Hi, my name is Ian Brill. I am originally from NYC, and was one of the original members of NYFA, from 1993 on. Perhaps we were not even NYFA yet. Anyway, now Jake (Yacob) Milofsky and I are getting back into a groove with this footbag thing, and he suggested we start a blog. I think he was reading my mind.
Steel City Freestyle came together as a result of Caleb starting at U-Pitt, and Jake returning home from college. I recently graduated Pitt with a degree in Studio Arts. Anyway, we kicked about 1-2 times a week for the last 2.5 years, or so. Caleb comes around (dude is good at footbag-everything he does he makes look easy- really bizarre) occaisionally, but he seems to be taking some time away from the sport. So mostly it's me and Jake, trying to expand the scene, and not get sick of each other in the process.
So Jake is pretty awesome. He's at the top of his game so far, and he seems to be making some big leaps in terms of style and technique. I'll let him tell you about it. He's also got a head start with getting involved in local organizations, etc, and seems unstoppable on his path towards public involvement. So, that means that there is a lot of potential for organized events in this town once we get a bigger scene happening. He pretty much made our last event happen last summer, as Caleb and I were getting our asses slain in summer courses.
I recently recovered from the most embarassing of lessons/learning curves. My attitude toward physical developent and discipline in general was in a questionable state. I kept trying to do some fundamental moves (sets, etc) and just got more and more frustrated. Anyway, I discovered G-units, aspirin, and home-brewed physical therapy on my knee and I am starting to make some leaps and bounds.
Over the last few months I have received some excellent pointers from Jake, my brothers back in NYFA, and the remarkable DC, and my game has finally started to develop.
Thanks to three sessions with Jake, two with original members of NYFA (Bruce Dole, Ken Somolinos- and John Schneider last Sunday!) as well as my fantabulous Clavens-bag- this has been the best week of footbag I have ever had.
I hit paradox drifter for my first time.
Finally hit ripwalk to ripwalk
Diving Dyno (first time in ten years)
Dyno to Paradox Symposium Reverse whirl
Flux-Ripwalk
BSOS taps
BSOS Paradon-dynos
Midstring (finally) atomic, muted eclipse
and a bunch of other new (for me) combos
This is a big improvement for me, because up until recently I was almost entirely BOP. Actually, up until recently I was barely even that!
So, that is my introduction. Kicking with the likes of fellow older footbaggers, such as the original Dollercoaster (Bruce,) who looks like he is getting younger every time I see him, has inspired me to get over my whining, pop some Bayer pills (good thing my girlfriend gets a discount!) and enjoy my post college, footbag-loving life.
Word. I'll pass the mic over now to the kid who makes things happen.
Steel City Freestyle
Steel City Freestyle
Last edited by Ian Brill on 29 Jun 2009 18:33, edited 9 times in total.
It's hard to express how cool it I find it that you are back in the freestyle game. You've still got the style that made me think footbag was cool in the first place (10 years ago!) It was great to play with you over the weekend, but beyond that, I'm excited to see you are still improving and working on your game. Us old-skoolers need to stick together.
Let me know the next time you come down to the city. We should definitely shred at least once more before the summer ends.
Let me know the next time you come down to the city. We should definitely shred at least once more before the summer ends.
My girlfriend is going to be participating in this craftfair: http://www.renegadecraft.com/brooklyn/index.html
So I will most likely be in both of those days (June 16th and 17th).
That gives me two weeks to unpack and try to find time to drill. I better get back to those boxes!
EDIT: also, you have done so much for this sport- it was really great to kick with you again and see how far you are pushing your style.
So I will most likely be in both of those days (June 16th and 17th).
That gives me two weeks to unpack and try to find time to drill. I better get back to those boxes!
EDIT: also, you have done so much for this sport- it was really great to kick with you again and see how far you are pushing your style.
Props Ian for starting the Steel City Freestyle blog. This is sweet. I'm glad one of us did it cause who knows if my lazy ass ever would have. Props also for being hardcore and enthusiastic about the sport. That kind of energy is what keeps scenes alive and people's games improving.
What's up modified?!!
Footbag in Pittsburgh is alot of fun right now. It's been a good time shredding with SCF over the past 2.5 years. We've got one sweet event under out belt plus tons of shred all over this pretty town. Prolly not another event this summer, but hopefully soon. By the way, shout outs to John Mahood for last summer's SCSO cause that would'a never happened without him demanding that it did.
There's good stuff on the horizon for footbag in the Steel City. Recently several players have joined our club on footbag.org, two of whom are coming to school here in the fall. So we're looking forward to having some more freestylers in town. Also, Danny Iachini is back for the summer! Seneca Valley Footbag represent! haha.
Danny, Caleb, and I kicked a few weeks back and Danny's rippin some cool shit. Must be all that PSU shred. I'm looking forward to him making the trip down from Cranberry more often.
Steel City!
What's up modified?!!
Footbag in Pittsburgh is alot of fun right now. It's been a good time shredding with SCF over the past 2.5 years. We've got one sweet event under out belt plus tons of shred all over this pretty town. Prolly not another event this summer, but hopefully soon. By the way, shout outs to John Mahood for last summer's SCSO cause that would'a never happened without him demanding that it did.
There's good stuff on the horizon for footbag in the Steel City. Recently several players have joined our club on footbag.org, two of whom are coming to school here in the fall. So we're looking forward to having some more freestylers in town. Also, Danny Iachini is back for the summer! Seneca Valley Footbag represent! haha.
Danny, Caleb, and I kicked a few weeks back and Danny's rippin some cool shit. Must be all that PSU shred. I'm looking forward to him making the trip down from Cranberry more often.
Steel City!
Jake Milofsky
Steel City Freestyle [ex officio]
Steel City Freestyle [ex officio]
Thanks for the feedback Danny, I definitely take it seriously. I've got all kinds of plans running through my head for what our next event could be and am looking forward to it for sure. Summer's just way busy for me at least. Stay tuned for mid fall though.
Jake Milofsky
Steel City Freestyle [ex officio]
Steel City Freestyle [ex officio]
I just wanted to note that during 2 out of our last 2 sessions, someone has begun talking to Ian and I and mentioned casually that we were playing footbag--not hack!
One guy, upon hearing us congratulate him on calling it footbag, even said "Yeah, footbag's a sport now, that's why you guys are so good"
It's been funny because these people thought of it so casually, yet Ian and I were looking at eachother like "what the?", why aren't they calling it "hack"?
Upon reflection, I've determined that this is really cool, and shows progress in footbag infiltrating the consciousness of the masses.
One guy, upon hearing us congratulate him on calling it footbag, even said "Yeah, footbag's a sport now, that's why you guys are so good"
It's been funny because these people thought of it so casually, yet Ian and I were looking at eachother like "what the?", why aren't they calling it "hack"?
Upon reflection, I've determined that this is really cool, and shows progress in footbag infiltrating the consciousness of the masses.
Jake Milofsky
Steel City Freestyle [ex officio]
Steel City Freestyle [ex officio]
First off, I was totally going to post about this Slawomir , I mean Yacob, but you beat me to it!yacob wrote:I just wanted to note that during 2 out of our last 2 sessions, someone has begun talking to Ian and I and mentioned casually that we were playing footbag--not hack!...I've determined that this is really cool, and shows progress in footbag infiltrating the consciousness of the masses.
I think your post deserves a thread of its own.
It was just jaw-dropping to hear in this matter-of-fact, dead-pan delivery: "no seriously, I understand the difference, footbag is a now a sport and you two are obviously training"
OT:
So today rocked. I discovered that my brand new bedroom is completely shredable. My girlfriend was checking her email and finally wittnessing my progress on our third floor (we got the second and third floors-pittsburgh... gotta love it!) bedroom while I was tearing up long strings. Nice hardwood floors. It was unbelievably awesome.
EDIT: The reason I think I like this so much is because this room is right on the top floor of a building on this extremely busy ave.. Cars go by extremely fast at all hours of the night, and if the windows are open there is this incredible breeze and constant sound. Usually this sound would be distracting because the cars would have shaken my last house, just up the block-It was very old and not very stable. This house however is very well-built, flush-in-the-middle of two others, and the floors have almost no give. All of the noise and activity makes me feel hyper aware and almost makes me constantly visualize my outside surrounds. It feels like I am kicking in a suspended, glass house!
Now this could be distracting, but I realize that as I warm up and get more into my game that this level of awareness starts to direct it'self solely into my game! It is still hard to maintain concentration without music but it brings a whole new level of mental satisfaction. I guess I never had such a reliable, east to access, well-ventilated, year-round, central-heated shred spot before! This is truly awesome. Especially now that my knee seems to be rapidly healing, after years of distraction (it needed to be used more, and differently) I am in heaven.
highlights:
dyno, paradox mirage, paradon, and then a whole lotta BOP
Some really smooth spins
a couple of very high stepping sets.
So yeah, now that I have a place of my own that I can come back to and practice in I am dead-set on mastering some of the fundamentals that I have sucked at for a long time.
Key Note: In one of three places I kicked today my father told me that I looked like I was "prancing". Umm, in a Mike Patton sarcastic tone... "thanks Dad". It made me realize that when I approach the martial art of footbag I tend to do things that I am comfortable with. Footbag, and development in general is not about being comfortable, and "darn" it if I'm almost thirty! I'm gonna take a leap of faith on this one, and if my sinew and ligaments don't snap in the progress I am going to push my game well beyond its current limits in the near future!
I love my dad. He's an "ass" but he is always right. As excited as I am that I can hit 30 bop on command now, it is not hardcore. It's indulgent. As much as it is fun to demonstrate what you know, part of the love of this game is pushing new personal limits. To reference a recent Hungarian Short film I saw, I can't wait till tomorrow to shred some more!
Edit again: It's tomorrow!
Alright, so it's been an unusual week. I went for a long run with my sister on Monday, which is something I almost never do. It was awesome. After all of the kicking that I have been doing I was actually in better form than her, and she runs regularly.
Afterwards I sorted through some of the data I was collecting regarding my lower body. After weeks of therapy on my bad knee, I found that it was almost fully recovered, but that my other was doing it now. What I concluded was that I have been a hypochondriac and that my knees do this because I don't push them in natural ways enough. This is also why my step and atomic sets are off. This will be fixed very soon with running!
I bought two pairs of camo g-units and modified them. I had just told Ken two weeks ago that they never have my size on ebay for less than $45. I bought them at $30 each from the same seller. I have four g-units in total now. I'm in the game.
Next step. I have been overweight for a number of years since I quit smoking (5 years strong). I checked on Monday and after a big move and training I got to four pounds above my "ideal BMI weight". As of today I hit Bulls-eye.
It's gonna be a fun two days kicking with NYFA. Me and the lady are oficially enroute. Jake is out of town too.
Steel City Freestyle is on vacation!
Afterwards I sorted through some of the data I was collecting regarding my lower body. After weeks of therapy on my bad knee, I found that it was almost fully recovered, but that my other was doing it now. What I concluded was that I have been a hypochondriac and that my knees do this because I don't push them in natural ways enough. This is also why my step and atomic sets are off. This will be fixed very soon with running!
I bought two pairs of camo g-units and modified them. I had just told Ken two weeks ago that they never have my size on ebay for less than $45. I bought them at $30 each from the same seller. I have four g-units in total now. I'm in the game.
Next step. I have been overweight for a number of years since I quit smoking (5 years strong). I checked on Monday and after a big move and training I got to four pounds above my "ideal BMI weight". As of today I hit Bulls-eye.
It's gonna be a fun two days kicking with NYFA. Me and the lady are oficially enroute. Jake is out of town too.
Steel City Freestyle is on vacation!
What up from Denver!
Yo I've gotta give Denver some serious props for their bicycle infrastructure. I swiped my uncle's bike and rode like 30 miles today all over the city almost exclusively on these pimped out bike trails they have here. Complete with little mini bicycle street signs and lane lines and everything. It's sick. Why can't we have this shit back east? All we have are industrial property owners who don't want to give up their riverside right of ways so that people can live healthier lives, or railroad corporations who are afraid to let their abandoned bridges be used for fear of lawsuits..grr.
But, Pittsburgh did just stripe it's first inter-neighborhood on-street bike lane, and come August, we're gonna have a sweet new exclusively bike and pedestrian bridge that will link up some key trails, so I guess the Steel City deserves some props too. Woot!
Anyway, If I ever give these Denver Shred Provider cats a phone call, I might be playing some high altitude footbag this Sunday. I wonder if I'll be able to PS Whirl higher with lower oxygen and less air resistance. We shall see...
Yo I've gotta give Denver some serious props for their bicycle infrastructure. I swiped my uncle's bike and rode like 30 miles today all over the city almost exclusively on these pimped out bike trails they have here. Complete with little mini bicycle street signs and lane lines and everything. It's sick. Why can't we have this shit back east? All we have are industrial property owners who don't want to give up their riverside right of ways so that people can live healthier lives, or railroad corporations who are afraid to let their abandoned bridges be used for fear of lawsuits..grr.
But, Pittsburgh did just stripe it's first inter-neighborhood on-street bike lane, and come August, we're gonna have a sweet new exclusively bike and pedestrian bridge that will link up some key trails, so I guess the Steel City deserves some props too. Woot!
Anyway, If I ever give these Denver Shred Provider cats a phone call, I might be playing some high altitude footbag this Sunday. I wonder if I'll be able to PS Whirl higher with lower oxygen and less air resistance. We shall see...
Jake Milofsky
Steel City Freestyle [ex officio]
Steel City Freestyle [ex officio]
NYFA hooked it up this weekend. Between Dave (didn't catch his last name) and C-Fan I was able to finally piece together the puzzle of the stepping set.
Now everyone has their strengths and weeknesses. I've been hitting eclipse for over a decade now. Stepping set just did not click with me.
Anyway, within an hour I was hitting +5 ripwalk (on both sides) in a string, (though not yet btb, which I scraped by before) bsos blur (twice), dyno-blur, and more blurs. It was hot.
I hit one completely downtime paradon which is not my usual style but gives me the inkling to school it this way more so I can barfly an dod.
Ken also confirmed some of my suspicions about the swirl set. I usually do them simple. After hearing that he does them without an upward set I was able to quickly hit two forwards and one backwards.
It was cool.
It was pretty awesome to hang with NYFA and especially to catch up with C-Fan, who has imo one of my favorite style games in footbag. It's too bad that Bruce Dole wasn't around though.
On Sunday I hit the most satisfying hour of purely BOP contacts. It must have been torture for some people to watch, but it was great to freak them out in washington square park after all those years of broken tiltless strings in the 90's. I need to buy some new bags immediately.
I'm fiending for some more footage of Clavens. That rewind combo was sick. It's nice to see a smile on his face. I hope he tears worlds in half.
Now everyone has their strengths and weeknesses. I've been hitting eclipse for over a decade now. Stepping set just did not click with me.
Anyway, within an hour I was hitting +5 ripwalk (on both sides) in a string, (though not yet btb, which I scraped by before) bsos blur (twice), dyno-blur, and more blurs. It was hot.
I hit one completely downtime paradon which is not my usual style but gives me the inkling to school it this way more so I can barfly an dod.
Ken also confirmed some of my suspicions about the swirl set. I usually do them simple. After hearing that he does them without an upward set I was able to quickly hit two forwards and one backwards.
It was cool.
It was pretty awesome to hang with NYFA and especially to catch up with C-Fan, who has imo one of my favorite style games in footbag. It's too bad that Bruce Dole wasn't around though.
On Sunday I hit the most satisfying hour of purely BOP contacts. It must have been torture for some people to watch, but it was great to freak them out in washington square park after all those years of broken tiltless strings in the 90's. I need to buy some new bags immediately.
I'm fiending for some more footage of Clavens. That rewind combo was sick. It's nice to see a smile on his face. I hope he tears worlds in half.
Good things are afoot in Pittsburgh these days. We've really got some momentum going as far as building a scene and I hope we keep it up.
For one thing, we're booked for a "Kids Day" on August 26 to teach kids how to play footbag at this park in town. It's cool cause the organization I work for runs the park and they asked if we'd be into it, even suggested some funding might be available to buy bags to give away for free.
So this is sweet. My hope for Steel City Freestyle is that we become somewhat of a known group around town, at least among our friends, and that people recognize footbag as something real. I think this will be a great opportunity to get kids thinking our way while talking to their parents about all of the great things footbag has to offer.
And as if that wasn't enough, we've met two new potential footbag players in the last week. One guy, Joel, is a friend of a friend who plays, so we talked and he's into joining us for some shred at some point. I'll look forward to seeing what his game is like.
Then there's this guy, Sam, who came up to Ian and I in the park and was like "Man I haven't shredded in a while". I was like did you just say "shred"??! And the rest is history.
Ian kicked with Sam today I think, so maybe he'll post about how that went down.
On top of all that, Ian and I are kicking ass. I hit Blurry Drifter>PS Whirl yesterday... part of my quest to link 3 5s...although I don't know what I could hit that into or out of at this point...
Ian's strings are getting longer and more genuine every day. He hit torque>dyno. It was phat and I think he's gonna repeat it soon.
So yes, summer is treating us well in the Steel City. Hope everyone has fun at East Coasts this weekend.
Peace!
For one thing, we're booked for a "Kids Day" on August 26 to teach kids how to play footbag at this park in town. It's cool cause the organization I work for runs the park and they asked if we'd be into it, even suggested some funding might be available to buy bags to give away for free.
So this is sweet. My hope for Steel City Freestyle is that we become somewhat of a known group around town, at least among our friends, and that people recognize footbag as something real. I think this will be a great opportunity to get kids thinking our way while talking to their parents about all of the great things footbag has to offer.
And as if that wasn't enough, we've met two new potential footbag players in the last week. One guy, Joel, is a friend of a friend who plays, so we talked and he's into joining us for some shred at some point. I'll look forward to seeing what his game is like.
Then there's this guy, Sam, who came up to Ian and I in the park and was like "Man I haven't shredded in a while". I was like did you just say "shred"??! And the rest is history.
Ian kicked with Sam today I think, so maybe he'll post about how that went down.
On top of all that, Ian and I are kicking ass. I hit Blurry Drifter>PS Whirl yesterday... part of my quest to link 3 5s...although I don't know what I could hit that into or out of at this point...
Ian's strings are getting longer and more genuine every day. He hit torque>dyno. It was phat and I think he's gonna repeat it soon.
So yes, summer is treating us well in the Steel City. Hope everyone has fun at East Coasts this weekend.
Peace!
Jake Milofsky
Steel City Freestyle [ex officio]
Steel City Freestyle [ex officio]
Sam is the man. He's a senior next year so it's cool to kick with him right now before he get's full into school. Smart, creative, and very quick at learning. We are going to kick again tomorrow (if I can get it in before raquetball, with another potential kid, Eli, that I am teaching footbag to. Eli is one of the smartest kids I know and a great self-taught juggler.)
I keep taking steps back to work on my foundation tighter. I mostly hit tiltless tricks today, because...
A) I never hit them anymore, and it is hard to break out of BOP and into more original without developing these muscles, the asscociated flexabilities and spatial relations.
B) Because it's sort of where Sam is at and it was fun to be on the same page and just drill this stuff together.
C) My hip is still out of wack from that nutso day I learned how to step with it!
D) Because Jake wasn't around
Yesterday was awesome. I spent an hour.5 stretching my bad hip, and working out the motions for drifters torques. I'm bad and lazy, and I'm trying to break out of it. These moves are best (imo) mid-to-downtime and with the running I have been doing recently I am starting to feel like I am ready to push them into my palette.
I have been hitting a lot of torques out of Dyno's for the last month or so. My one side dyno is dialed almost to the point of a bail. My other side is coming along but not as fast. Anyway, Ken suggested two combos after first kicking with me after years and I am working up to them. They are Dyno-DLO, repeat, and Dyno-Torque, repeat. I will hit them both. Yesterday was my first time hitting dyno out of torque. Things are coming along fast.
Later, after two.5 hrs of shred Jake and I hit a local Hipster bar called the Brillo box. Afterwards I kicked for another hour with Eli. Really cool guy. I hope he gets into the sport. Afterwards I was spent.
Today I got back into the swing of things tiltless. Same side mirages, even that lame left one. I am begining to see just how deeply my footbag foundation is out-of-wack. I took into consideration Dave Claven's (I am making a point of spelling his name right- I knew of a Clavins when I was younger) recent advice to Iron Clad Ben (I think?,) and treated every tiltless contact like a pushup (in my words) and sink deep and hold onto the bag a bit longer before letting it go (closer to his words). Afterward it became more of a controlled, manageable exercise and my strings got longer. After a few runs I felt strong enough to hit consecutive legovers all downtime, rather than mid. For now I will rotate between the two styles so as to distribute the efforts to different muscle systems.
Hit Dyno-ducking paradox mirage first try for some people I knew. It was clean.
So there ya' go Jake- it's like you were there!
Oh yeah. My three bags all have holes in them now. They seem sustained but we are gonna really really need to grab some new ones ASAP. The ones that I really like so far have been from Clavens, Pipenberg, Waylon and Cross. Is there a supplier that makes comparable and has a massive quantity? I would feel good about buying several.
I keep taking steps back to work on my foundation tighter. I mostly hit tiltless tricks today, because...
A) I never hit them anymore, and it is hard to break out of BOP and into more original without developing these muscles, the asscociated flexabilities and spatial relations.
B) Because it's sort of where Sam is at and it was fun to be on the same page and just drill this stuff together.
C) My hip is still out of wack from that nutso day I learned how to step with it!
D) Because Jake wasn't around
Yesterday was awesome. I spent an hour.5 stretching my bad hip, and working out the motions for drifters torques. I'm bad and lazy, and I'm trying to break out of it. These moves are best (imo) mid-to-downtime and with the running I have been doing recently I am starting to feel like I am ready to push them into my palette.
I have been hitting a lot of torques out of Dyno's for the last month or so. My one side dyno is dialed almost to the point of a bail. My other side is coming along but not as fast. Anyway, Ken suggested two combos after first kicking with me after years and I am working up to them. They are Dyno-DLO, repeat, and Dyno-Torque, repeat. I will hit them both. Yesterday was my first time hitting dyno out of torque. Things are coming along fast.
Later, after two.5 hrs of shred Jake and I hit a local Hipster bar called the Brillo box. Afterwards I kicked for another hour with Eli. Really cool guy. I hope he gets into the sport. Afterwards I was spent.
Today I got back into the swing of things tiltless. Same side mirages, even that lame left one. I am begining to see just how deeply my footbag foundation is out-of-wack. I took into consideration Dave Claven's (I am making a point of spelling his name right- I knew of a Clavins when I was younger) recent advice to Iron Clad Ben (I think?,) and treated every tiltless contact like a pushup (in my words) and sink deep and hold onto the bag a bit longer before letting it go (closer to his words). Afterward it became more of a controlled, manageable exercise and my strings got longer. After a few runs I felt strong enough to hit consecutive legovers all downtime, rather than mid. For now I will rotate between the two styles so as to distribute the efforts to different muscle systems.
Hit Dyno-ducking paradox mirage first try for some people I knew. It was clean.
So there ya' go Jake- it's like you were there!
Oh yeah. My three bags all have holes in them now. They seem sustained but we are gonna really really need to grab some new ones ASAP. The ones that I really like so far have been from Clavens, Pipenberg, Waylon and Cross. Is there a supplier that makes comparable and has a massive quantity? I would feel good about buying several.It's been two weeks since I started hitting left side stepping moves, and that side is still really sore. I made good use of this time where I have limited avaiable motion to continue to school tiltless tricks. They are looking better, but I still feel like my body freezes up sometimes mid-trick. So I've been mostly stretching and running.
Yesterday Jake, Sam and I kicked. Jake is getting really solid. As long as I keep improving and lighting the competitive fire under his ass he is going to get really, really good. So, it's a plan. I may never catch up with him but we are both getting a lot better.
Recent highlights:
Torque BSOS (almost twice- toed the second attempt)
Blur on each side, different string (first time since my lower back/hip got tight)
Drifter BSOS
Midstring BAIL to a Butterfly Swirl (it's good to know that my far simple swirl is adding up to something!)
About fifteen legovers btb followed immediately by variations of legovers and bsos mirages. Nothing mentionable other than these tricks were put away for a very long time.
Jake hit (if I remember correctly) Blurry Whirl-Paradox Torque- almost into PS Whirl. This is an example of some of the harder links he has been pushing.
The most memorable of his recent links was (if memory serves) Ducking Osis-Ducking Paradox Mirage- Leg Beater-Tomahawk, etc. I almost didn't recognize it but Jake is rapidly becoming one of my favorite players.
Sam is a great guy and has a lot of potential for footbag. Right now he is working on the fundamentals and developing some good form. I look forward to kicking with him soon.
Pipenberg saved the day! Apparently SCF contacted him at the right time and two of his bags will shortly be on their way here! I'm not sure if I am biased as a East Coaster, or currently as a Pennsylvanian, but he and DC make my favorite bags. I get like an electric charge when I pick 'em up and just want school tricks intensively! Technique is contageous. Back to my portfolio.
Yesterday Jake, Sam and I kicked. Jake is getting really solid. As long as I keep improving and lighting the competitive fire under his ass he is going to get really, really good. So, it's a plan
. I may never catch up with him but we are both getting a lot better. Recent highlights:
Torque BSOS (almost twice- toed the second attempt)
Blur on each side, different string (first time since my lower back/hip got tight)
Drifter BSOS
Midstring BAIL to a Butterfly Swirl (it's good to know that my far simple swirl is adding up to something!)
About fifteen legovers btb followed immediately by variations of legovers and bsos mirages. Nothing mentionable other than these tricks were put away for a very long time.
Jake hit (if I remember correctly) Blurry Whirl-Paradox Torque- almost into PS Whirl. This is an example of some of the harder links he has been pushing.
The most memorable of his recent links was (if memory serves) Ducking Osis-Ducking Paradox Mirage- Leg Beater-Tomahawk, etc. I almost didn't recognize it but Jake is rapidly becoming one of my favorite players.
Sam is a great guy and has a lot of potential for footbag. Right now he is working on the fundamentals and developing some good form. I look forward to kicking with him soon.
Pipenberg saved the day! Apparently SCF contacted him at the right time and two of his bags will shortly be on their way here! I'm not sure if I am biased as a East Coaster, or currently as a Pennsylvanian, but he and DC make my favorite bags. I get like an electric charge when I pick 'em up and just want school tricks intensively! Technique is contageous. Back to my portfolio.
Last edited by Ian Brill on 03 Jul 2007 00:45, edited 3 times in total.
The love is right back at'cha!Nathan wrote:
I love steel city
The bags finally came in the mail yesterday. I had my sister checking my mailbox all weekend while I was away in Boston, getting my patriotic-learn on, and ogling amazing amazing artwork, in particular the collection of Edward Hopper paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts. They resonated well with the unfortunate news of DC's physical condition. I had just ordered a pizza from room service when I read his post on modified. I had to have them store it in the refrigerator till the morning because I was too upset to eat.
Anyway, so the bags came in yesterday and I literally picked them out of the bag, felt them, and put them out of sight on my living room bookshelf. I have never played with a bag other than a Pipenberg or Clavens bag that quite affects me the same way. Even without being broken in these bags were soft and demanding to be footed. Two intense, conflicting emotions occurred when I picked them up: To school for the next eight hours or to hide them in a safe in my closet. Forever. So, yeah, I put them away and did some graphic work.
Today was the big day.
I got to Friendship Park and met Jake and a new person, Joel. Joel is a cool guy. I really hope that he decides to keep kicking. A quick learner with more natural intuition than I expect from people. Everytime I was ready to give him advice on something I would watch him apply it before I had a chance to say something. I really feel sometimes that this sport requires more intelligence than most people give it credit for. It was a real joy to watch him learn.
We used one of the Pipenberg bags (the brown and yellowish one). At first I almost had a heart attack because it was being kicked a lot, in a violent, hacky-sac way for a while. Then I decided to chill out. And play footbag. With one of two incredible footbags.
Jake hit some tricks today that were really awesome. He was busting all sorts of links I would not expect, and stringing out of combos that he used to drop out of all of the time. It was awesome to watch.
For the first time since my last trip to NYC my hip and lower back were feeling better. I did not want to push them too far, but I tried try to push myself again. After three days of walking around Boston I was lite on my feet. Though my blur only worked once on each side, I did have at least a couple of strings with several ripwalks in them. I hit a lot of torques today and several drifters as well. Almost hit drifter to simple swirl. Hit a long string with butterfly swirl in the middle of it, and paradon. Hit some dynos back to back and out of paradons. Hit a seven trick portion of a guiltless string that had five variation of ducking moves. The weight of the bag is perfect for me to school my ducking stuff. It's love.
It was a good day. Thanks for the Bags Nathan.
Last edited by Ian Brill on 19 Jul 2007 13:54, edited 2 times in total.
Alright. I announced a leave from my electronic music forum and got a haircut today. The job hunt has officially begun. With that in mind I am waking up super early and exercising vigilantly. Going running with the sis at the crack of dawn tommorrow, so I thought I would wear myself out solo shred tonight.
Kicked solo two hours. And it was muggy.
Countless bsos ripwalks. Almost reliable to link out of consistantly.
Several 2 contact rounds of dyno-dyno. Lots of dynos.
Lots of ducks midstring.
A bunch of torques midstring and bsos.
Some great looking drifters on both sides and linked out of.
On top of my far and simple swirls I had a high ratio of completion on swirls, both sides. This is begining to look like it could turn into a more solid element in my shuffle, with time.
I had a hard time hitting my left side paradon last time I tried, so this time I hit about 6, maybe more in a row. They were looking really good, and not as atomic-butterfly-ish.
I kept getting extremely close to downtime eggbeaters, bsos. I am going to keep at this trick. It will greatly improve my overall speed and not put too much stress on any one side. I think it will open up my game considerably.
The most important event o f today, and perhaps the major impetus for blogging, considering the less-than-groundbreaking progress and lack of time in my schedule is that I hit something Jake would like to have seen. I hit a legitimate blur out of a butterfly.
I have linked blur out of osis, flux and dyno before, but never before with the infinity-reversal motion that was required with todays link. I hope that it is the start of something explosive.
Yesterday was decent session. Joel kicked with, and Sam dropped by.
They both have a lot of potential.
Kicked solo two hours. And it was muggy.
Countless bsos ripwalks. Almost reliable to link out of consistantly.
Several 2 contact rounds of dyno-dyno. Lots of dynos.
Lots of ducks midstring.
A bunch of torques midstring and bsos.
Some great looking drifters on both sides and linked out of.
On top of my far and simple swirls I had a high ratio of completion on swirls, both sides. This is begining to look like it could turn into a more solid element in my shuffle, with time.
I had a hard time hitting my left side paradon last time I tried, so this time I hit about 6, maybe more in a row. They were looking really good, and not as atomic-butterfly-ish.
I kept getting extremely close to downtime eggbeaters, bsos. I am going to keep at this trick. It will greatly improve my overall speed and not put too much stress on any one side. I think it will open up my game considerably.
The most important event o f today, and perhaps the major impetus for blogging, considering the less-than-groundbreaking progress and lack of time in my schedule is that I hit something Jake would like to have seen. I hit a legitimate blur out of a butterfly.
I have linked blur out of osis, flux and dyno before, but never before with the infinity-reversal motion that was required with todays link. I hope that it is the start of something explosive.
Yesterday was decent session. Joel kicked with, and Sam dropped by.
They both have a lot of potential.
Ran for 45 minutes. Wrote a cover letter for a job I really want. Had a lot on my mind. Kicked by myself until it just would not stop raining.
I was right yesterday about a bunch of things. I almost hit downtime eggbeater bsos.
I found a sweet spot on my right side drifter. links galore. I was not able to replicate this on my other side. I hit toe drifters on that side instead.
The good news is I finally have some unique links out of toe stalls (aka out of my miriad of paradox mirages.)
I hit some paradox illusions. They are looking clean but they take massive effort still. Large set+downtime equals always close to being thin. Low set, and fast, almost nuclear approach seems way more affective though not as gratifying.
Discovered I can freeze a dyno on my good side now, so it's time to seriously consider working on my consecutive dynos. Maybe if it wasn't frigging raining...
Torques are looking really promising. Really promising.
Not one attempt at paradon or stepping sets today. It rained while I was still studying components and after three days of extensive footbagging and running I'm glad I took it easy.
I love the feeling of downtime eggbeaters. It may be attributable to my recent running that I am trying them again. I feel like my body was built for them. Unlike some of the other moves that seem unnatural to me like stepping, pixie and atomic sets, I feel completely calm and in control with these general systems of motion-even when I don't hit the trick. I see a lot of potential for development in my toe game now.
I was right yesterday about a bunch of things. I almost hit downtime eggbeater bsos.
I found a sweet spot on my right side drifter. links galore. I was not able to replicate this on my other side. I hit toe drifters on that side instead.
The good news is I finally have some unique links out of toe stalls (aka out of my miriad of paradox mirages.)
I hit some paradox illusions. They are looking clean but they take massive effort still. Large set+downtime equals always close to being thin. Low set, and fast, almost nuclear approach seems way more affective though not as gratifying.
Discovered I can freeze a dyno on my good side now, so it's time to seriously consider working on my consecutive dynos. Maybe if it wasn't frigging raining...
Torques are looking really promising. Really promising.
Not one attempt at paradon or stepping sets today. It rained while I was still studying components and after three days of extensive footbagging and running I'm glad I took it easy.
I love the feeling of downtime eggbeaters. It may be attributable to my recent running that I am trying them again. I feel like my body was built for them. Unlike some of the other moves that seem unnatural to me like stepping, pixie and atomic sets, I feel completely calm and in control with these general systems of motion-even when I don't hit the trick. I see a lot of potential for development in my toe game now.