Double AA's Footblog - Feeling Lost!!!

[akprice]

i was pretty bored at work yesterday and started doing extensive research on patellar tendonitis (jumpers knee). i have been doing some basic stretches that my orthopedic doctor had given me a few months back but they aren't seeming to get rid of the pain. most people say to just rest for 3 weeks and it will go away. uh, yeah, that ain't happening!

i also read that if i don't take care of this and get rid of it then there will be a chance of a tendon rupture. i've already ruptured my achilles and don't want to go through that again. so i am now getting fucking serious about fixing my jumpers knee.

i found 2 vids yesterday on better stretching for the knee. also marco on fb said i need to build up the strength around knee as well. a buddy of mine also said i prob need to stretch the IT band. so i found a vid on the IT band and using eccentric exercises for the knee.

i incorporated both of these and another one last night, then iced. this morning my knees didn't ache when trying to walk down the stairs. i had my sesh this morning and repeated all the stretching and exercises afterwards, then iced. my knees feel pretty good. i hope this works. i will continue to do this twice a day and hopefully i can finally rid myself of this fucking knee pain. i'll keep ya'll up to date. if anyone is curious about the vids i found, just let me know and i'll post them.

on to the sesh highlights:

clippers - took matt's suggestion on turning my hips more on flip clip. much easier! also worked on having bigger and longer stall.
near clippers - really worked on setting bag back towards the clipper so i'm not lunging forward to catch the bag.
mirages - these are really coming along now. can pretty much hit on command. need to start trying same mirage.
legover - finally had an epiphany. my toe was not curled up after dex. really focused on keeping my foot sturdy, diving with the heel with my toe already curled and i started hitting them. i would love to have one sesh dedicated to these but they wear my ass out!
pickup - only 2nd sesh working on these and i'm hitting them bs pretty consistently. these are much easier than legovers!

near clipper > far pickup - wanted to end my session with something that i haven't tried. only took me 6 tries to hit and i was stoked!!!!

oh, got my new 32 panel I2 bag yesterday. shredded with it this morning with my colorful lavers and they started bleeding on to the new bag.
looks like i might have a bunch of tie-died colored bags here in the near future!

[akprice]

i don't think i have been more frustrated or defeated than i felt this morning with legovers. i fucking hate them!!!!

i have gotten so much great advice from erik, paul, vince and matt. i understand everything that they have told me to do to fix these but i just can't seem to implement them. wtf!!!!

i taped them this morning and i can tell you exactly what is wrong with them. i am still dexing way too fucking high and dexing with my foot instead of my calf and knee. i know this while i am doing them as well and still can't seem to change the dex. it is so fucking frustrating when i know what i'm doing wrong but can't change it.

plus my knees hurt so bad this morning when i got up that if it wasn't for the excedrin, i wouldn't have been able to drill at all. i couldn't drill clippers because of my knees so i tried to just concentrate on mirage, legovers, pickup and osis.

i taped the osis for matt (he said he would look at them and help me out). he has been really cool and has taken an interest in my game).

the new exercises for my jumpers knee don't seem to be working and feel like they are making it worse. my knee hurt so bad this morning.

maybe it's time for me to take a break from the game. i really don't want to but i feel like i'm getting no where with legovers and i'm tired of my knees constantly being in pain. i have some new compression socks ordered (copper wear) and am hoping that will help. i am also going to start taking glucosamine and chondroitin to see if that helps.

if anyone has any new insight as to how to change my dex on the legovers, i'm all fucking ears!!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snjo58VFSo0[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWIEFbF0erE[/youtube]

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

I couldn't watch it on my phone, but sometimes you have to treat footbag like a test question you had trouble in in college... Skip it and come back later. If you work on other things, your leg muscles will get stronger and smarter and after practicing that for a while, your legs will have what they need (without even realizing it!) to do Leftovers... Pro tip: the trick that I'm referencing that you did start practicing is Orbit. Think about it... Same dex style, same dex direction.. Pretty much the same trick as Legover, just need same side Legover. Try to learn them both muted and non muted. Trust me on this. Been there, done that, yelled "Fuck Legovers!" too many times to count

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Fuck! ***LEGOVERS! not "Leftovers"... See? I yelled "Fuck Legovers" again... This time it was caused by a typo, but... Same bullshit, different day.

Since I'm posting again, might as well add that you should try to make sure your legs move only in the way that it is natural for our bodies to move. The knee joint allows (from standing position) backward, and forward after being backward.. The knee isn't supposed to twist to the direct left or right.. Not without some upper leg movement. I think if you analyze your game really well, you can find out what motions your knee will allow and what motions it won't allow

[akprice]

thx nick. paul and i talked and decided that i should just give "leftovers" a break instead of me taking a complete break from footbag. i don't want to regress any by taking a long absent from the game. i will replace legovers with orbit and atw for the time being and continue to drill pickup, mirage and clipper.

i will also analyze my knee movements as well. have a great time this weekend in pa! wish i could come!

[Matt K]

I agree that it's best to take a break on legovers if you feel that stuck on them. Sometimes it's good to practice them mentally for a while. Who knows, you might actually be better at them when you come back. More importantly you don't want it to ruin the fun you are obviously having with footbag, especially when there's a dozen other things that could potentially be worked on in the meantime.

[akprice]

so this weekend was all about dexes. saturday's sesh was completely dedicated to atw and orbit. didn't last long cause tay woke up but i got some good work in on these.

atw bs
orbit bs

it is also an all out assault on my knees. my wife chris bought me some copper wear compression socks. they actually have copper woven into them. they are light and thin like pantyhose but they are incredible. i shredded with them sunday and my knees never hurt.

i have also order glucosamine and chondroitin to see if that will help with my joints. and, i ordered a 6' x 6', 8mm thick rubber mat. i can't wait to get this. i have been drilling exclusively on concrete this whole time and i know that has something to do with my constant knee pain.

sunday's sesh was very productive. here are the highlights:

atw bs
orbit bs
mirage bs
ss mirage bs (actually better at these than regular mirage)
pickup bs
ss pickup (flip not as good)
far mirage bs
near mirage bs
far pickup bs
near pickup bs
far legover bs (yup! so weird that i can hit legover easy from clipper but not toe. i think erik told me was because i have a lot longer for the dex)
clipper (kinda feel like i'm regressing on these. not sure what's going on. having extreme difficulty with consecutives)
near clipper
near clipper > far legover > mirage bs (only hit this a few times and only once on flip)

i also found out this weekend that my footbag dad erik is going through a rough time. i was so impressed with everybody coming to his aid. this is why i love this community. people that haven't even met erik were commenting on his blog. hang in their bud, shit will get better!!!

i love this fucking community!

[bobgreen]

A lot of highlights in there....nice job man!

[h0ag3yb3atZ]

good stuff and way to kill the blog title game.

lets talk about design and shit soon.

[MetZelRio]

you really need to go back in your blog and look at old vid. your game is unbelievable right now. you're not even the same player as you were when i first met you on modified.

Looks like this is a two way street because thats kind of how I felt after reading your latest post. I specifically recall you saying to me that SS mirage would be really difficult...



So much BS in your blog and I don't mean BulllllllSh***********

Yo dawg, we heard you like BS so we put some BS in your blog so you can BS while you BS!

[akprice]

i had posted the comment below on david's blog responding about people commenting more or offering more feedback to us noobies.

i'm by means a writer but my wife who is read it and loved it. i wanted to repost this on my page so i can go back and read it when need be.

i understand april and cass's point that you shouldn't be looking for comments on every post you make on your blog. also, that your blog should be for you and your game. i somewhat agree with this but it is also easy for people to say this when they have a footbag club, when they have actual human beings to shred with. i don't!!!

i love this sport and for me to still be here is important. i don't have anyone pushing me to get better besides a few people that have expressed an interest in my game from a far. i liken it to working out or lifting weights. it's hard to push yourself when you work out by yourself but if you have a friend there that can yell at you saying "give me another 10 reps", then you progress more quickly. you also feed off each other and receive instant feedback on how you are doing or what you could be doing better.

i use modified as a means to see whether i am improving or not. but i also use it to get feedback from others on my game. i don't want to keep drilling the same thing over and over not knowing if my form is correct or not. then all i'm doing is drilling bad habits. this is exactly what happened with legovers. i drilled those fuckers for 2 months with bad form and execution. it wasn't until erik, paul, vince and matt told me what i was doing wrong. now i am back at square one on legovers. this all could've been avoided if i had someone to drill with.

in the past i had used facebook freestylers for posting vids and getting feedback. i switched to using modified so i wouldn't clutter the facebook page with shit vids of my feeble attempts at mirage and legovers.

if i don't have people watch my vids and comment and tell me what i'm doing wrong, i will never know. i know that people are busy and i know that i don't personally comment on everyone's blog, but i am a noob and i don't know the difference between mobius and janiwalker. so it's hard for me to comment on a higher level players vid when i don't know half of the shit that they are doing in the first place.

this is an extremely tough sport and if you don't encourage the new players, they are going to get frustrated and quit. everyone "talks" about growing this sport but i don't see many that do shit about it!

sorry, just my honest opinion.

-end of soapbox-

[Derek]

Fudgin' sweet highlights above, dexes are the best! I do get where you are coming from as a noob, I never played with anyone my first few years of playing. Like, I was literally that kid who was just stuck in his room ALL day kicking a bag and practicing stalls, not giving a damn about the world outside and socializing. This sport is very hard, but that's what also makes it fun. You are already leagues ahead of where I was when I started out. Still can't hit Osis, and you were hitting Both Sides quite easily, or so it looked. As for Leg over, do give it a break, I've had some of the best footbag epiphanies coming back to a trick after a while. Nick is right, or at least, I think the same way, Orbit is what you should drill. Don't worry about starting from scratch, trust me. Couldn't really tell from the angle, but are your sets inside(behind) your knees? Never really thought about using my knees or calf, I kinda let my ankle/foot do all the work, and the rest of the pieces seem to follow. Should probably take any of my advice with a grain of salt, though. Not as skilled as some of the people posting. Props, though! And sorry for the big post.

[akprice]

derek - my sets for legovers sometimes get too close too my body but i try and keep them behind my knees. gonna give them a rest for now and concentrate on other concepts. thx for the feedback and compliments!

so... oak city freestylers is official now!!! why oak city you ask? raleigh is known as the "city of oaks" for its many oak trees, which line the streets in the heart of the city. plus it's got a nice ring to it!

darren kautz moved to raleigh from ohio a couple weeks ago. there is another guy in raleigh named david wilder who used to kick regularly but has gotten out of the sport. he wants to get back into it and we just haven't been able to hook up yet. also, george hayward from psu will be moving to chapel hill for grad school. that's a little ways from here (hour maybe).

so that makes 4 and an official footbag club! about fucking time!!!

darren and i had our first shred together last night. we met in raleigh close to his house. i was having a hard time trying to figure out a shred spot (since all i have done so far is shred in my garage or driveway). i ended up picking lafayette village which has european style shopping and dining. the place is really cool. well lit and has a huge grassy courtyard for all the kids to play in. we ended up picking a nice big area around the shops right next to a fountain.



we started off getting to know each other and darren had brought a ton of old school footbags. wish i would've taken a picture of all of them. it was like going down memory lane. he had a couple of the original hacky sacks and a spiral bag that waylon lew made him. to this day, darren hasn't shred with that bag. it's so cool and he doesn't want to fuck it up. it is a sweet bag. here's a pic that he sent me (not the best quality).



this bag is tiny and so stally!

the other cool thing about darren is he's around my age. he is def "old school". he was telling me stories of kicking with the likes of kenny shultz, peter irish, james harley, tuan vu, vince bradley and steve goldberg. pretty cool!

we finally got the shred going. darren hadn't kicked in 2 months (been busy with the move and all). didn't seem like it. he bust right back into it! his signature move is whirl. pretty sure he could do that all day. they looked great! he gave me a few pointers on a few things, especially legovers. he thought my set wasn't high enough and that it would give me more time for the dex. it did help! he also didn't like me too much when he saw my osis. they are coming pretty naturally to me for some reason. at least i think so.

darren had a couple of long strings which was impressive for not have kicked in 2 months. again i don't have a lot of strings since all i really do is drill.

here are a few highlights from the sesh:

near clipper > far legover > mirage (these are getting much better on strong. flip i'm still having problems with my set from clipper to far legover)
near clipper > mirage
near clipper > osis
near clipper > frigid osis (i love these. i can get the stall really well but then i have trouble with the set. it just kinda falls off my shoe. i can't get any air under it. i'll have to figure that out)

other than that it was just practicing pickup, mirage and shit like that.

we shredded for almost 2 hours. we were gonna grab a beer and some munchies afterwards but darren was tired and didn't feel like eating after the sesh. so i stayed and got some dinner and a beer on the patio. my waitress sucked ass! i had finished eating and set my plate to the other side of the table so it was clear that i was finished. i had also finished my bells two hearted ipa and was ready to get on the road (about 30 min to get back to wake forest).

she kept walking by my table and asking her other tables if they needed anything but kept ignoring me. i could've asked for the check but i was getting irritated at this point and wanted to see if she would do it on her own. she went back into the restaurant and then came out later and went directly to a new table to get their order. i was livid after this. so you know what i did... yep, dine and dash baby!! i haven't done that since college. i know it wasn't the right thing to do but my temper gets in the way of things sometimes and i was like, fuck that bitch, she can pay for my dinner. i've waited tables and have a pretty high standard of how you should treat a patron. my wife just laughed when i told her about it when i got home.

it was so nice to be able to shred with someone! i am really excited to see how my game progresses now and i have made a new friend in the process.

i'll leave you with a footbag fun fact that darren told me.

"Nemesis is the only footbag move that was named before anyone ever hit it. Typically, the first person who hits a move gets to name it. But that move was kind of considered an amazing but unobtainable possibility. So it was all the top players' "Nemesis" at the time.

[DubleDex]

As soon as I find my treasure trove of old Footbag World magazines I'll bring them along, and you can see the world of footbag past!

It was definitely a good time. I needed the exercise. And now my body hates me.

Can't wait until next time!

[MetZelRio]

Jelly

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

So glad you guys are getting yourselves established I'm stoked it all worked out for you both..

I love the new name Can't wait to see how much you all learn from each other. It's awesome how 2 players of different levels can teach each other. You guys will both improve much quicker now that you have a shred partner and more in the future.

Props Aaron & Darren! That even has a ring to it

Maybe start doing some small promotions of the club around the town. Flyers or something. Always does the trick.

Oh and your new avatar is so wicked.

[akprice]

thx nick! i also can't wait to see where our games go from here. exciting times!

so you thought my avatar is cool... here's the whole logo for our new footbag club! there will be 4 of us now in the triangle area... darren kautz, david wilder, george hayward and yours truly.

[Asmus]

The logo look great! Props!

[boyle]

That logo looks great, sounds like things are really coming up for you up there! Awesome stuff.

[akprice]

thanks guys for the compliments. appreciated!