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Keep a diary of what you're hitting, what's frustrating you, and your goals.
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King Monkey
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Post by King Monkey » 27 Aug 2004 00:02

hey ken ur doing a wicked job with this blog, i really enjoy reading it. its great to get all this detail and thoughts about things going on and stuff, i love the in-depth reports like urs! keep it up!

just a question about ur last post, where u said about Vasek like trying a crazy move, getting a rebate, then hitting a long string.. ive seen this comment made by someone else... do you think its a negative thing? like is it disrespectful to the person who gave him the rebate? just curious to know what u think of it...
Ian Pritchard - http://www.ausfootbag.org

'People, just play Footbag and stop being dickheads!' - Michał Biarda

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Post by C-Fan » 27 Aug 2004 00:26

Hmm, interesting question. When I mentioned it in this blog, it was an observation with no judgment. I just remember Vasek often going for something nuts, people going `whoa!`, and then being a bit let down when he didn`t go for it again. For myself personally, if somebody tries something hard and I give them a rebate, they`re free to do whatever they want, unless I explicitly say something like: `try that again.` Whenever I receive a rebate, I often weigh in my head what I want to do. If I haven`t hit a run in my last couple turns, I will use the rebate to do a run, just so I stay warm in the circle. If my last couple turns I did runs or long runs, and I get a rebate missing a hard trick, I will often try the hard trick again (I was probably going for the hard trick because I didnt have the energy for a run).

Non-worlds entry:
Tomorrow I`m playing footbag with Yuko, one of the most promising Japanese players I`ve taught. She moved to Kyoto last year after graduating college, so I haven`t had many opportunities to play with her since. I`m stoked. I`m also going to meet some more shredders who live in my area, so that`s also real exciting. Today I thought about playing footbag, but I decided to play ping pong with my students instead. I guess that`s like cross-training...sort of. :?
Good fun in any case.

Anyway, thanks everybody for the kind words on my blog. It`s definitely a labor of love. :)

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Holy shit! 2086 views?!?!

Post by C-Fan » 29 Aug 2004 18:39

Man, great weekend. I got to play in my first shred circle since worlds, and I played with a bunch of people I hadn`t played with in a while.

So on Saturday I went to Morioka and played for 3 or 4 hours with Hearts, Kushy (only J-shredita at worlds), Yuko (best shredita in Japan), and Shin-chan. We`re on the cusp of fall here, so it felt good to have a nice outdoor session. 5 people was also juuuust right, in terms of feeling ready for each turn. Sometimes in Japan, if I`m playing in a 3 man circle, I get the bag back before I feel recovered from my last one.

It was a great session. Yuko has gotten a lot more consistent with her tiltless play (she rarely tilts), and I saw her hit both ripwalks and seal a couple drifters. pdx mirage has also smoothed out a lot. I used to teach her last year, but she moved for grad school, so it was a pleasant surprise to see her better than last time. She`s pretty close to both toe-torques as well. I`m so glad I ingrained flipsidedness into her training regime.

hearts hit flip mobius for the first time, and also smoothed out his game. Shin-chan hit his first eggbeaters ever, and hit toe dlo-butterfly-whirl, which was real cool.

I had a lot of fun during this session. I sealed a few vortices, but I only feel comfy making that the first trick in my string, and I still can`t play out of it with anything cool. Something to work on. I was probably most excited about hitting my first flipside gdlo. Since I always plant on my strong gdlo, it felt real cool to hit my flip w/o a plant. Like, it was my first `true` gyro DLO. I also was jazzed about starting a string with tapping dlo-darkwalk-fog-paradon swirl. I think I can tack on a `WHAT!?` (that weird swirling ps eggbeater thing I do) to it. hippy atom to hippy leg is also feeling real good, and looks to be getting consistent, which is cool. Mostly though, I just did long strings all day, which was lots of fun. Playing in a circle definitely motivates me to do longer strings. Oh, and I hit a matador at the end of a string without thinking about it, which really surprised me.

Really fun session, just real good to see everybody again, and to play in a circle again. Also motivates me to get my ass down to Tokyo to play while we can still play outside.

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Post by Adam » 31 Aug 2004 08:43

Hey Ken,

I am really enjoying your Worlds account. I haven't heard much from the other players who went so it is nice to hear about things in detail. Looking forward to more updates...
Adam Catt
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http://www.h2.dion.ne.jp/~kz.com

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More Worlds 2004

Post by C-Fan » 01 Sep 2004 20:24

Some more Tam-Tam notes: I see Eli hit blurry double pick up (blurrage bailed to other toe) which is nuts. Pretty much all week you couldn`t walk by a circle without seeing something ridiculously hard, creative, or both.

At the first Tam-tam I got to play with Caro for a bit, which was great. Unfortunately, the level of Shredita play seemed lower than last year, when it seemed you could hop into a high-level shredita circle whenever you wanted. I definitely felt like it was a rarer opportunity at this tourney. Anyway, Caro apologizes in advance for not busting, since she`s just `warming up.` Holy shit, her warm-up is bad ass! What struck me most was the combination of variety and control. Easily one of the top women out there. I also got to play with Claudia G. for the first time, which was cool. Maybe its just because so many shreditas in Japan learn the same tricks, but in my mind I still have this fixed idea of `tricks that girls do.` Stupid, I know. Claudia showed a lot of potential...I gave her some tips on tapping set, and it was cool to see how fast she picks stuff up.

One of the best parts of that first tam-tam was playing with Stan Sagalovskiy again. Stan was the only member of NYFA (who I knew when I lived there) who made it up to worlds, and it made me homesick in a good way shredding with him again. Stupid inside jokes like moving props (giving/receiving high-fives before you finish a run) or just random Simpsons/thats-what-she-said jokes brought me back to the scene that produced me, and just made me smile. It really highlighted to me what good friendships I`ve made through the sport. :cry:

The odd thing about my recollection of worlds, is that the days seem totally separate from the nights. I can remember a lot of my sessions real clearly, and some of my nights clearly ( :wink: ) but I can`t for the life of me put them together. Not that it matters really, but if I say I went out to pizza with you on Monday night and you arrived on Tuesday, don`t bother correcting me or anything.

So one of the first nights of the tourney, Stan, Pete Irish, and Team Japan all go out to dinner together. I order for everybody in my crappy-ass French, and we all enjoy a cheap, good meal together. Team Japan marvels how good the pizza is (Japanese pizza is crap), and Team Japan does a good job of making conversation with Pete and Stan, which makes me real proud. Later we hit Tim Horton`s (Canadian Dunkin Donuts) for my sake, and I eat a Maple-syrup glazed donut just because I`m in Canada.

I met a buttload of people off the forums, which was a funny experience, since a lot of them knew me before I even met them. I remember walking out of an elevator and having Tom Mosher yell at me: `dude! You`re Ken Somolinos!` in such an excited manner, that I initially thought he was being sarcastic, which I thought was kinda shitty. As I got to know him more through the week, I realized that he`s just a really enthusiastic guy, and that he was just excited to recognize me. :lol:

I also remember meeting the Toronto area crew, and recognizing all of their names from the forum (camille, andrew weglarz, etc) except for Jon.

Ken: `John? What`s your screen name?`
Jon: `Jon.`
Ken: `Hmmm.....nope, doesn`t ring any bells...`

Only after that interaction, did I realize that it was Jon from the forums! When I heard `Jon` I saw it in my head with an `h.` I felt really bad about this, because one time I made a joke on the forum and Jon took it personally, so now I figured he must think I`m an even BIGGER asshole. Oh well.

Monday:
I wake up on Monday feeling kinda sore from the day before, but pleasantly I don`t seem to be feeling the Jet lag very much. I go to Place-des-Arts with Team Japan, and after getting an Orange Julius, I sit down just to watch everybody. Predictably, that doesn`t last long, as I feel the itch to shred. What`s real notable about this tournament though, is its hard to find a circle where I can warm up comfortably. I normally like warming up with intermediates or beginners, because I can take my time warming up, and meet new people. At PDA though, every circle was big and full of people ready to spank my ass. I hop into a circle with John Mahood, Ianek, Charles (not demitri) from Paris, and Cole Hobson. Sure enough, they don`t show me much mercy. I see Mahood hit reverse swirling pick up, its my first time seeing this trick. Real cool. Ianek tries symp whirling reverse swirl, cause I keep bugging him to hit it. I actually warm up pretty quick, and have a lot of fun the rest of the day playing in a bunch of circles.

More on those circles later...

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Monday`s circles at Place des Arts

Post by C-Fan » 02 Sep 2004 19:50

As I mentioned earlier, I was surprised to find myself playing on Monday. By this point I finally felt over my cold which had bothered me leading up to worlds (that third batch of antibios finally did the trick), and I didn`t feel jetlag at all.

One of the best circles I played in that day was with Felix, Sebastien, and Mikko Lappisto. In this circle I saw Felix hit 4 double spinning clippers in a row! I also got my first up close look at the frantic set, thanks to Sebastien. I want to learn this set, but I lack a weak quantum (shocking, I know), and I think my weak pixie has too high a release. Something to think about. Mikko`s consistency has noticeably improved since last year, which is cool. He hits one of the best combos I see all day: blazing mirage to atomic whirl. I ask Felix to try triple spinning osis for me, and he`s frighteningly close. Windsor hops in this circle, takes 2 turns, and hops out. I ended up playing with Windsor a bunch of times on Monday, but always for real brief spurts, cause he kept hopping from circle to circle.

Later, I hopped into another Finnish circle. I recognized Jere Vainikka and Jere Linnanen, but I didn`t know who the third guy was. I say hey to the Jeres, and then hopefully ask the third Finn if his name is also Jere. I`m disappointed to learn that, sadly, no, his name isn`t Jere. I thought it would be cool to play in an all Jere circle. On the bright side, his name is Toni Paakonnen! I ask jere V to hit a mobius for me, because in my opinion he has one of the coolest looking Mobiuses in the world of footbag. Jere Linnannen has improved since last year too, his string length is consistently good, and he has maybe the best stepping sets I`ve ever seen (always clean, always high, looks real energy efficient too).

I decide I want to stop playing early, since it`s only Monday, and I want to pace myself during the week. I sit down with an Orange Julius and catch up a bit with Floyd Morgan, a bad-ass shredder from New Zealand who tragically was injured before worlds, and so was reduced to watching all week. Just as I start enjoying my rest, Tuukka pulls me away from my Orange Julius and drags me into another circle. One of my favorite sessions last year was a two man circle with tuukka, so I can`t refuse.

The circle is Tuukka, 15 yr old Juho Marjo (who I`m playing with for the first time), and Stan Sagalovskiy. I have fun, but I can`t totally relax because Tuukka is playing on a badly injured ankle. He shouldn`t be playing at all really, but he reassures me that he`s only going to do tricks which won`t piss off his foot. He busts pretty hard though, and I can`t help but cringe and hold my breath everytime he goes for a trick. Injury or not, he hits one of the best tricks I see all week: pixie dark side of the moon. Hell yeah! :) Juho is also real impressive. His body type reminds me of old Vasek videos, but his style has a bit of Felix thrown in too. He will definitely make BAP in the next 2 years.

A big crowd gathers to watch a Pete, Vasek, Caleb, Honza circle, but I decide that I can see that on video after worlds, whereas I couldn`t play with random guiltless people in Japan. I also know the Czechs are sticking around an extra week, the same as me, so I figure I can play with them after worlds anyway.

Windsor and I decide to hit the arcade and finally play Marvel vs. Capcom 2 against each other. Before going, Windsor asks Felix to hit as many pdx blenders in a row as he can on video. He puts in a couple attempts where he gets 6 or 7, but he says his record is 13. As we`re watching Felix`s circle of Finns play, I comment how strong Finland has become. Wicked makes the priceless comment that he doesn`t know what Finns to vote into BAP, because he doesn`t know which Finns are already in! 8O It strikes me funny that a posse can be so big, its own members don`t know each other.


Windsor and I make it to the arcade, and only when I step in do I realize something I should have thought about earlier. The MvC2 machines are set up in American-style cabinets, with American sticks and button layout!

Non-footbag aside: Japanese and American arcade machines have slightly different layouts. On American arcade machines, the buttons are spaced out farther apart than on Japanese machines, which makes doing combos harder if you are used to the other layout. The most significant difference however, is the kind of joystick used. The American style joystick is more durable, but less responsive, than its Japanese counterpart. This difference between US and Japanese hardware has caused problems at international Street Fighter tournaments where Japanese or US players are invited to the other country. While I grew up on the American layout, I had only played on the Japanese layout for the last 2 years!

Anyway, Wicked chooses Guile-Morrigan-Doom, with good assist choices for everybody. I pick Magneto-Storm-Tron, and use the `switch` trick, so Magneto will start the match with a frame advantage. The fights are fun, but the American sticks prevent me from executing any nice combos. My Magneto feels slow and clumsy, but he gets the job done. I win 4 in a row, and then some random dude in the arcade challenges me. I lose to him repeatedly, which is really frustrating, because he`s not that good, and I know I could take him if I had a Japanese set up. Whatever, the main thing was getting to play videogames with Wicked, which was fun. I like doing non-footbag things with footbaggers.

That night is the party at Zaz. I go there with Team Japan, which I`m glad about, because the entry fee could have been confusing for them (technically no entry fee, but they required a `tip` for entry). Once inside, its super packed (good) but also super loud (not so good.) I buy a pitcher of beer and drink with Ahren, Dexter, and some others for a bit. I talk in French with Ianek and Charles, and I`m real self-conscious, because if the French players think Montreal-French is ugly, I can only imagine what happens to their stomachs when they hear my French. :?
I move over to a table with East Coast net players, because it looks like one of the few places where conversation could be possible. I talk a good bit with Patrick Asswad (yes, I`ve heard all the jokes, and no, you aren`t funny), and I`m very impressed with his desire to win. At the time, Manu`s doubles partner is still a secret, but Patrick tells me its him. He then explains how he is so determined to win doubles, that he isn`t going to play any singles, even though he wants to. I admire that a lot; its like a freestyler going to worlds and only playing during the competition rounds, and not playing casually.

I leave Zaz with Team Japan, and we get some cheap pizza and go home. I love the idea of a party of footbaggers, but Zaz was too loud for any conversation. I get back to the UQAM, and see that Red is setting up his laptop in the lobby to show off his new shred vid, Fourkast. He cant hook it up to the TV, so a bunch of us (Justin, Red, a few others) gather round and watch sections of it. The video looks well put together, with nice music and some nice backgrounds too. Lon`s section has a real cool run start with blurry reverse whirl, stepping reverse whirl repeat, and then a bunch of reverse whirling tricks. Fourkast is kind of bittersweet though, because seeing such good Lon and Ricky footage only highlights the absence of their shred at Worlds. At one point during Justin`s section, Red observes to Justin: `you do a lot of sealing on this tape.` To which I offhandedly rejoinder: `I`m a big sealing fan.` 8)

I go to bed happy, and in disbelief that only 2 days of Worlds have gone by.
Last edited by C-Fan on 09 Sep 2004 18:21, edited 1 time in total.

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why is there no edit button in the blogs?

Post by C-Fan » 02 Sep 2004 19:52

Thank you for putting an edit button in the blogs! Yay revising! :D
Last edited by C-Fan on 09 Sep 2004 18:22, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by HackyRichard » 02 Sep 2004 21:29

Um that was my laptop we were using that night Ken, minor detail :P. I'd kinda planned on borrowing Evan's cable to hook up the tv but I couldn't find him at that point in the night, so we all got to endure wonderful laptop speaker sound instead ... fun :lol:

Tinny speakers aside, FourKast is definitely a kick ass vid, extra props for being the first footbag dvd that didn't crap out during playback on my laptop ... can't wait for the menu-ed version to be released, that's a definite purchase for me ... Big thanks to Red for the extended preview, not that the internet trailer didn't already have me sold anyway, just helped seal the deal :D

Sorry for the partial hijack there Ken, can't wait for the next chapter of worlds happenings, have you ever thought about being a writer of some description? You definitely tell a great story that's for sure :)
Richard Pearce

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Re: More Worlds 2004

Post by Posi-Cole » 05 Sep 2004 18:45

C-Fan wrote: At PDA though, every circle was big and full of people ready to spank my ass. I hop into a circle with John Mahood, Ianek, Charles (not demitri) from Paris, and Cole Hobson.
Although I sure didn't spank your ass, it was still cool to be mentioned in this blog. I remember that circle, it was a lot of fun, as were most of the circles I was in with you during the week. You were definitely one of the nicest people I got the privilege to meet during the week, and I definitely hope I get to shred with you again sometime in the future.
Cole Hobson

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Tuesday

Post by C-Fan » 06 Sep 2004 16:41

Hey Cole, thanks for the kind words. Definitely lots of fun playing with you too.

Tuesday morning (I think...) I go get breakfast with Tu and Red at a place called Chez Coras. After living in Japan so long, its a real nice change to get real good vegetarian food. It`s also nice to sit down and eat a real meal. While 99 cent pizza and snack-y fast food can be a fun way to save money at a tournament, I`m also real aware that I want to keep my body well-fueled and healthy since I`m at a tournament. I hadn`t seen Red since I lived in Denver a couple summers ago, and I hadnt seen Tu since Prague, so its a lot of fun catching up. We talk a lot about music and movies, and I definitely feel a little out of the loop, having been out of touch with US culture for so long. It feels real good to have good, non-footbag conversation at a footbag tourney.

At place des arts my plan is to hop into a small freestyle circle juuuuust long enough to warm up, and then go off and practice my routine with Tu, and call it an early day. I see GF and Bevier kinda milling about, so I ask if they want to warm up in a circle with me, kinda laid-back style. Brad Nelson joins us shortly, and from the start its already not a `warm-up` circle. Scott and GF go long with each touch, so I say `fuck it` and play like I`m in a shred circle. Almost from the second the circle formed, 3 or 4 camera start rolling filming us. During the entire week of worlds, only ONCE did anybody ask me if it was OK to film (God bless you Brad Nelson). Some good stuff goes down in the circle. GF hits spinning ducking didit (double knee kick), which gets major props from me. On a rebate, Brad Nelson seals blazing torque :twisted: Scott does some long, creative combos. I do my usual stuff, but my runs are a little short. I`m happy to hit a boulderbeater and a blurry grifter.

Eventually Brad Nelson steps out, and Jorden Moir takes his place. I had heard about Jorden the night before. Stan, Dave Clavens, Jon Schneider and I were playing an interminable game of scrabble, and Dave kept popping out of the room when it wasnt his turn (cause the game moved slower than molasses). He came back at one point, and informed us that Jorden had just arrived and was busting huge outside. Dave wisely quit the game to go watch. Aaaaaaanyway. It was my first time getting to see Jorden play, and I was very very impressed by his consistency, smoothness, and difficulty. He has the best-looking grifters I`ve ever seen, and he throws in random things like double blender out of nowhere. I start to enjoy the circle more once Dexter puts his stereo near us (dexter always has the most kick-ass music).

I eventually bow out, and go practice my routine. Since theres only one stereo, Tu and I would alternate doing routines, and during his routine, Id stay warm by messing around in a circle with Johnny Murphy and Scott B. I see Johnny Murphy hit 9 matadors in a row like nothing. My routine practice goes really well, which makes me feel really confident about the next day. Verena comes over to use the stereo as well, and I see her play for the first time, and am very impressed. Later, when I`d see her REALLY play (ie, not just practicing routines) I`d be even more impressed.

Gotta hop off the computer, but hopefully I`ll get this worlds blog finished eventually. :)
Last edited by C-Fan on 09 Sep 2004 17:46, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Tuesday

Post by hacksterbator » 06 Sep 2004 22:10

C-Fan wrote: During the entire week of worlds, only ONCE did anybody ask me if it was OK to film (God bless you Brad Nelson).
hey ken, i'm loving the fact that i can relive my worlds experience through you blog, but i think that sould read "only twice did any body ask me if it was okay to film (god bless you brad nelson and andrew grant)". i asked every circle i filmed if it would be alright. alright, fine, i'll be honest. i wanna get mentioned in the blog too... :oops:
A.G.

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Post by C-Fan » 08 Sep 2004 16:47

Yeah....now that I think about, I think Andrew did ask me if he could film... I`ll get to that session soon enough in my blog. Work has been real busy until today, but today I should be able to write a lot.

But before moving on to worlds blogging, I want to write a bit about my session yesterday.

I hadn`t played footbag in about 10 days, and hadnt touched a footbag in a week, so yesterday after work I figured I really should go scratch that itch. It was rather windy out, since lately Japan has been battered by typhoons (over 20 dead, about that amount missing), and just that day we had been inundated with rains. Figured I was obliged to take advantage of any shreddable weather, even if it wasn`t ideal.

As usual, I started off the session with certain ideas of what I wanted to hit/work on, and within a few minutes found myself working on other things. I decided to practice my nuclear sets. I had started doing nuclear a bit in the months before worlds, but decided to focus and concentrate on making my standard game more consistent for the tourney. Now that worlds is over, I`ve been toying with a bunch of weird/new stuff. I was real happy to find my nuclear sets better than expected, and promptly managed to hit barfry and paradox tap both for the first time, and both on both sides! Woot! I also hit my strong GDLO without a plant for the first time (I used to always plant on that GDLO). I also managed to hit XXXXXX XXX and XXXXXX paradox XXXXXX for the first time too!* I can`t remember the last time I hit 7 new tricks in a session. Indeed, I don`t know if I`ve ever done that before.

I just really love the fact that I`ve been playing for over 7 years, and I`m still hitting new tricks and having so much fun. Its hard to imagine another sport where you can do that.

*check out the Secret BAP Forum for details. :wink:

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Competition starts

Post by C-Fan » 08 Sep 2004 17:55

Wednesday finally arrives, and with it, first round of freestyle. The night before I finally got to sleep in a bed by myself. The first couple nights I shared a bed with Henmo, but since competition was starting, I got a single. I wake up a little late and go get some good pannini to take to the site with me. Its real nice out, I feel well-rested, my legs don`t hurt, and I`m rocking on with my walkman on the way to the site. I get a bit confused with the buses, but I eventually get on the right one and run into Jere V, Juho M, Jere L and I think Mikko. Jere L and Juho seem a little nervous/antsy and rightfully so: they are in the pool of death.

The night before I had checked the pools, and was relieved to see that my pool didn`t look so bad, and I had the 2nd seed, which made things easier. The last pool of competitors looked the worst. At first I thought there was some mistake, since the last seed in the pool was Dexter, and Dexter does really good routines. No typo though. Dexter, Nate Linscott, Scott Davidson, Ales, Jere L, Juho, Johnny Murphy, and Andrew Coleman. Ugly, scary pool.

I get to the Rialto and from the outside I`m impressed. It looks like a 1920s movie theatre, complete with the old-school ticket window. Very stylish. When i get inside however, I think there is something wrong. The place is about as badly lit as a bar, so I assume there are technical difficulties. I walk in and find Team Japan and sit with them. Unfortunately, I had to miss Yusuke`s routine because it was so early in the morning, and I knew I needed my sleep since I was in a late pool. The night before I told him he had to make finals, so I could get another opportunity to see him. Not one to let me down, everybody tells me he did a really good routine, and sure enough, he makes intermediate finals. Go Japan!

The intermediate routines are fun to watch, but the music is played on a boombox ( 8O ), and a couple times peoples CDs skip or stop. That combined with the light and the pressure make me worry about Masa`s routine, but when its his turn he steps up and does well. We wave the Japanese flag before and after he finishes, and I think he has a good shot at finals.

I cheer really hard for every Japanese competitor, so by the time intermediate routines finish, I feel emotionally spent. I see Dave Clavens compete, and he does an incredibly hard routine. I think about a thread Bob Riefer started online once, about whether tournament organizers should have the right to deny open-level players from intermediate comp. I heard Kovacs routine was also really good, but I didn`t see it. Later, after judging and watching some of the Open pools, I feel rather certain that Dave would have made semis had he competed Open.

One other thing I noticed was that intermediates seemed to have chosen better music than the Open players. Somebody does a routine to `circles` by Soul Coughing, and another does a routine to `Apache` by FBS.

While the lighting and the use of a boombox have me worried about how the tournament is running, the tournament runs completely on schedule, which is a very praise-worthy achievement. The computerized tabulation of scores also runs very smoothly.

Sometime during intermediate routines, I spot Brian MacKenzie in the darkness. As I get closer, it sure enough turns out to be him. I hadn`t seen Brian since 2001 Westerns, when we went to see Mexican wrestling with Tu Vu in SF. We were hardly at that tournament, but we had lots of fun checking out Haight Ashbury street and getting burritos in the mission district. Good times. I go say hey, meet his cool girlfriend laura, and catch up a bit. In a stroke of shitty luck, he tells me he can`t play at all, since he twisted his ankle on a pdx mirage a couple weeks before the tournament! Paradox mirage! :x

Shred 30 starts, and unfortunately its run in the same space where intermediate routines are held. I try and roll with the situation, staying mentally calm, and finding somebody with a more visible bag than mine. I warm up for shred in a circle with Derek Vandall and Andrew Grant, partially because his revolution bag is half yellow (and therefore more visible than my bag) and partially because Vandall`s laid-back nature has a calming effect on me. I stay warm and my practice combos go OK, but I feel like the visibility forces me to think extra hard about each trick, instead of relaxing and going automatic.

When my name is called I step into the area and wait a few seconds to let my eyes adjust. I face Team Japan because I like the familiarity, and hope to tap into the groove I had at TSG2. My Shred30 goes OK, but I drop a couple times, and stray from my scripted combo. This hurts my unique count I`m sure. When all is said and done, I feel OK with my shred, but not overjoyed. I know they only take the top 10 for the finals, and I know if I had hit my planned shred, I would have made it. My shred is good enough that they bothered to count it (they only bother calculating the shreds which look like they are top 20).

Afterwards I`m glad my mental game carried me through, but I`m truthfully also a little bit bitter. I had practiced my Shred 30 for a few months, and had gotten it to the point where I could do it with one drop, or no drops. At TSG2 I hit it dropless and broke 200 points. Unfortunately, I had always practiced it with thes same bag, and I always practiced it outside, in the sunlight, because I figured that the tournament would be held in a gym, or someplace lit.

Now, I realize footbag is a young sport, and there`s no money in it. But is it really asking too much to have competition in a gym or a well-lit room? Seriously, I travelled halfway around the world, practiced for several months, and spent a lot of money and vacation days to come and compete; and I`m supposed to compete in a bar? I know the Worlds organizers tried hard, and several of them are close friends of mine, and they got a lot of unwarranted criticism, but I honestly felt the tournament site was unacceptable. How hard is it to get a well-lit room to run shred in? Even outdoors would have been better.

Regardless, I try and clear my mind so I can compete well in later events. I try and look at my Shred30 in a positive light, and congratulate myself on not choking, and doing the best I could in the situation.

More later.
Last edited by C-Fan on 08 Sep 2004 21:08, edited 2 times in total.

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More Wednesday Comp

Post by C-Fan » 08 Sep 2004 18:22

Women`s Shred 30 turns out to be fun to watch. I`m rooting for Caro because she played so well at Tam Tam, but unfortunately she has a bad shred and looks out of contention. Verena does an incredible shred 30. I had only seen her play once before, but that was when she was skooling routines. Shred 30 was completely different, with reverse swirls, symp whirls, and lots of other hard tricks all over the place. Carol goes afterwards with the top seed, and throws down a lot of variety; torques, pdx drifters. She does a few toe stalls though, which must bring down her average by a lot, so when she finishes nobody`s entirely sure who won (Carol won). That`s cool though that there was a good fight for the top spot.

I judge the first 2 pools of competition, but recuse myself from the third. In the third pool, Henmo is competing. He`s the only Japanese player competing in Open, and since I`m rooting for him so much, I don`t think I can be a fair judge. It doesnt take me much time to find a competent substitute (Penske) to sit in for me. Throughout the tournament, I see lots of players judging their friends or wives, and when I see the scores, it sometimes is incredibly apparent where a conflict of interest results in a higher score. In one case, I see one of the judges taking flash photography of his friends, who are competing in doubles. The tournament organizers asked the audience not to take flash photography, and one of the JUDGES is doing it? 8O Seriously, what the fuck? How is that fair judging? I think that in future tournaments, we should do Olympic style scoring, where the highest and lowest scores from the judges table aren`t counted. This would motivate judges to be fairer, because it would increase the chances of their score being counted (and averaged).

It might also be helpful to run a judging clinic ahead of time, or to ask for qualified judging volunteers. While judges aren`t supposed to talk to each other, one time I asked a judge sitting near me what he thought of the previous routine`s variety. The judge is a very good freestyler, but had never judged at worlds before. His answer went something like this: `I thought he had very good variety. He did both atomics, both dods, he did one pixie, and both stepping sets.` :?

Just as I feared, several judges thought `variety` meant variety of shred moves. If I asked you about the variety in somebody`s Shred30, that would be a fine answer. But `variety` in a routine includes not just variety of shred, but also pauses, flyers, unusual surfaces, use of playing area, and creative choreography. Throughout the tournament I thought the judging was exceedingly poor. I will explain this and illustrate it even more when I get to the finals night.

One positive note however, before I sound like the old man I am: there was free water and snacks for the judges at the judging table, which I thought was an extremely considerate and nice gesture. Judges give up their time (at a footbag tournament no less!) for free, and its good to get a bit of appreciation.

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How many pages is the bible? You`re going down motherf*er!

Post by C-Fan » 08 Sep 2004 21:07

Thankfully, pro routines are moved to the stage area, which has a proper sound system and is much better lit. Unfortunately, the stage is the only lit up area in the building, so if you want to practice your routine, you have to do it in the dark pit area where Shred30 was held, or practice outside. I opt for outside.

Derek Vandall, John Mahood, and Kevin Regamey all take shifts keeping me warm by staying in the same circle as me. We play outside the theater on the sidewalk, and I just practice combos I intend to do in my routine. It annoys me that I have to practice on the street... isnt this World Championships? But I`m feeling pretty good about my combos. At some point Brad Kaplan comes out to see me warming up. Because the sound system (boombox) cut out a few times for intermediate routines, I have prepared a contingency plan in case my music gets screwed up during my routine, and I show the contingency plan to Brad and co. It pretty much consists of me humming the `getting stronger` theme from Rocky, while doing tricks. :) It`s pretty funny really, I should try and get that on video.

Finally, my name is called, and I go up on stage. The music I`ve chose to use is `Under Pressure` by Queen and David Bowie. When the bassline kicks in at the beginning, people in the crowd start laughing, because they think I`m using `Ice ice baby` by Vanilla Ice. My routine starts off pretty strong, but then in the middle I suffer through a nightmare sequence where I drop 5 or 6 times in succession. I don`t even feel like I`m choking, its just that the bag starts being uncooperative. :evil: I recover with a good flier string, and finish off with a couple fives for a good finish. I leave the stage feeling crushed. I really expected to do much better.

I had hoped to make it to finals this year, and in order to do so, I understood the importance of doing well in prelims. If I could take 1st or 2nd in prelims, then I would have an easier semis pool, and have a better shot at finals. Instead, I had a drop heavy routine, and after GF does an incredible routine to Usher`s `yeah!` song, I know I will be lucky to get 3rd in my pool. Despite my disappointment in myself, the thing that really gets me down is I feel like I somehow let down Team Japan. All day they had done so well and tried so hard, competing to their utmost potential, and meanwhile their mentor drops 6 times in his prelim.

Stan Sagalovskiy and Brad Kaplan give me pep-talks, which is what friends are for, and eventually I put the day in perspective and feel better. What ultimately puts things in perspective for me is what happens an hour later in the final pool. I watch the routines of the pool of death, and after seeing Scott D, Andrew Coleman, and Nate Linscott cut, I realize how lucky I am to not just advance to the semis, but to go into semis with a 3rd seed. Things could DEFINITELY have been a lot worse. I decide to view my experience that day as a lot of good routine practice, and a warm up for the next day, where I had the chance to redeem myself, and depending on the pool I got, maybe even make finals.

Some quick observations about routines I saw that day: I was honestly more than a little troubled by the amount of people doing Shred 2:00 instead of routines. Shred 30 is a great event, but routines has its own merits, and personally I think its a shame that unqualified judges are rewarding Shred 2:00 to the extent they are. The pool of Death showed that the seeding system needs to be reformed, but it also highlights the bigger problem of how judging is executed. I think Ales won that pool, and he had 6 drops. Nate Linscott only had one drop, and not only did he not make semis, but he took dead last in his pool. That`s just a travesty. The routine I saw with ther most potential was Yacine`s. Although he didn`t hit it, it was obviously well-choreographed, which was a true rarity that day. Vasek`s routine was very controlled and only had one drop, on the final trick: symposium flurry. I was rather surprised to see him drop that trick, since he had hit it so easily all tournament.

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Wednesday night/Thursday morning

Post by C-Fan » 08 Sep 2004 22:12

Finally things wrap up at the Rialto, and I decide to go hang out with my friend Mickey Mayer to unwind. Mickey is an old footbag friend who went to worlds 2000 with me, and who I made a couple footbag videos with back in the day (shred alert/feets of fury). Since he lives in Montreal, he gives me a ride to his place where I post a worlds update on my beloved blog, shower, watch my section on Sick 03 for the first time, eat some food, and.......REALIZE I FORGOT MY FUCKING LAVERS AT THE RIALTO! 8O 8O 8O 8O

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah! 8O Not only that, but in the same bag is my beloved Team Japan shirt, as well as the CD with my routine music! What`s even more unbelievable, is that last year in Prague I also (temporarily) lost my lavers and music the day before semis. There`s a lesson to be learned here somewhere... I phone the worlds cellphone (another thing the tourney organizers should be highly commended for) and Yax tells me that they found a pair of lavers at the Rialto, and I can check the lost and found the next day to see if they are mine. That somewhat relieves me, even though theres no guarantee that those are my lavers. In any case, I adopt the attitude that there`s nothing I can do but wait til the Rialto opens the next day at 6 pm.

Mickey and I go pick up his girlfriend, and go drive out to the artificial island `Ile de Ste Helene.` This is where the fireworks competition is held every year. Tonight is the last night of the fireworks competition, and even though I had caught a glimpse of it from the plane on my way into town, I wanted to see them from the ground up this time. I`m pretty emotionally and physically drained from the day (rooting for Team Japan, competing, doing badly in comp, judging, and losing my lavers) so I get Mickey`s girl to give me a piggy-back ride to the site. Hey, being 56 kg pays off some times! :D

Lying down on a blanket in the grass and watching colored flames fill the sky does indeed prove to be relaxing. As I feel the impact of the exploding `works through the air, and see the cascading licks of flame flicker out, I reflect on my day, and put it in perspective: I practiced routines, and I have a chance to redeem myself tomorrow. Beyond that, I`m also on vacation and watching fireworks with an old friend in a cool town.

I feel a lot better. :)

After fireworks, I go to Le Foufounes Electriques, a pretty fun bar on Ste. Catherine. Competition doesnt start til real late the next day, and I really feel like I NEED to let off steam, so I have fun dancing and drinking. I`m amazed by how cheap beer/ club admission is in Montreal compared to Japan, so I buy lots of footbaggers beers. I buy Fred a beer for making me look good on Sick 03, no easy feat :wink: I buy Ricky and Noah beers for no reason at all. Brad Nelson is wearing the same footbag shirt as me and we make fun of each other because of it (dude, no way are you going to get any girls wearing THAT!) I go dance on the stage, which gives me a great view of all these footbaggers rocking out on the dancefloor. Competition was rough that day for sure, but there`s no escaping that Worlds kicks ass, and I`m loving being smack in the middle of it.
Last edited by C-Fan on 09 Sep 2004 23:09, edited 1 time in total.

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Thursday

Post by C-Fan » 09 Sep 2004 17:04

I wake up...whuh? OK.... I`m on a staircase...
:?

Right.... OK, this is Jon S/Alex Strassman/Jersey crew`s Multi 8. How did I get here?

I slowly, vaguely remember finishing off the previous night playing Scrabble with Stan, Brian MacKenzie, Lisa from Michigan, and somebody else (maybe myself?). At some point between turns, I went to the stairs to lie down and `rest my eyes.` D`oh! :x

I make my way back to my own room, which isn`t as far away as it seemed the night before (2 flights up). I sleep a few more hours, then go down to the lobby to see what`s going on. Not much. I go get an Orange Julius, some baklava, and a shish taouk sandwich and come back, and sure enough there`s a circle of young whipper-snappers already playing. I sit down and watch them as I eat my sandwich. Jorden Moir, Dave Clavens, Juan, Reile, Andrew Grant as best as I can recall.

Jorden Moir does a solo show which is really entertaining for me. I ask him to explain his tricks in slow motion, then show them to me, and I still don`t understand the slicing set, except that I know it`s cool. When Jorden leaves I yell out: `OK, somebody else come entertain me with shred!` and Johnny Murphy graciously steps up. He hits triple atw for me, as well as a swirling dlo. Phat. 8O

I hop into the Reile/Juan/Grant/Nate Linscott circle, but I don`t have my lavers (see last post) so I can`t really do anything. Johnny Murphy is sitting out, so I ask to borrow his shoes. A few years back, I sent him his first pair of Lavers through the mail, so playing at worlds in HIS shoes feels like coming full circle. I was also real stoked to use the, since he had the coolest looking lavers at worlds. He had painted the sides black, and on top of that he had drawn the New Zealand fern leaf in white. Super stylish. Armed with Johnny`s cool lavers and baggy shorts, I jump in and fuck around a bit. After a couple touches of the bag, Dave Clavens observes: `those aren`t your footbag shorts right?` and in a concerned, hopeful tone: `I mean, you don`t normally play in those, right?` I reassure him that no, no I don`t usually play in clown pants. :lol:

The circle is fun. It`s my first time playing with Reile, and he gives off a good circle vibe and hits some really creative tricks. It`s my first time playing with Juan as well, which I`m real excited about since I`m a big fan of his style. I keep bugging him all week to hit mobius to big apple, and he puts in a few real close attempts. I don`t remember too much else about this session, except that I had a lot of fun, and I kept burping my shish taouk. I also remember somebody suggesting Dave`s nickname be David `the cleaver` Clavens, which we all thought was hilariously bad. I call Dave `the Cleaver!` all week, cause he`s got a good sense of humor, and I like to give him crap. At some point Nate Linscott joins the circle, and just dominates with consistently long runs. His zulu clippers are just oozing with style. I give him props a couple times, but then switch to `foot-fives` since his high-fives totally slimed me with sweat. :?

Eventually Johnny leaves, so I give him his shoes back. I start up a 4-square circle and play with a real large group of people. It`s a lot of fun, and I really enjoy doing trippy serves. We vote in some good rules too, like `make an animal noise when you kick` rule. I run up a nice lead, but then Team Japan shows up, and we all go to the Rialto.

When we get in, I`m real happy to immediately find my lavers/shirt/music in the lost and found. I grab my gear and go cheer my boys in intermediate finals. I`m really stoked that Masa and Yusuke are in intermediate finals, and Team Japan and I really cheer them on. Yusuke messes up a lot, which is unfortunate, because he can do a really good routine. He ends up taking fifth. Masa does a pretty good routine, and takes 3rd. The Cleaver takes first with a 2 drop, hard routine, and Crisco takes 2nd. I understand that Dave and Chris hadn`t competed before worlds, so in that respect I can understand why they competed intermediate, but their level of play was significantly higher than the other competitors in intermediate. I congratulate them on doing good routines, and look forward to competing with them in Open next year. Still, I tell Masa and Yusuke that in my opinion, they are the 1st and 3rd best intermediate players in the world, since Dave and Chris are really Open-level competitors in my opinion.

Like Wednesday, I decide to warm up and practice outside, with other stylers helping to keep me warm. I feel pretty focussed, and more excited (at the prospect of redemption) than nervous. When my turn is called, I go up, and do a better routine than the day before. I still have too many drops (4), but I hit my choreography. :) Only later, after talking to my judges, would I realize how little choreography matters. :( I watch the last two competitors in my pool. Dylan Fry does a 2 drop routine with high difficulty, easily winning our pool. Ales goes last, and has a real hard routine, but he drops 6 times, all towards the end. He also has almost no choreography. I don`t let my hopes get up too high, but I wonder if I have a chance of sneaking into the finals, based on drops and choreography. I check back 10 minutes later, and see that I got ranked 4th in my pool. Dylan, Ales, Mikko, me. Granted, I didn`t get to see Mikko`s routine, so I can`t say anything about that. But I was rather shocked to come in 4th in my pool. Later, one of the judges told me he would have ranked me in 3rd, but some of my ripwalks were `the.` While execution of tricks is important, I am amazed that a few `the` ripwalks can drop me down an entire slot in the rankings.
Last edited by C-Fan on 09 Sep 2004 17:42, edited 2 times in total.

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Post by jon » 09 Sep 2004 17:20

Hey Ken just reading some of your blog for the first time, I dont have a chance to read it all now because I am at work but I noticed I was mentioned in one of the posts. Dont worry I dont think your an ass or anything of the type. I remember back when I took one of your comments the wrong way but I see I was just being dumb and have not worried about it since. It understandable that you didnt remember me at first since there are so many people on this board and I had lots of other people at worlds ask me my modified name and when I said jon they had no idea who I was, so dont worry. Maybe I will see you at another tourney if I ever get out to another one and we can have a beer and good laugh about it, tell then peace and good shredding.
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Well, at least the pressure is off me now.

Post by C-Fan » 09 Sep 2004 17:36

I`m pretty unhappy about the last round, not so much because I won`t make finals, but rather because I felt the judging was crap. Even had I had fewer drops, I`m pretty sure the judges would reward 2 minutes of ripwalks with a higher score. When I was at the judging table, after each routine all the judges were informed of how many drops the routine had, as well as how many adds and add ration. Now, drops I can understand, but add ratio? Why does add ratio matter? As a judge, I simply ignore that information. Why? Because if somebody does right head stall-left head stall- chest stall-lap catch completely on the beat, he has to go fearless for a few contacts if he wants his `add-ratio` to rival the next guy, who does ripwalk-ripwalk-blur off the beat. By giving any sort of importance to add-ratio, you inherently discourage unusual surfaces, fliers, and choreography (why do a choreographed pause? if you do 3 butterflies in the same amount of time, you get a higher add count).

I personally think routines have a lot of potential, and are a great way to show off the sport. This year`s judging however, severely discouraged routines in favor of unchoreographed, drop-heavy Shred 2:00. What can be done to change this? That`s the topic of another thread. But for the purposes of this blog`s story, I wanted to explain why I felt pissed for travelling so far to Worlds only to compete in a different event (shred 2:00) than I had prepared for (routines).

Sebastien comes up and reminds me that I don`t have time to work out my frustration, since I`m the add-counter for the next pool. I go up on stage and add-count for my first time ever. It`s kinda challenging, and I do well up until GF does some tricks using 2 bags, which throws me off. Since there was no add-counting clinic, I was just winging it, but I soon got the hang of it. The results continue to roll in, and the crowd audibly gasps when GF doesn`t make finals for the first time in....what, 14 years? Yacine makes the announcement, and people applaud GF for his incredible streak. Pete Irish rushes onstage, and tells Yacine: `I don`t know if I made the cut for finals this year, but if I do, then I tie GFs record.` Pete had just done a real good routine, and it was rather obvious he`d make finals, but I give him pause when I tell him: `I dunno Pete, I add-counted your routine, and I doubt you`ll make finals with only 41 adds.` That stops him for a second, but he soon remembers who he`s talking to, and grins.

There`s a big overhead projector which projects the computer-screen results onto a big screen on stage for everybody to see. Occasionally, Eli or Yacine make announcements to the crowd, and their heads cast shadows on the bottom of the screen. Each time this happens, I stick my hand in front of the projector and shadow-puppet a dog eating Eli`s silhouetted head. :) I don`t think Eli or Yax catch on.

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Re: Well, at least the pressure is off me now.

Post by shreddaily » 09 Sep 2004 20:59

C-Fan wrote: This year`s judging however, severely discouraged routines in favor of unchoreographed, drop-heavy Shred 2:00. .
Amen brother

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