Eugene, Oregon Blog

ericksonj · Post by **ericksonj** » 04 Sep 2004 11:17

Ok, so I figured I should probably start a footblog. It seems like a good place to post progress and above all else, a nice area to track problems and improve upon them.

I have been shredding for 1 year and 4 months. With about a 2 1/2 month injury taking me out of the game. Ive been back for about 3 weeks now, and feeling pretty good.

I was introduced to footbag when I met Nate Linscott, Aaron Orton, Jason Hall, and Matt Baker at the Saturday Market. I was completely blown away, and instead of running and hiding like everyone else we meet, I dedicated myself to footbag that very day. It was quite intimidating at first, but Nate during that time was very happy to answer any questions I had (and still is). I think he liked the idea of having someone to teach that was so excited.

Nate and I are the only ones that remain, but together we turn Eugene into a great shred town. A 2 man crew, but a very excited and dedicated crew nevertheless. Nate is still more solid than I am, but I am nipping at his heels and picking up everything I can from him. At this point we definitely bounce ideas off of each other, and can put on a pretty good show for onlookers. I really like shredding with Nate. We are always so focused on footbag while we are playing, that it is basically all we talk about during a session. He knows his shit.

Current Status:
Great shuffling. Good stepping/pixie/atomic combos. Both sides on all those moves. Working on throwing quantum in the bunch. I can hit tripwalk both sides, but it is tough to throw into a tripless combo. Nuclear set is the same way, but I have managed to pull off some combos with matador and sumo. No real work on fairy sets as of yet.

Good ducking and diving. My zulu and weaving needs work.

Good spinning... Not great on the spinning 5s yet, but they are coming. I now throw lots of spinning into my runs without a hitch.

I have a pretty solid foundation, although I must work flipside paradox illusions, because they tend to be the. I have good whirls, dlos, (drifters now), swirls, dynos... Lots of fun stuff. My 4 add work needs to be getting my torques back(lost em after injury), and then schooling double downs more.

I am currently guiltless, but I can throw lots of long tripless combos inside, and hit a small collection of 5's. My runs I would say are over 10 contacts on average, but I hit several 20-25+ contact runs in a day. It depends on how many crazy combos I throw, and of course my familiarity with them.

Well that is enough of a first post. I will try to post different work in my sessions as I complete them.

Maraxus · Post by **Maraxus** » 07 Sep 2004 03:43

YURO MY HERO

ericksonj · Post by **ericksonj** » 09 Sep 2004 07:38

So Nate got back from Funtastik and we shredded it up. He came back with some custom lonn bags, and boy were they sweet. I hit drifter x 4, and I know what you are all thinking... only 4 drifters.. who cares, but I just got drifters a few days ago. I threw a ton of drifters in my runs too, which made me happy, because I couldn't hit a damn drifter before nate left for a week. hmm... I hit ripped warrior first try with a lonn bag.

Any good combos...? Well I hit blur>assassin>parkwalk>ripwalk>some run. And I had a fair amount of tripless shuffle in my runs. Hit a few pixie whirls and blurry whirls in my runs. Hit another spinning p whirl in a run. I hope those come in soon.

Bah, then a hacky sack player who seemed pretty nice came in, but we had to switch to a sandman. The day went downhill from there, because nate and I were limiting our run length in favor of passing it around. oh well.

Work sucks

ericksonj · Post by **ericksonj** » 20 Oct 2004 18:59

Had a great day today... Hit my first flipside blurry whirl. Almost hit it bsos today, but barely missed. Also hit ripwalk>ripwalk>(flipside)blurry whirl for the first time.

Buncha other stuff for the first time like flipside pixie whirl, flipside p drifter, and flipside smoke! All that stuff is feeling pretty good. Can't wait to work more on it.

I love footbag.

Maraxus · Post by **Maraxus** » 21 Oct 2004 15:15

Come to Iraq and shred with me k

ericksonj · Post by **ericksonj** » 07 Nov 2004 11:28

Had a good day yesterday. Nate and I were just screwing around, and busting fairly big anyway.

I had a run with 15 or 16 consecutive shuffle, most were 4 adds, and it was sealed to some other contacts. Blurry whirls are getting pretty good now, as well as torques. I was sealing up torques pretty easily, and I hit blur>legbeater>torque>some run. Lots of long awesome runs from both of us, and Nate was trying to go genuine as much as possible.

Finally my osii are being used as bails! Hurray for drifter, because when I don't hit it so well it forces me to bail to osis, and now I seem to be able to pull my runs out longer because my osis are truly bails now.

Hrm... I think I might try some 5 add combos today, or maybe I will just work on hitting some new 5s. Plus I want to hit drifter>pdrifter>repeat, but it is going to be hard since my drifters are so new. blur>smoke>drifter>repeat would be cool too... maybe I'll try that.

As soon as I get off work i need to go watch all those sick 3s. AND I just noticed that Erik put out a new recovery video in his blog... HURRAY!!

I miss Aaron, I doubt anyone checks this blog, but Aaron is such an awesome guy. It totally sucks that he is over in Iraq right now. He was so positive and determined while shredding, and he made it a real joy to play. I can't wait till he gets back, that will be a great day indeed.

peace!

ericksonj · Post by **ericksonj** » 22 Nov 2004 13:55

Hmmm... I never keep this thing up.

Seattle was awesome, Nate won rippin run after taking Reds place last minute. Eugene!

Lets see, I have been working really hard on drifters and torques since the tournament ended. I also keep trying to hit rubberman, but I never get the last legbeater. I find it hard to link it after that weak atom smasher, so I plan on drilling weak atom smasher>legbeater a bunch. It is lame that I love shuffle and can't finish rubberman... I need to hit this is like two weeks.

Torques seem to be getting easier and easier, Yesterday nate hit butterfly>drifter>torque, then I hit ripwalk>drifter>torque, he countered with sidewalk>ripwalk>drifter>torque, and I matched with blur>dimwalk>drifter>torque. Kindof a neat occurence since our torques are fairly weak still. I also hit mobius and a paradox torque. Only after lots of trys though.

We are both working out now and playing footbag in the Gym so we are not so cold. That seems pretty fun so I think we will keep that up. Footbag training!

Oh yesterday I hit a cool barrage run with barrage bsos x 2. hurray, they were all clean, which never happens. I think I have figured more out about that move so that I won't 'the' the last dex.

I want more Erik Chan videos... I just noticed jeremy o'wheel put out another vid of himself. Can't wait to watch that when I get home. I think my favorite players to watch on modified are Jeremy O'wheel, Erik Chan, Andrew Grant, and Tom Mosher. I would like more video of all of them.

Well back to work, and afterwards... shred!

Maraxus · Post by **Maraxus** » 22 Nov 2004 14:48

James you have to pm me about sjff, that you attended AGAIN without me, I am so

. You'll hit rubberman soon, I know you will. You shuffle better then me and I hit it so it's your turn okay? Has nate busted it yet?... Shit he already busted RII I bet, hah.

Good job on everything, I wish I could get someone to play with here, it's already been six months since I've played with anyone. Lame, my motivation is dwindling.

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 22 Nov 2004 17:36

You haven't hit rubberman? I see you atomic so much -- why don't you just switch it so you START with that atom smasher to flip legbeater, or whatever. Then not only are you skooling that weak link every time you start the combo but you will get it out of the way and more likely hit the whole combo!

My barrages are the -- can you give me some tips to clean them up since you mentioned that you often the them?

ericksonj · Post by **ericksonj** » 23 Nov 2004 09:44

I have been trying to set my barrages slightly in front of me, but still to the side. You know the nice spot where your leg naturally dexes? Well I have been going for that and abandoning the whirling idea. I kindof don't like barrages that look like whirling mirages anyway, so what I do is set the bag. I try to set it right into the natural dexing spot, or move my body to it, and I try to set it a little below waist height. Then I plant my clipper foot right away as I get my leg into position for the first dex. I am trying to take care NOT to lift my dexing foot higher than a few inches off the ground. Then I start the first dex while the bag is still slightly going up. Upon completing the first dex I think about shifting my body weight to the other side and I 'fall' on the mirage. This way that foot never comes too high off the ground and then will not 'the' the dex. I have been able to do the first dex higher, which gives more time, but you have to remember to bring the last dex close to the ground. Thinking about shifting your body weight and falling with a mirage seems to do the trick for me. It is probably better to do the first dex with your leg higher in the air, but I think I will practice them this way first so that I am used to the last dex being close to the ground.

I don't know if that will help, I find it somewhat cumbersome to explain.

ericksonj · Post by **ericksonj** » 10 Jan 2005 13:31

Wow, I am having much more energy lately now that I have been taking steps to improve my health. I've been hitting a lot of new stuff so I have been real happy.

Hit my first haze and tombstone yesterday. Hit a bunch of fogs and hit blurry drifter. Had blur>legbeater>blurry whirl and other cool links that I forgot now. Oh yeah smoke>torque I thought was cool. I schooled a whole mess of 5s so hopefully soon I will be hitting more that 1 or 2 in a run. Hit some stepping ducking, but didn't really hit any moves off of it. I need to school that stuff again, because it is not that hard. Overall I have been really happy with my progress. I still can't catch nate, but he has a year or better on me so in comparison I am very happy with my level of play for time spent.

I can't wait for CSS! Have to get a credit card to pay for it though. Stupid money

ericksonj · Post by **ericksonj** » 11 Jan 2005 09:54

*edited for lameness*

With that said I have been hitting lots of other stuff besides fog. Last session my runs were exceptionally long, some 30+ with good mix of 3s and 4s. I had a few good links too like smog>pixie whirl. ripwalk>ripwalk>ducking paradox dlo

pretty long tripless shuffle w/ more atomic than ususal thrown.
Blurry drifter to long ass run.
Few tomahawks.
dimwalk>ripwalk>fog>run.

I love footbag.

ericksonj · Post by **ericksonj** » 13 Jan 2005 11:57

I just purchaced my plane ticket for CSS. I am stoked

Will be having a badass shred session tonight. Can't wait to get off work.

ericksonj · Post by **ericksonj** » 14 Jan 2005 11:54

Hah, yesterday sucked! I stayed up all night drinking and then had to work, so I shredded late at night with only 3 hours of sleep. Fun session anyway, but I did poorly. Oh well...

I did hit 16 consecutive tripless shuffle, which was pretty good. Didn't worry too much about repeats, but everything was both sided. Would be cool to bust 20 unique tripless, that is a goal of mine.

Right after that I tried for my ripwalk record and I got 16. I really should be able to get like 25 but I just lost the will at 16.

Anything else? Hell no. I was trying for dimwalk>fog repeat, but I couldn't seem to pixie out of that darn fog. I can pixie out of smog easily but go figure. I will have to work on pixies out of fog.

ericksonj · Post by **ericksonj** » 18 Jan 2005 18:50

bah injury is flaring up again! Must take at least a week off to heal.. hopefully not more. Not exactly sure why my damn legs do this, but maybe I should start doing some strength exercises for them. I always stretch every time before shredding too

. I don't want to have another 2 1/2 months out like last time...

I Must be healthy by the time aaron gets back so its no being bad and shredding on pulled muscles for me.

ericksonj · Post by **ericksonj** » 19 Jan 2005 11:50

Haha I found a newt in my bathroom today! Newts are so cool, I don't know how the damn thing found its way into my bathroom though. After talking to it for a while I let it go outside.

Oh and I had a semi disturbing dream last night. First I would like to say that I do not want George Bush to be our president and I voted for Kerry. Anyway in my dream Kerry and Bush were having a formal debate (why am I dreaming about this) and then they broke for 5 minutes to prepare for the talent section of the debate. Kerry was up first and sang some stupid country song about our country. I don't remember the words but I remember thinking Kerry was a loser in the dream for singing that retarded song for his talent portion. I know there isn't a talent section in debates, but I didn't seem to know that in the dream. Anyway, after Kerry's lame ass performance, Bush gets up and takes the stage. He is standing there in a nice suit and then he pulls out... a footbag! I was like wtf? I this guy going to play hacky sack on stage? He kicks it like 3 times and then goes straight into a routine! Man this guy was busting ripwalk>ripwalk>spinning butter>p legbeater in a suit! Also I remember him hitting revstein twice!!! Man the routine looked so cool because he was in a suit the whole time. I remember his shoes were white new balances, and he only dropped twice in the routine. The routine was awesome and was to some weird beat boxing. Maybe Dick Cheyney was beat-boxing for him... I don't know. Anyway I woke up shortly after and was like wtf because I hate Bush. But in my dream Bush sure did bust... He should spend less time on footbag and more time on our country.

Ok enough of that!

Ners · Post by **Ners** » 19 Jan 2005 12:21

Hehe, that was a strange dream, but cool at the same time

Bush busting in a suit must have looked funny (but I guess that everything seem serious in dream). I hope you will get over your injury soon!

Szymon Kałwak (Ners)

Maraxus · Post by **Maraxus** » 20 Jan 2005 13:11

Best... dream... ever.

Oh yeah, and don't sweat about me man. I'm such a slacker when it comes to footbag training, I need motivation and I'll be getting that as soon as I get to bust again with OTHER PEOPLE.

ericksonj · Post by **ericksonj** » 21 Jan 2005 18:34

Well my legs felt fine in only a few days and we had some crazy weather in Eugene! It is the middle of winter, and all of a sudden we have a week of freakin cloudless skys and 70 degree weather. Each day the forecast called for rain, but it kept being awesome outside. Prime footbag weather!

Nate and I shredded it up on campus and just busted really long runs. So awesome, most of mine were 20-30 contacts with some pretty cool links and drills thrown in. Nates were really long too, and we were both super consistent so it was just awesome playing in front of everyone. We did this for two days and it was just great. It will be back to the gym in a few days when winter weather resumes.

Oh yeah, there were plenty of cool links and combos, but the last one of the day I said I was going to hit smog>smoke and Nate said he was going to hit it too. He gives the bag to me and I nail it first try. I throw the bag to him and he nails it first try

. What a cool way to end the day.

BainbridgeShred · Post by **BainbridgeShred** » 22 Jan 2005 00:55

Nate and I shredded it up on campus and just busted really long runs. So awesome, most of mine were 20-30 contacts with some pretty cool links and drills thrown in. Nates were really long too, and we were both super consistent so it was just awesome playing in front of everyone. We did this for two days and it was just great. It will be back to the gym in a few days when winter weather resumes.

Looks about the same up here in Seattle. I was going to go skiing today but it got screwed over because of the heat. Fuck global warming.

To make matters worse, I have really wanted to shred outside recently (As a result of kicking the last few months on the 6th story floor of the YMCA in a Yoga room), but for tomorrows session it says it will be hot enough to kick outside (Low 60's) but rainy as well... Ahh Seattle.

Anyways, enjoy the good weather while it lasts. We folks left of the Cascades don't get enough!