Check out my youtube playlists of freestyle footbag videos…
The reason for this post was to let you know that I have reorganized my 100 youtube videos into playlists, located at my channel:
http://www.youtube.com/footbagenlightener
and click on the Playlists option.
See videos in the following categories:
-Competition Videos (23)
-Contest Videos (8)
-Doubles Freestyle
-Footbag in the News
-Lunch Shred Videos (46)
-Promo Videos (17)
-Youth Outreach
More categories forthcoming…
Happy St. Patricks Day! I was shredding that day and made a quick little video on my phone, but when I published it to youtube, I selected ‘private’ and so no one saw my video. Honestly, the phone app failed 5 times before it published, so I had to retype, on the phone, all of the details each time, even with copy and paste, it took forever. Frustrating. Now it is up, and ready to view…
This is the best tip ever. Thanks to Steve Goldberg, Brat, the greatest benefactor to the sport of footbag.
This has come full circle. I started by skooling the basics. As I got better, I learned the “Economy of Motion” and got better at trimming time off of movement by finding and training more efficient paths. Spending less effort to get more done. Particularly when ending a trick, I have learned over time to catch the footbag with the minimum downward motion possible, which is one of many ‘economy of motions.’ To make matters worse, I spent about week this summer focusing on ‘rooted’ tricks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmRXODg6Bzg which are distinguished because the catching foot is the plant.
This reduction of downward motion in catching the footbag in order to complete my most difficult tricks is causing my form to suffer when doing the most basic versions of the tricks. For instance, it is generally more efficient to complete a Paradox Torque by expending as little effort as possible on the catch, and doing it at the last moment. On the other hand, the trick is more ‘solid’ when I am able to utilize ‘economy of motion’ during the dexterity part of the trick and spend more time on the ‘catching’ part of the trick.
One of the side effects of spending years of training to reduce the distance needed to catch a footbag at the end of advanced tricks, is when you do the basic component, it looks rushed and unpolished.
As a part of my daily training (1493 in a row today), I warm up using my ‘basic’ staple tricks. For instance I don’t want to spend too much time training tricks I have mastered, I use those to warm up with. I do 10 osis, 10 infinity’s, 10 ripwalks, I do 10 reps of my whirl/osis combo, ripwalks, blurs/blizzards and paradox whirls. I am getting into the zone at this time and generally just gaining the proper focus I need for the rest of my jam session. Thanks to this new tip, I am really gaining better basic form.
In the past few weeks focusing on the depth of my clipper catches and I can really feel a difference in my control and general ability to maintain long strings. I am really happy that a friend like Steve took the time to mention this very basic observation to me at the New Years Jam this past December. I have been working on it every day since then and am really feeling the difference!
Shred Notes: Jan 2011
In addition to working the solidness of my clipper tricks, I have spent a lot of time working on front side tricks. I have particularly been recategorizing Atomic tricks into low-impact. I have always thought of Atomic tricks as high-impact, but have recently discovered that they really aren’t. I hit both Atom Smashers in a single string, which was a big barrier for me, but might seem basic for you. I also realized that I have been hitting LegBeaters on both sides (I’ve been calling them atomic butterflies), and then was challenged by Tuukka to do blur, LegBeater, Blurry Whirl, Blur, LegBeater Blurry whirl and hit all those components with an extra spinning butterfly before the 2nd blur. Very happy.
I am fluent in many spinning tricks, and in many ducking tricks. And until recently, the only trick I had thought to combine spinning and ducking on, was SDButterfly, as featured on tricks of the trade 2.
Tuukka challenged me last week to hit a spinning or a ducking twirl, and it got me to really skool those tricks. This week so far, I have hit Spinning Ducking Whirls on both sides, Spinning Ducking Barfly’s (ducking scorpiontail) both sides.
This movie has: Phobic Gyro Symposium Whirl (from 2 angles), Pixie Same Swirl, Reverse Twirl (thin), Phobic (opp) Blender. The movie was filmed with my iphone4, using apps ranging from ‘camera’ to ‘slomo’ to ‘imovie extras’ (for titles) and of course ‘imovie’.
Keep inspiring me! It seems to work!
Thanks!
Scott!
For our sport to properly develop to it’s potential, we need more structured events AND we need to do more youth outreach to promote Footbag to kids and parents for it’s great health and social benefits.
This means YOU!
I sit here, saddened, outside the home of the directors of the Funtastik Summer Classic, where I can’t escape the reality that this family tradition is about to see it’s last repetition. Tournaments like this, with now 25 years running have a cult following which draws out all the top players and enthusiasts to a single location, for a weekend of friendly competition and general Footbag mania. So many thanks to Brenda and Joe Solonoski for hosting this event year after year, for opening their home to us, and for bringing together so many of our friends into a single location. It breaks my heart that this is the last Funtastik Summer Classic!
Every self-respecting club needs to run at least one event each year, and do some youth outreach for the good of mankind.
Check www.kickforhealth.org for info about the ‘Footbag Challenge’ and how this can be a great vehicle to promote the health aspects of Footbag.
If you want to run a tournament, it doesn’t have to be a mammoth 3-day event, but I have been running Footbag events for 25 years in the Chicago area and I promise to help coach any aspiring tournament directors who want to have an event in your area.
It all starts right here, right now! We need more tournaments. Period. Contact me now!
Www.kickforhealth.org
-enlightener
Scott Davidson
1999 Freestyle World Champion
I came across these tricks that I have visited before, but never got on tape or even discussed them that I can remember. The Barfly has always been a challenge for me to do solidly, and I have been working on them for literally 20 years now. I’ve been doing a lot of Rakes lately, especially cross-body Rakes. This past week, my peanut butter got into my chocolate and I brought Barfly together with Cross Body Rake and made a BarFlake. I know this has another street name, as I know it has been done before, but because I live in a vacuum I don’t know what it is called. I didn’t stop there, I have also done versions starting with Fairy, Pixie, Stepping-opp, Stepping-same and spinning. All on this film, and with slo-mo to reveal the thinness. All kind of thin, they look good from above. It is especially noticeable since I had to use an up-angle when I was filming.
I also hit a Blur that has an extra Symposium Mirage before the toe pickup. Also in slo-mo. It was suggested that this is a stepping paratoxic (backside symposium) blur, I don’t know what to call it, which is why I put it online for peer review.
Shred notes: 1st two weeks of August…
Played through my injury from last week of July, it is no longer effecting me at all, thank goodness. I’ve been obsessed with these new tricks. Been lucky with weather! Totally lucky, like cloudy-icky mornings turning to sun literally as I arrive at the Mammoth Springs Training Center. Mosquitos everywhere near the river, but not on the asphalt playing surface that I utilize. I’m going to Funtastik and I have been getting some NICE run-thru’s of my routine! I’m gonna be ready again this year and I look forward to a great event!
We couldn’t make it to Worlds 2010. We went to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore to have a mini-vacation. I got injured on the last Saturday of July and have still played everyday. This video is my recovery video, it shows how the range of motion improved over the week of recovery.
Congratulations to Milan and Clavens and everyone who succeeded at Worlds 2010 this year! Wish we could have been there. This is what I was up to… This video includes the new trick concept outline for “Spotted Tricks”… I’ve been doing Spotted Osis on both sides for years, but never saw the potential… check out Spotted Mirage and Spotted Torque, both feel like Gyro versions of their tricks and involve lots of twisting. Please ignore the music.
Bummed that I can’t make Worlds2010. Physically depressed. But I won’t let that stop me.
If I didn’t videotape myself at the end of each jam session, I don’t think I would remember half of what I accomplish. This 10 minute movie may bore the uninitiated to death, but for me it is my passion. I love freestyle footbag, as it continues to challenge both my mind and body!
These videos serve my sense of posterity. In 20 years, I’ll look back at these days in fond memory of how my game has evolved. I fully expect to be playing freestyle footbag into my 60′s, and these will serve as a nice comparison…
High speed subject (me) and new iPhone4 video camera. If I didn’t make these videos, I might forget what I hit. Long strings coming tomorrow in separate video. This video contains a trick that is NEW to mankind: Spinning Ducking Xbody Whirling Rake. Seamless Juggles from Blurs, Gyro Mirages and Fairy mirages. Whirling Sole to Symposium whirl. Fairy Ducking Barfly. Blurry Whirling Cross Body Rake. Insane threading strings, including new Sewing Machine sets. Ducking Symposium Whirl. Mobius to Double Osis. Pendulum Sets into torque. (Just hit Pendulum set to paradox drifter today, not on tape yet). Fairy Ducking Cross Body Rake. Among tons of other tricks. More daily.
It was Independence Day, July 4th 2010 in our hometown of Oak Park, IL and we had marched, or shredded, in the parade for the past 5 years running. Our sponsor was not in the parade this year so we decided to just jump in as the parade gets going and fill in the gap between two floats. It turned out that we might have been the most energetic and unique entry, and we weren’t even officially there. Check it out!
Later that day, we went to DMB at Alpine Valley and shredded in the parking lot twice and again on the deck waiting for Dave to get on stage. Then we relaxed. Total blast of a day.
Shred notes; 7.6.2010
This week was busy, and as I still continue to recover from my self-inflicted toe injury, I have NOT broken my streak. Today was 1293 in a row! We did Taste of Chicago last weekend, this weekend we did Los Lonely Boys and Los Lobos concert at Petrillo Bandshell shreds, then the Parade and DMB. Yesterday at Great America theme park. Shredded at lunch today, mostly routine stuff. Can’t play music and record video from iphone4 at the same time, no problem, time to whip out the old shuffle!
Life is teaching me a lesson about pain. How serious it is when someone is in constant pain, please take them seriously and try to make them comfortable. It is mentally debilitating. It effects my every moment. I work hard, I play hard and I love every minute of it. My intention is to perform my best at every moment, in every aspect of my life. To lead by example. Even in the best of situations, it is difficult to stay in the moment. When pain like this is present, it makes its way to the foreground and hampers my best efforts at excellent performance. It distracts me from my focus on performing well in the moment, and makes me just try to survive it.
I tried to take a short nap before the Argentina vs. Mexico world cup game today, and I thought about how the pain is amplified by landing on my right foot. Really, it was the shoe constricting against the swollen toe that causes the pain. I was in so much pain when I was at work this week, standing all day in tight fitting shoes. I would wear sandals to work, but the new rules there technically keep me from that and I think it is unsafe to wear open toe shoes when riding a xootr anyway. It occurred to me that regardless of how it looks, I need to relieve my pain at work so just standing there doesn’t make me cringe in pain, I need to convert a pair of old Rod Laver shoes into Genzu modified Rod Lavers. I looked up Daryl’s blog and found the picture that changed my day.
Today I modified a pair of old blue Rod Laver’s so the right toe is open like Daryl ‘Genzu’ Genz’s. It worked, an orthopedic success! Especially since the only shoes I ever wear are Rod Laver tennis shoes. I did a footbag demo at Taste of Chicago with Alex and Valeria, and I made it through the two hours with the microphone, and another hour kicking with the CIC guys by Buckingham Fountain. I got some good footage and will publish a movie soon. It was hard to set the footbag off of my right toe because of the intensity of effect caused by my toe curl, but I could figure that out if I had to. My infection did get worse and the swelling went up, but I was able to bear it. I hope this infection passes, because living with pain like this is unfathomable. I can’t imagine what it must be like for someone with real problems like Cancer, Diabetes or heart disease. Ouch.
-enlightener
Shred notes: 6/27/10
Just glad to be shredding. Infection still getting worse. Little white dot showed up in the middle of the swollen part. Playing on grass sucks, but when doing youth outreach, you can’t be picky. Not ideal, but probably less impact on my toe too.
I have had a videocamera since 1988, thanks to being inspired by Jay Moldenhauer, Greg Nelson, then later Steve Kremer and Josh Casey… also Dennis Jones. I was at the beginning of my footbag career and I saw how Jay was videotaping the finals of events and the sideline shredding as well. They were using it as an effective learning tool and accelerating their footbag game exponentially. It was amazing. I purchased the exact same camera that Jay had, it was a sony hi-8 camera (and I have TONS of footage to convert from the old days, just not enough room to store it, time to do it, or money to buy the thingy that converts it to digital) that served me well for many years. I never get credited with this, but I MADE THE FIRST SHRED VIDEO EVER! I put together the best footage I had of routines and side-shreds and made about fifty copies onto videotapes and I gave them away for free with labels on them that encouraged the recipients to make more copies and give them to their friends. No copyrights, free distribution. I was spreading the word. I still am.
Videotaping has evolved since those days, youtube has made free distribution into a fun pastime. Footbag has gotten more complicated, even faster action and still uses a very small ball that is sometimes hard to see. Here are some tips for making videos of footbag:
1. Get a good camera. HD quality and a wide angle lens is helpful. See comparison of footage between a point and shoot and my new Smartest Phone from a built-in HD video camera (starts with an “i”) below, just released into the wild 2 days ago.
2. Pay attention to lighting. When shooting outdoors in direct sunlight, try to keep the sun behind you. It is better to film on a cloudy day than in direct sunlight because the diffused light that the clouds let through is more evenly distributed across your subjects. If you are shooting indoors there can be many shadows depending on your lighting style. In a conference room, the fluorescent lights provide a good diffused light experience, but sometimes causes a kind of harmonic resonance when the frame rate of the camera exactly matches the flashing-cycle rates of the fluorescent lights, plus for reasons of cleanliness, conference rooms tend to have very busy patterns in the carpeting which make it bad for playing and filming. In a garage, you are going to need lights coming from as many angles as possible to reduce the shadowing, but it can get pretty bad if you only have a few lights. If you have a shadowing problem indoors, try to stay with your back to the best light.
3. Learn to stabilize your shots, limit movement if you don’t have a self-stabilizing camera or use a tripod.
4. Get the right angle for the right shot. Best is a straight on shot from just below hip level with the sun behind you, or good ambient diffused light indoors. I use a lot of upward angles because I don’t have a tripod with me most of the time and I balance the camera on the ground. Angles from above are a nice novelty, but really don’t give a good idea of what is going on.
5. Don’t shoot from too far away. If you use the optical zoom to ‘get closer’, be aware it will amplify any movements you make, so if I had to use optical zoom, I would always recommend a tripod.
6. Turn OFF digital zoom, it is useless. Seriously, turn it off! Now!
7. When I am taping, I keep recording until I get something worth keeping, then I stop and restart the recording. This makes reviewing the footage go MUCH faster because rather than reviewing every second of footage, I go to the end of each clip and trim away everything before it to save space and get rid of unusable footage ASAP.
8. When using a tripod, I find that the mini ones are easy to carry around, but are hard to set up to get the right angle, only because I have to pretty much lay on the ground to see what my image frame is capturing. So for the mini tripods, I prefer to set them up on a pedestal to make it easy to check the frame field. Ideally, a medium size tripod puts the camera at the right height to get a good shot and be easy to set-up. I prefer to set my tripod at about 2 feet high.
9. If you are putting your camera on the ground to film, I suggest a slight upward angle. On my Canon point-and-shoot camera, I use the hand strap under the front of the camera which props it up at the right angle so I don’t see a lot of ground in front of my feet. On my new Phone4, I had to rest it in my extra shirt to angle it back, but I could not see through the viewing side, I had to guess at what my camera was capturing, but it turned out to be useable.
10. Get the right distance from the player. All cameras are different. Think about how you are going to use your footage. If you are doing a static tripod shot, the closer you are to the players the less range the players have to move around in, and you risk losing good footage when players drift out of frame. On the other hand, if you put it too far away, you lose the necessary detail and sometimes can’t see the footbag because it is so small.
11. Choose a solid backdrop when possible. If you have trees, or random objects in the background, the viewers may not be able to see the footbag as it travels across the foreground. So if you are videotaping, and you have any ‘say’ in the process of picking a location, try to find something as close to a solid color for your background.
Comparison of video camera footage for your review:
Canon Powershot SD630 (about 4 years old) with 640×480 frame size 24fps:
Video from my new phone camera which is HD 720p at 30fps (this popular camera phone was released on June 24, 2010):
EVERYONE in Chicago area should be at Windy City Cup at Navy Pier north entrance today, Sunday, June 20 whether you freestyle or play net, this is the place to be! 10-5… this is possibly the best location for a footbag tournament that footbag net has ever seen in Chicago! Be there!
A huge storm came through, 100′s of thousands of people without power, but our Comcast went out so we had power, but no internet or cable TV. Why did the storm come through during World Cup? Anyway, I was looking through my DVD collection, it was early in the morning, and I threw in the Tricks of the Trade II video (if you have VHS, you can get a copy for $5) from World Footbag Association and Kenny Shults.
I am so proud and motivated by the achievements of others. I am grateful to have been around for many of these milestones. Not many people watch old footbag videos from past World Championships performances and are brought to tears, but I’m one of them. Watching the greats like Sam Conlon, Peter Irish and Rippin Rick Reese do the routines that I was busy judging is inspiring to say the least. Watching Carol Weidemier (sp?) do effortless Blurry Drifters, just amazing. I took 2nd place behind Rippin’ in that Montreal dropless routine he did, and I’m pretty sure I took 2nd behind Peter Irish in that Satellite routine too. I love this sport!
Watching all my friends do their tricks and having Kenny Shults describe the details is especially helpful to people like me who struggle to grasp the names of some advanced tricks. It is like having Kenny Shults as my personal coach! Also, with advanced tricks I can pick apart the technical sequence, but I always forget the street-names of tricks and this video helps me to get the names right.
I saw a bunch more tricks that I would like to perfect, it is such a great video that every mid level player should have it, and every advanced player should study it! Get your copy of Tricks of the Trade II video today (if you have VHS, you can get a copy for $5) from World Footbag Association and Kenny Shults. Novice and intermediates should be careful not to try to get to these tricks too quickly. I firmly believe that part of my longevity has to do with the amount of time I spent on each component of the more advanced tricks and my organic approach toward bettering my game.
Side note: Hey WFA! How hard would it be to get this video available for digital purchase through iTunes Movie store? Could be a new revenue stream for you.
To wrap this up, I want to thank all my footbag friends for continuing on this journey of athletic challenges with me!
Shred hard and prosper!
-enlightener
Shred notes: June 19, 2010
It is frustrating to spend 15 minutes on a trick and not hit it. Quantum is my ‘nemesis’ (excuse the freestyler pun) these days. I can’t seem to get close. I need to watch that frame by frame because I am missing something. I can’t skool it too hard because I don’t want to cause stress injuries from new movements, so I’ll keep working on it periodically. Been skooling routines and long strings lately, mostly at Mammoth Springs Training Center.
In my most recent post, I focused on being ‘in’ the moment. Mostly because upon further analysis, the moment is all we have. In life and in footbag, being focused on the moment, while having an outline for the future and a fond recollection of the past is what makes a good person great!
When I can complete a trick that has 5 or 6 elements and follow it immediately with a series of other tricks that are similarly difficult, I know that I have mastered that moment, that I was in ‘the Zone.’
To reiterate my recent postulation, I feel that my experience with footbag where I am constantly challenging myself to focus as many elements of difficulty into each moment, has helped me to realize that some of my greatest moments are when I’m just enjoying the beach with my family, eating dinner with my parents. Different situations require varying types of mastery, but recognizing that it is the moment I am in, rather than the moment that is (in theory) coming up, which is truly valuable.
I ask myself as often as possible, how can I master ‘this’ moment? I find myself going through this mental exercise more frequently during my conscious hours… In the morning, how can I be more efficient in getting things done around the kitchen while still preparing for work and enjoying it? How do I get to work? How can I out-perform at work? How do I get the most value from my play time (shred sessions)? What is the implications of my commuting decisions? How can I be the best dad when I’m around the house in the evenings and weekends?
I think living in the moment, allows me to live without regrets. So I find myself asking myself, “Self? How can I be ‘in the Zone’ in every aspect of my life?”
-enlightener
Shred notes: from Thurs, June 17th
Kicked at Mammoth Springs Training Center and worked mostly on routines for the past 2 days. It has been fun. Nothing new, but still hitting the barfly ending in cross body rake in many iterations daily. Skool it baby!
I have been threading for years now. It started literally at the VERY beginning of my footbag experience. It is difficult to put into writing the magnitude of the effect that Gary Lautt had on my understanding of that a freestyle performance is. Back in 1985, in the early days of VHS, it was rare to use videotape for learning purposes. It was rare to see any valuable footage of any advanced footbag freestyle at all. In fact, advanced freestyle at the time did not include the concept of “adds”, and did not have any content beyond around-the-worlds and flying clippers. I am not sure where I saw Gary play, probably at a WFA event associated with Worlds, but to see someone so confidently hit repeated rainbow outside kicks with effortless abandon, and spins ending in inside kicks for an NBA basketball crowd at halftime… it was awe-inspiring. Everyone in the audience knew exactly what was happening in his performance, they related to it… I related to it. In a big way!
This is when I first saw Gary thread the footbag his encircled fingers in-between kicks. I have to say, that with all of the advancement in footbag freestyle, I still see the value of what Gary’s performances offer. The simplicity of basic kicks with the added difficulty of threading it through his fingers. It was amazing.
It was after at least 20 solid years of shredding that I finally started applying the “Lautt-inspired” Threading concept to more advanced tricks. I wanted to call it the “Lautt” to honor the great-one, but after years of trying, it is better known as “Threading”. I have applied the “Threading” concept to so many different tricks, I should make a list.
Today I honored Gary by devoting my entire shred (except for the run-thru my worlds routine at the end) to Threading tricks.
Gary Lautt is a great footbag player and an amazing innovator for the sport, and although I don’t know him well, I have the greatest respect for Gary. I consider myself fortunate to be included alongside him in the Footbag Hall of Fame, and I am glad to offer an entire category of trick-modifiers called “Threading” that can be added to just about any trick, 100% inspired by Gary Lautt!
-enlightener
Example of Threading Concept
Shred notes: 6/8/10
It was all Threading, all day today! I hit new Threading moves including Juggle-thread, which is further out front than comfortable. It seems that if I do the comfy-thread then the threads are too close to the body, but if I do the comfy-juggle then the threads are more uncomfortable but because the juggle is tantamount, then it is more important to be uncomfortable with threading so far in front of the body to make the juggle more comfy. Also hit both Gyro Threading Whirls in the same string and each individually several times with the right being ironically dominant. Successful cross-training!
At the end of it all, I did a 3-drop version of my Worlds routine with about 75% accuracy vs. intent.
Footbag freestyle! ‘This is not your fathers’ Hacky Sack®”
I suppose all the gray hair is a telling sign of the uncontrollable elements of the aging process. While there may be some genetic certainties, I believe that I am living proof that footbag freestyle is like a fountain of youth in taking care of the variables not predetermined by genetics. It is not only the vigorous exercise element of advanced footbag freestyle, which is comparable to the cardiovascular requirements of high-impact aerobics… but also the mental aspect that requires a high level of creativity to create new tricks and strings of tricks which is not a requirement of most other sports. It is the combination of the constant challenge of improving my physical performance and the constant mental challenges that not only keep the body looking and feeling young, but keep my mind engaged in the creative aspect of trick creation and string building. While other sports like running, cycling and other forms of vigorous exercise include the exercise part but lack in variety. Runners and cyclists can take different routes, but it is still just the same motions over and over. Footbag freestylers use their entire body in hundreds of different positions and on both sides of their bodies. The whole-body requirements combined with the mental challenges of innovation are what set our sport apart from others.
It is a joy to play footbag everyday, I truly believe it is large part of my great appreciation of life. I wish I could play more with my shredding friends, but I am satisfied that I get to play alone on such a regular basis. It is an honor and a pleasure to know so many great people who are involved in this sport. Playing since 1984, I never would have thought I’d be where I am today, but without this sport… well lets just say that “Footbag keeps the mind fresh and the body young!”
-enlightener
Shred Notes: 6/2/2010
I’ve hit some more fun stuff, new for me at least. I have much on tape and will release a spring update video soon. Today was fairy ducking mirage, fairy ducking butterfly, fairy ducking cross-body rake, fairy diving osis. Other great stuff too, and a pretty good run through my routine.
Of course, shredding footbag freestyle requires flat, level surfaces. Ideally concrete, asphalt or hardwood but not slippery like marble or some polished hardwoods. In the winter I frequently comment on how shredding in a back hallway of polished concrete with a half inch layer of dust, and I whine about it because I know that there is a parking lot nearby that is calling my name.
I call it Mammoth Springs Training Center! Featuring plenty of sun and real-world wind conditions. An asphalt surface that doesn’t transfer black to your Rod Lavers. A view of the river, and plenty of privacy to crank up the tunes and shred up a storm. In reality, it is the back parking lot of the Doubletree hotel here in Oak Brook, but there is a rock with a historic plaque out front that commemorates the rich history that this site contains. Mammoth Springs is where the people who settled this area got all their ice from. Before electric refrigeration, they needed ice in the summer, so they build giant insulated ice houses and froze water all winter and distributed it all summer using the river channel that still runs through today.
I look forward to playing everyday, and when I am stuck at work and playing at my “Lunch”, usually at the 11:00am hour, this is where you’ll find me.
Shred on brothers and sisters!
-enlightener
Shred notes: 5/29/10
Working on routine every day, at least one run-through on tape. Cool new ‘heel’ moves leg overs and DLO’s ending in Heel. Cool sole stuff too. Video being prepped on Spring update with all this fun stuff I’ve been doing.
This is a concept that has been literally stumbled upon by many, but until now, not fully embraced as a concept in the Footbag freestyle community. I think Rooted tricks deserve a Body add, much like Symposium gets… and Pure Solo tricks definitely should get an extra add. Not that I really care about adds.
“>
Definition of ‘Rooted’:
When a player both catches and lands with the same foot at the same time while the other leg does not touch the ground.
Modification of ‘Pure Solo’:
When a player shows balance and control after a Rooted catch by freezing position, ideally with a difficult balancing position, like grabbing the non-rooted foot with other hand.
Almost every trick that ends with a toe delay can be Rooted. Possible that clippers could be Rooted, but unlikely. Well I did experiment with that and found it is possible, but since I needed to step down almost immediately after the Rooted inside and walk over it, there was no chance of a Solo modification to this, and it was really hard to see if it was even rooted. So I’m not going to break my ankles over this. I suppose someone with complete ‘crankle’ can pull it off, but no rush there for me.
Today I hit some more new ones:
Paradox Solo DLO,
Nuclear Solo toe pickup
The ultimate would be to do all of them Pure.
Rooted is not a new concept, but up until now it has only been stumbled upon by players as a bail. For instance, even when I do a clipper set step plus extra mirage and end with Rooted it ‘feels’ like a bail. When it is done intentionally, it adds an element of difficulty to the tricks that have been modified by it, and deserves an add when being counted. It can be applied to any trick ending on a toe. Pure Solo Rooted indicates a grab and frozen balance position at the point of the Rooted maneuver.
Watch the movie above to see many examples of Rooted and Pure Solo. Ran out of battery today, but added a few new tricks to this concept.
Yesterday, I hit Nuclear Paradox Twirl and Fairy Symp. Mirage on film, many times. I am not sure that never before in the world of footbag freestyle (hacky-sack) has anyone hit Nuclear Paradox Twirl, NOR am I certain that it deserves the Paradox (but I know it should)… just note it is the opp twirl I do from the side I nuclear set on. So L clipper set, L let nuclear set, R leg Twirl ending in L clipper again. I think symposium might be possible too.
Sometimes I wonder if I have hit this move before. I’m going to search my archives here and my notes otherwise, but I remember Allan H. hitting this before. Somehow this feels familiar, but I love it!
See ya!
Scott ‘Enlightener’ Davidson
Shred notes: 5/13/10
Today I nearly hit what I can only describe as: “Pixie set, backside symposium toe blur” Battery ran out, and I had only gotten close, not quite hit it. I think I need to finish the 2nd dex faster to get time for the pickup. If I obsess for too long on any one trick, I risk injury so I have to move on for now.
I won the 1999 World Footbag Championships, Footbag Freestyle Singles event. I have only seen my performance twice since then, it is as if no one recorded it.
We did have a great recording done with professional cameras, but that footage got lost immediately after the event, during a move, and I have never seen it. So I got in touch with our videographer by chance through facebook, and he finally tracked down the footage and is putting it in the mail so I can get it up on YouTube. I can’t wait. I really can’t wait.
Shred notes: 5/11/10 – Skooled routines today. Really got into it after about a half hour warmup. The past few days have been productive… Nuclear Paradox Twirl and Fairy Symposium Mirage. The first is a new trick as far as I can tell, and the 2nd is new to me.
I was shredding footbag freestyle in my living room today, after playing at Great America yesterday, and I got to thinking about concepts. A concept is an added level of difficulty or specific motion that can be added to many existing tricks to make them different. Among the many concepts that are well established are Symposium and Paradox. I have been working on the Rooted concept for the past week or so, misunderstanding it and calling it Solo most of the time (I’m publishing a video that focuses on Rooted concept with tons of new tricks). The concept that got me obsessed today was Ducking/Diving.
With most concepts, it is just a matter of time before we get comfortable with them and incorporate them into our daily shreds. In many cases, concepts can be applied to so many different tricks, that it increases variety potential almost exponentially!
(Shred Notes: 5/3/10) I have hit many, many, many different ducking/diving tricks and today I thought of another one or two. Probably done by others, but worth mentioning. I hit Diving Barfly (harder than it sounds) and Diving Down Double Down. I almost hit Paradox Diving Dyno, so close.
Today I forgot to bring shred shorts to Alex’s TKD tourney, so I had to shred in board shorts. It’s not devastating, but it is a departure from my normal strategy of doing anything I damn well feel like doing. Not to mention that I am playing in public so I have to do longer strings.
Playing in long shorts keeps me from doing most tricks from the ripwalk family so alot of my bread and butter moves get blocked because the area that represents the upward path the Footbag has to take is clogged with fabric.
Today in addition to hitting some nice strings I rehashed an old concept… To set tricks with little mini pendulums. I have done this with many trix in the past, osis, torques and DLO’s, and today I added swirl to the mix. Sweet.
Shred notes: 4/25/10
long rake strings, pendulum set swirl. Yesterday I hit Muted Gyro DLO and Muted phobic mirage on tape, film will be on YouTube tonight or tomorrow AM.
