Cass shreds - Spring Training 2024

[C-Fan]

Props on DLO and on the raise.

Top Post Painting: Tamara De Lempicka, In Mostra a Palazzo

[Asmus]

Great write-up. Props all around.

[isirc10]

Thank you for hosting such an awesome event! Kat and I really enjoyed our time in Canada (It was Kat's first footbag event and she thought it was really fun - she concluded that footbag players are really weird but super interesting). I was a bit sad that I had to compress all of the awesomeness from that weekend into one sub-three minute video, but I'm glad it turned out well. That event will be remembered for so much more.

Also glad you like the bag. Some people think they're a bit on the heavy side, so it might make sense to bleed out 10 grams of fill and see if it plays any better. I look forward to seeing more of your game here, I miss seeing your style.

[Cass]

Definitely a lot of fun, Julian! You’re right, fun is valuable.

Would love to kick with you in the Toronto, Daniel! I hope that works out.

Thanks for the photo, Ken! I like the colour of the dress and the fact that she’s not wearing a bra.

Thanks Asmus!

Thank you so much, Ivan! I’m glad Kat had fun and she is totally right about footbaggers The video is perfect. It’s short but it captures the event wonderfully. So many amazing moments!

Since you asked nicely, I filmed a tiny bit today. Nothing too crazy but here is a couple decent runs. Filmed portrait by accident. My bad.

[Tjuggles]

Looks like someone is on a one-way trip to improvement-ville!

[Outsider]

I freakin' love yer cross-body rakes, Cass!

[Cass]

Thanks TJ! Things seem to be going in that direction..

Thanks Jon! Rakes are fun. I've been doing a bit of weird outside stuff that you would enjoy lately as well.


Hey modified!

Johnny Breakdown’s 30th birthday weekend happened at the end of September and I’ve been wanting to write about it I suppose it’s about time!

Johnny is such and amazing genuine awesome person. How could I miss his 30th birthday party!?

I took Friday off and started my weekend off with yoga in the morning! In the afternoon I picked up Alex at the bus station and we drove straight west across Michigan in the rain. It was good to be back with my road trip partner!!

We made our obligatory nugget stop at McDicks. They have introduced all day breakfast since I was last in the state! This nugget break just became mutually beneficial

In the evening we made it to a beautiful house steps from lake Michigan. Brandy rented the place for Johnny's party. What a sweetheart!

It was so good to see Johnny! He’s been through a lot recently but he seemed to be recovering well and in good spirits.

We had a fantastic weekend with a really great group of people. It wasn’t explicitly a footbag event but there were a few shredders there and it definitely had similar vibes. Johnny surrounds himself with good people.

On Saturday I kicked in the basement with Alex, Anton, and Christian. Fun session! Everyone played well.

Post-shred there was catering for 40 people thanks to Johnny’s sister (there were only 12 of us). It was an obscene amount of food. The pulled pork was so good. The mac n cheese was not.

We spent saturday evening on the beach around a bonfire marvelling at the absolutely stunning skyline. Great vibes. Great people. Life doesn’t get better than this.

I didn’t take any photos, but here is one Lanna took:

Those were some fun stairs! Nobody seemed to like them as much as me

Zach Jahner arrived with Shelby in the evening! It was so awesome to see them. They brought roman candles. Super fun.

Somebody put the cap back on a 60 oz glass liquor bottle and threw it in the fire. I was standing near it when somebody pointed it out. I knew immediately I what I had to do. I grabbed the end that was sticking out and threw it away from the fire. Luckily, I was the only person wearing shoes and happened to be nearby at the time. I kicked the bottle to get it away from people and when I went to kick it a bit further it EXPLODED on my foot. Everyone was fine but that situation could have turned out very different. Sometimes you just have to take action and do the thing. It kind of got me hero status though

Sunday morning Zach and Shelby picked up some breakfast foods for us and we chilled, ate, and recovered.

The pumpkin race went down.

In the early afternoon more shred happened! I kicked with Zach, Alex, and Christian this time. Playing with the janitor is always a treat! He is a very experienced shredder with amazing style and trick selection.

Hugs and it was time to go! It was a weekend that I wasn’t able to do justice with this post.


Hmm what else..

I kicked on Canadian thanksgiving Monday with Alex and Adam at Bellwoods. The weather turned out to be really nice even though the forecast was a high of 11 C. Adam was super late so I had a ~45 minute shred with Alex in the dog bowl. Super fun! We took a break in between and when Adam arrived the three of us kicked for another hour or so. It was a nice change to have two shred partners. Another guy who was interested in footbag stopped by near the end and chatted/kicked a bit. That was cool.

Zach and I have been playing consistently every 3 days or so. Back indoors for the winter.

I hit smoke for the first time both sides. I also hit smog flipside for the first time by accident mid drill. Then I hit good side easily.

Shred is fun and I have a great shred partner! Zach has been killing it lately too. Hitting some nice quantum combos and solid runs.

Getting stoked for NYJ!! Two more months to practice.

Peace out Modified
<3

[bobgreen]

Hi Cass, it is nice to see you post here. Sounds like a lot of fun adventures lately on a personal front, and I hope your new job is going well too.

Somebody put the cap back on a 60 oz glass liquor bottle and threw it in the fire. I was standing near it when somebody pointed it out. I knew immediately I what I had to do. I grabbed the end that was sticking out and threw it away from the fire. Luckily, I was the only person wearing shoes and happened to be nearby at the time. I kicked the bottle to get it away from people and when I went to kick it a bit further it EXPLODED on my foot. Everyone was fine but that situation could have turned out very different. Sometimes you just have to take action and do the thing. It kind of got me hero status though

Next time I see you in person, I'll have to tell you the story about the time my sister and I set the prairie on fire. One paragraph version... I originally grew up in a pretty rural part of north central Montana, and we burned our garbage in "burnin' barrels" (which would periodically be hauled off to the dump when they were too full to burn). Looking back on it, that sounds horrible but that's what we did. Anyway, one time my sister and I were the only ones home and there was a minor explosion while the garbage was burning that my sister figured was from a mostly used can of Aqua Net that she had thrown away. It was all big hair back then. We thought that was pretty cool, so we grabbed a brand new can of starting fluid (e.g. probably compressed diethyl ether or something like that) of my dad's and tossed that in. You can piece together the rest, but it is a fun story to tell and I'd appreciate the opportunity next time I bump into you.

[Cass]

Hey Bob! I wish I’d thought to ask you about that story at worlds! Sounds pretty intense. Maybe next time..

It’s about time I updated this thing! A lot has happened since my last post. I’ll do a brief summary before getting into my worlds writeup.

New Years Jam was a blast as always! Michigan crew knows how to throw down. Adam Keith threw a pretty rad New Years Eve party that involved abundant fireworks.

Derek travelled back to Canada with Alex, Dante, and I. They almost didn’t let him in.. we had to wait around at the border and get interviewed. Luckily the border agent liked us.

Derek stayed in Canada until April 2nd. It was a super amazing visit with many a shred with Zach Forth, as well as a few with Johnny Suderman. On March 10th we tied the knot at London City Hall. Zach and Alex as well as some of my close family attended. Derek’s family attended via FaceTime. Once that was taken care of, we spent the next several weeks putting together our application for him to apply for Canadian Permanent Resident status. That was a lot of work, but will be totally worth it soon! That same weekend we held the second DLO (Do London Ontario) here in London. It was great fun. Zach rented out a school gymnasium for us to shred in and good times were had. Michigan crew represented phat.

I hit up Michigan in June for Detroit pride shred as well as shred in Ann Arbor with a visiting Rory in the same day. That was super fun!! Michigan is super close for me, I want to get out there again soon. Such a solid scene.

Life wasn’t too exciting from the time Derek left. I kick with Zach about twice a week. Leading up to worlds I also starting kicking alone about 3-4 times a week, which is the most I’ve trained in quite a long time. As a result, my game has been feeling pretty strong and I’ve been feeling healthy overall.

WORLDS 2017

I failed to take any photos..I was too busy having fun. Enjoy this wall of text.

On Wednesday August 2nd I made the trip from Toronto Pearson Airport to Sacramento. My three hour layover in LA became less than an hour when there were pressure issues in the cabin of my first flight. Luckily I was still able to make my connecting flight on time. Derek picked me up at the airport exactly 4 months afterI dropped him off in Toronto. That was way too long. We got sushi for dinner.

Thursday was a relatively chill day thankfully. We got a mango at a mexican grocery store. It was really yummy. Spent some time hanging out with Derek’s parents and sister Alysun. They are rad. Alysun made us soyrizo for dinner. That was yummy.

Friday Derek and I went out for breakfast and had a relatively chill day before the excitement began. Derek’s family threw a huge party for us that evening. I met all the aunts and uncles and cousins and so on. He has a huge family. They are all very nice, but it was pretty overwhelming and exhausting meeting so many new people. They were very welcoming.

Shortly after 8 we left the party and went back to Derek’s place in time for Skyler (Lon) to arrive. The three of us hung out for a while before getting to sleep.

The three of us woke up and got on the road by about 4 am on Saturday to head to Portland. It was a really nice drive. Skylar is an interesting person to talk to. He managed to keep the conversation going for pretty much the entire ~11 hour car ride. I appreciate how he is perfectly willing to strike up a conversation with literally anybody. We stopped at a Black Bear Diner for breakfast.

We arrived at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Portland to check in around 4 pm. Once settled in we were able to get a free shuttle to the first meet up/casual shred location at Salmon Street Springs. It was a nice public location by the water with a huge fountain. I decided not to shred that day, but it was a great opportunity to see old friends and meet new ones. It was a fantastic turn out considering worlds hadn’t technically even started yet!

A bunch of us took the train back to the hotel that evening. The first of many footbag gatherings at the hotel pool/hot tub took place. That was a really nice way to unwind after a long day.

While we were sleeping Saturday night, our hotel roommates Alex Venis and his girlfriend Ally arrived. I finally got to meet Ally on Sunday morning! It was a running joke that Alex had a ‘fake’ girlfriend because she was supposed to make it to NYJ and DLO but ended up bailing. She is super cool and I am really stoked for Alex that he managed to find someone as weird and awesome as he is!

Sunday morning was the first of no less than 8 Denny’s trips that week. We had a pretty big group for this one including Skylar (who ordered a pretty intense salmon skillet), Kyle Cook, Corey Allen (who I finally met for the first time at this event), and more.

After breakfast Derek drove us out to Westmoreland park for the first day of casual freestyle, and opening ceremonies (net also started that day). It was a pretty nice park, the weather was hot and sunny. It was slightly brutal because the shred spot didn’t get any shade until later in the day when most of us had already tired ourselves out.

Many more people arrived that day and it was an awesome turn out. I got a bunch of shred in with different people and got a chance to catch up with lots of old friends and so on. This was such a cool worlds for me because it was my whole North American shred family. I knew nearly all the current freestylers already and it was just a big reunion. Very cool. Anton and Johnny Breakdown arrived that day. It was a blast hanging out with them all week. Some of the best humans for real.

You know it’s a hacky sack event when the first thing mentioned at the opening ceremonies is to clarify the marijuana laws..

Back near the hotel a bunch of us grabbed Burgerville for dinner. I think there was more swimming and we called it a relatively early night.

Monday we were back at Westmoreland Park for casual shred and circle prelims. I chose to compete in both open/womens for both circle and routines. It was just Caroline and I for women’s circle since Paloma didn’t arrive until later that day. It was kind of pointless but I still had a lot of fun warming up by going head to head with Caroline. She is the coolest.

For open circle I had Steven Lanza, Johnny Breakdown, and Daryl Genz in my pool. I didn’t play my best but I still managed to secure a win and move on to semifinals. This was totally unexpected and cool, but also meant for an even heavier competition week than anticipated. It was intense competing in the hot sun.

I don’t think I shredded too much that day outside of competition. I did have a lot of fun hanging out with people and catching up, etc.

Monday night was the video contest party at the Ranger Station. 10 of us packed into Evan Gatesman’s 8 seater van to head to the party. It was a bit squished. I had some good chats with Evangel, whom I met for the first time. She is awesome!

The Ranger Station was packed! So many footbag people in such a small space. It was pretty intense. The footbag videos were really fun to watch. I liked the one by Rory and Mathieu - so silly. They were all really good though. The bar gave massive shots for super cheap. I did a shot of tequila with Ally and it ended up being a double. That did the trick alright. Brandy arrived that evening and it was awesome to see her. We partied at the Ranger Station pretty late before heading back to the hotel.

I believe it was Monday night that Anton, Johnny, and Brandy slept on our hotel room floor. The hostel they were supposed to stay at fell through due to a serious bed bug issue.

Tuesday was the first day at the convention centre. It was a super convenient 10 minute walk from the hotel. Fantastic venue. I liked that the net and freestyle were in the same room. Although, it could be distracting sometimes when people would cheer for net during someone's freestyle routine and so on.

I was supposed to have both open and women’s preliminary routines as well as shred 30 that day. They ended up not doing women’s preliminary routines since paloma hurt her neck and everyone would go through to the final anyways. I was going to do a different routine for the prelims, but I hadn’t practiced it much. So my plan for that is to save it and practice it more for my next routine event (whenever that may be..).

My open routine went decently alright, I think I got 3 drops. It was enough to scrape through to semis which, again, was unexpected! As far as I know I am the first woman to make it to semi finals at worlds for open routines and open circle. This was more exciting for me than my womens results.

I had to wait around for about 2 hours to compete in shred 30 after my routine. By then I was pretty tired and it showed. My score was only about 102, which is terrible compared to my 140 score from Copenhagen. I still managed to get 11th place overall though. So that is pretty cool and still made it worth competing.

Tuesday evening Derek and I got some time alone back at the hotel. We didn’t feel like going anywhere for food so we decided to order room service. We got these huge chicken ramen bowls that were amazing. It was the first (only?) proper dinner I had while in Portland and it made me a new person. So delicious.

There were probably some hang outs at the pool that night. Tuesday was the only night all week that I managed to get a proper sleep. Those hotel beds are pure bliss.

Wednesday I had open routine semi finals, open circle semi finals, and women’s circle finals. So much competition! By this point I was starting to question what I had gotten myself into haha..

My routine went decently well again - another 3 drops or so. I wanted dropless but it just wasn’t in the cards this time. On the bright side I nailed the ending for the second time and was pleased overall. Of course I didn’t make it to the finals but I did get 12th overall which is better than I could’ve anticipated! The carpet was kind of weird. It was okay to play in one spot, but shifted oddly when moving laterally which I think messed me up a little on my routine.

I had open circle semis coming up next about 90 minutes later or something like that. My circle was with Chris Dean, Pawel Nowak, and Jim Penske. Obviously I had no chance on moving on so my main goal was to just put on a good show and do my best. Leading up to competition time I did some casual freestyle in several circles and got in a good mindset. I had a lot of fun kicking and felt great. I got to play with Corey (great style) and also had a fun circle for a bit with Aleksi, Chris, and Matt Kemmer. I played with others as well but it’s difficult to remember everyone! Aleksi complimented me on my variety which I very much appreciated.

I had so much fun competing in open circle! I hit ripstein BSOS during the warm up which got a good response. Everyone played really well in our circle! My first couple runs were on the short side, but then my last variety run was quite long. I also had some good runs in density. Nothing compared to the other guys, but I felt like I did well for my level and that I actually belonged there! It was a good feeling.

Open circle kind of drained me and I had to wait around another 45 minutes or so for women’s circle final with Sunny, Caroline, and Paloma. By this point in the day I wasn’t in my best form but it was a super fun circle to compete in! I regretted not making the effort to play in more women’s circles at worlds and I am thankful that I had this opportunity at least. I did okay, but not nearly as well as in my open circle. I had no idea whether Paloma beat me or not; it turned out that she did - no surprise there, she is awesome. It was worth not doing my best in womens in order to compete in open - especially since I have won the women’s events previously.

Wednesday evening was the party at Portland Passtimes toy store owned by Dave Hillis (badass). It was super cool of him to open up his store and let us play in there, as well as the empty unit next door. It was mostly just a lot of footbaggers standing around and chatting and whatnot. I met Ryan Mulroney for the first time and he DJ’d the event. I had a super fun time dancing to some of the music and the vibes were awesome overall. After helping clean up a bit we headed back to the hotel and continued the party there until late. We had a bunch of people packed into our hotel room. It was pretty dope. We had a big container of mixed greens that Alex and I had been munching all week. Manna ended up wearing it on his head for quite a while (btw - he is so good at footbag!). I’m amazed we didn’t get in shit all week from the hotel.

Thursday we slept pretty late and headed straight to the convention centre after yet another Denny’s visit. I watched most of sick 1 and 3. There weren’t any combos that I was super impressed with to be honest - pretty typical stuff overall (not to say that it was easy). Mark hit four or five tricks for sick 1 which was fun to see. I had fun competing in request, although I don’t think the combos were written very well. The increase in difficulty wasn’t gradual (and sometimes was backwards), and sometimes the same components were in both options (for example both of the combos for the second round had stepping). A lot of people at differing levels would get out at the same round - this wouldn’t happen if the combos were well written. I miss the days of Ianek doing request contests - he is the best at making combos for that. I got out on Ducking butterfly to barfly, which is fair enough - I don’t do those and I also don’t really do double switches yet which was in the other combo. It would be nice if these events were prepared with intermediates/open level players and not just elite level players in mind. But enough ranting about that..

Christian (Antons little bro) took first in intermediate routines and circle. Every time I see him he has improved significantly! It was great to see him win and I look forward to seeing where his game goes from here.

Derek and I went out for sushi with Mark after the events for the day wrapped up. That was pretty good although it was kind of a long walk/wait for food. It was interesting to get to know Mark a little better.

That evening people were set on going out to the strip club. I wasn’t the most stoked on this idea but I ended up going out and having a lot of fun anyways. Derek ended up staying back to sleep which was a wise choice. On the walk there we met up with another group on their way back to the hotel because the strip club would only accept passports and not other foreign IDs. This was lucky because I didn’t have my passport on me. Brandy went back to the hotel with me to get mine. I was really glad I didn’t learn of this after walking all the way to the strip club. It was cool to spend some time chatting with Brandy and power walking with her. Footbaggers are sooo slow! This was a welcome change of pace. By the time we arrived at the strip club, the group we broke off with hadn’t even got in yet.

It was pretty hilarious watching nerdy footbaggers interact with strippers. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the first strip club, but after a couple drinks I started to loosen up. Some people decided to go back to their hotels and those of us still committed to partying hit up a second strip club. This one was was a little better in my opinion. We got up to some no good in the streets of Portland on the way there. Funnily enough Brandy and Ally stayed out while their boys (Johnny and Alex) went back to the hotel. Anton, Hogan, Aleksi, Timo, and Juho also came to the second spot. It was super fun. The strippers there were pretty good and I gave them a lot of money. The strip club closed out with “The boys are back in town” and Hogan lost his shit. While we were still at the strip club there was an announcement about a lost phone. Turned out to be Hogans. He also managed to lose his hat only to be found outside the club being worn by some random girl we didn’t know. It was great.

Too many of us piled into a van that I am assuming was an Uber to go back to the hotel. Somehow Hogan didn’t make it in. Lucky for him we noticed and the driver was nice enough to circle the block to find him.

Back at the hotel Brandy, Aleksi, Hogan and I weren’t ready for the party to end so we stayed up until 6 am talking shit and walking around Portland. It was super fun and totally worth having a garbage routine the next day. I don’t often get the opportunity to hang out with such cool people.

Slept until around noon on Friday and spent some time chilling at the hotel room after Denny’s trying to pull myself together. It didn’t quite work. Had some nice quality time with Derek and then some time alone as he went to the convention centre. I probably should have napped but I wasn’t sure it would help. I headed to the event site around 4 to hang out, do yoga, and get third massage of the week from Happy Om. He does great work. Despite this I was still in pretty rough shape from too much partying and not enough sleep.

This was finals night and women’s routines were up first. Caroline did a super fun routine to Britney Spears’ Oops I did it again that was very well received. I was up next and was apparently visibly nervous. I dropped 9 times. It was bad, but I was glad for it to be over. Paloma did a killer (1 drop?) routine. It was really awesome. On the bright side she’d probably have kicked my ass even if I did a good job It just sucked that I did so shitty when everyone was watching. People kept congratulating me and telling me good job after which was really getting to me because I knew it was terrible by my standards. I appreciated that Khoa just gave me a hug - he is really kind. I also appreciated what Evan said to me. Something along the lines of “this one performance doesn’t define you”.

When Derek told me my drop count I couldn’t help but cry. Nick Landes came up from behind and gave me a hug sandwich. He is a sweetheart. I knew he understood exactly how I was feeling as he had a similarly unfortunate outcome in semi finals.

At this point I had little interest in watching finals so Derek and I went to Burgerville to grab food. They actually have quite good salads there and my body was grateful for some veggies. After a quick stop back at the hotel we managed to catch the density round of the circle final. The awards ceremony followed and I received my two second place medals for Women’s routine and circle. It was great having the opportunity to stand on the podium with the other amazing women in our sport. It’s also sad that there are so few of us. It’s unfortunate that even when I’m in bad form I can receive second in the world. I also tend to understand why that may be. Some footbaggers can be creepy and inappropriate as fuck, and worlds was a huge reminder of that for me. It’s sad that a few people can have such a negative impact. Admittedly there are other factors that come into play as well, but this is something that tends to be overlooked as most people don’t experience these things.

After regrouping back at the hotel we headed over to Jake’s place for the finals night party! His house is a solid party spot featuring an abundance of ice cream. I was still pretty beat and wished I had more energy to socialize at this event. It was a massive footbag party! David Clavens went out of his way to talk to me which was totally flattering! I will forever have a crush on him. I got to party with Vasek a bit which was really cool. Lots of others as well. So many amazing people were there! We stayed past 4 am and I don’t even know how I survived that long.

Saturday was just casual freestyle at the event site alongside net finals. I played a little but the multiple party nights was really starting to wear on me. Paloma taught me and a couple others some sit down football tricks. That was actually quite fun and some basics weren’t too difficult to pick up.

I did a first round of goodbye hugs because I wasn’t sure who I would be seeing again. So sad. It’s impossible to catch everyone for goodbyes at worlds. I got as many as I could. Derek and I weren’t super interested in the HOF stuff so we headed back to the hotel. There were some poolside hang outs and a bunch of people were planning to hit up a bar across from the convention centre. By the time we got there just before midnight a bunch of people were already there and very sloppy. I tried to order a drink and the bartender wouldn’t serve me, informing me they had some sort of violation from the night before because of people drinking on the street and stuff (net players.. amirite?). I didn’t really like that place anyways so it was probably for the best that a smaller group of us ended up at a different bar down the road. It was more open and I preferred the atmosphere. I had a lot of fun chatting with people and hanging out until around 2 am when Derek and I walked back to the hotel with Matt Kemmer. Although I had been reluctant to leave I was glad that I did. I had some really good conversion with Matt about various things and I was grateful for that opportunity to chat with him. I have huge respect for that guy. Derek and I grabbed some mexican food near the hotel before going to bed. It was quite cheap and delicious.

Sunday around noon we checked out of the hotel had our final Denny’s adventure. How sad. It was myself, Derek, Alex, Ally, Kevin Crowley, Skyler, and Anton. Solid crew. After that we went to the water temple for the final shred. I was feeling pretty run down and tapped out of social energy. I wish I could’ve had more energy to talk to people, but it really got exhausting for me by about half way through the week. I did however, find energy for two decent shred sessions that day. The second one with Chris Dean and Derek really was a great way to finish off worlds. After a bit Chris had tired himself out from playing all day and it was just Derek and I. I was grateful for this last chance to kick with him before saying goodbye.

My flight was at 6 am the next morning and Derek needed sleep in order to drive back to California with Lon, Caroline, and Aleksi the next day so we reserved a spot at a cheap motel nearby. This place really made me appreciate how fancy the Crowne Plaza hotel was. Derek and I said a bunch of goodbyes to people still at the water temple and grabbed a really yummy meal and some smoothies at the Laughing Planet. I got a chicken quesadilla that was incredible. We opted to spend our last few hours alone together in the hotel room while others were out getting a meal/drinks together. It was really nice but 12 days together just isn’t enough after being apart for four months. Especially with the distractions of worlds thrown into the mix. I am grateful for that time nonetheless.

After a few hours sleep Derek drove me to the airport and we said goodbye. I had two layovers on the way home, one of which was 30 minutes, and amazingly everything went according to plan. I was kind of a mess in the following days. I would just randomly start crying. I am finally starting to level out though and I think creating this write up has helped me sort out my thoughts a little bit. Zach and I had our first post worlds shred yesterday and I felt soooo good! I think worlds has really help me level up and I am super motivated to keep getting better.

There were so many super fucking rad people at this event that I didn’t even mention. You guys all rock. I love you all.

There were also a whole lot of super fucking rad footbag girlfriends. It warms my heart to see footbag friends find such amazing people to share their lives with! You all rock. I am super stoked about Ally in particular - she is super cool and interested in learning footbag. She even joined some circles and was rocking toe and inside stalls. I think she has great potential and just enough weirdness for it to stick. Maybe Ontario will have another female shredder soon!

Other thoughts and highlights in no particular order:

Shredding with Olav - he is so nice and gives a lot of passbacks

Playing really good games of two square with Timo and Bruce Li. Both worthy competitors that ended up kicking my butt.

Shredding with Nick Polini - he played really well at this event. Good for him for getting bapped.

Rory is so cool.

Alex has improved significantly and I was stoked to find out he got second in his prelim circle. Just having Alex as a roomie in general as well. He is my favourite. Love that guy.

Boats is cool. So is Kevin Crowley.

Caroline Birch having the best attitude ever. Good vibes.

Flash is such a badass. I wish I’d kicked more with him! His prelim routine was dope.

Meeting Happy Om. He is super cool and I feel like we have a lot in common. I kinda wish we had hung out more but my social anxiety tended to not be conducive to that.

Being footbag famous is weird. I have so many people come talk to me that I don’t even know and it’s pretty awkward. It gets tiring after a whole week of it. People are really nice but I am not really a fan of getting so much attention from random strangers.

Chatting with a net player Saturday night named Sarah who is super cool! I would totally be her friend if she lived anywhere near me.

I really enjoyed watching a lot of the semi final routines. TJ had an awesome routine and so did Taishi. Brian has sick style as always. There was a lot of great stuff.

Missing Brian on the last day because his van set on fire. So unfortunate. I hope everything works out for him!

Portland has gotten a lot scummier than I remember it being a few years ago when I last visited. It’s kind of sad. The homeless people there are next level. The tap water quality has been significantly reduced as well. It used to be so good..

Chris Dean is a badass and I’m super thankful for all the work that he and the other organizers put into this event. It was a hell of a worlds!

I think that’s pretty much all for now. I love footbag.

Shout out to Asmus for convincing me to write this! Hope to see you again some time.

<3

[boyle]

Good job Asmus in getting some writeups going - hopefully this is the first of many.

First of all congrats in getting through the rounds in Open, that's pretty awesome.

From what I saw on the live stream Olav was really doing some huge tricks, but I guess that's thing. He is a very good player.

That strip club night sounds pretty funny. Hopefully Brian is alright, that sounds like a pretty extreme thing to happen.

Would have been fun to go, hope I can go next year.

[Asmus]

Great write-up!

I regret a little bit that I convinced you to do this. Now I feel super bummed to not have gone.

It sounds like an amazing week.

Hopefully I will see you and the husband next year.

<3

[SlashC]

I dug the writeup! Thanks for sharing.

[Muffinman]

You know it’s a hacky sack event when the first thing mentioned at the opening ceremonies is to clarify the marijuana laws..

What are the marijuana laws?...

For open circle I had Steven Lanza, Johnny Breakdown, and Daryl Genz in my pool. I didn’t play my best but I still managed to secure a win and move on to semifinals.

Congrats on beating Genzu! I know he's out of practice, but he's still really good!

I believe it was Monday night that Anton, Johnny, and Brandy slept on our hotel room floor. The hostel they were supposed to stay at fell through due to a serious bed bug issue.

Yikes! Good thing they knew about it before staying there!! That could've ruined the whole week (maybe for everyone!)

Although, it could be distracting sometimes when people would cheer for net during someone's freestyle routine and so on.

I noticed this while watching the panel discussions... wondering how distracting the voices on mic were to net competition...

My open routine went decently alright, I think I got 3 drops. It was enough to scrape through to semis which, again, was unexpected! As far as I know I am the first woman to make it to semi finals at worlds for open routines and open circle. This was more exciting for me than my womens results.

Congrats

The carpet was kind of weird. It was okay to play in one spot, but shifted oddly when moving laterally which I think messed me up a little on my routine.

it really sucks that things like this are missed in planning. I know planning Worlds is probably ridiculous, but it reminds me of the lighting on stage at some events, or the carpet that came up on Mariuz Wilk's (I think?) routine at Euros, etc... It's really unfortunate.

It was worth not doing my best in womens in order to compete in open - especially since I have won the women’s events previously.

I'm curious about your thoughts on competing in both women's and open in one event... Were you intended to compete just open, but they asked you to do women's also because there weren't enough compeititors?

I miss the days of Ianek doing request contests - he is the best at making combos for that.

Plus, he would always demo the combos before each round, and hit them first try! hahaha. You're right about each option needing to require different components though... If both options required fairy sets I'd just walk away...

People kept congratulating me and telling me good job after which was really getting to me because I knew it was terrible by my standards.

I hate when that happens too. I remember I was playing suuper badly at DLO and Anton kept giving me props when I would do something even remotely less bad

It’s sad that a few people can have such a negative impact.

D: Especially at a footbag event. Most footbaggers are the most amazing people in the world.



I hear that Dante is moving to London??
We will need to have some London and Toronto sessions soon!

[Cass]

Thanks Daniel!

Yes, Olav is an intense shredder! Huge shit galore.

Thanks Asmus!

Would have been cooler if you had been there. Next year is unlikely; the trend seems to be every second year. So, hopefully see you in 2019.

Thanks Rory!

It was cool seeing you at worlds. I appreciated your comments about my blog when we met up in Michigan. That was also part of my motivation for taking the time to do a writeup.

Thanks Erik!

Marijuana is fully legal in Oregon. I don’t even smoke too much any more. Would’ve appreciated it much more in my slightly younger days..

Yes, it was lucky they fllipped a mattress and found the colony of bed bugs before really touching anything in that hostel!

Planning worlds is a super huge undertaking so I can hardly be pissed about some carpet issues. If you want to be the best you need to be the best under any conditions.

Initially my intention was to only compete in open at worlds. Most of my peers are in this category and it seems unfair to deny myself the opportunity to get my ass kicked my some of the best.

Competing in women’s is an issue I have been somewhat torn on. There were a few factors involved in my choice to do womens as well. I think that having a women’s event in a sport with such poor female representation is important. I want other new/potential players to see that women are capable of getting to a high level. If there wasn’t a women’s event at worlds we wouldn’t see any women in the finals and it would appear even more so to be the boys club that it is. Paloma registered/decided to attend at the very last minute. I registered for women’s because I feared there wouldn’t be enough women for an event if I didn’t. Also, selfishly, I thought that I had the title in the bag again and I might as well take what’s mine Obviously that didn’t exactly pan out and I was totally stoked to have some real competition. Furthermore, worlds is the only event I’ve attended that there are even enough women in attendance to have a women’s category. There is something special about the experience and camaraderie of competing against women that I don’t often have the opportunity to experience. Given that I failed to get involved in any other women’s circles in this event, I am glad that I competed in women’s circle.

Competing in both events was exhausting and I am not sure I will do it again. However, it is very hard to choose.

I hope the rumours of Dante are true! By this time next year hopefully Derek will be here as well! The future of the London scene looks promising!

I am hoping to make it to Toronto for a session soon. Perhaps labour day weekend?

[C-Fan]

Thanks for doing a write up. When I compete I feel like I don't get to interact with people as much as I'd like, so it's really cool to get other people's perspectives afterwards.

I The carpet was kind of weird. It was okay to play in one spot, but shifted oddly when moving laterally which I think messed me up a little on my routine.

Yeah, I never adjusted to the carpet either. On one hand I agree that part of competing is the ability to adjust to new conditions, and the people who did well in comp this year adjusted better to the surface than others (myself, the Finns, etc.). That said, you'd hope the main focus of competition at Worlds should be: "how well can you play footbag to music?", and not "how well can you adjust to a weird surface?" It almost reminded me of professional tennis where different venues have different playing surfaces like clay, grass, etc. The difference there is they announce ahead of time what surface the event is played on, so you can prepare in advance. The thing that really messed me up with the carpet at Worlds, is that it was only in the main competition area. So the only place you could warm up or practice to get used to the surface was on the surface itself...which was actively being used for competition. If you were in the first pool of an event, no problem. But if you were in the second, third, or fourth pools you had to warm up on a different surface, then go in to compete on something different.

Back on topic, props for competing in so many events and doing so well. Several people commented how long/often you were competing, so the fact that you were also able to get such good results is really impressive.

[Muffinman]

I agree about the surfaces.
It made me think about net especially too. I imagine you must play entirely differently on grass as on a gym floor. I'd probably be more willing to do crazy spikes on grass where I'm not gonna break my knees on the fall than on a gym floor where I could seriously injure myself... A standard surface would be a good thing for freestyle, and I don't feel too difficult. The Europeans had those mats they played on a while. Worlds management kit should include something like that, like how IFPA provides banners and stuff.

[Cass]

It’s been a while since I updated this thing. I still play footbag, usually 1-3 times per week.

Footbag events have been few and far between these last few years, for obvious reasons.

USO 2019 is Massachusetts was the last big event before the panini. Derek got injured and couldn’t make it so I traveled there alone. I ran into Ryan and the janitor at the Detroit airport which was cool.

The event coincided with my 30th bday and the Boston crew got me a cake. Shout out to Kev who I’m pretty sure got pulled over while driving to pick it up. I judged routines for the first time at this event and it was a great experience overall, but unfortunate that Derek couldn’t make it. Everyone was asking about him and I sold a bunch of his bags while there. There was also a piñata with adult goodies inside. I ended up getting a little bottle of fireball. The Boston crew and Sarah really came through with great organization, food, and event locations.

We had some really fun localish winter 2020 sessions in Toronto and Hamilton before things got shut down.

Last year in spring 2022 Sergio came out from Spain for a Michigan jam. Anton bank rolled a dope air bnb for everyone to crash at. It was a super fun informal jam and the first bit of apparent normalcy in a couple of years.

Then summer 2022 I finally got COVID and was in rough shape for about a month.

In late 2022 I have been having some issues with my left knee and kicking relatively little as a result. I think I had about a two month hiatus.

Early this year in 2023 I have been working on getting healthier and building up strength, mainly through yoga. The Down down yoga app has been a massive game changer for me in that department. It has many lovely practise options with granular customization. I am averaging 30-45 minutes yoga per day. Recently I feel like my yoga practice has reached a new level after years of less noticeable progress. I am also meditating and doing breath work about 15 minutes per day.

Derek and I looked into going to Columbia for worlds this year but there was very little information released with enough time for us to confidently plan a trip. Additionally, it turns out travelling to Medellin from London Canada is not the most straightforward travel route. So we decided to just go to the US Open in Erie PA instead.

I have been more motivated the past couple months since there was finally an event to look forward to. My body has been feeling good and I was able to increase my sessions from once per week to about 3x for anywhere from 20 minutes to about 1.5 hours. Usually more like 30-45 minutes.

Dante came down from Stratford a couple weekends ago and we had a shred at the bog with Zach and Derek.

This past weekend was finally USO in Erie!

We left just before 8 am Friday to collect Zach and head to Erie. It’s only 138 km/85 miles away, but Lake Erie is in between, resulting in a 400 km / 250 mile journey.

The drive went smoothly enough and we met up with Brian bear for lunch at a Mexican place near the event site and hotel.

The hotel reviews were very mixed so my expectations were very low. I selected the spot for proximity to the event site. The staff were great and let us check in a bit early, waiving the fee. The room was dated but clean and the bed was comfy so I was pleasantly surprised.

Tony had people over in his backyard on Friday evening. He was a great host, providing food and other types of refreshments.

We ended up doing a lot of walking the first evening and my hopes of finding a shot of tequila were foiled. The pub we went to only made cocktails and had beer. I found the cocktails to be sweet for my taste.

We went to the cat cafe near the event site Saturday morning. Derek, Zach and I met up with Christian, Ryan, and Maria. Kemmer also showed up which was a pleasant surprise. The kitties were lovely and it was a super fun hang out spot as well. This might have been the best part of the weekend. Most of the cats were very friendly and fun to hang out with. Some were quite sleepy and chilling in the warm front window.

Freestyle events took place Saturday afternoon. Thanks to Josh Gayhart for running the main events.

I competed in open circle. My first circle was with Pete and Christian and it was a lot of fun. I managed to hold my seed but it was really close. I wasn’t sure if Christian beat me. There was also some confusion with the starting times and Christian had to restart his runs a few times. I got a mid run ripstein in competition, which was my goal for the day.

I moved on to the next round to compete for the remaining spot in the final circle since I got second in my preliminary round. This circle was with Kevin and Derek. Everyone did great and the variety round was super intense. They obviously both beat me but I did have one run that was like 30 contacts. My density wasn’t great because I used up all my steam in my first three runs. Kevin ended up moving on and Derek and I were happy to be able to go shower. Unfortunately we missed most of the routines, but it had been a long day already and we needed to freshen up. I am hoping that the routines were caught on video. Brian won routines, which was expected. Christian got second place which was awesome to hear!!

The Thai place we went to for dinner was so good! I got a beef brisket soup that was awesome. The staff were super chill and friendly and food was delicious.

We ended up chilling at a small park that had some rappers playing during the evening. This time there was trunk tequila which was passed around. We also had a drink at a nearby pub which was closing at 11 before calling it a night.

I managed to misplace my wallet twice over the weekend and it was in the car both times thankfully.

On Sunday, Kemmer hosted the sick 3 event in a new format and asked me to judge and also film it. The new format was so much more fun to watch and everyone hit multiple combos. It was a bit time consuming to judge but it was a fun challenge and great experience. Josh won and derek made him a trophy out of a big blow up joint that he got from work. He seemed happy with his prize and it was kinda funny since Josh doesn’t smoke.

I kicked in lots of fun circles over the weekend. Lots of great circle etiquette and passbacks. Good times all around.

Lots of goodbyes were had. Those of us that were left grabbed dinner at a buffet. Always a solid way to end a footbag event. The food was great and I found a couple of ants in my apple pie. That was a new experience. More goodbyes and we made our way home in the rain.

The freestyle crew at this event had a great turnout! In addition to people already mentioned, I got to see many that I have missed for a long time like Drew, Toolan, Barrows, Babyak, Travis, D Tank, and the whole Erie crew who are all great humans. I also met some cool new people like Tom J and Lyric. Many fun hangouts and talks with coach were had.

I almost forgot to mention that I had my first, second, and third Jimmy Johns experience this weekend. That place is decent. Derek also ate there 3x with me.

Hopefully the next event will not be such a big time gap in between. They are always the best of times. We chatted with Zach about maybe hosting something here in London in the fall.

I don’t really have any shred highlights from kicking. I just enjoyed being there and hitting fun stylish runs.

I don’t expect too many people to read this but there is something cathartic about writing an event write up.

TLDR: I still play footbag. US Open was hella fun.

[mtoolan]

I read it! Great to see you again, Cass. Hopefully our paths cross again soon.

P.S. HUGE fan of the down dog app, but had kind of forgotten about it recently. Thanks for reminding me.

[Cass]

I read it! Great to see you again, Cass. Hopefully our paths cross again soon.

P.S. HUGE fan of the down dog app, but had kind of forgotten about it recently. Thanks for reminding me.

It was so great to see you too, Mike! Thanks for reading. Down dog really is the best and they seem to be constantly improving it. The meditation and HIIT apps are nice too and they come with the subscription.

[Tjuggles]

I read it too! Great write up Cass, probably the most in-depth write up since Ken stopped posting here. So happy to hear you are still kicking. I miss footbag events. There are some in Japan, but with a smallish baby to manage, I don't have much of a social life just yet.

Regarding your knee, it sounds like things are getting better which is great. Anytime my knee hurts I also think it is because I need to develop muscle to help support it. Perhaps keep that in mind if it happens again? I suppose yoga does something similar though...

Anyway great stuff!