Chris Tristano

[krustykrakk]

Wow, that's exciting. Sorry we didn't get to meet before your big move. Hopefully we can kick the sacks sometime.

[christisgodlike]

krustykrakk ill be back soon enough!

Last American session today. Played with Cody, Jon, and Dave. Cody was getting some nice toe stalls. He has good footwork when switching legs. Jon was also getting some toe stalls on both feet, but his footwork was not as consistent. He did work his ass off to get it though. Jon got an ATW which was pretty impressive. I hope they keep playing with Dave while I'm out of the country.

I had a rough start cause my legs were hurting from yesterday. We played on my back deck and we shredded out to Tobacco. I warmed up eventually. I had a couple clipper>spinning>clipper. I attempted two in a row but I couldn't get a proper set. Butterfly's are now a part of my game now which is nice. They are feeling very comfortable even though my infinity is weak. Dave hit a clipper>spinning>whirl which I immediately tried. I got pretty close. I think my set wasn't straight enough and too high.

Highlight:
flipside ripwalk((((((WHAT!))))))

I finally understand the stepping set. My issue before was my footwork. I didn't have the quick two steps that are slightly staggered when landing. I worked on just that rhythm at first but my set was so low. But then Dave came in and told me to aim for the inside of my knee and bring my planted leg straight up then over. I was getting some sets that were at my sternum. And I immediately hit the flipside ripwalk. I was just hitting ripwalk on bothsides very easily (relative to before). I was so close to bsos but it was the end of the session and I was beat from working on the stepping. It's exciting now because there are a whole bunch of new moves I can try now. Which I will have to do Around The World(Get it?!) (Australia is on the otherside of the world).

[boyle]

Look forward to meeting and kicking. There are some players here. It's not an overly active scene, but there are people around.

[Derek]

You are good, and sweet stache.

[boats]

You will be missed Chris. It was awesome teaching you leading up to Australia. Hope you get really good while you are there. It sux for me cuz you def motivated me to play more often since you always wanted to play. Also, im headed to the off season (Winter), so im happy and jealous that you are still going to have nice weather in Australia.

Represent Long Island when you are there!

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Godspeed you, Chris Tristano. Keep posting in your blog. I hope you get really good while in Australia. You're well on your way, don't give up. Looking forward to shredding with you next year when you come back.

[christisgodlike]

Thanks Dudes!! I'll surprise you when I get back to the States.

Bronte Beach.

So that 14 hour flight right after the 5 hour flight was LONG. I didn't realize my ankles would swell up like that. Seriously everybody had cankles. Qantas had a good selection of movies so it wasn't so bad.

Bronte and Bondi = Fucking Beautiful

I played at Bronte Beach today. I moved around a lot. There was a lot of foot traffic. I played by the concession stand first. The floor was slanted a bit so I moved by the pool. That was better but still a lot of people walking around. I then moved by the water fountain in the park by the garbage pails. They had lids so it didn't smell.

My ankle was and still is hurting a little bit but I decided to kick through it. My strings were not long but I felt pretty good with what I was doing. My butterfly's were weak for some reason(I think my shorts were too long). I worked heavy on my clippers. My ducking clippers felt a lot better as did my spinning clippers. Landed a pixie>op mirage that felt pretty good.

Late in the session I started doing stepping sets. My legs were pretty tired so I didn't get to do much. But I landed a very clean stepping>LO. It felt nice cause I had a lot of extra time from the high stepping set. I also landed a couple ripwalks which felt nice. They weren't that consistent due to the longer shorts. Kept hitting them on the butterfly part.

Also osis on my weak side is feeling much better. Catching and setting it much better.

I'm excited to meet up with Daniel Boyle tomorrow. I wanna get some new ideas.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

So sick. Glad you made if safely Looking forward to highlights and footage with Dan!

[christisgodlike]

Bagged with Dan at the Newtown festival yesterday. The festival was crowded as hell so it was difficult to find a spot to play. We ended up playing on this patch of grass that got "less" foot traffic. I haven't played on grass before and the terrain was inconsistent. It was definitely difficult to get long strings in.

Mr. Boyle is nasty! I didn't get to go to ECFC so I didn't get to see that level of playing yet. Pretty much I'm a sucker for consecutive swirls/reverse swirls which he made look incredibly easy. Hopefully we get to play today. Either way I'll get a session in though.

Highlights from yesterday:

1 new move
clipper>spinning LO

I also did a swirl in a string for the first time.

[christisgodlike]

Bronte Beach-side

Had a long session on the Beach this morning. I would say a good session. My legs are terribly weak from walking uphill to get anywhere here.

highlights:

ripwalk BSOS (yeah baby!)
infinity 4x (PR) (not in video)
clipper>spinning LO (in string)

new trick:

double ATW flipside (in video) (almost BSOS) (first try)

I worked a lot on ducking today prior to filming. They are feeling a lot better. Im real close to B2B but i can't get a solid clipper after ducking. Also real close to paradon. I'll get that real soon.

Here's some footy I took. Tips, critiques...let me know what the deal is.

http://youtu.be/dO78_PEYPnQ

[Add Block]

- Do your Clipper like you do your Infinities. You have a good footwork on Infinity, but that double step between Clippers is not good.

- I'd say try Blur/Blizzard. It's probably the best trick to improve your Stepping set. It doesn't do much else, though it will fix my next point.

- Your Ripwalk are clean, but look a bit like Near DLO. I think it's better to treat Stepping simply as Stepping Far Butterfly (which it is) and just do it in two movements.

Your DATWs look good, you make them harder for yourself by dexing in a large radius around the bag, but I do that too and they look better that way I think.

[christisgodlike]

Add Block What I find most difficult about stepping is getting the second leg to the floor right after the first leg. That quick two step plant. I've noticed on the stepping LO I don't get my leg down fast enough on the stepping part (I think thats a bad habit from not properly learning stepping). It is better on the ripwalk (atleast on my strong side) but still needs to be quicker.

as for the DATW, I have only landed my strong maybe thrice and now my flip once(so not much experience). for some reason if I set it too high I flail my leg around it.

So single leg alternating clippers. Got it. And I will try blizzard/blur next time. Thanks for the feedback dude!

[boats]

hell yeah dude! ripwalkin it up. Thats sick that you got it bsos. Must feel good after trying to get it a bunch of times in America. Australia is doing good things for you. Loved the spinning legover. I think thats called mercon. Keep it up dude!

[boyle]

When do you head to Melbourne? There's a freestyle football guy, Jordan Morrison, who is keen to get into footbag.

[christisgodlike]

Dave: Thanks dude! Wouldn't be ripwalking without you. I was dreaming about the spinning LO for a couple days. Dan said I should try that day and it just happened.

Boyle: I'm getting on a plane Sunday for Melbourne. I am not exactly sure where we are staying but Monday I should be clear to play with him if possible.

Bronte Beach-side:

I wasn't going to play today cause my legs were sore from dancing at the bar last night (going buck-wild). I some how convinced myself to do a short session which I filmed most of. I found this location with this fake grass and it is much easier on the landing and also flat. I started doing a bunch of LO's which I got a 17 contact alternating run in the video. Not my PR but I wanted to document the quality of my LO's at this time.

Highlights:

5x alternating osis (PR) (previous was 3x)
-my weak side felt (right foot) felt so much better today. I was able to catch and slow down the bag much better. Much more control.
BLUR!! (yeah baby!!) strong, flipside, BSOS
-In the video it shows my very first blur, then my flipside blur, then later on I BSOS it and do a little string afterwards. I am definitely feeling more confident in my stepping set. But I did pretty much focus this whole session on stepping set.
clipper>ducking osis (woo!)
-this move feels awesome. I was trying a little bit the other day with Dan. I think I did it on my fifth try today then I ended my session.

here's the footy:
http://youtu.be/90VYU5R-xh8

[Add Block]

When I suggested Blur, I didn't know your first one would look better than most of mine.

Next time you try a Ripwalk, convince yourself that you're about to do Blur, and as soon as you set the bag, just bail to a Butterfly. This technique works on any shuffle tricks, as you automatically adjust the set height based on the trick. This is where our brains betray us, because Blur height Ripwalks look and feel better. (so do PLO height Smears, Toe Schmoe height Toe Blurs etc.)
The real challenge is to Blur from a Butterfly/Osis.

Good form on those Legovers as well, I knew that from before, because that Schmoe in the previous video looked solid.

[christisgodlike]

Add block: Thanks dude! I haven't been able to step set for the last two sessions since the last post.

So I'm in Melbourne now. It's pretty sweet. Definitely a different feel than Sydney. Less touristy.

I had a session yesterday which was my first in a couple days. I was dropping alot. My clippers are bitches unfortunately. Couldn't get over 9 in a row. I did land a

Drifter flipside

which was sweet. But thats about it.

Today I focused heavily on toe moves. Worked on my pixies a bit. Landed

pixie mirage flipside

Pixie's are feeling better.

I definitely need to work heavily on my fundamentals next session. I'm not too sure where to start though...I want to be able to go on longer runs.

[christisgodlike]

I've just discovered badges. I'm going to start with those tomorrow. I guess the level one stuff.

[christisgodlike]

Yo blog,

I found this sweet field to footbag in Princes park. The grass is super short and consistent. It is very forgiving on the body. I probably won't be able to hit up this park again cause I'm moving into this swanky apartment in Brunswick next week. I'll have to find a new place or a bike to get that park.

So today I started working on the Level 1 badge in attempt to improve my fundamentals. I cruised through them till I got to far clippers. I spent about 1 1/2 hours just on far clippers (so frustrating, yet rewarding). I had to get used to doing the single step instead of the two step that I was previously doing. I finally got the 8x which I believe is a PR. For some reason though when I do the single leg step my shins start hurting like crazy. I don't know if I'm doing it improperly(probably).

I have the footage of my progress so far and the flipside drifter from the other day. (I also can't count when I'm kicking so I over kicked alot of the requirements).

requirements completed:
toe kick x8
inside kick x8
same outside kick x6 BS
knee kick x6
mixed kicks x20, use all 4 kicks BS at least once.
toe stalls x8
inside stalls x8
same clipper x8 BS
far clipper x8

http://youtu.be/uiuWABVcFQk

I will be meeting up with this freestyle footballer Jordan tomorrow (thanks to Mr. Boyle for the hook up). Gonna kick a bit with them. Probably switch off between the ball and the bag. It's going to be refreshing to have some company. Kim (my girl) and I are also moving to a 'party' hostel tomorrow which I am pumped for. Gonna get crunked until we move into the apartment on Wednesday. YEAH BABY!!!

[Add Block]

Shins hurt from:

1) Landing on your heels instead of toes

2) Spending a lot of time on a trick/concept that you're not confident at

3) Improper form. In case of your clippers, I wouldn't be too worried, those clippers looked good

4) Not stretching or stretching, usually the first one for most people, but everyone is different.

5) Overtraining, god's anger, my calculus exam score and other random variables

6) For me, the biggest one is not warming up

I know you said they only hurt from one trick, but these might be useful to consider in the future.

Keep practicing clipper like you are, both same side and far, with that little hop in between. Too many players try to do SS clippers just by standing on their support leg not jumping with it. That exercise is evil.

For Drifters, you could check either Nick's blog, or the latest post in mine. There's almost too many things to focus on, but they will all slowly become automatic, and you'll always know what to improve next until you master them.