Ners' Footblog
Thanks for the props! Yesterday me and Hania went to Radzionków, a small city near Katowice (south) to do a footbag demo. The thing was called Street Art Festival, and the organizers gathered a lot of different performers from the fields of Skateboarding, BMX, Freestyle Football, Capoeira and other cool stuff (there was even a big group of kids doing synchronized unicycle riding - neat
). We got there no problem, and the people there were treated us very well, we got our own room to leave our stuff in and some food and drinks later. The demo itself went well, we had two entries, the first was just a show, and during the second one we did a small kicking contest.
Later we watched some other performers, I was very impressed with the Flatland BMX. I've seen some videos of this sport before, and really liked, so it was nice to see it in person. It looks hella difficult to get good at, way harder then footbag. The guys riding were practicing for 7 years, and they still had some problems sometimes (maybe the surface wasn't good). The tricks looked very cool.
We had an unfortunate trip back to Wrocław, as the shows runned a bit late so we had to take a later train. When we arrived at Katowice, where we were supposed to swith to another train it turned out we had to wait 4 hours
Anyway, we walked around and talked about stuff, so it wasn't so bad.
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Szymon Kałwak (Ners)
Later we watched some other performers, I was very impressed with the Flatland BMX. I've seen some videos of this sport before, and really liked, so it was nice to see it in person. It looks hella difficult to get good at, way harder then footbag. The guys riding were practicing for 7 years, and they still had some problems sometimes (maybe the surface wasn't good). The tricks looked very cool.
We had an unfortunate trip back to Wrocław, as the shows runned a bit late so we had to take a later train. When we arrived at Katowice, where we were supposed to swith to another train it turned out we had to wait 4 hours
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Szymon Kałwak (Ners)
I'm back from Wilanów Cup, an annual tournament in Warsaw, which is one of the biggest during the year. There were many cool things, that made it stand out from other tournies:
- we slept in two apartments that were in the same building, and they were totally sweet! We had a great evening the first day, some movies were displayed, we talked and hang out.
- there was a new event, called Request Contest. It was similar to Combo Genarator, so there were combos every player had to hit in order to advance to the next round. The difference was that the combos were not randomly generated, but made by organizators. I think that everyone liked that event a lot.
- the medals and trophies were really nice
One unfortunate thing that happed was me rolling my ankle on the first day of competition, so even though I advanced to finals with a 1 drop routine I didn't participate in the finals (I helped to judge though). Thankfully it was a minor injury, so the next day I could shred and compete in other events. I played 4 Square, and got to the finals which were played using the rules for 2 Square - it was a great idea, because you could really use all your skills. In 4 Square it is common that when you're good, other people don't serve to you at all, and try to get you out whenever they can, so often the second best player gets lots of points and advances - so it's best to be an unknown player
Anyway, there was a tight match between me and Cod for the first place and I won. I also did well in Sick3, hitting my old combo (Janiwalker > Blurry Drifter > Food Processor), which got me the third place. I lost to Gielnik, who was 2nd with Spin Pdx DLO > Dimwalk Swirl > Marius, and Norek, who took the gold with a solid sick3 of Fury > Fusion > Food Processor
Thanks for Wiktor, Gosia, Cod and other people involved in the organization, I had loads of fun!
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Szymon Kałwak (Ners)
- we slept in two apartments that were in the same building, and they were totally sweet! We had a great evening the first day, some movies were displayed, we talked and hang out.
- there was a new event, called Request Contest. It was similar to Combo Genarator, so there were combos every player had to hit in order to advance to the next round. The difference was that the combos were not randomly generated, but made by organizators. I think that everyone liked that event a lot.
- the medals and trophies were really nice
One unfortunate thing that happed was me rolling my ankle on the first day of competition, so even though I advanced to finals with a 1 drop routine I didn't participate in the finals (I helped to judge though). Thankfully it was a minor injury, so the next day I could shred and compete in other events. I played 4 Square, and got to the finals which were played using the rules for 2 Square - it was a great idea, because you could really use all your skills. In 4 Square it is common that when you're good, other people don't serve to you at all, and try to get you out whenever they can, so often the second best player gets lots of points and advances - so it's best to be an unknown player
Thanks for Wiktor, Gosia, Cod and other people involved in the organization, I had loads of fun!
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Szymon Kałwak (Ners)
Recap of the last weekend
Saturday:
Me and Hania went to do a demo on a small festival organized by a community of people living in the area. Someone there was a friend of Antek Szczeniowski, so I guess it was a friends-for-friends thing. When we got there we learned that there was a delay, so we waited until finally we were taken to a place where we could change and warm up. The demo itself was pretty standard, but one thing stood out. The music they played for us was a version of Dragonstea din tei (sp?) sang by... Smurfs. Believe me, it was as crazy as it sounds
Anyway, the few people that were there seemed to like our footbag skills, Doubles and Juggling beeing the main cheer-generators
Sunday:
We did another demo, this time during a sport competition (light athletics? is that even a proper term?
). This time we represented in higher numbers, as Rożo, Artur and Agata all showed up. Our show was kind of on the sidelines, but we had lots of kids coming up to us and asking to teach them. We had a kicking contest, and the best kicker walked away with a brand new footbag. After the demo we had some free soup and talked about future plans.
I'm still slowly progressing in Penspinning, it's funny as I observe the similarities and differences between PS and Footbag online communities. I'm trying to introduce them to the word "props" but to no avail yet. Sooner or lated they will pick it up
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Szymon Kałwak (Ners)
Saturday:
Me and Hania went to do a demo on a small festival organized by a community of people living in the area. Someone there was a friend of Antek Szczeniowski, so I guess it was a friends-for-friends thing. When we got there we learned that there was a delay, so we waited until finally we were taken to a place where we could change and warm up. The demo itself was pretty standard, but one thing stood out. The music they played for us was a version of Dragonstea din tei (sp?) sang by... Smurfs. Believe me, it was as crazy as it sounds
Sunday:
We did another demo, this time during a sport competition (light athletics? is that even a proper term?
I'm still slowly progressing in Penspinning, it's funny as I observe the similarities and differences between PS and Footbag online communities. I'm trying to introduce them to the word "props" but to no avail yet. Sooner or lated they will pick it up
Pozdrawiam
Szymon Kałwak (Ners)
Had a session yesterday, lately I haven't been playing much due to school and other stuff, but I hope to get back to regular shred. Anyway, there was three of us, me, Olaf and Rożo and we played in the skatepark. Unfortunately, after about an hour of shredding I somehow injured my left knee, so I had to stop. It looks like it's not serious though, so that's good. During the session I was super rusty, but after some time it got a little better - I think I had a total of two good runs throughout
Olaf is super good, he hit some groundbreaking stuff, maybe he'll write it in his blog. I don't wan't to spoil anything, but he's like, drilling with 7's
Rożo keeps being solid and expanding his repertoire of trick while maintaining his cool style.
After deciding to stop shredding I juggled a bit and noticed that my 4 ball juggling skill suddenly went level up. Strange. So I hope my knee will get better soon!
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Szymon Kałwak (Ners)
Olaf is super good, he hit some groundbreaking stuff, maybe he'll write it in his blog. I don't wan't to spoil anything, but he's like, drilling with 7's
Rożo keeps being solid and expanding his repertoire of trick while maintaining his cool style.
After deciding to stop shredding I juggled a bit and noticed that my 4 ball juggling skill suddenly went level up. Strange. So I hope my knee will get better soon!
Pozdrawiam
Szymon Kałwak (Ners)
Last edited by Ners on 16 Nov 2007 17:25, edited 1 time in total.
We had a super sweet session today, and the reason was that there were 8 people! Maciek and Marcin Bujko from Góra, and Ales were outside guests, and the WRC Crew (excluding Budzik) arrived in numbers as well. I hit one new hard/unique link made of old tricks, which was Blurry Drifter > Firewalk - felt cool. Other then that nothing really notable, just getting the rust of my legs
Bujo has really nice Symple Swirls, I'd like to hit more of them too now
Maciek keeps getting more solid, and Ales was hitting Beta Bedwetters, so the world is in balance.
After I finished shredding I coached Agata on some stuff, and I must say that she's progressing steadily. Her Clippers are getting better and better, and I think she's ready to pick up some basic sets. She could totally be as good as Tina, or even better if she put her mind to it. At least it looks like she's hooked and won't stop playing fast
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Szymon Kałwak (Ners)
After I finished shredding I coached Agata on some stuff, and I must say that she's progressing steadily. Her Clippers are getting better and better, and I think she's ready to pick up some basic sets. She could totally be as good as Tina, or even better if she put her mind to it. At least it looks like she's hooked and won't stop playing fast
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Szymon Kałwak (Ners)
Bujo called me today in the afternoon, wanting to shred, so we had a 2 hour session in the skatepark. I played ok, and hit one new thing (challenge from Bujo) - Blurry Whirl > Double Blender. I also remember one good run started with Barraging Legover > Tripwalk (rpt), and with Pigbeater and Stepping Whirl > Stepping ss Eggbeater in the sealing run. I schooled Toe Spinning a bit, and managed to hit a unique link of Gyro Mirage > Gyro Mirage
Flipside was close, but I didn't nail it. Oh, I also hit Gyro DLO > DLO > Whirl (rpt) first try, I think I might have hit it before, but it felt cool nevertheless.
In the end we did the trick list, tackled some records and finished the session. Bujo told me that they will organize a jam in Góra soon, that's good news.
Our official forum is still down, apparently Szczeniu transferred everything to a new server, but can't make the forum work. I'll ask my brother who is good at PHP and stuff to look at it. Until then - no forum
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Szymon Kałwak (Ners)
In the end we did the trick list, tackled some records and finished the session. Bujo told me that they will organize a jam in Góra soon, that's good news.
Our official forum is still down, apparently Szczeniu transferred everything to a new server, but can't make the forum work. I'll ask my brother who is good at PHP and stuff to look at it. Until then - no forum
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Szymon Kałwak (Ners)
Highlights from last two sessions:
a run with Whirling Legover BSOS, Whirling Pdx Mirage and Whirling Butter
flip Ripstein
Toe Gyro Mirage BSOS
Pixie ss Symp. Twirl
Whirling ss Eggbeater
Ducking Pdx Eggbeater
I'm stoked on the last trick, as I always wanted to hit that. Now I just need to add Stepping in the beginning and my life will be complete
I had a few promising attempts at PS Twirling Blender today too, it looks doable.
Zocha Jam starts in a week! Stoked.
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Szymon Kałwak (Ners)
a run with Whirling Legover BSOS, Whirling Pdx Mirage and Whirling Butter
flip Ripstein
Toe Gyro Mirage BSOS
Pixie ss Symp. Twirl
Whirling ss Eggbeater
Ducking Pdx Eggbeater
I'm stoked on the last trick, as I always wanted to hit that. Now I just need to add Stepping in the beginning and my life will be complete
Zocha Jam starts in a week! Stoked.
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Szymon Kałwak (Ners)
There's lots of things to do now, as Zocha Jam starts on Saturday, so we need to finalize stuff and do the final preparations. Today I went to seal the deal with medals, and got some posters that I'll hang around my neighborhood tommorow. The posters came out nice, and one of them will end up on my footbag wall 
We will also have to give away some leaflets for our sponsor, we'll have a club meeting tommorow and do that. I'm happy that both the German and Czech crew accepted our invitation, having foreign guest is always good for the tournament. On previous Zocha Jam edition's there were problems with the afterparty, this time everything should be ok.
I can't wait to do some shredding and play 4 Square
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Szymon Kałwak (Ners)
We will also have to give away some leaflets for our sponsor, we'll have a club meeting tommorow and do that. I'm happy that both the German and Czech crew accepted our invitation, having foreign guest is always good for the tournament. On previous Zocha Jam edition's there were problems with the afterparty, this time everything should be ok.
I can't wait to do some shredding and play 4 Square
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Szymon Kałwak (Ners)
The first day of Zocha Jam was totally killer, there were lots of players, and lots of press. We managed to run everything on schedule, and there was only one major mistake - one of the judges filmed the Sick3 competition on the Shred30 footage so it was lost. We'll have to do it again tommorow.
There were more then 30 players, and one representant of Finland
Cheers Ville! Right now I'm at my place with 6 other players. Part two tommorow.
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Szymon Kałwak (Ners)
There were more then 30 players, and one representant of Finland
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Szymon Kałwak (Ners)
Ok, it's time for Zocha Jam recap. It all began on Friday, when I picked up Norek and Kierpca from the train station. After getting back to my place we decided to hit the gym for some shred. The session wasn't very long, but some cool combos were done and I remember enjoying it a lot. In the end we played some 2 Square with Kierpca, which allowed me to refresh my old moves
Soon we had to finish and pick up the rest of people that would be staying at my place (them being Gielnik, Kuba, Kiper and Woras), and give Kierpca a ride to Antek's house, where he was going to sleep. When we came back we watched some footbag videos, chilled and hit the sack. The second day started early, as we had to get to the other side of the city. When we arrived the whole organization mess sucked me in, and I was lost for the world. Fun fact: I didn't get to shred in a circle during the whole tournament
. Soon the events started and we went fast through the routines. I remember being impressed with Gielnik semifinals - he went so fast it reminded me of Felix at Worlds in Frankfurt. I was judging the whole thing, and finals turned out to be challenging, all top 3 routines were close. Later I competed in Doubles Freestyle, Most Ripping Run and Sick3 but didn't manage to get on the podium in any of those events. In the meantime there were some people from the TV stations wanting to have some info about the sport, so I talked to them for a while. After the tournament we found out that there was a news story in one of the most popular TV stations in Poland, in the evening news! How cool is that
They also did a good job portraying footbag in a professional manner, I was very happy about that. When we finished all the events of the first day, and did the award ceremony, we cleaned up the gym and headed off to my place.
The second day started at 12:00 as planned. In the beginning we had to wait for the Golf to finish (before starting other events) so I got to play some 2 Square with Wiktor and Cod. We also shot some footage, so I hope to see a sweet Squares video soon
When Golf finally finished I organized the Circle Contest, and man, it was a total blast! Easily the highlight of the tournament. I won't give much spoilers, as you'll probably get to see it on the video, but the final circle with Damian Gielnicki, Marcin Bujko, Yves Kreil and Jakob Wagner was off the hook!
We didn't have much time left before we had to wrap everything up, but I managed to squeeze in the 4 Square event. It consisted of two rounds, the first one being a classic 4 Square with 7 players, and 3 players with the highest score advancing to the finals. This round ended up with me having 15, and Wiktor Dębski and Jakob Wagner having 14
We did the finals using 2 Square rules (no attacking from a stall) and the first match was me against Jakob. It was a fierce clash, and adrenaline was rushing through my veins when the score was at 3:1 for Jakob (playing to 5). Thankfully I managed to keep my head clear and after some long rallys end the match with 5:3. Then I played against Wiktor, and won, assuring the gold medal
The last match, for the second place was great to watch, Wiktor and Jakob used some creative attacks, and in the end Jakob turned out to be better and took the second place.
Soon after we did the final awards ceremony, I thanked everyone for coming, cleaned the gym and went home to study Latin for an exam that I had the next day
It looks the tournament was lots of fun for all the participants, and I'm happy about that. I worked a lot on it, and learned a lot. I hope that next year Zocha Jam will be even better.
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Szymon Kałwak (Ners)
The second day started at 12:00 as planned. In the beginning we had to wait for the Golf to finish (before starting other events) so I got to play some 2 Square with Wiktor and Cod. We also shot some footage, so I hope to see a sweet Squares video soon
We didn't have much time left before we had to wrap everything up, but I managed to squeeze in the 4 Square event. It consisted of two rounds, the first one being a classic 4 Square with 7 players, and 3 players with the highest score advancing to the finals. This round ended up with me having 15, and Wiktor Dębski and Jakob Wagner having 14
Soon after we did the final awards ceremony, I thanked everyone for coming, cleaned the gym and went home to study Latin for an exam that I had the next day
It looks the tournament was lots of fun for all the participants, and I'm happy about that. I worked a lot on it, and learned a lot. I hope that next year Zocha Jam will be even better.
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Szymon Kałwak (Ners)
At first of all I want to felicitate you on organising the ZJ! Great competitions, with a lot of foreigners, journalists and good item-awards. Big props.
Second are thanks for let us sleeping at Your home! I wanted to say it in "real" but it was time of circle contest, while we was going on the bus, so I say it now: thank you
Third is props for sacrifice for judging - no shred on whole competitions - respectable attitude.
As fourth - nice relation
Greetings!
Second are thanks for let us sleeping at Your home! I wanted to say it in "real" but it was time of circle contest, while we was going on the bus, so I say it now: thank you
Third is props for sacrifice for judging - no shred on whole competitions - respectable attitude.
As fourth - nice relation
Greetings!
"Remember my name
Remember my skills..."
Kacper Kudyniuk
Footblog--->http://modified.in/footbag/viewtopic.php?t=15992
Remember my skills..."
Kacper Kudyniuk
Footblog--->http://modified.in/footbag/viewtopic.php?t=15992
We had a club session today, and I played freestyle, but not the regular one. I'm schooling Doubles with Wojtas now, and it rocks
We need to get our basics down, but I can see that with some practice we can be very good. We managed to hit the combination that Wiktor and Gosia uses, which is Dexcut Skoczek > Dexcut Reverse Skoczek, both muted - it looks awesoome
Not many people know about this, but a complete notation, that allows to write down and name any Doubles Freestyle trick is pretty much complete. Right now, I can see an increased growth of this discipline in Poland, and I think it might get much bigger. It's quite impressive for the audience and still undeveloped. We'll see how it goes. Please go and see the video Wiktor posted in the Videos section, called Doubles Freestyle Circle:
http://modified.in/footbag/viewtopic.php?t=17876
I'd like to see 4 Square get bigger too, especially because it seems like the perfect way of getting new players into footbag. I think it could be even better if 2 Square, with unified rules was used, as there's only you, and your opponent, and the skill prevails.
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Szymon Kałwak (Ners)
Not many people know about this, but a complete notation, that allows to write down and name any Doubles Freestyle trick is pretty much complete. Right now, I can see an increased growth of this discipline in Poland, and I think it might get much bigger. It's quite impressive for the audience and still undeveloped. We'll see how it goes. Please go and see the video Wiktor posted in the Videos section, called Doubles Freestyle Circle:
http://modified.in/footbag/viewtopic.php?t=17876
I'd like to see 4 Square get bigger too, especially because it seems like the perfect way of getting new players into footbag. I think it could be even better if 2 Square, with unified rules was used, as there's only you, and your opponent, and the skill prevails.
Pozdrawiam
Szymon Kałwak (Ners)
I bought the sweetest boombox - it uses memory cards, or usb devices for music input, and can run on batteries. It was also pretty cheap, 100 zł (about 40 USD). Now I have a great source of shred tunes that I can use whenever I go, and that means summer sessions in South Park with music!
We had a short session today, there was me, Hania and Artur. The place we shred in now is a skatepark, and to be honest, it's cold in there (those mean owners bastards try to make some money on heating or somethig) so we need another place. It looks like we have some hope, as my friend Kosik will try to get us a permission to shred in a theather near the center - that would mean a shred spot that's almost equally far away for all of us. I hope it will work out.
I shredded a bit, worked on my flip clipper, and Stepping sets. Noticed some improvement
I was kinda close to Delusional set, I should land it with some more work.
I need to study, because I have two big exams on Monday and Tuesday. I hope they will go ok. Studying law is hard, but it was to be expected
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Szymon Kałwak (Ners)
We had a short session today, there was me, Hania and Artur. The place we shred in now is a skatepark, and to be honest, it's cold in there (those mean owners bastards try to make some money on heating or somethig) so we need another place. It looks like we have some hope, as my friend Kosik will try to get us a permission to shred in a theather near the center - that would mean a shred spot that's almost equally far away for all of us. I hope it will work out.
I shredded a bit, worked on my flip clipper, and Stepping sets. Noticed some improvement
I need to study, because I have two big exams on Monday and Tuesday. I hope they will go ok. Studying law is hard, but it was to be expected
Pozdrawiam
Szymon Kałwak (Ners)
Go Go Nersiii ! Don't worry about your catty clipper, I belive in you!Ners wrote:I shredded a bit, worked on my flip clipper, and Stepping sets. Noticed some improvement![]()
Great that that we have now this sweet boombox. Oh I really can't wait for summertime and those outdoor, sunny sessions. This is the real freedom, don't you think?
Nice to hear about the new shred place. I would really love to shred there, but my injury can prevent me from playing for the whole winter. But I will come soon to see the great WRC Crew and how you all are improving
Cheers!
Rożens
Pawel Rozek
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