Name: Scott Davidson
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Website: http://footbagfreestyle.blogspot.com/
See all Scott Davidson Posts here!

After another week of cool temperatures. Making the call between kicking at the low end of my temperature spectrum outdoors, or kicking in the double secret location which is temperature controlled but limited on space and has slippery floors. The results were mixed, but when I did go outdoors yesterday I stumbled on a concept that I had never tried before called “Muted.”

Of course, I thought I had innovated again, but in the back of my head I thought I had heard of this before. It is when you land and catch the trick on the same toe, no support leg. I hit Muted gyro mirage first, which led me to:
Muted Blur, Muted DLO both sides, and all kinds of tricks that I thought were innovations.

I did have one burst of freshness when I combined a Muted Blur with an immediate Zoid set butterfly. Now that I think about it, the ultimate would be a Zoid set trick ending in a Muted delay. I’ll try that tomorrow. Today was 1220 days in a row shredding!

Shred notes: 4/23/10
I have been getting some great runs through the routine, very promising. Also have had some successes getting warm in the cold outdoors, against all odds.

-This is not your fathers’ Hacky Sack!
Footbag Freestyle

Name: Scott Davidson
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Website: http://footbagfreestyle.blogspot.com/
See all Scott Davidson Posts here!

Today I skooled Ducking related footbag freestyle tricks. I got warm and then started doing ducking butterflies and I decided to dedicate this session to ducking and diving, today was the day of the Duck! Glad I did.

I have been skooling my routine lately and I feel like I have been neglecting the ‘pushing my game’ part. And today, while skooling ducking tricks, innovation struck again. Well, I bet a few others have hit this, but not many. Zulu Paradox Symposium Whirl! That is L clipper set up past left ear, down over right ear and symposium paradox whirl in the remaining time ending on rt. clipper. The zulu makes the diving part happen quickly. I think I’ll publish a video on this, gotta get it on video tomorrow then.

Shred notes: 4/19/10
Ducks, Zulu Paradox Symposium Whirl.

Name: Scott Davidson
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Website: http://footbagfreestyle.blogspot.com/

My guideline for determining whether I should shred indoors or out, the temperature threshold is officially 50 degrees. If it is under 50 degrees fahrenheit, then I struggle to get warm. If it is right at 50 degrees and breezy, I reserve the right to go indoors, but for the most part anything over 50 degrees is good to play.

The temps this week have been crazy. 80 one day, 40 the next. My playtime happens usually pretty early, around 10 or 11am. Even on a nice spring day, it doesn’t get really nice until later in the afternoon. I have had a few sweet 70 degree days lately with no wind and had some great sessions! I have also made some questionable judgement calls… in each case it was right at 50 degrees and breezy, but I had my Xootr (http://www.myxootr.blogspot.com is my new blog) with me and I felt it would be a waste to have brought it all the way to skool (work), and not use it during recess (lunch). In all cases, it took a bit longer to get warm and was uncomfortably chilly at first, but I got sufficiently sweaty and hit enough strings and pretty good runs through my routine for worlds. On Saturday, I went to the double-secret indoor location, as I just didn’t feel like fighting the chilly wind and just-barely 50 degree temps.

I have played in so many different temperatures, I have come to the conclusion that 50 degrees is the magic number. If it is over 50 and not windy, I can shred outdoors no problem, under 50 and there better be a good reason I went outside. Some of these reasons might be that there were no other indoor options, a guest was in from out of town and we wanted to kick at a public location with pedestrian traffic or an outdoor tournament. Otherwise, for training purposes, I’ll be indoors until it gets up over 50 degrees. My next big concern is sun exposure…

See ya!
-enlightener

Name: Scott Davidson
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Website: http://footbagfreestyle.blogspot.com/

This week was a mixed bag of shredding in dusty hallways, and outdoors in windy and chilly air. I worked mostly on my routine, and having some great runs. I figure that until worlds, I’ll be mostly working on my routine during the week, and skooling new tricks and flipside stuff on weekends.

I was in my living room doing my Sunday jam and decided to just do front-side tricks. I usually use a mix of clippers and toes to get warm, probably mostly clipper related moves. On Sunday though, I just worked frontside. During this session, it must be noted, took a little longer than usual to get sufficiently sweaty. While self-criticizing my right toe pixie set I realized that the reason I struggle with left pixie sets is the direction that my knee is pointing as I go into the setting motion.

Just about every trick requires mentally separating the concepts of ‘set’ and ‘dex.’ In other words, once you get the set out of the way, then it is time to do the dex and whether they require a spin before the dex, or immediate dexterity… they need to be thought of separately. The ‘trick’ to Pixie sets is that during the set part of the trick is to point your knee across your body as you perform the lifting motion. Simple.

Name: Scott Davidson
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Website: http://footbagfreestyle.blogspot.com/

Today, coinciding with the release of a new touch screen device from a major electronics company, is my 1200th day in a row skooling footbag freestyle. There is some kind of holiday tomorrow too.

Have I gotten better? Yes, absolutely. Firstly, at my physical age, just a slight daily improvement without losing any ground is the minimum I could ask for… but I frequently hit new tricks, new for me and some of them for the first time ever. I really like being the first human being in the history of mankind to achieve something, I even like being among a small group of people who can do the same. Some days I shine, some days I struggle, but every day that I play keeps my body fine tuned and my mind energized. I love this sport. What more can I say?

Shred Notes: March 2010
I didn’t post much during March, but a lot was happening. I have had these strange leg pains, seem to be finally going away. I sought out music that I can use for Worlds 2010 in August, and I found it. Thanks to Marcus from work, an accomplished break dancer, for introducing me to some of his favorites. I did not choose one of his songs for this routine, but it will get used. I have already listened to my the song I picked hundreds of times and have developed a rough outline of how I want the routine to flow. I have hit several new tricks this month too, Phobic DLO, Phobic spinning paradox whirl (in the sense that I set under left leg and dex with left leg after spinning, not set from a clipper) and Double spinning butterfly (almost on both sides, twice to left side).

I notice that I was making more blog entries in the winter, and now that I ride my xootr at breaks, I have to find another part of my day to do my blog entries. I have updated the look of the blog.

I also went through my old footbag t-shirt archive. I’m going to give away most of them to other players who might appreciate them, I’ve taken photos of all of them and I’m going to add the photos to a web gallery and add my notes to them.

Name: Scott Davidson
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Website: http://footbagfreestyle.blogspot.com/

While there is construction going on in my place of daily shred, I suffer in silent hopelessness as I watch the floor gather layer upon layer of plaster dust.

As I get started, I pour a little water on the floor off to the side and I get the bottoms of my shoes wet. My feet seem to be stickier when their bottoms are damp, but not dripping wet, which could be dangerous. Being damp they tend to stick better, especially important when spinning, which I do a lot of.

Over the years, I’ve had to play on just about every possible surface, and polished are among the worst. If there is any way to use a sacrifice towel to clear the floor, I’ll do it. But often instead of cleaning the whole floor, I’ll use my towel as a damp rag on the floor that we can get our feet wet with. On a daily basis, I typically just put water on the ground, to save on laundry which I already produce lots of. At tournaments, if not already done by the tourney director, I’ll coordinate a pass over the playing area with a wet towel over a broom. I remember in Vancouver 2000, the floor was slippery and I had to use a wet rag on the ground to help. I think I took 2nd that year, another of my many 2nd places at worlds, more than anyone else.

In my double secret dojang, looking from one end of the hall to another, there is a clean spot due to my ‘sole grease’ every day. The construction workers probably don’t even notice it, but it messes with the air quality and sure makes it slippery. I hope to be outdoors for so many reasons, air quality and floor grip are just two of those reasons.

See ya!
-enlightener

Name: Scott Davidson
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Website: http://footbagfreestyle.blogspot.com/

I’ve established that I get more from a jam session when I have a clear goal. But that is not always the case, sometimes I just flow with the music, get warm and see what happens. Kinda like the funky chicken method… just get into the music and it will be good.

For example, today I am still sore from a past injury, not sure where I’d be able to get to today. I got warm and worked on a few phobic sets and two innovations came to me. Phobic spinning cross body rake, and Phobic spinning paradox whirl (same). I have now hit both of them, AND both sides “Fairy Reverse swirl.” As I shred every day, I’ve noticed that I approach every jam differently. Sometimes based on my mood, and attitude. While I’d love to have a specific goal to work on each day, I’m just not that structured of a person. I’d rather jam, let it flow and see what happens when I don’t have specific goals. So while I love the experience of shredding, sometimes just playing is the reward, and some of those times lead to the greatest moments of innovation. Today is 1,182 in a row of serious shredding. Happy for every moment.

On another note:
A funny thing happened a few weeks ago, I kicked my most recent freedom footbag (orange and blue) onto a light fixture out of reach of my shortness. So today, after my jam session, I went on a break and ducked into my double secret shred spot to make a call and eat some grub. I knew if I waited long enough, it would still be there, and I had clearly waited long enough. There was a leak in the ceiling and a worker left a ladder just 20 feet from where I needed it. So I got my footbag back, just had to be patient.

Footbag Freestyle – This is not your father’s hacky sack!

Shred notes:
Fairy (same) Whirling X-body rake, both sides! Plus everything mentioned above happened in the past few days. Also wore a pedometer for 3 days, had 4000 steps on day 1, but on day 2 I xooted to work and wore it while I worked out and hit 6000. On day 3, I xooted to and from work, and wore the damn thing during my jam and still only hit 6600.

Name: Scott Davidson
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Website: http://footbagfreestyle.blogspot.com/

As an athlete, I focus on improving my game. Longer string lengths, better tricks, and integrating new more difficult tricks into my longer strings. In any other sport, or dare I say in ‘every’ other sport, elite athletes attain sponsorship from companies looking to associate with these athletes. Not in footbag though.

Sports like Snow Boarding and BMX for instance, have industries built around them. Most sports have tons of accessories that the participants need to invest in, companies create these items and sell them to the public. These companies sponsor the best athletes in the hope that the new learners will see their logos on these people, and go buy their stuff. A great win-win situation for the elite athletes in the sport and the industries that supply the products.

One of the greatest things about the sport of footbag is that it is such a low-investment sport, all you need is a footbag that probably costs less than $10 to purchase, and the shoes you already have. This is also our ‘sponsorship’ downfall. The small companies that make footbags have little budget for sponsorship, as they are barely turning a profit. The large companies that make footbags like Wham-O™ (makers of the Hacky Sack® brand footbag), treat our sport like a game, and they gave up on sponsoring the players back in the early 90′s. They rely on their existing distribution channels for their other products to get their products placed on shelves of their vendors, and since they don’t support the sport of footbag, they simply don’t sponsor events OR athletes.

As an Event Director, I focus on three types of promotion. We need to get the event located into a place that has ‘built-in’ spectators. We need to get the players to the event, and we need to get sponsors to help pay for the event. Over the years I have been able to get our events located into some great venues like McCormick Place alongside a 50,000 spectator a day sports festival, Taste of Chicago (the worlds largest free admission food festival) with hundreds of thousands of spectators daily and Scot Hansen has been able to run an annual event at Navy Pier. Even though we have placed our events into great venues, we still struggle to get non-footbag related companies to sponsor us. Partially because we don’t spend enough of our resources, but mostly because we have given up. The catch-22 is that we have great events with guaranteed spectators, but we have been rejected so many times that we have all but given up on sponsors. We are always looking for companies that would be interested, but because our event directors have had such limited success in attaining sponsors, we just decided that it wasn’t worth our time. This of course is an untruth, and we do need to pursue sponsors. I suppose we just have to get 100 NO’s for every yes!

I am making a more concerted effort this year to get sponsors for my big event next year, New Years Jam 2010 right after xmas. If you have any suggestions, let me know.

Special thanks to Freedom Footbags (freedomfootbags.com) and World Footbag Association (worldfootbag.com) for all their support over the years. At least they have been able to supply prizes that the players really appreciate. We, the sport of footbag and our athletes, are worthy of major sponsorship, just seemingly incapable of attracting them. I promise to get more aggressive on this and I’ll let you know how it goes!

Shred notes: 3/4 to 3/9 2010:
I have been nursing my hammy back to full strength, still shredding hard, just not working so much on symposiums and nuclear stuff. I have been wakin

Name: Scott Davidson
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Website: http://footbagfreestyle.blogspot.com/

Introspection can produce clarity. In my case I have recently thought a lot about how what is important to me in life. The result is, in this order…
1) Family (My wife and son are the apples of my eye)
2) Footbag (My sport provides me the health, meditation and infamy I need to thrive)
3) ‘Work’ (My job provides me the earning power to keep it all going)

I put ‘work’ in quotes because I truly work for a great company that I look forward to going to every day, almost as much as I look forward to going home every night to my family. The cliche ‘If you find a job you love, you’ll never work a day in your life’ is true for me.

I am passionate about all three of these areas of my life and I am proud to say it. Another cliche come true for me is ‘Playing at 100%’. I am committed to playing at 100% in each of these areas of my life. When I am with my family, I am present and attentive to their needs. I do everything I can to make our time together memorable and high-value. When I play footbag freestyle, I approach it with the attitude that I can always be better than I currently am. I can continue to achieve excellence in my sport, and in the process it keeps my mind fresh and my body young. And at 43 years old, that is saying something. Today will be 1171 days in a row of shredding, plus 24 years before that. When I go to ‘work’, I look forward to being the best I can be, contributing to every area of the business in whatever roles are necessary at the time. It is a very rewarding job and I frequently have to ‘pinch’ myself because it sometimes feels like a dream.

Sure our family has issues that we are working on, but looking around, we have it pretty good. Certainly, I can improve my footbag game and do more, and I am always working on that. And while I could stand to make more money, life is not all about money… at least I do what I love! Thanks to all the people in my life! I am always playing at 100% and I’m proud to say it!

-enlightener

Shred Notes: 3/4/2010
Yesterday I was trying to hit fairy set barfly (triple dex) and I pulled a muscle in the groinal area on the left side. Me thinks I wasn’t quite as warmed up as I thought. This morning, thanks to my ‘buffy-like’ healing powers, I feel much better. It is an Injury with Honor, but I am glad it is not bothering me as much today.

Name: Scott Davidson
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Website: http://footbagfreestyle.blogspot.com/

As a long-time event director in the sport of footbag, I have hosted events every year for the past 25 years! During that time I have come to a few realizations that I am going to outline on this blog, over several postings.

Promotion vs. Production…
As an event director, you will need to distinguish the differences between Promotion vs. Production.
Promotion happens on several levels, and I will be addressing each of these in future posts as well. Promotion generally happens in advance of an event, where Production mostly happens ‘during’ the event.

Promotion is easily broken into three parts,
1) Promoting to the athletes to get the competitors to show up.
2) Promoting to the sponsors to offset the costs and hopefully be able to make money on the event.
3) Promoting to Media to make the sponsors happy, and attract spectators to the event.

Production of the event refers to the actual ‘doing’ of the event, the leg-work per se. Setting up nets (and lines, etc…), sound systems, tents, banners, and all the things that make the event run smoothly, once the event gets started. Most Production items happen on the days before an event, during an event and for a day or two afterward. Some things that are always on my event production checklist are:
Having forms ready to be filled out, having equipment ready to be set up, loading the van (sometimes renting a van). Think about what you need to do AT the event and that all falls under “Production” of an event.

It is also a good idea to send a summary report to all your sponsors individually, letting them know how well the event went, focusing on how well you marketed their brand… how did that particular sponsor benefit from sponsoring your event. I’m not sure if the follow up falls under Production or Promotion, but it still is good form to complete.

Shred notes: 3/1/10
Still not at 100% but getting better. Had some great long strings. Skooled a wide variety of trix but nothing spectacularly unique. Lots of x-body rakes. Used new warm-up strings and got warm really fast.

Name: Scott Davidson
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Website: http://footbagfreestyle.blogspot.com/

I propose that every footbag club should offer a footbag tournament every year. Thats right, I said it. If you are running a footbag club and you don’t host an event, then you really ought to consider hosting one.

When I think of the ‘tournament’ circuit in the US, I think it has a lot to be desired. There need to be more tournaments, and any club that is serious about the sport should be offering a tournament every year! At least one. They don’t have to be elaborate sponsored events that cost a lot of money to produce. They just need to happen. The events don’t have to be a multiple-day deal, they can be single day tournaments. We need to offer more opportunity to compete in footbag in the US to be taken seriously as a sport. Don’t get me wrong, I take this sport very seriously. I host several events in Chicago every year that are competitions, jams and an opportunity to do youth outreach and expose our wonderful sport to anyone who is interested.

Kudos to those who do offer tournaments! That is GREAT for the sport, we just need more of them.

If you want to learn tips and techniques for hosting footbag events, keep reading this blog, as those topics are coming up! I just wanted to bitch and moan about how many clubs there are vs. how many tournaments are offered. If there was ANYONE within 200 miles of Chicago that hosted a footbag event, and posted it on http://www.footbag.org, I would make it my business to be at that event. You have my support. If you want assistance getting started, contact me directly through this blog. Thanks!

Shred notes: 2/27/10
Pulled a muscle dishonorably in the back of my right leg yesterday. Dishonorable because it didn’t happen playing footbag, it happened because I kept having to get under the tables at my newly remodeled place of work to re-wire the place, and one time when I went to stand up… I felt the pull. I was able to skool plenty of cross-body stuff, but it really hurts when I do pixie/fairy moves off the right toe. Also hard to do the ‘snapping’ motion at the end of the paradox whirl and then still land properly, for instance. I worked on plenty of double spinning osis, and it took a long time to warm up, but I got a good sweat in and generally happy with my performance.

Name: Scott Davidson
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Website: http://footbagfreestyle.blogspot.com/

When Greg Nelson and I were taking one of our many road trips back in the early 90′s (may have been the late ’80s), we used to theorize about footbag. Surprise. Of course, we both eat, drink, sleep and dream footbag and have for many years. We were freestyle rivals turned partners who drove to middle ground, about 2.5 hours drive each, to meet and shred just about every weekend in Kalamazoo, MI where Steve “Kozmo” Kremer (inducted into the 3rd wave of BAP) used to go to skool. Greg is from Ann Arbor and I’m from Chicago.

On one trip where we drove together somewhere unknown, we theorized about dexterity that could be done before a trick. We knew it could be done, but neither of us had completed it yet. We thought that if we set off of a toe, we could do a dex in either direction from either foot and we even gave them names. MUCH better names than they actually were given once people actually started to do them. We called them “Thunder” and “Lightning”. They ended up being called Pixie and Fairy.

Imagine how much cooler a trick name would be if it were Thunderous Whirl vs. Fairy Whirl for instance. Lightning Osis vs. Pixie Osis. Damn did we miss the boat on that one. Who is responsible for naming them Pixie and Fairy anyway?

If I was on TV describing the trick names, I wouldn’t dare mention Pixie and Fairy moves as I would be embarrassed. I’d go with Blurriest or Symposium Tricks as they have cool names. But it is too late to change the names of the tricks now, too bad too.

Historically, if you do the trick first you can name it. Our mistake was not believing in ourselves enough to pull the car over and try those tricks on the spot. We both knew the concepts were HUGE, we didn’t have any idea how huge. There are SO MANY tricks that use Fairy and Pixie sets and every one of them could benefit from a better name. Like Corpse Grinder is the coolest name for a toe delay, Thunder and Lightning are such better names for Pixie and Fairy. Oh well.

Shred notes: 2/26/10
Almost hit fairy barfly (triple dex). Would have been lightning barfly (see above).
Very difficult to be productive in shredding when feeling down. Have been riding emotional roller coaster lately. I WILL succeed though, eventually. On MY terms, not anyone elses. I am willing to shift, not change. If people around me can’t accept me for what I am, then tough shit. I’m me and I ain’t changing. Thats just the way it is. If it takes forever, so be it.

Name: Scott Davidson
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Website: http://footbagfreestyle.blogspot.com/

(Note: New trick… Zulu Soliosis) I usually break in my new Lavers over a 3 month period, but this time I waited too long to start breaking them in and I need to accelerate the process. When I wait too long, my current shred shoes are in complete disarray. The soles are worn thru, they have cracks in the sole and they have worn out somewhat unevenly, which is very noticable as I switch from new to old Lavers. Anyway, I wore them to work, except they have slate floors at work and they are as smooth as a baby’s ass and provide no friction whatsoever. My double secret hallway locations are polished concrete, arguably the only flooring surface smoother than Italian slate… and to make matters worse, there is dust on the polished concrete surface. Aargh!

So yesterday I also wore them outside on the concrete. I did my 2nd jam out on a rough brick patio called Riverwalk in Naperville. I should have brought gloves, because if my hands were warm I could have lasted more than 45 minutes for sure. The ground was gritty and I could feel the shine wearing off of the bottom of my shoes. What I didn’t calculate correctly was the impending snow storm. The weather guy was right about the start time, 4:00 but it ended up to be only 5 inches, not 10. I invited Valeria and Alex to lunch, and when we got done eating my shiny new shoes met snow and slush for the first time. My jeans got wet and transferred plenty of grit to the shoes. They are no longer shiny and new, but they are one day closer to being shred-ready. I know Lon Smith says to sand them down with a belt-sander, but I’m not that capable with tools, I’ll use the old fashioned way, and break them in myself!

For my 2nd jam today, I’m going to rough up the new lavers again at the same brickwork area in Riverwalk with fliers and scuffing exercises. I don’t care if it is snowing, I’ll play under the overhang.

Shred notes: 2/22/2010 and 2/23/2010
On the 22nd, I was back at my double secret shred location in Oakbrook. Filmed Splendor, with mixed results. Skooled all kinds of unusual surface content, focusing on Soliosis, spinning soliosis and of course Splendor (Sblender is really a blender ending in X-body sole, still not sure if I should spell it with a P or a B.)

On the 23rd, I had to shred early AM as there is no where to shred in the wintertime without being in the cold in Naperville, short of joining a club. 50 degrees is my realistic threshold, as above that I can do shorts and t-shirt, below that I really need to be indoors. My morning shred wasn’t really productive, except to say that I did hit a new trick today! Zulu Soliosis. Really makes the body look funny, but satisfying anyway!!!!

Name: Scott Davidson
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Website: http://footbagfreestyle.blogspot.com/

Winter in Chicago makes it more challenging to kick on a daily basis. It removes the entire outdoors as possible shred sites. I am fortunate to have found some great spots to shred at, and I really don’t notice how good I have it until the situation deteriorates. Case in point, my temporary assignment at a location far, far away from my normal universe. I have been playing in the early morning hours to ensure a good jam that will continue my string of 1156 shred days in a row, which is another challenge all its own. Even though I shredded in the early hours, 5am, I still tried to get a casual kick in at ‘lunch’ (recess). So I go outside the mall by the bus stop, and within 20 minutes, the local Paul Blart analog ‘busted’ me. He said because they don’t allow skateboarders, that I can’t kick there. Clearly I was a public safety disaster waiting to happen, as my 28 years of playing has resulted in so many (0) injuries of passersby. I used to kick on Michigan Avenue every day, but I can’t kick in an empty bus stop. After I looked around and saw no skateboarders, I suggested that it must then be ok that I kick there. Then I told him I was going to go kick somewhere he won’t find me, and I walked to the old abandoned theater in the out-lot and practiced fliers in blue-jeans, where even the regular police left me alone. Later that day I was told of a back hallway I should try.

So on the 18th, I went to this new double secret place in the mall and had a GREAT shred! Plenty of room in the hallway here, few interruptions, no visits from paul blart.

Now I’m confident I’ll get a great shred today, I can’t wait!

Shred Notes: 2/17-18/10
Phobic barrage! Hit it on 17th, will film it soon. Also more basic phobic set mirage completions from flip side. Amazed at how consistent my osis to soliosis on both sides is. Skooling osis-ripwalk-osis-osis-ripwalk as warm up strings now, just about everyday. Also twirl to ripwalk is getting very easy on both sides too. Long strings! Great strings today, especially for small space. Tons of blur and pixie mirage stuff today. Blur to Juggle seamless.

Name: Scott Davidson
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Website: http://footbagfreestyle.blogspot.com/

I’m a big fan of getting to work early and getting home early. I don’t mind getting up early, I like it. I have a pretty good routine that gets me off to work on time, but still gives me plenty of coffee and time to do the dishes. I rarely kick when I get up early in the morning, but today I did. I am working at a place where I can’t be sure to have a place to shred at lunch, so I kicked this morning solidly, and again at lunch for fun. The morning jam sessions feel more like a workout than later in the day, like I am forcing it. Especially the warm up part.

I know that cyclists and runners get up early and do their ‘workouts’ first thing in the day. There are a couple of reasons why I try to play later in the day when possible. First, I am more comfortable kicking and enjoy it more in late morning. Secondly, when I play with people who come in from out of town, or with local shredders, it is usually later in the afternoon. I wouldn’t want to habituate to kicking early, and make afternoon shreds more difficult.

I would rather kick early to keep the rally going, than miss out because of my work location. That is not a good enough excuse.

Shredding early is better than not shredding at all!

Syndicated with permission from http://footbagfreestyle.blogspot.com/

Don’t get me wrong, what I have is GREAT! And I think I am not alone in saying, “I want more!”

I want more from my sport, as I hope to continually improve my game. I want to do more outreach projects and workshops with kids and introduce more children to footbag. I am shredding every day, and we already have 3 events in the pipe for this year and pitching several more.

I want to spend as much time with my family as possible. Eat more of my wife’s wonderful cooking and have more tickle ‘fights’ with my son.

I want to produce more videos.

I want to travel more.

I want more money, and my current strategy of waiting for it to find me hasn’t happened so while it would be nice to capitalize on our sport, I need to figure out a way to make more dollars while getting closer to all the other things I want.

I want more time.

Shred Notes: 2/8/10
Today was 1145. Spent the whole time working on warm up strings. I was very warm. New combos to use like Spinning BTR to Ripwalk to Spinning BTR repeat.

Syndicated with permission from http://footbagfreestyle.blogspot.com/

I’m not old, I’m just aging. I hit another pretty unique trick today, I call it ‘Storque’, it is a torque ending in x-body sole. Proving once again, that aging dogs can not only learn new tricks, but invent them too!

Over the past 1143 days, and the 23 years before that, I have learned from so many great players, taken that physical ability and built upon it. By working on soliosis, and in the same jam, skooling my pixie and fairy sets, my mind put together pixie-soliosis (which might be new too). From there it occurred to me that it should be possible from a clipper set, and Storque was born. Now Storque might not be new, but it is new to me. I have never seen anyone do it, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been done. BTW, I hit it on both sides many times and once on both sides in the same string.

I believe I can achieve, and therefore I do achieve!
And I never know what I will get, but it just comes to me when I’m in the zone. I love this sport!

Thanks to all the great players who have inspired me over the years, and to all the current players who continue to amaze! Keep it up!

See ya!
-enlightener

Syndicated with permission from http://footbagfreestyle.blogspot.com/

“I’ve forgotten more tricks than I know!”
While this statement is not entirely true, I often struggle with keeping up with myself. I innovate all the time, and part of my process is to blog about it here. It makes my progress somehow seem more concrete and traceable. I can search to find all the instances of a certain trick, people can keep up with my progress even though I basically shred in seclusion, and I can get feedback from my peers. It is pretentious of me to think anyone would want to keep up with me, so my blogging has a dual purpose… I know there are people who do get inspired, and it is always a nice bonus to know I’ve inspired someone but mostly it is a ‘concrete’ summary of my accomplishments and failures, which is fully searchable in a way that I very much desire. It is really my diary. A review of my progress. What a great thing. Thank you google for this platform.

I am pretty sure I have hit Phobic Twirl before, and now I can search my blog to see that it has not been mentioned since I started this on my 1000th day of shred. But I am pretty sure I have hit it, now I have to search my YouTube videos because I might have posted it there. This blog lets me tie the information together so I can retrieve it.

Syndicated with permission from http://footbagfreestyle.blogspot.com/

Ted Martin gives me a call last night out of the blue. Small world alert because his name came up in conversation at work, as one of my clients had been contacted by someone unknown about his agent services… anyway that very night, Ted gives me a call. What’s up with that?

Ted Martin is the Guinness World Record Holder in the prestigious and coveted event of Singles Footbag Consecutives. Set at an event I organized back in 1997, the record still stands at 63,326 as the most number of kicks of a footbag that any human being has ever completed in a row. Ted has been featured in a special publication by Guinness called “The Top 100 Most Asked About Records” (paraphrased), and he still plays footbag net on a regular basis, along with many other sports. Ted is a true craftsman, and I consider it an honor to have been a part of his domination of the sport back in the day.

A major Trading Card manufacturer, Upper Deck, has created a card to celebrate Ted’s accomplishment, and Ted is signing one for me, Valeria and Alex. We will for sure be framing that and adding it over my desk. I can’t wait to see them, so I searched their site and found the image above! Awesome!

I am psyched to start shredding today, right now as I post, for the 1136th day in a row! Still, I don’t think I would ever try to attempt a single string of over 63,326 kicks in a row… Ted kicks VERY fast compared to me, what took him just over 8.5 hours, would take me at least 12. That’s a long session. Thanks Ted for continuing to inspire!

Syndicated with permission from http://footbagfreestyle.blogspot.com/

When I think about my ‘game,’ there are so many aspects that go into the whole picture, that today I am just going to pick apart the concept of ‘Bails’, what tricks I Bail to, and my strategy for managing Bails in training.

A ‘The’ or ‘Guiltless’ trick is well-defined, but Bails are different for everyone. A Bail is a trick that a player uses as their go-to trick(s), for a sense of stabilization, to quickly get centered, and to set other tricks from. A Bail also ‘happens’ when you go to do a big trick and you “Bail” to another (usually easier) trick. Players sometimes ‘revert’ to these Bail tricks to get control of the footbag. They are necessary for performances because they give the player a way to stay with the beat, still accumulate Adds and keep their difficulty ratio high.

For some people, a Bail might be as advanced as Torque, Ripwalk or Spinning Butterfly. For most people a Bail ranges from a Toe Delay in the case of a newer player, or more commonly a Paradox Mirage, Butterfly, Osis or Whirl. I noticed that in competition, that many players bail to a Toe Pick-up.

In my case, my bails are mostly Butterflies and Osii… also Paradox Whirls, Torques, Ripwalks in some cases. It also depends on the level you hold yourself to. I now play at a Guiltless level, where every trick is worth 3 or more points. For a long time, about 10 years ago, I pushed myself to play at a Tripless level where every trick is worth 4 or more points. I am not sure when I went back to a Guiltless level, but it was mostly to improve my string-length which suffered when I went Tripless. Plus when I designed routines, I never planned a trick less than 3 adds except a few Unusual Surfaces.

The bigger your ‘Bail’ tricks are, the higher your Add Ratio will be, which is a big part of improving your game.

A Set can force a Bail. A big difference between a Bail and a Set is whether it is employed to recover from a potential drop, or if it was intentionally performed to get to another larger trick. When Sets are executed properly, they make the next trick possible. Since every trick is a Set for the next trick, Bails are inevitable.

Another way to look at it, is that I manage Sets everyday during training by finding the most comfortable sets for specific tricks, and I train them in combination. Bails are when I use those tricks to recover from a potentially uncontrollable moment.

Shred notes: 1/25/09
Blurry Whirling Swirl to the left today. Why is it still easier to do Paradox Atom Smasher (nuclear style), than for me to do a simple Atom Smasher. Atomic tricks to the butterfly are more of a ‘bail’ for me because my brain thinks they are more reliable. Still not sure why Quantum still eludes me. Closer though. By using daily training of my flipside pixie and fairy, along with continuing to hit Atomic sets and Nuclear sets, and now Barrages, my game is evolving yet again.