The Fast and the Furious: Operation El Kemino, Tokyo Edition

[Matt K]

Played with Dan and Andrew yesterday in Saratoga for a couple of hours. I had to stop early because of a violent stomach cramp, but I got a couple of good things before then.

Blurry Whirl>PS Whirl>Spinning Whirl>Scorpion's Tail bs
Superfly>Scorpion's Tail (only one side, my stomach wouldn't allow me anymore)

Some good runs with gyroy shit in them. Trying to get back into doing Vortex and Void a lot.

[Matt K]

Played today in the afternoon. I wasn't expecting much because I played yesterday and I was being pretty lethargic before my session, but it ended up being a really productive 3 hours.

Normal drilling:

Spinning Ducking Butterfly 5x bs
Drifter>Blur>Legbeater rpt 5x bs
Spikehammer 5x bs
Vortex/Void 5x bs
High Stepping Clipper 5x bs

Fearless Drilling (I decided to do these drills in the reverse order of what the full combo would be. With each successive one I would try to add in the last drill(s) and see how far I got. The longest combo starting from each is in the parentheses):

PS Whirl>Spinning Whirl>Spinning Ducking Butterfly 3x bs
Tomahawk>Tomahawk 3x bs (Tomahawk>Tomahawk>PS Whirl>Spinning Whirl>Spinning Ducking Butterfly)
Blurriest>Blurriest 3x bs (Blurriest>Blurriest>Tomahawk>Tomahawk>PS Whirl>Spinning Whirl>Spinning Ducking Butterfly)
Blurry Whirl>Blurry Drifter rpt 3x bs (Blurry Whirl>Blurry Drifter rpt>Blurriest>Blurriest>Tomahawk>Tomahawk)
Janiwalker>Janiwalker 3x bs (Janiwalker>Janiwalker>Blurry Whirl>Blurry Drifter rpt>Blurriest>Blurriest)

I was unfortunately never able to get the full 6 contacts of the first drill so that will require the most concentration. I enjoyed drilling them like this and I think I'll continue to do so until I get the full 16. It feels like the pieces will start to line up soon.

Other stuff along the way:

Drifter>Vortex>Void bs
Vortex>Blurry Drifter>Tombstone bs
Superfly>Scorpion's Tail (the side I couldn't get yesterday)
High Stepping Mirage bs
High Schmoe bs
Furious Legover bs
Blurry Drifter>Fog>Smog>Pixie Whirl>Stepping Whirl>Tombstone>Blurry Drifter>Blurry Whirl>Blurry Whirl>Blurriest (dropped) 0_o

The last one was totally random and unplanned and I was super psyched on it. I've been getting back to being able to do those extended "hard" shuffle combos recently. I started trying to do them back after Autumn was released and Dave showed us all how it's done, and I started to get alright at them a few years ago. Always feels good to nail one that long.

[Matt K]

Just got home from a Saratoga session with Dan. It was really great for both of us and we made it about 2.5 hours, including at least 30 minutes playing in some light rain.

Dan had a lot of great highlights, but I'll leave those for him. Mine:

Vortex>Stepping Whirl>Blurriest bs
Tombstone>Blurriest>Blurry Whirl bs (I think at least 4.5 contacts of the drill bs too)
Blurry Drifter>Janiwalker bs
Stepping Whirl>Janiwalker rpt bs (woo!)

Furious continues to feel great and I feel the most confident with Blurriest that I ever have. Apart from those I had a lot of good strings with small fearless combos in the middle.

With the quality of this past few weeks' sessions I can finally definitively say that I'm at the best level I've ever been. I have a somewhat different arsenal of tricks than I did in 2011 (sadly almost no blazing anymore because it hurts my knee too much), but I'm way more consistent and controlled, and my strings are better than ever. It's taken a lot of work, and I didn't think I'd ever be back at a level this high, but goddamn it feels good.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

I'm fucking proud of you, man.

You inspired me a ridiculous amount back before your hiatus, but now that you're back and better than ever, you've been pushing me in almost every session I have. Big thank you.

That Jani drill is totally sick, btw.

[krustykrakk]

Your highlights are awesomazing! Congrats on upward mobility, I am looking forward to kicking with you at East Coasts.

[Matt K]

2 hour solo session that was pretty good.

I have a new agreement with Dan that we'll match practice hours on Clippers and Stepping Ducking (two concepts that are challenging for both of us and we need to work on more), so I did an hour of mine today.

I think my biggest problem right now with Stepping Ducking is I don't have enough attack at the beginning of the dex, so I worked on some Symp. Stepping stuff to go more in that direction, and I think it was helping the main concept, but I still need a lot more work on it.

Symp. Stepping Clipper 5x bs
FS Blur 5x bs
Spikehammer 5x bs
Ripped Warrior 5x bs

After that, I did my regular drilling:

Spinning Ducking Butterfly>PS Whirl 5x bs
Drifter>Blur>Legbeater rpt 5x bs
Vortex/Void>Stepping Clipper 5x bs
High Stepping Clipper 5x bs

I was thinking about doing my fearless drilling for the next hour, but I think it would've completely destroyed me for the rest of the week.

[Matt K]

Dear Loyal Readers,

I'm feeling a little stale with content lately; does anyone have any ideas for (text) content they'd like to see from me?

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

I'm not noticing any staleness. Keep posting highlights and I'll keep getting stoked on/inspired by them.

But, maybe you could try filming some badges? I know you could nail a few Golds, easily.

Also, you understand footbag so well… Maybe you could give a random trick tip (big trick or small trick.. maybe alternate between the two) every post?

[DC Clinks]

More stories!

Also what Nick said is cool too.

[MetZelRio]

You have the best Osis of all time. Detail how you originally learned them, how you practiced them and the little secrets you have figured out to master them, etc.

[PrunusAberration]

I would love to hear about the oases and how to stick them correctly. This has already been a favorite trick of mine. I can't wait to start hitting them back to back.

[krustykrakk]

It'd be awesome to hear some infinity feedback. If not, there's always pizza.

[bluevampire101]

Chips! They also get stale. Perhaps you can make a venn diagram - Matt Kemmer vs. Chips.


As for footbag-related... Perhaps insight on categories of tricks or the like? - Like, how you attack uptime sets, certain tricks, or what-have-you. Idea.

Rant. Ramble. Talk. Make funny videos. Be Matt Kemmer!

[Matt K]

Thanks for the ideas, everyone. I'll try to come up with something new over the weekend. Until then:

Dan and I had two sessions this week. Not a lot that was super noteworthy, but I did play mostly OK (though OK now is pretty good compared to a few months ago):

Dimwalk>Spikehammer bs
Dimwalk>Ripped Warrior bs
Gyro DLO>Smoke>Tombstone bs

To do anything into stepping ducking, even if it's just a dimwalk, is still tough for me so I feel pretty good about those first two. The third is something I'll have to hang onto for a while because I'd love to repeat that.

[h0ag3yb3atZ]

more nudes!

[AlekseyV]

i just want to say two things
1. I really love the name of your blog
2. Your style is perfect, the only one i want to see in your game - is a speed

[Matt K]

Dan had done 2.5 hours of clipper practice so I owed him 1.5 hours of stepping ducking practice.

Phoenix 5x bs
Spikehammer 5x bs
Spinning Clipper>Spikehammer bs
Infinity>Spikehammer bs
Dimwalk>Spikehammer bs
Ripwalk>Spikehammer bs
Ripped Warrior 4x bs (didn't have time for the 5th)

A clear winner for strongside has emerged, and it's actually getting fairly reliable, which is nice. Flipside is still a real struggle, but at least I have a template for it now. My thighs are hurting in a new way from these practices so I guess that means this new way I'm practicing is a little better.

[Matt K]

Snuck in a 1 hour session before a day at the track. I stayed away from drilling stepping ducking because I was still a little sore in those areas, but I drilled some related concepts:

Phoenix 5x bs
Bubba Beater>Atomsmasher 5x bs
FS Blur 5x bs
Pdx Whirl>Schmoe>Pixie SS Clipper rpt 5x bs

I tried to do some runs after that but I was totally wiped. Hopefully some cool highlights on Friday when I play with Dan.

[DC Clinks]

Ya damn right we gonna get some cool highlights Friday.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

I totally guyed you and Dan's "similar trick but different difficulty" drilling and I'm using it with Nathan Thanks for that idea.

Really glad the step ducks are starting to work their way into your game. I'd like to go hamburgers on some alpine stepping shuffle links with you.

Your highlights are looking good, Matt. Keep it going strong. Stoked for the kickingness in a month!

You inspire me every session I have.. still.