Colin's Footblog

Colin · Post by **Colin** » 03 Jul 2004 10:24

An introductory post:

I consider myself a footbag fan, rather than a footbagger. I have a very strong understanding of the technicalities and terminology of the game, and I've held an interested in it for over three years now.

Despite that, I've never even come close to a high level of play. At my peak, I had a 10-or-so contact tiltless run that was highlighted by butterfly > ripwalk (when I could step, I found it very difficult to step out of a butterfly), but that was almost a year ago. I had been playing and improving very regularly at that point, with twice per week sessions with other interested friends. But shit happens, and I came down with mono. I was knocked out for a couple of months, and the regular shred sessions that my group had going dissolved. While I was sick, I continued to follow the forums loosly, and I've watch practically every video that has been posted on modified. Despite my continued interest, I've only played a handful of times since.

Right now I'm interested in getting back into the game. I bought an abshire bag (my first!) and balance of power from monsterhack, and they came in the mail the other day.

My current goal in footbag is to become a strong tiltless player, who can produce 10-15 contact runs consistantly. That, and to get rid of my gut.

Thanks for reading, wish me luck.

Colin · Post by **Colin** » 03 Jul 2004 10:58

First session in the new era of colin's footbag career:

I drilled toe moves, for the most part. I made my self hit each of these moves ten times on each foot.

atw (in/out)
atw (out/in)
legover
mirage
toe set pickup
pixie (uptime, part of one of the drills to switch feet)

Mixed resluts. I dropped my right foot pickup about twice in hitting it ten times, while I once missed 7 consecutive attempts at my left foot pickup. I missed a load of mirages, legovers, and ever atws (mostly with my left foot). The most annoying thing though, was simply not catching a falling bag on my toe, after a perfectly competant pixie set. This happened way too often. Good news though, the rust seemed to fade a little throughout. Most of my drops were in the first half of each drill.

At this point, I was a sweaty mess (I forgot I could smell like this), so I took a break and wrote that introductory post. When I got up, I was still pretty beat, so I figured I'd better get some clipper practice in before I wore out. I dropped the bag into each of my clippers 35 times. I dropped twice with my right foot, and about 10 times with my left. This isn't good practice for my strong clipper, but I find it easier to improve my weak one if I alternate between them and try to imitate my right with my left.

Satisfied that I had made enough contacts to call this a good practice day, I made some attempts at some bigger, funner moves. I was able to hit pixie legover back to back first try, and a few more times. I hit my strong smear and dimwalk both sides, and (drumroll) my strong ripwalk! I am pretty pleased with todays session, it feels like I've made progress.

Well, time to hit the showers.

Edit: As a footnote to this post, I must say that I'm very happy with my new bag, but I have my suspicions that it might be a mini, rather than the regular that I had ordered. It is almost exactly the same size as a golf ball. Can anyone confirm or deny my suspicions?

second edit: Not quite ready to leave the bag, i just hit a new move. Pixie same osis with a pronounced plant. Woo! I think it's quite stiley.

wolfpac444 · Post by **wolfpac444** » 03 Jul 2004 15:49

If it is the size of a golf-ball, then it is a regular one. It will break in to be bigger.

Colin · Post by **Colin** » 05 Jul 2004 16:45

Session 2 today.

similar to last time. I hit the following ten times on each foot in drilling mode:

Atw (each way)
mirage
legover
pixie
toe set pickup

This didn't take me as long or leave me quite so beat as last time, so I decided on another drill.

mirage > butterfly > pickup (rpt)

which I hit ten times, dropping TONS of left foot pickups and left foot butterflies. I managed to get 6 contacts once in this drill, and that made me pretty damned happy, along with several 3 and 4 contact mini-strings.

Then I hit ten osis' with each foot, set with a clipper and sealed with a toe catch. I'm having real trouble with my left foot osis, which has always sucked, and I've always neglected. The bag always flies off in the direction that my toe is pointing, I can't get a good 'grip' on it. My strong osis is getting better though.

That just about did it for tonight. I feel that progress is being made, and that makes me happy. I tried some unrehearsed shred, and some bigger moves, but nothing new or exciting happened (well, I hit smear>butterfly>pdx mirage>osis. certainly my 'biggest' 4 move combo ever). I seem to be able to hit my strong smear fairly often now, and that makes me happy. I need to start working on my flip stepping set. It's virtually non-existant. I need to make my flip pixie set as strong as my good one. In fact, that's my top priority right now.

My feet are getting softer and more comfortable with the bag, it seems. My overall 'catching' percentage seems to be rising, which is what I want.

Another day, another box of stolen pens.

Colin · Post by **Colin** » 07 Jul 2004 11:51

Mini session today, just enough to break a sweat.

Went through my toe moves again, 10 each of

atw
pixie
mirage
legover
pickup

then I tried for some osis', but was having trouble just setting the clipper right, so I did 30 clippers on each foot, followed by 10 butterflies with each foot. My left foot clipper was long neglected, and it's time that I evened that out.

I've been doing a few seperate toe drills, and I've just decided that I should make one bigger one, that has all of the things I want in it.

So, for next day, I will make myself hit the following 10 times.

ATW (in>out) > pickup > mirage > ATW (out>in) > legover > pixie clipper > pickup (repeat)

Yah, that looks alright. Makes me do each move on each foot, and gives me a bigger variety of links and such. Also, next time I play I'm going to start doing this drill : butterfly > pdx mirage (rpt). My strong side won't have any big trouble with this, but my weak one will.

Colin · Post by **Colin** » 08 Jul 2004 13:33

Played for about 7 minutes today, but my left hip started to give me significant pain. It hurts to lift my left foot / knee / leg, right at the hip joint.

Kinda giving me a little grief just walking now. I guess I should rest it a few days? I've played three times this week (every second day, woo), which is a lot given that before this week I've probably played three times in the past 6 months.

Today would have been the second day in a row, and to be honest, my hip was bothering me a little last night too. I'll give it a couple of days and try again on saturday or sunday.

Colin · Post by **Colin** » 11 Jul 2004 18:02

Godawful session tonight, only lasted about half an hour, out of utter frustration.

I was missing EVERYTHING with fantastic consistancy. From butterflies to ATWs to toe stalls. It got to the point that I decided to just do consecutive alternatnig toe stalls, but even then I was actually making <10 contacts on a pretty regular basis. Agh.

After a while of this, I tried a (strong side) ripwalk out of boredom/frustration, and hit it. Then I hit smear > pixie legover > smear on my first and only attempt (my longest toeguiltless string). Feeling a little more confident, I went back to the alternating toe delays. Three times in a row I dropped in less than 5 contacts, at which point I unceremoniously threw my bag at the wall and let out a fairly loud 'fuck it,' and the session ended.

Colin · Post by **Colin** » 29 Jul 2004 22:21

I've only been able to play a couple of times since my last update, and since neither session was remarkable in any way, I didn't bother post. A few little things should be noted though, for the sake of continuity.

I decided a couple of days ago to keep a personal records list. I find it helpful in setting goals ect. On my list for now:

consecutives
SS clippers
alt. clippers
mirages
legovers
pickups
infinities
pixie legovers
alt. toe stalls
alt. inside stalls
mirage > legover

If anyone's wondering about the alternating toe stalls, see the above post. It's completely psycological, but since writing this list, I haven't hit enough consecutive alternating toe stalls that I could write it down as my record without embarrasing myself.

The other thing I changed was that instead of commiting myself to tiltless drills, I decided that it's just as important for my game (both the enjoyment and developement) to include a good dose of tilt-full 'shred' with every session. Drills are all fine and good, but I'd almost forgotten how much FUN impromptu shred is, just going with the flow and seeing what happens.

Sad times have struck me though. The last time I played was about 4 days ago. I had 15 minutes to spare in the afternoon before I had to get myself cleaned up to go out, so I decided to run a few drills. It went alright, but when I got out of the shower I had a pretty good pain just above my right kneecap. No more stretchless sessions. My knee was fine though, just a little pull or something, and it's feeling just about 100% now.

I had decided this morning that I would play today, but I went and rolled my ankle pretty bad (bad enough that I fell over) on a hole that my dog has dug right right at the gate to my backyard. I opened the gate, and my first step onto the grass off of my driveway sent me to the ground. Bah. It hurts a decent bit now, but who knows what tomorrow will bring. A good night's sleep can do wonders. Or I suppose it could leave me crippled.

Anyways. That about covers it. Hopefully I'll be able to have a proper session tomorrow or the next day.

Colin · Post by **Colin** » 23 Aug 2004 11:31

It's been a while since I've made a post here but a few things of note have happened. Firstly, I surprised my girlfriend (who has never even circle-kicked) with a pair of Lavers, and she surprised me by being genuinely excited and happy about it. We played a handful of times, but not recently, as she is quite studious and has an important exam coming up along with her work. But it looks like I have a steady long term playing partner, so that is good. Secondly, I've recently started getting a bit of 'flow' in my game. I think it's mostly to do with relaxing the pressure I put on myself, and it's resulted in much improvement in both my skill level (not so much difficult moves, but comfortable linking), and in how much I'm enjoying my shred time.

Infinities and my strong osis are now automatic moves that rarely drop. It's like I just watch my body do them, and I have time to think about what I should do next. For the first time today I've started hitting things out of my osis. stuff like osis > pickup, and osis > far legover, ect. Feels good.

Anyways, that's the jist of what's happened. I'm getting a bit pumped for the school year to start again, so I can fix a schedual for playing at the gym at school. At least twice per week for 1.5 hours plus, hopefully thrice. Maybe I can get a couple of my friends at it again, too. Not to mention my girlfriend. There was a younger guy in the area who played and posted on .ORG for a while. I had put off meeting him because my skills we so far below even my own previous level. Not so much any more though, I'm almost back to where I was. I might look him up next week.

innersmile · Post by **innersmile** » 24 Aug 2004 00:08

Glad you're posting in the blogs again... Your blog is one of my fav. to read. I've read it about 10 times already.

Colin · Post by **Colin** » 28 Aug 2004 18:55

Thanks for the kind words Greg. I read practically every post in the blogs section. I find it to be a great substitute for a local fotbag scene. To all other bloggers, keep it up. It's appretiated, even though it's not often explicately stated. I'm sure a lot of people feel the same way.

I've been having a bit of trouble since my last post here. You see, the latest post was inspired by a particularly good session, one that lasted longer and contained bigger and better tricks than normal. Trouble is, I'm out of shape, and said session has caused shin splints to rear their ugly head for about the 4th time in my off-and-on footbag career. I was unable to play for several days. From what I've read on various footbag and running sites it's not wise to play (or run, go figure) through shin splint pain, so I'm letting it dictate my playing schedual. Today my legs felt pretty good, but the pain made me stop a load of times. I'm doing the exercises reccomended on flipsider pretty regularly, and I think they're helping. Anyways, on to the footbag.

Today has been fairly encouraging. I got REALLY happy (jumping up and down, flexing into the mirror type happy) with my playing for the first time in ages. I've started to open a bunch of new freestyle 'doors'. My consistancy is still quite bad, but there are good things happening. I hit 12 contacts of mirage > legover > rpt, which I think is a personal best (one of the jumping/flexing incidents). I've begun to genuinely understand spinning tricks, thanks to the work I did with Lon Smith's video from monsterhack.com (see the video moves topic in advanced freestyle). I'm still not hitting anything interesting out of spins, but it's now just a matter of time and practice, as opposed to the 'blind stabbing' that I was doing before. Finally, and perhaps most interestingly, I've just noticed that I have the beginnings of a left foot fairy set, and a right foot set atomic. I haven't practiced either of these, but I tried them both and had some success.

Overall, I am cautiously optimistic, and I hope that my legs will allow me to play again tomorrow. I'm stretching out real good right now, before I go to bed. I want to do a lot of playing between now and September the 8th, when school starts up again. I'm looking forward to a more structured life, as I think it will actually increase my playing time. Anyways, thats all for now. Cheers to all the bloggers!

Colin · Post by **Colin** » 30 Aug 2004 17:29

Decent session today. I hit 10+ contacts of mirage > legover > rpt at least twice, and I hit ten contacts of mirage > butterfly > pickup > rpt a couple of times. Shin splints ended my session, and I iced them for a while, and did some exercises for the front of my lower leg. I've decided that I need to start watching what I eat if I want to continue shredding on a regular basis. Despite its soft and jovial apperance my gut can be a real bitch to my knees, ankles, shins and hips.

Colin · Post by **Colin** » 27 Nov 2004 05:51

First time I've played in ages. Incredible lack of endurance, consistancy, breath. Huge amount of sweat and a heartbeat I could feel in my whole body - after about 7 minutes.

Post session, post shave, I picked up the bag again.

Phoenix. Oh Moses. I gotta keep playing this sport.

HG · Post by HG » 27 Nov 2004 06:04

NICE WORK COLIN!!!!!!!!!!
i just hit phoenix as well, it feels so great doesnt it?

You DO have to keep playing! Dont be a quitter!

Colin · Post by **Colin** » 02 Dec 2004 17:36

So, I played the day after making my last post, and hit barfly on both sides and paradon on one. My flip barfly was a fluke though, and there's no consistency to the feel of my attempts, so I wouldn't try writing any cheques with it.

It was really exciting. I'd never tried the DD moves, as I assumed that they were too far beyond my game.

I'm in the middle of the last week of classes now, and I have negative time, but I was thinking about my playing regemine, and decided that I should write down some of the things I'm thinking about, while their fresh in my head.

Next session will include the following, in this order.

200 contacts of inside > inside > toe (the flicky kind)

(My toe flicky kicks are pretty weak, esp my flip. They need to be better, in order to improve my tiltless consistancy)

25 successful clipper > same clippers, each side.

(Ie, if I catch one clipper, and then drop, it doesn't increase my count. Only successful clippers after the first one increase the count.)

50 contacts of mirage > legover

50 contacts of clipper > op clipper

50 contacts of butterfly > pdx mirage

50 contacts of osis > pickup > (ss) rpt

I'll time myself on this. It's strictly basic stuff, but it's still a lot of stuff I'm not nearly as familiar with as I'd like to be. Ideally, I'd like my warmup / basics drills to last about half an hour. Adjustments will be made accordingly.

After this list is complete, I'll do nothing but fun stuff. Whatever strikes my fancy. Completely self indulgent. I'll probably try to hit consecutive barflies, or a PS whirl, or something equally ridiculas. The important part is that after the list is complete, everything I do should be 100% fun. Everything is game, except for the drills on the list. All attempted tiltless shred must be free-form, and surprising me from one move to the next.

I'm going to stretch at the end of my next session as well. A habit I've been meaning to get into for a while.

Yah... Back to my paper...

Colin · Post by **Colin** » 06 Dec 2004 07:05

I've played three times since the last post, but none of them were 'serious' sessions. I've been getting up earlier, and shredding for half an hour - 45 minutes before I shower and go into school. Seems to be a pretty good routine.

I haven't come close to getting that list done in any session though. I've been doing 100 alternating inside kicks (usually with 2 -5 drops) and 100 alternating toe flicky kicks (with... 40 drops??). My toe kicks are getting a bit better though. Just need to practice them consistantly.

As for the drills, I've been doing 50 contacts of mirage > legover and either the alternating clipper or ss clipper drill each morning. Mirage > legover is really starting to get my goat. In three sessions the best I've done with it is 11 contacts. Today I didn't have more than 5. My record is either 13 or 14, I think. I've been enjoying my sessions though, and their regularity is encouraging. I'm in exam weeks now, and I hope to play like this each morning that I don't have an exam. What a great way to start the day!

Just call me hagesy · Post by **Just call me hagesy** » 06 Dec 2004 14:03

Yeah shredding in the morning is very cool and awakening

However, don't have a huge shred session at night otherwise it will stop the routine. Or it did for me anyway.

Yeah anyway, I was always a betterperson, for shredding in the morning.

Colin · Post by **Colin** » 07 Dec 2004 20:21

Played again this morning, yay. I won't be able to tomorrow though, I have an exam at 9 am. Abstract Algebra. Good stuff.

Toe flicky kicks are starting to see the light. I love basics.

And non-basics are pretty cool too. I've been playing with a set that I've never seen before, and is WAY above my level, but that doesn't keep me from having fun trying it.

Kind of a super quick surging, but more like swirling spinning. Swurging? I've gotten it up past my knee with close to a 180 degree spin. Has any competent footbag player tried this? I can't even surge, but I imaging that some combination of the set that I'm trying with surging could result in the beginnings of a gyro barraging set.

Meh. I'm all talk. A footbag theorist of the highest order.

Colin · Post by **Colin** » 08 Dec 2004 21:40

All talk? Here's some talk.

I've decided that I'm gonna be an open level freestyler. Fuck this off and on shit. Fuck the lack of a local scene. Fuck aiming for tiltlessness. I watched Clavens become an open level freestyler (almost) by himself. No more excuses.

Priorities:

Graduate. Get into music school. Footbag. Clean up my language.

No particular order.

Colin · Post by **Colin** » 09 Dec 2004 08:07

My new outlook resulted in maybe my best session ever.

10 contacts of mirage > legover four times. Didn't break my record though.

Flip stepping set starting to exist again. Impromptu shred had some neat stuff. Lasted longer than normal. Driven. Strong pixie is consistantly high enough to duck, but I suck ass at ducking. Gonna work on that now. Flip pixie is getting that high too.

Driven.

My next post to this blog will be to announce a 10 contact uniuqe guiltless run. It will happen by February 9th, if it kills me. Two months.