’s a token blog vid from yesterday. Mostly just trying to refresh certain concepts so I’ll have more variety for circle comp.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri24PsAgLe4[/youtube]