Footbag Wallpapers

Having moved to Chile a few months ago, I chose this week’s interview to be with someone somewhat close to my new home. You can follow the links in this interview to find out a bit more about the South American Footbag scene.

The aim of this series of interviews is to have a look at what players are doing all around the world. Who knows where next week’s edition will come from…

First of all, tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into playing Footbag?

Well, hello everyone, my name is Alex Lopez, I’m 26 and, I’m a student of Electronic Engineering and I have been playing Freestyle Footbag since December 2007. I knew about Footbag searching on Internet some videos of circle kicking, known in my country as “Fuchi”, then showed up the word “Footbag” beside to “Fuchi”, that’s when I saw footbag.org, then clicked on these links and a new world popped up in front of me.

I remember me looking some of those vids and I can’t believe those great skills showed by Brad Nelson, Felix Zenger, Phil Morrison and all the other players on that gallery, next to that, the gallery of my master! Anz (about that, Thanks Anssi for teaching me almost all that I know about Freestyle Footbag, such a great master!), seeing his videos make me realize that maybe I can learn to play Freestyle Footbag too, so I just tried to imitate all those moves even I didn’t get it about dexes or sets; since that I have been practicing by my own, inspiring myself from videos uploaded by all of you, watching myself on my video-records and learning from all that.

You are from Colombia, and there is a good scene growing there. Tell us a bit about the scene there.

Yeah!, Right now We try to keep 2 or 3 jams per year to keep us together, next one be on April 5-6 called Caribbean Jam, everyone’s invited! .

Footbag (Freestyle/Net) in Colombia has been growing thanks to people like “Footbag Medellin” group, they are working so hard to massively promote this sport in their region and our country through their local sports committee and their facebook group. One of their most interesting projects consist in teaching Footbag Net, thanks to over 400 Badminton nets brought to the Medellin city and distributed into the different communities there, that’s a huge challenge! Also I have another group on facebook called “retos de Footbag” (like Footbag challenges), there we try to support each other posting our videos, giving and receiving tips to achieve all challenges and improve on our game style, all these to keep people interested on practice and improvement of our skills in Freestyle Footbag; still we’re being just a few, but we hope that more people start in this sport soon.

Aside from playing Footbag, what else do you do?

Hehehe, Now I’m trying to finish my studies to get a job, apart of this there’s not too much, too bad!

What inspires you to play Footbag and who are your favourite players?

Hmm…Actually I don’t get it! I don’t know what is my main motivation to keep on it, but I’m sure that strange force support me every day to push a bit more, tipping this gives me: “stand up and go to practice, You lazy!”; this happens when I’m seeing some good Footbag footage too, mainly on the Destroyer’s videos, I grew up in Footbag seeing his videos, He has such a great style, definitely! He is my favorite one, another of my favorites one are Milan Benda, Honza Weber, Vasek Klouda, the Airinen Brothers and Byrin Wylie.

What do you think is your biggest achievement in Footbag so far?

I think that my biggest achievement is still being an active Freestyle Footbag player, across these years I have been practicing alone, sometimes that’s pretty unmotivating, but…well, I’m still here and I’m happy for that.

Do you think South America will hold Worlds one day?

Yeah! It should, that’s the main goal for Footbag community here, in name of all of us in South America I invite to all the Footbag community to consider the possibility to include us to take place of Worlds, I’m sure with a lot of hard work We’re accomplish all the requirements to be guests of Worlds.

You live in a small town with no other players, what keeps you playing by yourself, and how often do you get to kick with others?

Well… like answer above, I can’t figure out what inspires me yet, it just an impulse to keep me on way, whatever it names; about kicking with other people, that’s not too usual, maybe 3 or 4 times on a year in the Jams or occasional travels to their cities, but when it happens, shred is always exciting and funny, always something new tricks to see and share.

What sort of equipment do you use and how easy is it to get in Colombia?

Ok, I don’t use anything special, just comfortable clothing, about shoes the most common are Lavers, others like Quantum are pretty uncommon, actually I know just 2 or 3 local players that used it, about footbags most of them are made by 2 or 3 local players, I use one 45 gr 32-pannel made by Carlos Terraza, a local player, but take advantage to Hanna’s travels to USA with other 2 friends decide to buy her well-known footbags, I’m just waiting for the moment to play with mine.

How did you enjoy the most recent South American Championships?

Actually I didn’t get there because for that time I didn’t have any money, just make contact with the event, seeing videos from there and like an online-judge for shred 30, sick 3 and big one on Freestyle, sadly I lost this great opportunity to know new people interested in the sport. This year South American Footbag Championships will be take place in Medellin city next December, again everyone’s invited to share with us (also you too Daniel ), South America waits for all of you this year, come here and visit us!

What are your goals in Footbag, and in life in general?

In Footbag I hope to keep improve my game much as I can, then hope be able to share all that I learned across these years and help to the new generation of Footbag players. About life I hope to get a job soon and later give me a good life, just that simple, I hope to know all of you in Worlds, probably not this year, but maybe the next one, looking forward to reach all these goals.

Do you have anything more to add, or anybody to thank?

Well, not much, just say thank you for giving me this opportunity for me to express myself and also say thanks to all in Footbag community. That’s it!

Shred Hard!

Alex

This is the second interview in our series of Footbag players from all over the world. After last week’s chat with Honza Weber, this week we go to New Zealand to see what the “Red Rocket”, Phil Morrison has been up to.

For those not aware of the “Red Rocket” – can you give a brief introduction of yourself and your time in Footbag

My name is Phil Morrison, I live in Christchurch, New Zealand, I have been playing footbag for 10+ years now but to be honest I can’t remember exactly when I started playing, it must have been playing hack at high school in 2001 I think. 2006 was my first worlds in Frankfurt, Germany where I was inducted into BAP, and continued to attend the next 4 World Championships.

2011 was a pretty tough year for you- a big earthquake in Christchurch and some injuries. What did it take to mentally recover from that?

It’s quite a surreal experience being through a large disaster, interestingly enough I was playing footbag in the city centre when the most damaging earthquake struck my city. Luckily I was not mentally affected for a long period of time from the quakes, although since they are still occurring regularly and apparently will continue for some time, possibly the best thing for me will be to move to Aussie!

Phil Morrison vs Andrew Grant (Canada) at the 2009 Australian Championships. Photo by Jeremy O’Wheel

I also had the worst injury I have ever had in 2011, severely tearing a tendon in my ankle putting me out of action for a very long time (luckily did not fully rupture which would have required surgery). I’m not usually one to sit around feeling sorry for myself, once I was able to walk again I put myself through a lot of rehab work focusing on strength and stability for the ankle, slowly but surely being able to do more and more. I’m feeling good now, but am still aware of my ankle, and can still feel it during certain moves; luckily it’s not holding me back much.

When something bad happens, it’s happened, there’s nothing you can do to change it, and all the worrying in the world isn’t going to make a single bit of difference. From early on I realised that everyone has problems in their life, it’s what you learn and how you respond from these setbacks that’s really going to determine what you are going to achieve. I always try to look for a solution rather than dwelling on the problem.

You have been a pretty constant fixture in the finals at Worlds over the last few years, what are your aims for the coming years?

The time I have spent attending the worlds has been so amazing, I definitely would like to go to more, although with everything that’s been going on and at this stage in my life it’s no longer top priority. This year I will be trying hard to gain sponsorship and raise money to get to Poland, so here’s hoping.

Something I started doing towards the end of 2011 was taking footbag into schools and other children’s groups. I have been giving paid demos and bringing in a bunch of my own footbags to take classes, helping introduce children to footbag. I feel like footbag has so much potential, but over the last few years has slowed in momentum due to not enough young players getting into the game, especially in New Zealand anyway.

Finally, freestyle football is on the cards. I could always do a few basic tricks with a football, but never really got into freestyle despite playing football my whole life. Luckily I ran into the NZ Freestyle Football Champ in my home town and was introduced to it, since then was invited to compete at the 2011 New Zealand Freestyle Football Champs in which I got equal 3rd place. I feel that freestyle football is a great compliment to footbag during a demonstration, as it’s easier to see the ball, and most people have some sort of connection to football having played it before or at least seen it played.

So even though footbag in my opinion is much more challenging, stylish, complex, and therefore cooler, I will still be putting some time into freestyle football.

What’s happening in the New Zealand scene? Any up and coming prodigies? You have also been playing freestyle football- what’s the scene for that like in NZ?

The New Zealand scene has unfortunately diminished since the good ol’ days of when I first started playing. Since no new young players have been introduced to the sport, like I was saying before, not much has happened. Although when I was in Wellington for the Freestyle Football Champs I caught up with some retired NZ players and we played some casual hack, it was great!

I think the Freestyle Football scene in NZ seems quite similar to the footbag scene here, people play scattered around the country, but there is nothing major going on. Again this is something that needs to be worked on.

You are also a personal trainer, what do you recommend for all footbag players to do to improve their game, and what types of exercise to you do in order to improve your footbag?

The most important thing when getting better at anything is to be specific, in this case obviously play footbag! The more time you spend with the bag the better, BUT there are some things you can do to improve faster, progress quicker, or help to avoid injury. Technique is a big one, drilling a trick is great, but if you are drilling it with incorrect form this can potentially slow progression or cause injury.

One thing I have learnt is the value of visualisation, especially since footbag is such a mental game. This is something many, if not all top athletes will do. Picturing yourself performing with the perfect technique you wish to have, in as much detail as possible. When starting out with footbag, over and over I would picture myself as a top player, hitting the tricks I wanted to hit. Not just seeing MYSELF hitting the tricks how I would hit it, but actually being that player, hitting the trick just as THEY hit it, feeling the way they move, feeling the way my body would need to be positioned, being as specific as possible. Quite often while doing this I would realise my movements were much different to theirs, and next session I would try my best to imitate the technique I had been visualising. I’m not sure if this is something everyone has done or just a few players, but I would be interested to find out. I think this one thing probably shaped my game the most.

There are other types of training which can also be beneficial, such as cross training with swimming, great for fitness/recovery, and its low impact! The obvious thing people think about is strength and conditioning training in the gym. There are plenty of strength, power, and stability exercises I do in the gym I feel help my game. These exercises can range from very simple to very complex, but so can an individuals’ ability and where they need to start from, so it would be silly for me to give generic advice here without being able to give proper feedback. I would recommend seeking advice and demonstration from a competent exercise professional, someone that can correct form and make sure you are doing the any exercise correctly. Or if you message me on facebook letting me know a bit about your exercise history/ability level, and if I think you are a nice person, I could probably let you know what I recommend .

Who were your inspirations when you started playing Footbag, and what drives you now?

Right at the beginning I met Hanz Freller in Christchurch; his hop-over swirl was mind blowing!!! But then I got better than Hanz and I had to find new players to inspire me, like for a lot of player’s I’m sure, this was Ryan Mulroney. Also Yacine Merzouk sticks in my mind; I loved his style and routines. Then of course Vasek came along and I watched his videos all the time, new competition footage was SUCH a treat to see what new combos and moves he was busting out.

I remember early on being such a thrill as EVERY session something new would be hit, for me it was great to hit bigger and bigger tricks. I even liked the much hated ‘add’ system, as it was an indicator of getting to the ‘next level’, this was fun for me. But as with anything, as you get to a higher level you have to train harder and harder for slower progression, which in some ways makes it more satisfying, but potentially more frustrating too.

These days I am more driven by showing footbag to a larger audience, doing demos, and trying to get more people playing. I feel it’s such an amazing sport which is largely under appreciated due to its complexity, which a lot of people, especially children, would get huge benefit from playing.

You weren’t able to make it to Finland this year, will you get to Poland for the 2012 Worlds?

I hope so! I’m currently applying for funding/sponsorship.

Do you think the Southern Hemisphere will host Worlds some day?

Sure, why not. The scene would have to be much bigger though, and would probably need companies backing the top players around the world to help pay for them to come.

What particular aspects of your game have you been working on lately?

Just getting my consistency back up since the injury, luckily it hasn’t taken to long. These days I don’t so much try to hit new big tricks, but just getting better at what I’ve got, and thinking a lot about technique.

What is your personal highlight in your time playing Footbag?

It would have to be placing 5th at the 2007 world’s finals, even though I was injured. Not to mention of course seeing so many different places and meeting such amazing people all around the world.

Do you have anything more to add, any thanks to give, or any tips for players starting out?

Thanks to my mum and dad for all the support they have given me through the years, and of course thanks to the footbag community, I have made so many amazing friends all around the world. I look forward to seeing the scene continue to grow. If you can and have an interest in helping footbag grow I would recommend contacting schools and other groups in your area letting them know what you do and what you can offer them.

For new players, the most important thing is to have fun! Even though it’s recommended you drill the basics on both sides before moving on (I really wish I had done this more), if you find hitting big tricks fun, go for it, do what you enjoy. It’s called ‘freestyle’ footbag for a reason; everyone is free to choose their own style, and play the game how they see fit. Oh, and go watch my videos There are plenty on youtube, I hope they help motivate people. I also hope to make some more tutorial videos if I get the time.

And remember, it’s not how many times you drop the bag; it’s how many times you pick it up again.

Red Rocket - clicking the link will take you to the Red Rocket Facebook page.

Thanks again to Phil, I hope we will all see him in action this year in Poland. Let me know who you would like to see over the course of the interview series. My biggest hope is to get a variety of players from all around the world throughout the year.

Hope you enjoy the series, and leave a comment if you enjoyed the interview.

Most people within the Footbag community would be well aware of Jan “Honza” Weber from Prague, Czech Republic. He is the current World Champion of Routines. After many appearances in the finals at Worlds, he finally climbed to the top of the podium in Helsinki.

In what I hope will be a long running series of interviews, I decided to ask Honza what he has been up to now that he is “the champ”.

Honza searches for a new doubles partner...

First of all, for those who may not know you, give a brief introduction of yourself and your time in Footbag.

Hello, my name is Honza Weber (as the title of the interview will also probably say  ) and I have been playing footbag for over ten years. I have made BAP (not that a lot of new people know what it stands for these days  ) in 2002 and over the years I managed to win couple of major footbag tournaments including Euros and Worlds. You can also watch this nicely done documentary of me .

You won your first Worlds in the singles routines this year, after 10 years of trying. Describe your feeling after the results were announced.

Well, yeah…. Finally! As everybody was cheering during that night. Actually I think it was much better feeling to win after so many years than for example if I would have managed it just after couple years in one of those when I was finishing second all over again. 

It was a great feeling and in fact much more than that. It is very hard to use words for that description, your body is so full of energy that you can make a hole into a wall just by using your thumb  You feel just incredible. I mean I have won doubles routines at Worlds 4 times before this one, but it just never really felt that good. The first one in 2004 was bloody awesome, but it also meant that much because it was first doubles dropless routine ever… The 2011 singles routines win was different from any other win, it was a pure relief, I had the feeling I could finally die satisfied and without regrets , I have succeeded  and on the flight back it was really the first time ever I was not scared… and I was very happy it was quite obvious even before the results announcement because the worst is when you win and people talk whether the result were correct.. :/ It was great night that day, an important one for me .

Who (or what) were your big influences when you were starting out in Footbag, and what are your influences now?

Back in 2001, when I started with footbag, my heroes were Ryan Mulroney, Peter Irish, Rippin and Sunil Jani. Simply the best players of that era. During the time Ryan became my favorite because of his amazing style as well as Karim Daouk (of course just until he started playing net  ). These days I am not really into hardcore shred anymore, but if there is anyone I like to kick with, then it is Milan because it is always fun to shred with him and he is probably the only one who can inspire me to hit new moves and combos these days.

There are many good players nowadays, but the problem is they are too predictable and after watching some of their videos they cannot really surprise with anything while playing in the circle and if they can, they lack the style. Lately I have enjoyed footage of Samu Ahola and Jay, it was very surprising indeed! I should also mention Vasek, I have spent a lot of time kicking with him and despite having never really worshipped his skills, he had an influence on my game.

What do you aim for when preparing a routine?

It depends whether it is a routine for performances or routine for competition. I must say I feel really good preparing my performances and I am really confident about those, but I honestly do not like my competition routines. It feels like a have some kind of mental block or something. I think just 3 of my routines in my career were representative; the Spiderman one from Worlds finals 2004, Thierry la Fronde from Worlds finals 2009 and probably the Figaro one from 2011 finals.

You are quite involved in the freestyle football scene as well – you had a pretty big hand in organizing the European and World championships. Do you see footbag and freestyle football coming together more in the future?

Definitely! These sports simply have to be connected and the communities should cooperate as much as possible. I have started doing freestyle football in early 2010 and in the beginning I have been doing footbag moves mostly, but later I discovered all the possibilities of the original freestyle football moves and I have been practicing them since.

Here is a video from a year ago and I am gonna make another one during the next week… :

It is just amazing to see the passion of the freestyle football players, it reminds of the golden footbag era from 2002-2004. They have shown a big respect for footbag and they are really inspired by all the moves we can hit. I think it is just about time when we all start organizing tournaments together on a regular basis.

Look at this video from this years Prague Freestyle Football World Champs. – the atmosphere speaks for itself:

Really, watch that one, it is GREAT!

Tell us some more about the “Freestyle Union” shows

“Freestyle Union” is a freestyle team of people showing Footbag, Freestyle Frisbee, Yo-Yo and Freestyle Football. For a long time we have been doing performances at various events together and later we decided to take it more seriously and prepared quite a nice show for a Prague’s university talent show, which we eventually won. It may not sound like a big deal, but there were almost 100 competitors and the final was during a big event with over 5000 spectators.

I think this kind of freestyle show is perfect for all kinds of events and the combination is much more entertaining than the single sports performances. But show is what it is all about , so you must have something extra in there as well. We are currently working on new and much better performance and we have been booked for several events including some international ones, which is amazing for those few months we have been promoting this show, so I think if we continue in this progress it may become very successful project promoting these freestyle disciplines!

Here is the first round of the talent show: And this is our Facebook page:

Honza takes flight

What do you think about the current state of freestyle footbag, and where to go from here.

Nearly half a year ago I wrote an essay called “The Future of Footbag Freestyle”, where I have summed up my thoughts I had in mind for certain amount of time. Long story short I was quite negative about the sport`s future because some of the habits in the game are in my opinion still medieval and I found them to be the main source of lack of new players. So if the community wants the sport to move forward and gain more members, then those are the ones to be changes in the first place. You can read the article here: Http://www.shredglobal.com/archive/the-future-of-footbag-freestyle-by-honza-weber/

I was glad the essay caused quite a discussion and people actually started to think about it more. Some arguments said that the situation goes in waves and sometimes there is more and sometimes less players, which is in fact very reasonable, but on the other hand the last wave must have gotten lost somewhere . This is a serious topic though and despite the situation might have become slightly better, it is still very far to be good and changes are to be made here in order to make the sport successful and known!

You must spend a lot of time working on routines and performances- do you have time to work on any big new tricks?

Unfortunately not :/ I spend lot of time these days practicing Freestyle Football and kicking with bags I use for performance, so I rarely kick with regular 32 panels. On the other hand since I was travelling a lot for footbag tournaments during the last couple months, I got into a good shred shape and managed to hit some cool and hard stuff, the only thing to mention though is probably barraging same whirling swirl. I will try to get it on video soon… The other problem is that when you push your limits it is very easy to get injured and therefore I also became afraid of trying big moves.

You have got to travel quite a lot through Footbag- what are some of your biggest highlights over the years?

I loved Japan! It was always my dream to go there and finally it came true. It was an unforgettable experience and I recommend everyone to go there at least once! Russia is always a blast, no matter whether in Moscow or in St. Petersburg, both place sare amazing. I really enjoyed all the California trips thanks to Steve and Queency and meeting Tony Hawk in L.A. meant fulfilling of another dream of mine. I mean there are so many wonderful places I visited, but these are the ones I keep thinking of the most. Here is a short vid from the Tony Hawk event.

10. What are your plans for 2012? There have been some whispers about a Footbag app, tell us a bit more about that.

Plans are of course pretty big, so will see how successful will be their realizing . I would love to continue travelling and performing all around the World. It is a great life I have right now and I pray it stays like this! Anyway for the start there is a “Footbag Freestyle” app for iPhone coming up any day. It was developed by my freestyle football friend (another example of connection between the sports  ) Mario Plantosar from Croatia. It is just a first version, so we plan further improvements on the app. It is more informational, but the first goal was to come up with something and wait for the feedback. The final goal would probably be to implement ShredSessions footbag online video game into it. For those who have not played it yet, give it a try here

What advice do you have for people new to the sport of Footbag?

Do not get discouraged by how hard footbag looks like! After some practice you will start improving really fast and you will love it! It depends just on your will and want to improve because anything can be achieved!

Maybe this tutorial video will help you in the beginning 

Do you have anything else to add, or anybody to thank?

I think I have covered all the topics. I would like to thank everybody that support me and have supported me in the past! Naming all the people would make a huge list here, but I am sure they all know! I am very grateful for that and let me know if I can do anything for you in return!

Honza Weber

www.HonzaWeber.com

So first of all I would like to say a big thanks to Honza for being the first interview subject, and of course congratulations on the victory in Helsinki.

Feel free to add any comments on the interview, or to suggest who you would like to see interviewed next. I am planning to release one interview per week from players right around the world.

Who do you think will be next?

Here is the first entry for the Joulukalenteri, 2011. This is a special video edited by Ken Somolinos, from his time spent in Las Vegas during his time living there and jams. There is some mind blowing combos, drills and tricks in this video, and I’m proud to now present you with a link of glory. Thanks to Evan and Ken for being entirely legendary, and making this happen. Merry Christmas, Modified.

Gatesman Footbag from Ken Somolinos on Vimeo.