How to prepare a STP

ianek · Post by **ianek** » 09 Jul 2008 03:47

We had the first ever STP competition at Euros. Everything went very well considering it was short notice.

Here are the finals result:
1-Vasek Klouda
2-Milan Benda
3-Sergey Kozlov
4-Sebastien Duchesne
5-Wiktor Debski
6-Damian Gielnicki

I wrote an explanation text to help players built an STP. Euros players read the text about 1 hour before competition starts and still did great performances. I know we are 1 month before Worlds and it's not much time to get prepared, but i'm sure many of you can still built and perform an amazing STP.

Here is the explanation text:

===========================================

STP explanation & tips

Why no background music?:
Mostly to be fair for all players. Ex: some players might not like the style of music, the end of a song in middle of a run can disturb some players, the music can influence judges. Also, it makes the crowd understand that music have nothing to do with the performance/judging.

2 rounds, 30 & 45 sec:
Players donâ€™t need to prepare 2 different STP. Players can create a 45 seconds STP showcasing the extent of their skill and condense it for the 30 seconds round.

VARIETY: Doing many different things.

Varied moves:
Itâ€™s a variety of element mixture done between 2 contacts. Using the same element in many different moves will lower the score.

Varied links:
Itâ€™s a variety of downtime to uptime elements. Repeating the same downtime to uptime element will lower the score.

Balance between front & cross contact:
(front = toe, in, etc. Cross = clipper, dragon, flapper, etc.)
It doesnâ€™t need to be 50% each. Itâ€™s about proving that both sides can be used. It should not be obvious that a player is much more comfortable with front or cross contact.

Both sidedness:
Itâ€™s using similar elements both sides. It doesnâ€™t need to be 50% each side. Itâ€™s about proving that both sides can be used.

DIFFICULTY:

Difficult moves & links :
Movement which involve: unusual position, pivot, precise dex, lost sight of bag, speed, strenght, precise set, good timing, etc.

Long string:
Linking many moves together.

Density:
Doing many difficult moves and/or links one after another.

EXECUTION:

Clean dexes:
A clean dex is between the knee and ankle. Thin dex is usually between ankle and toes, which is not the best execution but still a dex. A missed dex is when no part of the leg goes around the bag. Ducks can be seen as a neck dex, so they can also be clean, thin or miss.

Good bag control:
The player controls the bag at all times. It means a player doesnâ€™t need to â€œrescueâ€

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 09 Jul 2008 07:00

I'm curious, was the event fun to watch and fun to participate in? I ask because I still don't really get the point of the event entirely, but if it's a crowd pleaser and the participants enjoyed it a lot, that's enough proof of concept for me.

Anz · Post by **Anz** » 09 Jul 2008 07:49

I had fun judging it.

I'm SO the biggest fan of STP now

Think that it needs some music though.

jon · Post by **jon** » 09 Jul 2008 07:59

Would like to see some video. Sounds overly complex for what it is. I will probably take back that statement after I see a few videos.

ville · Post by **ville** » 09 Jul 2008 08:21

I watched the 2nd round and I found it a bit difficult to approach as an spectator if you don't know the rules and so on. I didn't have time to study the system before, so I didn't really know when players were doing good and when not apart from drops and big tricks. And the lack of music made it feel a bit weird. My point is that this might not be that easily approachable for non-footbagger audiences. I myself plan on reading the description of the event in detail before worlds to enjoy it better.

Anz · Post by **Anz** » 09 Jul 2008 08:33

I'd say that in general STP is about short planned series of runs which you use to show your trick selection, technique, form and trick linking skills. If you want to win, you need to show that you have no weak spots in your game and your style is flawless.

Like dropping and bailing is bad, but not THAT bad as in Shred30.

You can repeat moves without it being a bad thing. For example use of BOPs or Guilts to separate themes from each other.

I see that large trick selection with hard unique links, while making it look styley and clean, and like it's your bread and butter, is the key to a good STP.

ebo · Post by **ebo** » 11 Jul 2008 11:41

Stone Temple Pilots?

sNale · Post by **sNale** » 11 Jul 2008 16:03

yeah tell us what STP is...

Tsiangkun · Post by **Tsiangkun** » 11 Jul 2008 22:12

STP ? Screw The Players [who didn't expect a new event to be debuted at worlds and are just now finding out about how such an event will be judged]

It's hard to take footbag seriously when they spring a new event on players, at the world championships. The event may be the greatest thing ever, but people paying thousands of dollars to attend deserve a more timely notice on what events will be taking place, and much more detail on how such an event will be judged.

Anz · Post by **Anz** » 11 Jul 2008 22:25

Short Technical Program

acxel22 · Post by **acxel22** » 12 Jul 2008 07:52

I look forward to see how the first STP turned out (videowise).

It's nice to see people pushing forward and adding to this sport, instead of desperatly trying to destroy what others are creating.

Thanks Ianek for all your hard work, you are one who will not be forgotten in the sport of footbag.