Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Keep a diary of what you're hitting, what's frustrating you, and your goals.
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anhkhoashevakt
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Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by anhkhoashevakt » 26 Mar 2013 20:11

Hello everyone. My name is Khoa Nguyen. I'm 22 and I'm from Vietnam, but now studying at Penn State University as a Ph.D in Physiology (1st year).
I've been doing footbag seriously for only about 1 month, but I've been involved with the freestyle football (soccer) scene for about 6 years 4 months now.
My first contact with footbag was from a very old video of Vasek I think, who the person posting it has the bright idea to name it: "Soccer sucks! New school footbag kick ass!". Needless to say, I felt very protective of freestyle soccer and began leaving negative comments in that video. But after looking through the video I thought to myself: "Dang this guy is insane." However, I kinda dismissed it and told myself he only able to do this because the "ball thingy" he played with was so small... lol (how little I knew at that time lol). After doing fs soccer for a while, I got interested in footbag again starting with Frankystyle and of course Vasek Klouda, who did incredibly amazing footbag moves with the soccer ball. Then, the footbag trend started to creep in fs soccer. It started with this guy, PWG from Norway who incorporated Eclipse into his combos ("Strings" in footbag). That was a crazy move for us because it felt as if he was flying when he did that. Incredible. I tried to learn that trick from 2009 to 2011, but wasn't that serious into it. I could do it about 1/5 in 2011 lol. Another guy who was essential in starting the trend was a South African guy named Kamalio, who did the first Rake with a soccer ball in a FF World Final in 2009.
At about 2011 I met Justin Dale, a member of Rain City Shred Footbag, when he was performing under the Space Needle. Needless to say I was ecstatic! I approached him and asked him a flurry of questions like: "Can you do eclipse?", "Can you do rake?"... which probably sounded pretty stupid to him, because those tricks he can hit with relative ease (after all Eclipse is only 3 add lol xD). And then, me and him and some other guys, we started forming a performing team to perform in front of soccer games and stuff. It was quite successful. I got to meet some crazy footbag players: Justin, Dan, Reilley, Chris Dean (from Portland!). Some crazy coincidence also happened when I was in the West Coast: one time me and my football freestyle friend had the chance to come down to Portland to perform before a game for a sport drinks brand, and we met Nick Landes! Of course, I was ignorant back then and never even knew who he was. Silly me lol.
Then, in 2012, I left Seattle after finishing my undergrad studies. Fate brought me here to Penn State to study PhD. One day, out of complete randomness, a video titled "PSU footbag club" popped up in the Video list on Youtube when I was beginning to log on. I immediately contacted the person created the clip, and he told me to meet the crew on the Monday starting the 1st semester. I did. I met Nick, Ivan... and many more. Nick especially impressed me with a Ripstein on that day, and from that day onward, I have been practicing with them. I met Nate, who is such an amazing shredder. At first I'd bring my soccer ball and do some FF tricks, but more and more I sensed the determination and the strong sense of community the guys are having, and that's when I decided that besides freestyle football, I'll also practice footbag and attend all of the sessions. I bought a pair of Lavers and began training footbag tricks.

So far this is what I hit: (right is my strong leg/side)

Toe stall
Inside stall
Clipper (6 on ss, 4 on fs - need to work more on flipsides tho)
Butterfly (1 on each side)
Near Mirage (1 on each side)
Osis (strong to weak, need to work on weak - strong)
Far legover (2 ss, 1 fs, need to work on flipside)
ATW (strong side)
Orbit (flipside - only once! :? )
DATW (strong side only)
Rake (right leg)
Duck/Zulu from my left side to my right side
Eclipse (only strong side) - but this is my favourite trick, since I've been working hard and achieved it with a ball before tried it with a bag

Yeah. As you guys can see, a lot of practice still needed to be done and a lot of things still need to be improve, but I'll try my best.
This is only my first year as a grad student. The next couple years will become very interesting because I'll have to work in a lab for about 12 hrs/day, and so my time for practice both FF and footbag will be quite limited. But I'll hold on for as long as I can, and attend as many sessions as I can. I may not become the best footbag player, but I'll try my best to learn as many things as I can.
Last edited by anhkhoashevakt on 21 Apr 2015 17:24, edited 2 times in total.

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rjadamson
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Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by rjadamson » 27 Mar 2013 07:52

Look who got the footbag itch!

Khoa, it's awesome to see you posting here. I think your football freestyle experience will lend itself to learning footbag. I encourage you, however, to watch lots of footage of the best footbag players (especially those who turned to football freestyle such as Honza and Vasek) and notice how their motions/footwork are different when performing footbag tricks. Footbag allows for great economy of motion compared to the large, exaggerated dexes needed to clear a large ball. I am sure Justin often told you about "slotting" tricks in footbag. Slow down your delays and force yourself out of the habit of stalling/setting very quickly. I'm sure this attention to footbag's particular rhythm will really help. Given how insane you are at football freestyle you could easily get better than me at footbag!

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Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by anhkhoashevakt » 27 Mar 2013 09:23

hahaha I very doubt so Reilley, but trust me I've been practicing what you guys (and the guys from PSU) been telling me: making my dexes smaller and smaller. So far, I have some successes, especially with Mirages, but more will have to come as my dexes are still a bit large. Perhaps with time this will be possible.
And trust me man I watched that Landes 2010 Worlds routine (not the final one, the one before that) for 100 times already. I've also watched both Honza and Vasek's videos, as well as some by David Clavens and of course Justin. I'm also getting better at knowing the trick names and things like that.

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Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by anhkhoashevakt » 27 Mar 2013 16:59

What I hit today:

- BSOS stepover
:arrow: Rake > Clipper
- DLO both sides (from clipper). YESsssss!

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Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by fatbagger » 01 Apr 2013 19:01

Props on dlo, pretty sick that you already hit that both sides. Keep it up Khoa!
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Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by C-Fan » 10 Apr 2013 09:39

I look forward to following your progress in this blog. Welcome to footbag, and have fun learning with the PSU crew!

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Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by boyle » 10 Apr 2013 17:02

Hi Khoa - look forward to seeing your progress on here. I play with quite a few freestyle football guys down here in Chile - I always think there is great potential for more crossovers between the sports. Good luck with everything!!

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Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by anhkhoashevakt » 10 Apr 2013 21:05

Wow thanks guys for all the positive feedback! Really appreciate it!

What I got lately (baby combos lol)

- 6 clippers flipside.
- 2 butterflies
:arrow: clipper - ducking clipper
:arrow: hopover (left) - legover - legover - eclipse (right) - legover - legover

Also, I got close to doing Osis - Osis but not quite there yet. I'm going to train that more in the next weeks.

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Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic » 24 Apr 2013 06:34

Yo Khoa! I didn't know you made a footblog until now! Great that you joined modified! And.. well.. I'll see you at 5:30 today :P Keep it up man, you've got loads of potential to be an amazing player.
Nick Polini

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Funblog

"Yeah dude it's all mental. Then it's physical" ~Evan Gatesman

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Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by anhkhoashevakt » 26 Apr 2013 20:28

Hit a whole bunch of stuff today. Most of them random as heck, but got 2 important things down:

1/ 7 flip clippers/ 12 strong clippers (both new records)
2/ clipper (left) - near mirage - illusion - legover - clipper (right) - near mirage - illusion - legover.

Some other strings and tricks I hit:

- Pixie Legover (bs) + back to back as well!
- Magellan (right)
- Pixie Eclipse (right)
- Smear (right)
- Rake - ducking eclipse (from clipper).

Bottom line: need to drill a lot of left. xD

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Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by anhkhoashevakt » 05 May 2013 19:48

Recent improvements: (only 1, but it was quite important so I post it up anyway):

Paradox Mirage bsos.

Going to try going for butterfly - paradox mirage on both sides tomorrow, and then if possible bsos it. In a month I'm planning for Butterfly - P. Mirage strong side - Butterfly - P. Mirage flip side or visa versa. That should give me my first 4 Guiltless string.

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Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by anhkhoashevakt » 08 May 2013 16:57

Guess I'm celebrating my first 4 Guitless string faster than expected. xD

- Down - Pdx. Mirage (flip) - Down - Pdx. Mirage (strong).

Very proud of myself today, but I know that was somewhat of a fluke. Still need a whole bunch of practice to perfect it.

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Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by anhkhoashevakt » 26 Jun 2013 23:32

I'm on an all USA Freestyle Soccer meeting in Los Angeles, and it's as sick as heck.
The best part is, I showed a lot of the guys how footbag works and also some trick theories as well. I was quite busy yesterday explaining Nemesis Swirl, Mobius... to freestyle soccer players and they actually were very intrigued by them. The responses I got were: "Dude freestyle footbag has such cool names for their tricks" which totally made my day!
Also, tonight we went out and tried busking around Santa Monica area, and I (after doing a short fs soccer routine) practically took out a bag and did a decent 8-9 tiltless string ending with an eclipse, and everyone (even the soccer freestylers) freaked out! I never gotten a better congratulations for any fs soccer tricks as large as that before. Literally among the best moments in my life right there.

And also, I've been managed to do a bit of footbag training somewhat even among the meeting: my strings are getting a bit longer now (usually from 6 - 10 tiltless quite consistently). I'm landing butterfly - pdx mirage and DLO from clipper much more consistently now, which is good.

Gonna need that when I actually come up to Seattle for USO this upcoming Saturday. I'm soooo excited for that. Going to try and surprise Justin a whole bunch xD.

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Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by boyle » 27 Jun 2013 08:55

sometimes freestyle football players are so impressed with tricks in footbag that are simply not that hard (at the same time, it sometimes works the other way). I think it's a great opportunity to share both sports, freestyle football is really picking up at the moment in terms of the players organising their own events etc (when it has always been Red Bull, Adidas, etc) running the show. Because of that fact, and the connection to football, they have huge sponsorship bases, so it's good to stay in touch and get players involved.

I have given a few players here in Chile some bags and a few of them are picking it up quite well. What's the US Freestyle football scene like - where are the key cities? Do they do a lot of demos and things with the MLS?

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Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic » 27 Jun 2013 12:55

Yo Khoa! Reading that last post was awesome! I'm thrilled to hear that you showed your freestyle soccer friends and that they actually thought it was cool! Man, have fun at USO for me! I wish I was going!
Nick Polini

Footbag is good for the SOLE

Funblog

"Yeah dude it's all mental. Then it's physical" ~Evan Gatesman

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Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by anhkhoashevakt » 27 Jun 2013 19:12

@ boyle: The USA Freestyle Football scene is still a work in progress at the moment. Although the number of fsers are increasing and increasing each year, we still have a lot more to go before we can reach the US' true potential! :D
This US meet has more than 30 committed freestylers coming to LA for the competition. They're from places from the East Coast to the Midwest to the West Coast: Pennsylvania, Virginia, Illinois, Wisconsin, Washington, Oregon and of course LA.
Apparently the more creative freestyle soccer players in our bunch has already learned how to do some footbag tricks with a ball, without actually realizing their names. One of the guys from Wisconsin could do butterfly, swirl, and almost whirl. Also, he's the master of rakes with a ball. However, for some reason, "Flapper" is called "Dragonstall" in FS Football, so I spent some times during the day to actually show them the real "Dragonstall" and most of them were astonished by that too lol.
In Illinois, Virginia and LA, soccer freestylers often do shows for the MLS teams and get paid for it too, which is sick. Uniquely in Seattle, though, Justin and RCS sometimes would do busking in front of the Sounders Stadium with the FS soccer crew there (my old crew) and they usually do quite well. Seattle is now a beacon of the 1st alliance in the USA between fs soccer and fs footbag, which is totally insane and I would like to see it grow even more in the future.
@ Nick: Thanks master! You're the man. I'm gonna tell Justin all about what our club at PSU taught me. :wink: I hope I'll be able to do decent in Intermediate Circle (winning is not an option but at least I will try to put on a good show). And btw, do you know that Nick freaking Landes is going to this year USO? I'm so freaking excited right now I think Imma flip out! xD
Btw as a side information, I fulfilled my saying to you guys about me being one of the best fs soccer players in the US by winning routines this year. Now I'm satisfied, and I know you are too xD xD xD.
Good look at Worlds maestro!

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Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by boyle » 28 Jun 2013 04:21

Congrats on the routines victory - having that performance experience will give you great confidence ahead of the footbag competition (even though it's a different sport, skillset, etc, etc). You are from Vietnam right? I saw from some friends on Facebook they just had the Asian freestyle championships (maybe even in Vietnam, can't remember where it was). Sounded like that was a good event.

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Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by anhkhoashevakt » 30 Jun 2013 19:55

@boyle: wow I'm happy and pleasantly surprised you know about that. Yes there was an Asian FS soccer comp held in Vietnam last week, and surprisingly (but happily) all 3 of the 1st places were Vietnamese xD. LOL
I did well in Routines this year, but unfortunately not that well in Battles (which kinda alike Circles comp except there are only 2 people facing each other). I got to top 8 with the official Circle competition for the US, but for the Open competition (held only because there was a guy outside the US who wanted to compete as well) I got 3rd.
Also, I've been to USO this weekend and got completely blown away by everyone there: I got to meet (Nick Polini, my mentor, is gonna hate me now xD) Nick Landes, Gordon Bevier, Ken Somolinos, Chris Dean, Brian Sherrill, Dustin Rhodes, Alex Dworetzky, Justin Dale and the RCS crew, and a lot of other people as well. I got to actually shred in a circle with Ken(!!!!) xD xD xD and did a freestyle soccer routine in the middle of the Final Circles and Routines competitions.
The best string I landed when training yesterday and today was: butterfly - pdx mirage - butterfly - pdx mirage - combo - DLO (clipper) into almost DLO flipside. Literally the best string I've ever done.
Also I got Symp Mirage - Butterfly - Eclipse, another 3-3-3 add string for me.

It's a little unfortunate because I never got to compete in Intermediate Circles this comp (due to my flight being so late that by the time I got to USO the first round of Intermediate Circles was over) but looking at the level of the guys inside that circle I was glad I didn't compete haha xD.

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Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by boyle » 01 Jul 2013 11:15

I went to Malaysia a couple of years back (2011) - they had a footbag competition there - sponsored by Adidas, in a huge mall, big prize money (of course they had no players, so they got the freestyle football guys to try it out) - I was coaching, judging, giving some demonstrations. I still stay in touch with a lot of those guys through Facebook - I also went with my wife to a few other countries in South East Asia - didn't make it to Vietnam as I got sick in Thailand and we decided to return to Australia.

Will you go back to Vietnam once you finish studying?

Great that you went to US Open - would have been a lot of fun.

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Re: Khoa Nguyen's footblog

Post by anhkhoashevakt » 04 Jul 2013 03:05

I think I knew what competition you were talking about. Too bad there aren't any good footbaggers in any SE Asian countries (as we all are into football and thus football freestyle).
It really depends on what opportunity I'll find. I have 4 years left in America so it's still a long time left for me. Hopefully I'll reach Guiltless then lol.

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