hola a todos.
Honestly haven't been kicking all that much. I have found a very nice space downstairs in our apartment block to kick in, which is good.
A couple of sessions this week I have been testing myself on some tricks. So the aim is to do 10 x the trick, they are all tricks that alternate sides each go, and each turn I swap starting sides. So I have been tracking my % overall, and also how many times I get 10/10.
Clipper was 100% both times, but everything else needs work. Some of the tricks need a lot of work.
So the tricks are legover, clipper, pickup, butterfly, PLO, ducking clipper, osis and ripwalk.
My osis is shockingly bad really, particularly the left side, so that's a key to work on. On the comparison, most tricks were pretty similar, though ripwalk had improved a lot this time around.
I also found a nice park that might be good for regular sessions, maybe once a week. It seems a fair few people go there, including some fellow gringos.
Most of the parks around though, are just sand and grass, which isn't much good for kicking. This park has some courts for playing basketball, and also some small soccer goals. I think that place has good potential, and it's near a couple of Francisca's friends houses.
I hit a little drill today, nothing terribly exciting, but I liked it, and was happy that I hit the complete drill within a couple of tries after thinking of it.
stepping op clipper>schmoe>pixie op clipper> ss butterfly>rpt.
My flip pixies has definitely become a lot stronger.
I have a couple of projects in my uni course, with their due dates rapidly approaching, so that has been taking up a lot of my time lately. I have some ideas for things I would like to pursue in Footbag, but we have quite a long time here, and we're still definitely in a settling in period.
My family is coming over next week, and we are having another wedding ceremony, so that has been another issue. Maybe after all that is done and dusted, we can really, truly begin here.
There is a competition in Colombia this weekend, I will try and make it to that same event next year. I have my eyes set on going to the South American championships in Venezuela, that's in about a month and a half. Let's see...
Canberra, Australia via SCL - Daniel Boyle
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boyle
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Started having a look at some prices to go to Worlds next year- got to be in the know of where to go. I saw that Aerolinas had flights for $1400 to fly to Madrid. That's a pretty good price for a return ticket. Better than it would be from Australia. From Madrid could go by a budget airline, or have a train adventure.
As much as I would love to just press: "purchase", I think we should get our life in order first. Though, really I have my heart on going to Europe next year. So let's see what happens with that. Apparently that price is more expensive than a "good" price anyway...
I found a cool place to play down in Providencia, it's in front of some kind of performing arts place, the stairs leading up to the building have an area that kind of works as a stage. It's a pretty busy (with offices etc) area, so I might try and play there more often.
This is a short run from there. Because it's up the first flight of stairs, it's almost like a stage area.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGlcwf9HrFk[/youtube]
The video doesn't actually show the whole space, it's quite a good big area for playing. The heads around the side of from various composers.
As much as I would love to just press: "purchase", I think we should get our life in order first. Though, really I have my heart on going to Europe next year. So let's see what happens with that. Apparently that price is more expensive than a "good" price anyway...
I found a cool place to play down in Providencia, it's in front of some kind of performing arts place, the stairs leading up to the building have an area that kind of works as a stage. It's a pretty busy (with offices etc) area, so I might try and play there more often.
This is a short run from there. Because it's up the first flight of stairs, it's almost like a stage area.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGlcwf9HrFk[/youtube]
The video doesn't actually show the whole space, it's quite a good big area for playing. The heads around the side of from various composers.
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boyle
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Haven't played all that much in the last couple of weeks- we had our Chilean wedding just this past week, so we've had a lot of family around, and have been showing them around.
The pool in the apartment block opened up this week, so that's going to be a great summer shred spot. As much as I want to play outside and attract spectators, there is really nothing that beats having a good shred and then just diving straight into the water- particularly right outside your doorstep.
Today I am going to do a demonstration at a school- it is the school of Augustine- my new mate- he is the nephew of Francisca, so I guess I am also his tio (uncle). Apparently he told all his classmates that I was the champion of Australia, being 9 he probably told them I was the campeon del mundial, but none of them believed him- apparently this same fate befell my cousin back in Australia- nar man, that's made up. "As if".
So I am going to prove them wrong, and hopefully get some little kids interested in this great game. It will also be a good chance to get some schools added to the list of "places I have done a demonstration at". I think it will be good fun- Francisca will come along, so she will be my translator if necessary, and she will take some photos too.
The pool in the apartment block opened up this week, so that's going to be a great summer shred spot. As much as I want to play outside and attract spectators, there is really nothing that beats having a good shred and then just diving straight into the water- particularly right outside your doorstep.
Today I am going to do a demonstration at a school- it is the school of Augustine- my new mate- he is the nephew of Francisca, so I guess I am also his tio (uncle). Apparently he told all his classmates that I was the champion of Australia, being 9 he probably told them I was the campeon del mundial, but none of them believed him- apparently this same fate befell my cousin back in Australia- nar man, that's made up. "As if".
So I am going to prove them wrong, and hopefully get some little kids interested in this great game. It will also be a good chance to get some schools added to the list of "places I have done a demonstration at". I think it will be good fun- Francisca will come along, so she will be my translator if necessary, and she will take some photos too.
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boyle
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hola blog
Have had lots of family in town so haven't been kicking all that much- though I did hit a new trick the other day- twirl with a forward swirl rather than reverse (is that still called a twirl, I don't really know).
I think I beat my tiltless record also, I'm not exactly sure what the previous one was, but this time I got 76. Hope to break the century sometime soon.
Went on a bit of a journey through some back country of Chile (places where most Chileans probably haven't been) with my family. It was a pretty good trip.
Here is a little video from the first place we stayed.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_1swu7sKtw[/youtube]
That was a house above Pichilemu, which has the world famous Punta de Lobos surf break there. We got to go in the water (which was pretty cold)- the surf was ok, but nothing to write home about. That is a pretty well visited town, but from there we took a bunch of windy backroads that got us to some pretty out of the way villagers. Maybe they will talk of the time when those Australianos came through town.
I have decided I won't go to the South American championships this year. It's in Venezuela and that costs about $600 to get there. As much as I would love to go, I'm not really in a position to be doing that (as I don't have a job). So what I will do is put that imaginary money aside, and that can go into the fund for going to worlds next year, and then I can also go to the South American Champs next year. We'll be sticking around for a while so I can get there in the next couple of years.
Have had lots of family in town so haven't been kicking all that much- though I did hit a new trick the other day- twirl with a forward swirl rather than reverse (is that still called a twirl, I don't really know).
I think I beat my tiltless record also, I'm not exactly sure what the previous one was, but this time I got 76. Hope to break the century sometime soon.
Went on a bit of a journey through some back country of Chile (places where most Chileans probably haven't been) with my family. It was a pretty good trip.
Here is a little video from the first place we stayed.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_1swu7sKtw[/youtube]
That was a house above Pichilemu, which has the world famous Punta de Lobos surf break there. We got to go in the water (which was pretty cold)- the surf was ok, but nothing to write home about. That is a pretty well visited town, but from there we took a bunch of windy backroads that got us to some pretty out of the way villagers. Maybe they will talk of the time when those Australianos came through town.
I have decided I won't go to the South American championships this year. It's in Venezuela and that costs about $600 to get there. As much as I would love to go, I'm not really in a position to be doing that (as I don't have a job). So what I will do is put that imaginary money aside, and that can go into the fund for going to worlds next year, and then I can also go to the South American Champs next year. We'll be sticking around for a while so I can get there in the next couple of years.
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boyle
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Have been trying to play almost every day. Normally wait til about 6pm once it cools down a bit- it's been quite hot here the last couple of weeks, but we have a pool in our apartment block, so I kick for about an hour then jump into the pool.
I hit 8 tripless the other day. I think my record is a bit higher, but I'm not too sure if that's really a fact. I was happy with yesterday though, it was dimwalk>blur rpt> parkwalk>ripwalk>sidewalk>ripwalk. The part I was most happy with was dim>blur.parkwalk, all on the flipside, and all tricks I have had a lot of problems with in the past. So if I can continue with those sort of tricks, and add in some ducking and spinning, I should be able to get plenty.
I have started an internship with "I Love Chile", they are an English language media organisation- their main things are a monthly newspaper and a website which gets updated pretty regularly. Hopefully it will lead into a job, let's see, there is a chance. I am mainly looking after sports, which of course in Chile, mainly means football/soccer.
I hit 8 tripless the other day. I think my record is a bit higher, but I'm not too sure if that's really a fact. I was happy with yesterday though, it was dimwalk>blur rpt> parkwalk>ripwalk>sidewalk>ripwalk. The part I was most happy with was dim>blur.parkwalk, all on the flipside, and all tricks I have had a lot of problems with in the past. So if I can continue with those sort of tricks, and add in some ducking and spinning, I should be able to get plenty.
I have started an internship with "I Love Chile", they are an English language media organisation- their main things are a monthly newspaper and a website which gets updated pretty regularly. Hopefully it will lead into a job, let's see, there is a chance. I am mainly looking after sports, which of course in Chile, mainly means football/soccer.
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boyle
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Felt like I had a good session today. Felt even better jumping straight into the pool directly afterwards!
I hit 10 tripless, which was one of my aims at the start of the session. (legbeater>ripwalk>sidewalk>ripwalk>sidewalk>ducking butterflyx2>spinning osis>ducking osis>diving butterfly.
My current goal is to get to 20, which I feel is achievable in the next couple of months. In the same time frame I hope to hit 100 tiltess and 50 guiltless. Today my best was 57 (twice) tiltless, and 27 guiltless, which I would say is a new record for me. While it was fairly BOP heavy, there was a reasonable variety among the tricks.
I'm going to start doing these "Stephen Barnes One Shot Challenge"...I posted one in that thread. With no job and an unsure future, it is highly unlikely I will make it to the South American Championships. Hopefully this internship will lead into a paid job, I'm enjoying things so far. I basically have rule over the sports section, so it shouldn't be too long until there is a Footbag article!
I have made a bunch of goals for myself, aside from Footbag ones, for the next few years. So hopefully I can make some progress on those fronts.
I went to the launch of an art exhibition last night. Have already got a couple of free things out of this internship. We have some free tickets to the movies actually, so we will probably check something out in the upcoming days.
I hit 10 tripless, which was one of my aims at the start of the session. (legbeater>ripwalk>sidewalk>ripwalk>sidewalk>ducking butterflyx2>spinning osis>ducking osis>diving butterfly.
My current goal is to get to 20, which I feel is achievable in the next couple of months. In the same time frame I hope to hit 100 tiltess and 50 guiltless. Today my best was 57 (twice) tiltless, and 27 guiltless, which I would say is a new record for me. While it was fairly BOP heavy, there was a reasonable variety among the tricks.
I'm going to start doing these "Stephen Barnes One Shot Challenge"...I posted one in that thread. With no job and an unsure future, it is highly unlikely I will make it to the South American Championships. Hopefully this internship will lead into a paid job, I'm enjoying things so far. I basically have rule over the sports section, so it shouldn't be too long until there is a Footbag article!
I have made a bunch of goals for myself, aside from Footbag ones, for the next few years. So hopefully I can make some progress on those fronts.
I went to the launch of an art exhibition last night. Have already got a couple of free things out of this internship. We have some free tickets to the movies actually, so we will probably check something out in the upcoming days.
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boyle
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I have been playing most days of the week. We have a pool here at the apartment block, and it is such a good feeling to shred, get really sweaty, then jump straight into the pool.
I've been doing this internship I mentioned in a previous post, with I Love Chile- they are an English language newspaper- you can read my stories here
I wrote a reply in Nathan Pipenberg's blog about some ideas on the current state and the future of Footbag.
I got to thinking a bit about what I have done for the sport in my time. I have done a bit, but like everyone, could do more. I have definitely told a whole lot of people about Footbag, though it's hard to go from telling them something, to them doing a couple of kicks, to them becoming a player.
I also got to go to Malaysia and do some demonstrations and judging, in a tournament sponsored by Adidas. I played again with some of the guys when I went back a few weeks later. They have gone and done Footbag stuff on TV now as well, which is kind of cool- most of those guys are mainly freestyle footballers, but I think some of them have really embraced footbag.
Here in Chile, I haven't succeeded in finding any converts, not yet anyway. I have got plenty of positive comments and I did a demonstration at the school of one of my nephews.
Something I would love to have is a big stock of footbags to just give away- not to sell, but just if someone is interested, there you go mate, get into it. This is hard to do for me at the moment, because I don't have a job or any money, but that's a thought for the future- or for rich footbag players.
I didn't make it to the South American Championships in Venezuela - it's a long way from here, and I probably would have needed to take 3 flights to get there. We'll be around for a fair while, so I hope to go next year.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_Kui_i0m2g[/youtube]
Here's a video I came across. It's mainly net, and in Spanish, but it looks like they've got a cool scene up there. Now to build a scene here and bring them all together. That would be really great, and something I would be very proud to achieve.
As for my own game, I made a couple of breakthroughs with some flipside tricks. The big one being flip ripped warrior- I learned stepping ducking around the time of worlds 2009 and my flipside has really lagged behind, but it's starting to catch up now. On the strongside stepping ducking is beginning to feel much stronger and I can do it pretty consistently.
The other flip trick I hit that I have never done before was paradox torque. I had kind of forgotten about paradox torque, particularly ever since I learnt how to hit mobius. So it was good to add that into my bag of tricks.
I have also been working a lot on building up my tiltless, guiltless levels. Aiming for certain goals, say my current list of goals on titlless is to hit 10 toe based moves, then once that's achieved, 10 toe based without pixies. My toe game lags a fair way behind my clipper game, and most of my toe tricks are pixies. So these different challenges will hopefully build me up a bit more.
That's the beauty of playing footbag, even when you're by yourself. Whilst it can be frustrating, boring, it's a new sort of game while you play by yourself- you vs the bag. While of course it's a lot more fun to talk shit, and be inspired by other people, the game when you're playing by yourself is to set challenges and try to achieve them, and it's a great feeling to realise that you have accomplished something you may have been trying for a long time.
I've been doing this internship I mentioned in a previous post, with I Love Chile- they are an English language newspaper- you can read my stories here
I wrote a reply in Nathan Pipenberg's blog about some ideas on the current state and the future of Footbag.
I got to thinking a bit about what I have done for the sport in my time. I have done a bit, but like everyone, could do more. I have definitely told a whole lot of people about Footbag, though it's hard to go from telling them something, to them doing a couple of kicks, to them becoming a player.
I also got to go to Malaysia and do some demonstrations and judging, in a tournament sponsored by Adidas. I played again with some of the guys when I went back a few weeks later. They have gone and done Footbag stuff on TV now as well, which is kind of cool- most of those guys are mainly freestyle footballers, but I think some of them have really embraced footbag.
Here in Chile, I haven't succeeded in finding any converts, not yet anyway. I have got plenty of positive comments and I did a demonstration at the school of one of my nephews.
Something I would love to have is a big stock of footbags to just give away- not to sell, but just if someone is interested, there you go mate, get into it. This is hard to do for me at the moment, because I don't have a job or any money, but that's a thought for the future- or for rich footbag players.
I didn't make it to the South American Championships in Venezuela - it's a long way from here, and I probably would have needed to take 3 flights to get there. We'll be around for a fair while, so I hope to go next year.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_Kui_i0m2g[/youtube]
Here's a video I came across. It's mainly net, and in Spanish, but it looks like they've got a cool scene up there. Now to build a scene here and bring them all together. That would be really great, and something I would be very proud to achieve.
As for my own game, I made a couple of breakthroughs with some flipside tricks. The big one being flip ripped warrior- I learned stepping ducking around the time of worlds 2009 and my flipside has really lagged behind, but it's starting to catch up now. On the strongside stepping ducking is beginning to feel much stronger and I can do it pretty consistently.
The other flip trick I hit that I have never done before was paradox torque. I had kind of forgotten about paradox torque, particularly ever since I learnt how to hit mobius. So it was good to add that into my bag of tricks.
I have also been working a lot on building up my tiltless, guiltless levels. Aiming for certain goals, say my current list of goals on titlless is to hit 10 toe based moves, then once that's achieved, 10 toe based without pixies. My toe game lags a fair way behind my clipper game, and most of my toe tricks are pixies. So these different challenges will hopefully build me up a bit more.
That's the beauty of playing footbag, even when you're by yourself. Whilst it can be frustrating, boring, it's a new sort of game while you play by yourself- you vs the bag. While of course it's a lot more fun to talk shit, and be inspired by other people, the game when you're playing by yourself is to set challenges and try to achieve them, and it's a great feeling to realise that you have accomplished something you may have been trying for a long time.
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boyle
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I am starting to work on a project which I hope I will continue for the next year (and onwards), and hopefully it works out to be quite cool.
The idea is quite simple, to interview Footbag players from around the world and then post the results on the Shred Global site.
I guess, just like playing, the key is consistency, and continuing in your efforts. My main aim through this little project of mine is simply to get people talking about footbag, maybe it will inspire some people, and to get the various ideas that people have about the way forward for Footbag. The other aim I have is to get 100 interviews by the end of 2012- so 2 per week.
Hopefully it will work out well, I have my first couple of subjects sorted out, and plenty more in mind.
The idea is quite simple, to interview Footbag players from around the world and then post the results on the Shred Global site.
I guess, just like playing, the key is consistency, and continuing in your efforts. My main aim through this little project of mine is simply to get people talking about footbag, maybe it will inspire some people, and to get the various ideas that people have about the way forward for Footbag. The other aim I have is to get 100 interviews by the end of 2012- so 2 per week.
Hopefully it will work out well, I have my first couple of subjects sorted out, and plenty more in mind.
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boyle
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Thanks Tony. I hope it all works out as I planned.
As for me, I had a session where I hit 3 new tricks yesterday. For most of the year I haven't hit too much new stuff, but I guess this whole playing by myself and having a more "training" style to my sessions is working well. A lot of the new tricks I've been hitting lately are really just filling gaping holes in my game, but that's a good thing.
So in yesterday's session the new tricks were
ingyro mirage (from toe). I had never really tried this before. I hit it from a magellan, that was a kinda cool combo.
flip barfly. This is something that I simply have not been able to get my head around, for years. I don't even remember when I first hit barfly, maybe about 5 years ago. But on the flip, it has always just been....nup...but yesterday, I just tried it out of the blue, and after a fair few tries I got it. So that was a pretty good feeling.
pixie op blender - I'm not actually sure if this one is new, but I don't think I've hit it before, or at least not in a while. It was my last trick of the session and it felt really good.
So those tricks, I also hit phoenix bsos, which I have hit before, though this had a better run outside of the two phoenix. Add that on to my progress earlier in the week (flip ripped warrior and flip pdx torque), and I would have to say this has been a pretty good week for my game.
I also hit smog yesterday, that's a trick that's given me a lot of trouble over the years. I feel like I have been playing reasonably well of late, but I have a bit more desire for consistency, long, long runs with hard tricks in the middle of them. That will come with more training of course.
I am pretty motivated on playing lately. I haven't been thinking about doing any routines, as there is no competition coming soon for me, but I should work on one or two to start getting ready.
I do really hope to go to Worlds, that's a while away. Next year's South American Championships will be in Medellin, Colombia. That one I do not plan on missing.
My interview series I mentioned in the last post should kick off next week. I have some good ones to begin with, and many more in mind. Once I have the project underway a bit more I am going to make a target list for all the people I want to interview.
The project is quite simple and could potentially go on forever, if I maintained the interest, and people were reading it- which is always the problem with any sort of project like that. So I am just going to think of the project as part of my footbag game, something to work on every day, which will go along with other projects outside of physically playing, with some ideas for promoting the sports and finding some amigos here in Chile to play with.
As for me, I had a session where I hit 3 new tricks yesterday. For most of the year I haven't hit too much new stuff, but I guess this whole playing by myself and having a more "training" style to my sessions is working well. A lot of the new tricks I've been hitting lately are really just filling gaping holes in my game, but that's a good thing.
So in yesterday's session the new tricks were
ingyro mirage (from toe). I had never really tried this before. I hit it from a magellan, that was a kinda cool combo. flip barfly. This is something that I simply have not been able to get my head around, for years. I don't even remember when I first hit barfly, maybe about 5 years ago. But on the flip, it has always just been....nup...but yesterday, I just tried it out of the blue, and after a fair few tries I got it. So that was a pretty good feeling. pixie op blender - I'm not actually sure if this one is new, but I don't think I've hit it before, or at least not in a while. It was my last trick of the session and it felt really good.So those tricks, I also hit phoenix bsos, which I have hit before, though this had a better run outside of the two phoenix. Add that on to my progress earlier in the week (flip ripped warrior and flip pdx torque), and I would have to say this has been a pretty good week for my game.
I also hit smog yesterday, that's a trick that's given me a lot of trouble over the years. I feel like I have been playing reasonably well of late, but I have a bit more desire for consistency, long, long runs with hard tricks in the middle of them. That will come with more training of course.
I am pretty motivated on playing lately. I haven't been thinking about doing any routines, as there is no competition coming soon for me, but I should work on one or two to start getting ready.
I do really hope to go to Worlds, that's a while away. Next year's South American Championships will be in Medellin, Colombia. That one I do not plan on missing.
My interview series I mentioned in the last post should kick off next week. I have some good ones to begin with, and many more in mind. Once I have the project underway a bit more I am going to make a target list for all the people I want to interview.
The project is quite simple and could potentially go on forever, if I maintained the interest, and people were reading it- which is always the problem with any sort of project like that. So I am just going to think of the project as part of my footbag game, something to work on every day, which will go along with other projects outside of physically playing, with some ideas for promoting the sports and finding some amigos here in Chile to play with.
-
boyle
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Another good session today. I normally play for about an hour, but this session was about an hour and a half.
No new tricks today, but I did break my tiltless record. I increased it from 76 to 78. I was a bit disappointed in that because I've been aiming for 100 for a long time. I got over 50 a bunch of times, and I guess I was starting to feel a bit like Sachin Tendulkar this year (minus all the fame and money). Next time he scores a century, he will have 100 hundreds, but he hasn't been able to do that since February, despite regularly getting over 50.
I did some other things in my session I was happy with, including one drill, that doesn't contain anything spectacular, it's more like fundamental tricks, but there were a few tricks in there that sometime elude me, so I was happy to complete the drill, which was:
ripwalk>drifter>ducking clipper>spinning clipper>whirl rpt particularly the last 2 tricks on my flipside have consistently given me trouble over the years.
I started working on the combo of phoenix>ripped warrior. It still has some way to go, but I had the stepping ducking part, so that combo will hopefully not be too far away.
My final act this time was to go for some more tiltless- 104! Finally, that barrier has been broken down. I felt totally stuffed afterwards. Normally I take a big run up and jump into the pool, or do a dive, or some stupid trick like a thread the needle or a spin, but today I had to walk to the other end and just walk into the pool by the stairs. My first act was to simply sit in the pool and have a rest on the stairs for a while, then I eased my way in to the swimming.
Having a pool in this apartment block is so good. These shred sessions, while I could do them anywhere, followed by the swims are probably my highlight of my time in Chile.
No new tricks today, but I did break my tiltless record. I increased it from 76 to 78. I was a bit disappointed in that because I've been aiming for 100 for a long time. I got over 50 a bunch of times, and I guess I was starting to feel a bit like Sachin Tendulkar this year (minus all the fame and money). Next time he scores a century, he will have 100 hundreds, but he hasn't been able to do that since February, despite regularly getting over 50.
I did some other things in my session I was happy with, including one drill, that doesn't contain anything spectacular, it's more like fundamental tricks, but there were a few tricks in there that sometime elude me, so I was happy to complete the drill, which was:
ripwalk>drifter>ducking clipper>spinning clipper>whirl rpt particularly the last 2 tricks on my flipside have consistently given me trouble over the years.
I started working on the combo of phoenix>ripped warrior. It still has some way to go, but I had the stepping ducking part, so that combo will hopefully not be too far away.
My final act this time was to go for some more tiltless- 104! Finally, that barrier has been broken down. I felt totally stuffed afterwards. Normally I take a big run up and jump into the pool, or do a dive, or some stupid trick like a thread the needle or a spin, but today I had to walk to the other end and just walk into the pool by the stairs. My first act was to simply sit in the pool and have a rest on the stairs for a while, then I eased my way in to the swimming.
Having a pool in this apartment block is so good. These shred sessions, while I could do them anywhere, followed by the swims are probably my highlight of my time in Chile.
Hey man. I must admit, I haven't been keeping up with your posts lately so I took some time and read over your recent ones.
I'm on board with a lot of what you say about promoting footbag. I think one of the most important things is always staying positive, and getting excited for new players even if they're just dropping toe stalls.
That seems like a cool internship you've got going on. It seems like you get to write about a lot of different topics.
Your video project sounds dope, too. Keep it up man.
I'm on board with a lot of what you say about promoting footbag. I think one of the most important things is always staying positive, and getting excited for new players even if they're just dropping toe stalls.
That seems like a cool internship you've got going on. It seems like you get to write about a lot of different topics.
Your video project sounds dope, too. Keep it up man.
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boyle
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I think one thing about Footbag is that if you want more players, or more "fans", or anything else, then you have to go out and do that. I think most people are just hoping some *magical mystical company or person or Steve Goldberg* will just click their fingers and Footbag will be a big, popular sport.
I don't think that will happen any time soon, so all of us that play just need to keep plugging away.
The internship is pretty good experience. I do get to write about a lot of stuff- I'm "the sports guy", but I will write about other things each day as well. It's not paid at all though, so it's time to get a Real Job (maybe).
Whatever happens, it's a really good resource to show people if I do go for some kind of writing job, or even other jobs. I am going pretty well full time at the moment, though I think in the next weeks I will start pushing to get a proper job, or- if I'm going to be working for free either volunteer on something that will be helpful for other people, or doing something that will help Footbag. When I went for the interview they said a job could come up down the line, so I will have to see how that goes. I will just try and do my best.
Doing the internship I have become a lot more aware of some different things in Chile...particularly the HidroAysén project- which is just terrible really- to dam wild rivers in Patagonia for a hydroelectric plant, which will then need huge powerlines to run through areas famous for their wilderness.
There is also another thing, just need my brother in law's house, where there are some big sand dunes. The dunes used to be completely nature reserve, but some deal meant that part of it became normal land, which of course was sold to developers to make towering apartments, on the dunes.
So there were some protests there the other day, and the local mayor (I think the sale was made by the national or regional government), he encouraged that protesters go and kick down the fences of the area they will build on.
The interview project I'm going to do is just going to be text based. If I get it going strong I may make a zine or something of it, but we will have to see how that goes.
As for my playing, I have been playing a little bit over the last few days, but not really proper sessions. We have been staying at the coast with the nephews. They are very young, but they like Footbag already. We were walking around yesterday and Tomás (aged 4) picked up a small round rock and said "mira, Footbag" (look- a Footbag). We also played a bit, he would put it on his foot and kick it to me, then I would do a stall and pass it back to him for him to catch it in his hands.
It is super important for kids to learn the skills like catching, kicking and throwing from a young age. This is nothing to do with Footbag, it's just something that I find very important, so I was happy to play with them. I was also pleased to see they spend a lot of their time playing outside, and not inside playing video games or anything.
In the next few days I will review the footbag goals I made at the start of the year, and plan for some new ones. I was disappointed not to go to Worlds in 2011, I hope that's not the case again this year. I did however get to go to a tournament overseas, as I was judging and giving demonstrations at the first ever Malaysian Championships, which was of course, like all tournaments* (*not really), sponsored by Adidas and in a huge shopping centre with probably a thousand or more people watching at some stages.
So this post is a lot of rambling, just getting some thoughts off my head. Something else I'd like to do this year is post at least once a week in this blog, and hopefully see other people doing similar. It does get hard to maintain action when there's not so much other action around (let alone comments, etc).
I don't think that will happen any time soon, so all of us that play just need to keep plugging away.
The internship is pretty good experience. I do get to write about a lot of stuff- I'm "the sports guy", but I will write about other things each day as well. It's not paid at all though, so it's time to get a Real Job (maybe).
Whatever happens, it's a really good resource to show people if I do go for some kind of writing job, or even other jobs. I am going pretty well full time at the moment, though I think in the next weeks I will start pushing to get a proper job, or- if I'm going to be working for free either volunteer on something that will be helpful for other people, or doing something that will help Footbag. When I went for the interview they said a job could come up down the line, so I will have to see how that goes. I will just try and do my best.
Doing the internship I have become a lot more aware of some different things in Chile...particularly the HidroAysén project- which is just terrible really- to dam wild rivers in Patagonia for a hydroelectric plant, which will then need huge powerlines to run through areas famous for their wilderness.
There is also another thing, just need my brother in law's house, where there are some big sand dunes. The dunes used to be completely nature reserve, but some deal meant that part of it became normal land, which of course was sold to developers to make towering apartments, on the dunes.
So there were some protests there the other day, and the local mayor (I think the sale was made by the national or regional government), he encouraged that protesters go and kick down the fences of the area they will build on.
The interview project I'm going to do is just going to be text based. If I get it going strong I may make a zine or something of it, but we will have to see how that goes.
As for my playing, I have been playing a little bit over the last few days, but not really proper sessions. We have been staying at the coast with the nephews. They are very young, but they like Footbag already. We were walking around yesterday and Tomás (aged 4) picked up a small round rock and said "mira, Footbag" (look- a Footbag). We also played a bit, he would put it on his foot and kick it to me, then I would do a stall and pass it back to him for him to catch it in his hands.
It is super important for kids to learn the skills like catching, kicking and throwing from a young age. This is nothing to do with Footbag, it's just something that I find very important, so I was happy to play with them. I was also pleased to see they spend a lot of their time playing outside, and not inside playing video games or anything.
In the next few days I will review the footbag goals I made at the start of the year, and plan for some new ones. I was disappointed not to go to Worlds in 2011, I hope that's not the case again this year. I did however get to go to a tournament overseas, as I was judging and giving demonstrations at the first ever Malaysian Championships, which was of course, like all tournaments* (*not really), sponsored by Adidas and in a huge shopping centre with probably a thousand or more people watching at some stages.
So this post is a lot of rambling, just getting some thoughts off my head. Something else I'd like to do this year is post at least once a week in this blog, and hopefully see other people doing similar. It does get hard to maintain action when there's not so much other action around (let alone comments, etc).
-
boyle
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That's the hardest thing- to build from a scene of 1. If you have even 2 or 3, you already have people you can connect with, and they may find other people, you can go for food or beers afterwards.
I guess moving to another country, where there is no scene at all (but huge potential for one, well within the whole continent). It's hard to say an exact thing to get people playing anywhere (obviously it's not really working that well across the world...). But it's best just to play in public spaces whenever we can and tell people about footbag, and maybe that might pay off after a while and people will get involved and do the same thing.
Who knows what will happen in the next few years- hopefully it will be a positive change
I guess moving to another country, where there is no scene at all (but huge potential for one, well within the whole continent). It's hard to say an exact thing to get people playing anywhere (obviously it's not really working that well across the world...). But it's best just to play in public spaces whenever we can and tell people about footbag, and maybe that might pay off after a while and people will get involved and do the same thing.
Who knows what will happen in the next few years- hopefully it will be a positive change
-
boyle
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First interview of the plan I have mentioned in the previous posts.
World Champion, Jan Honza Weber
http://www.shredglobal.com/archive/sg/i ... nza-weber/
So I am hoping to do at least one of these per week, hopefully more. We will see how that all goes. I hope people like the interviews.
Played today. Had an ok session, not great, but I hadn't gone for a serious session in a few days, so it was good to play. I came close to hitting spinning swirl, hopefully I can get that within the next few sessions. Not too many other highlights off the top of my head- pixie ducking clipper>ripped warrior. That's a new link and another step on the way to phoenix>ripped.
Hopefully I will play again tomorrow, it's been super hot here lately, I don't think that will end any time soon.
World Champion, Jan Honza Weber
http://www.shredglobal.com/archive/sg/i ... nza-weber/
So I am hoping to do at least one of these per week, hopefully more. We will see how that all goes. I hope people like the interviews.
Played today. Had an ok session, not great, but I hadn't gone for a serious session in a few days, so it was good to play. I came close to hitting spinning swirl, hopefully I can get that within the next few sessions. Not too many other highlights off the top of my head- pixie ducking clipper>ripped warrior. That's a new link and another step on the way to phoenix>ripped.
Hopefully I will play again tomorrow, it's been super hot here lately, I don't think that will end any time soon.
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boyle
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My next interview in my little series on Shred Global
The Red Rocket, Phil Morrison
http://www.shredglobal.com/archive/aust ... -morrison/
Had a couple of sessions during this week, nothing spectacular though. I have gone to a few things to meet people during the week. On Wednesday a Couchsurfing meetup, this was a pretty good time, there were over 30 people there and everyone was very positive, which is not always the case in Chile.
Thursday I played in a Pichanga (pick up soccer). There is this website called Jogabo, it basically allows you to connect with games in many different places. I scored a goal in this game, though I think we lost. Some of the guys take their pichanga far too seriously.
Have not really been feeling excellent today, so I think any plans for shred might be off for this weekend. It's Francisca's birthday tomorrow, so we will have a little celebration.
Instead of kicking I think I might begin work on furthering some ideas that I have about Footbag here in Chile.
The Red Rocket, Phil Morrison
http://www.shredglobal.com/archive/aust ... -morrison/
Had a couple of sessions during this week, nothing spectacular though. I have gone to a few things to meet people during the week. On Wednesday a Couchsurfing meetup, this was a pretty good time, there were over 30 people there and everyone was very positive, which is not always the case in Chile.
Thursday I played in a Pichanga (pick up soccer). There is this website called Jogabo, it basically allows you to connect with games in many different places. I scored a goal in this game, though I think we lost. Some of the guys take their pichanga far too seriously.
Have not really been feeling excellent today, so I think any plans for shred might be off for this weekend. It's Francisca's birthday tomorrow, so we will have a little celebration.
Instead of kicking I think I might begin work on furthering some ideas that I have about Footbag here in Chile.
-
boyle
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Oh, and this one needs it's own post. While having a look at some of Phil's videos on youtube, I came across this one.
"Footbag legend"
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn1CTFL466Q[/youtube]
It's of me from one of my demonstrations at the AIS (Australian Institute of Sport). It was posted in September, so it would have been in my stint between coming back from Asia and coming to Chile.
It refers to me as "last year's world champion" and also a "legend". The tricks in the video (and the truth) do not validate these points.
I worked as a tour guide, and on each tour I would give a little footbag demonstration. This must have been one of the ones I did soon after I came back. I was returning from a sprained ankle and not long before I had to go to hospital in Thailand, so I was not really full of confidence.
One of the kids at the end asks "how did you get so good".
That was a great opportunity for promoting footbag, and I do wish I had have capitalised on that some more, but it was definitely a good start. There were always kids taking photos and filming, I wonder if there are more similar videos on Youtube.
"Footbag legend"
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn1CTFL466Q[/youtube]
It's of me from one of my demonstrations at the AIS (Australian Institute of Sport). It was posted in September, so it would have been in my stint between coming back from Asia and coming to Chile.
It refers to me as "last year's world champion" and also a "legend". The tricks in the video (and the truth) do not validate these points.
I worked as a tour guide, and on each tour I would give a little footbag demonstration. This must have been one of the ones I did soon after I came back. I was returning from a sprained ankle and not long before I had to go to hospital in Thailand, so I was not really full of confidence.
One of the kids at the end asks "how did you get so good".
That was a great opportunity for promoting footbag, and I do wish I had have capitalised on that some more, but it was definitely a good start. There were always kids taking photos and filming, I wonder if there are more similar videos on Youtube.
-
boyle
- Post Master General
- Posts: 3180
- Joined: 19 Sep 2007 23:42
- Location: Canberra, Australia
- Contact:
Feeling much better than yesterday, so just had a reasonable session. I finished it off with a new trick - pixie ducking whirl. I have hit a bunch of new tricks recently, however a lot of them are probably some I should have hit some years ago, but now I am getting the different pieces of my game together. A lot of these new tricks I have also hit in the first few goes in the particular session I first hit them, which is good for confidence.
One trick I tried a few times, and am probably less close to than ever, is paradon swirl.
It's my wife's birthday today, so we're going to go out for a few drinks to celebrate.
My good friend Roy said he might come to Chile in the next couple of months. That would be awesome, it would be great to have someone to kick with, and also to see him again.
I also put my first (very tentative) steps into doing something to promote footbag in Chile. I have been talking via email to a lady in the US (West Virginia), who has started a charity to help people who are still being affected by the earthquake that happened here, almost 2 years ago now. They still live in camps and not very good conditions.
So I suggested something about doing a footbag program with them, but the big part of it would be that every person would get a footbag for free. So my suggestion was that maybe the charity, or someone like the Rotary, who have supported them a lot could get involved.
I just sent her an email with the suggestion, as I am still writing the article about the efforts that she's made already.
Another idea is to get involved in the Eligir Vivir Sano (Choose Healthy Living) program. This is the current pet program of the First Lady of Chile, so I would imagine there's a lot of money there. They just brought on Alexis Sánchez, who plays for Barcelona and is a star of the national selection, as an ambassador.
I need to develop that idea a lot more- and then probably present it in Spanish. So that has a long way to go, and is currently just a piece of my imagination.
Another thing, also simply a piece of imagination, is to apply for the "Start Up Chile" program. They are encouraging Start Up businesses to come to Chile, and if I could get some kind of footbag related business happening- that could work well. They give $40,000 to each company, and recently admitted 100 new companies. The next round opens in March I think, so I will keep an eye on that.
Going back to that thing with Alexis Sánchez, or any big time player of sports, it would give such a boost if someone like that started playing footbag.
I don't know if it's really given so much of a boost, but something in a similar case was the tennis player Gaël Monfils, from France. One time he was invited into a doubles tournament of paddle tennis as some sponsorship thing. He got interested in it, so got a wildcard to enter the singles, and he won the whole thing. I think it may have been the Worlds actually.
That was in 2006 in Vegas (of course....) So I'm sure people are like, what a stupid thing, and maybe that's what the same people think about Footbag. However, last month I went to see him play an exhibition match against Fernando Gonzalez. Because it was an exhibition match, these guys were just taking the piss really, particularly Monfils, so midway through the third set, he stops a point, says- wait a minute, I need to change racket, and he brings out a racket for paddle tennis!
If you were to get someone like Messi, or the star of any particular country, getting in and playing that, just for some fun or something, even as part of some sponsorship deal, now that would really bring some attention. That part of the dream though, is at the very back of my mind.
However I did try and get it going last month. I have written a bit about doing this internship in writing. So I am mainly writing about sports, and I went with Francisca to cover the Botín de Oro (Golden Boot) for the Primera Division here in Chile.
Eduardo Vargas had just signed a multi million dollar contract with Napoli in Serie A, so I planned to give him a leaving present (of a Footbag). Unfortunately all these guys look exactly the same - their hair in a spiky faux-hawk, some similar arm tattoos, and some kind of black Armani t-shirt.
I wrote a more detailed description in another blog of mine
But basically, we got our niece to make this cool hand drawn card of Vargas with a "U" shirt on it. Then I gave it to Esteban Paredes, who is the captain of Colo Colo, their arch rivals (think Real Madrid v Barcelona). Oops.
So it was a very nice idea, but it definitely lacked execution. Maybe next year when the next Chilean star goes to Europe for millions of bucks, I can try that again.
I am always thinking of these ideas. Hopefully some of them will come to fruition one day, and Footbag will become a big deal with Chile and South America as a driving force....
(you never know...)
One trick I tried a few times, and am probably less close to than ever, is paradon swirl.
It's my wife's birthday today, so we're going to go out for a few drinks to celebrate.
My good friend Roy said he might come to Chile in the next couple of months. That would be awesome, it would be great to have someone to kick with, and also to see him again.
I also put my first (very tentative) steps into doing something to promote footbag in Chile. I have been talking via email to a lady in the US (West Virginia), who has started a charity to help people who are still being affected by the earthquake that happened here, almost 2 years ago now. They still live in camps and not very good conditions.
So I suggested something about doing a footbag program with them, but the big part of it would be that every person would get a footbag for free. So my suggestion was that maybe the charity, or someone like the Rotary, who have supported them a lot could get involved.
I just sent her an email with the suggestion, as I am still writing the article about the efforts that she's made already.
Another idea is to get involved in the Eligir Vivir Sano (Choose Healthy Living) program. This is the current pet program of the First Lady of Chile, so I would imagine there's a lot of money there. They just brought on Alexis Sánchez, who plays for Barcelona and is a star of the national selection, as an ambassador.
I need to develop that idea a lot more- and then probably present it in Spanish. So that has a long way to go, and is currently just a piece of my imagination.
Another thing, also simply a piece of imagination, is to apply for the "Start Up Chile" program. They are encouraging Start Up businesses to come to Chile, and if I could get some kind of footbag related business happening- that could work well. They give $40,000 to each company, and recently admitted 100 new companies. The next round opens in March I think, so I will keep an eye on that.
Going back to that thing with Alexis Sánchez, or any big time player of sports, it would give such a boost if someone like that started playing footbag.
I don't know if it's really given so much of a boost, but something in a similar case was the tennis player Gaël Monfils, from France. One time he was invited into a doubles tournament of paddle tennis as some sponsorship thing. He got interested in it, so got a wildcard to enter the singles, and he won the whole thing. I think it may have been the Worlds actually.
That was in 2006 in Vegas (of course....) So I'm sure people are like, what a stupid thing, and maybe that's what the same people think about Footbag. However, last month I went to see him play an exhibition match against Fernando Gonzalez. Because it was an exhibition match, these guys were just taking the piss really, particularly Monfils, so midway through the third set, he stops a point, says- wait a minute, I need to change racket, and he brings out a racket for paddle tennis!
If you were to get someone like Messi, or the star of any particular country, getting in and playing that, just for some fun or something, even as part of some sponsorship deal, now that would really bring some attention. That part of the dream though, is at the very back of my mind.
However I did try and get it going last month. I have written a bit about doing this internship in writing. So I am mainly writing about sports, and I went with Francisca to cover the Botín de Oro (Golden Boot) for the Primera Division here in Chile.
Eduardo Vargas had just signed a multi million dollar contract with Napoli in Serie A, so I planned to give him a leaving present (of a Footbag). Unfortunately all these guys look exactly the same - their hair in a spiky faux-hawk, some similar arm tattoos, and some kind of black Armani t-shirt.
I wrote a more detailed description in another blog of mine
But basically, we got our niece to make this cool hand drawn card of Vargas with a "U" shirt on it. Then I gave it to Esteban Paredes, who is the captain of Colo Colo, their arch rivals (think Real Madrid v Barcelona). Oops.
So it was a very nice idea, but it definitely lacked execution. Maybe next year when the next Chilean star goes to Europe for millions of bucks, I can try that again.
I am always thinking of these ideas. Hopefully some of them will come to fruition one day, and Footbag will become a big deal with Chile and South America as a driving force....
(you never know...)
