Ben Skaggs

professor · Post by **professor** » 25 Jun 2008 06:41

Played 30 minutes yesterday. For the little bit I played, I was happy with my game. I'm planning on playing with Aaron tonight.

professor · Post by **professor** » 25 Jun 2008 20:25

1.5 hour shred. Not as good as I wanted, but not as bad as it could have been.

professor · Post by **professor** » 27 Jun 2008 20:11

Played about 30 minutes with Aaron. Aaron was doing pretty well. I was just messing around. I'm saving it for tomorrow when I shred with Aaron and Kyle Hewitt.

Post by **Zac Miley** » 27 Jun 2008 20:22

Make a video and include Aaron and Kyle please.

professor · Post by **professor** » 28 Jun 2008 17:35

1.5 hour session with Kyle and Aaron. It was fun. I played so so. My legs hurt. No video, sorry.

professor · Post by **professor** » 07 Jul 2008 07:29

2 hour session yesterday. Played pretty well. I'm playing today too! Ya!

professor · Post by **professor** » 07 Jul 2008 23:42

Played 1.5 hours today...well, yesterday I guess. I was happy with my string length, but not too happy with my fearless. Saying fearless is a little misleading because it implies that I actually can go fearless. This is not the case. I'll work on it tomorrow.

professor · Post by **professor** » 08 Jul 2008 10:25

Found this video yesterday. So funny. Silly Sam.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1JP7H9cNBU[/youtube]

g00d33 · Post by **g00d33** » 08 Jul 2008 11:36

I can honestly say that that made my day

Sporatical_Distractions · Post by **Sporatical_Distractions** » 08 Jul 2008 12:06

Holy 7.5 hours of shred in a week and a half! That's more than I've played in two months. How do you have so much energy?

professor · Post by **professor** » 08 Jul 2008 12:25

I haven't played all that much recently. I took a break during the 4th of July time. Almost a whole week off of training. I usually play 7 - 10 hours a week.

As far as energy goes, an hour to 2 hours a day doesn't waste all that much energy. I love physical activity and I don't get it at my job, so when I get home I'm excited to train. Plus it gives me an excuse to sit on my butt and eat tons of food afterwards.

professor · Post by **professor** » 08 Jul 2008 21:23

1 hour session. Played well. Was satisfied. 109 degrees (F).

professor · Post by **professor** » 09 Jul 2008 22:33

1 hour session with Aaron. Didn't play all that well. But, 4th day in a row. What can I expect?

professor · Post by **professor** » 14 Jul 2008 21:32

USO was awesome! I will do a write up tomorrow probably.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 15 Jul 2008 05:15

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEd6P-uCjnM&fmt=18[/youtube]

professor · Post by **professor** » 15 Jul 2008 07:18

Thanks for the post Ken. It was the best Shred 30 I've ever done even though I didn't plan anything before hand.

It was awesome hanging out with you and an honor to compete with you.

professor · Post by **professor** » 16 Jul 2008 08:36

US Open 2008 Highlights/Happenings:

Friday the 11th:
-Meeting up with my airport buddy Rory when he landed and taking the MAX all the way to Pioneer Square (PS).
-Walking around downtown with all our luggage, trying to find a bus stop for the #9 line.
-Cramming 4 in the back seat of a midsize car whenever we had to go somewhere.
-Hanging out with footbag friends at PS while watching people shred.
-Enjoying not playing at a tournament for once.
-Heading over to Kenny's house for the registration party. Thanks goes to Zac Jackson for paying most of my registration cost.
-Sole/Heal kick/stall circle.
-Dave showing me some card tricks. He keeps getting better and better.
-Spending time with Zach Jahner walking from the hotel to Red's.
-Watching Dave and Matt shred in the basement.
-Watching footage with Dave and Matt late at night.

Saturday the 12th:
-Waking up and missing Evan. Not in a weird way. It's just that every tournament I've been to, Evan's been there with me.
-Zeb giving me breakfast for free. Thanks Zeb.
-Heading over to the event site with Boone, Jim, Dylan, and Zeb. Jim Jim where do I turn?
-Trying to find parking.
-The Tackle.
-Doing the best I've done in Shred 30, even with no planning. Only 2 drops after 25 seconds.
-Only hitting my safety in sick 3. First try though.
-Watching some really good routines, happy not to have to do one.
-Barefoot shred with Zac Miley.
-Not playing so well in Circle Comps, but learning more about competition through it.
-Meeting Allan Haggett for the first time. It's awesome how chill he is.
-Scoring Shred 30 for the first time with Dave, Nick, Zach Jahner, and Zac Miley(mostly) and realizing it has "issues".

Sunday the 13th:
-Waking up and watching Allan Haggett do a torque down a 5 or 6 stair.
-Not having breakfast and starving until Dylan, Zeb, and I walked to Subway.
-Filming circle was fun. Trying not to get destroyed by the sun.
-Hitting ballcuzzi first try ever, footing frontside gauntlet.
-Watching some sick routines.
-Hitting frontside blurry torque first try in Sick 1 even though I hit it for the first time ever about 5 minutes before.
-Competing against Allan and Ken in Rippin' Run. It truly was an honor.
-The epic run between Justin and me then having practically no rest and going up against Daryl and doing pretty well. 4th place overall isn't bad.
-Walking around with Ken, Sam, and Zac trying to find a place to eat but never finding it.
-Going to the pool.
-Watching Champions League and Feet on Fire with a bunch of shredders. I love watching footbag videos with people who actually understand and appreciate footbag.
-The arm wrestle match. Poor Ken. At least he put up a good fight with the left hand.
-Group talks.
-Chilling with Zac "Styley" Miley. I just made that up.

Monday the 14th:
-Eating cereal for breakfast for the first time in a bunch of days. It was organic and actually good. Who knew?!
-Water temple shred.
-Playing fairly well in a circle with Jim, Lon, and Flash.
-Dave giving me some advice and encouragement about my game.
-Saying goodbye to everyone.

-Having an awesome airport buddy Rory to talk to on the long MAX ride to the airport.

Tuesday the 15th:
-Getting the most awesome voicemail I have ever received, from the Stanford crew. I love the Stanford Crew. They are all awesome. I really need drive up there and shred with them sometime.

Thanks to the Portland crew for hosting this event again. It was awesome. Special thanks goes to Red for working so hard to get the event running smoothly. I'll be there next year for sure.

professor · Post by **professor** » 16 Jul 2008 10:16

Analyzing my Shred 30, I've come up with some observations about my form:

1. I need to keep my clipper setting knee tucked in more on butterflies and such.
2. I need to straighten my dexing leg on butterflies a little.
3. Maybe stay on the balls of my feet a little more.
4. Make my clipper cradle/set motion smaller and faster.
5. Decide what type of whirl I should do. Dave, Jorden, or Vasek style.
6. And for goodness sake, on pdx and toe tricks, straighten that support leg!

Do these seem like reasonable observations?

I'm liking where my game is going. I feel it's on the right track now. I just got to push myself even "hawder". I want to be one of the best and I'm gonna put in the time to becoming that. I may not be a natural at footbag, but I have more drive/desire than I know what to do with. If I train smart, avoid injury, and practice often, I think I can do it. This is the first time I've actually felt like being good is within reach. Or maybe I'm just feeling good today....who knows?

professor · Post by **professor** » 16 Jul 2008 21:43

1.25 hour session.

Post by **Zac Miley** » 16 Jul 2008 23:28

I think your observations are fair, but I also think they're overanalytical. Your form is fine (better than most peoples, even).

It was fun hanging out at uso, I hope we get to score shred30 again soon. NYJ?