Footbag body types - 2009 the rise of tall skinny guy?

Blue_turnip · Post by **Blue_turnip** » 22 Feb 2009 23:22

This isn't completely inline with the topic of discussion but I just want to say some things.

I fit into the tall and skinny category, but I started playing this game when I was 13, relatively short and skinny. While I'm certainly not a fantastic player I've played footbag with vastly different proportions at different times and here are my observations.

As some people have said, its harder to move long legs. This has alot of merit, however I think its important to discuss how we're moving the legs and when the length advantage of the leg fails to make up for the lack of speed.

With moves such as double downs, you have the leverage of a long leg from knee down working against you. Its just really to get those two dexes in. You need strong legs to compensate. Because of the length of my tibia, a rotation at the knee of the same angle as someone else yields a much large circle of motion where the foot is. It's a lot harder to get a small dex circle, takes a lot more strength because of the smaller circle making you need greater acceleration. With double downs and the like, I don't feel length really helps you enough to overcome the strength requirements.

However there are other dex components where length helps enormously and there are no two ways about it. I started playing footbag again after a 2 year break last year and in my first session back i tore up atomic sets like never before. They're just so easy with long legs.

This is like a fairly incomplete post cos I'm in the middle of an intense o-week for my college but yeah thats a bit of what I wanted to say.

sonofgenkai18 · Post by **sonofgenkai18** » 23 Feb 2009 18:36

Ales and Arron.

Hah!

big and buff rule.

calemccoy · Post by **calemccoy** » 23 Feb 2009 20:17

who's arron?

-arek
-olaf

ill match you for every player you name haha

JeffOverbo · Post by **JeffOverbo** » 25 Feb 2009 16:12

he meant aaron orton

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 25 Feb 2009 17:31

Of course this topic is about a trend, not specific people. Trends are changes in frequencies of events. So if 99.99% of footbaggers were not tall and skinny (1 in 10,000) and then 3 tall and skinny people took up footbag, that would be a trend towards tall and skinny people, even though the total number would still be insignificant. If we looked at raw data like that we might have to conclude that it's a statistical anomaly and not meaningful, but if it continued over time we might conclude that there is a real trend, even though there still might be almost 0 tall skinny footbaggers.

calemccoy · Post by **calemccoy** » 26 Feb 2009 14:03

JeffOverbo wrote:he meant aaron orton

i know

i sort of agree with you jeremy.

Laroche · Post by **Laroche** » 04 Mar 2009 08:49

Jeremy wrote:Of course this topic is about a trend, not specific people. Trends are changes in frequencies of events. So if 99.99% of footbaggers were not tall and skinny (1 in 10,000) and then 3 tall and skinny people took up footbag, that would be a trend towards tall and skinny people, even though the total number would still be insignificant. If we looked at raw data like that we might have to conclude that it's a statistical anomaly and not meaningful, but if it continued over time we might conclude that there is a real trend, even though there still might be almost 0 tall skinny footbaggers.

So, basically, there is no trend..?

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 04 Mar 2009 15:54

I would love it if you could explain how you came to that understanding.

When I use a word like "if" I actually intend to use that word, in both this post and the one you quoted. Just to clarify, the post you quoted was explaining what a trend is, it was not attempting to give meaningful statistics about tall skinny players in freestyle footbag and all figures are made up hypothetical statistics being used to explain the nature of trends. I apologise that this was apparently not as obvious as I thought it was when I wrote the post.

ShredStylez · Post by **ShredStylez** » 07 Mar 2009 14:21

KBizzle wrote:Well I'm 6'1" and about 145 lbs.

eat some meat

RawSko · Post by **RawSko** » 14 Mar 2009 20:42

I strongly agree with Will Digges. I think the number of tall skinny players in the finals this year was largely due to the close proximity to Poland and Finnland. The final routines at Worlds 08 were all but void of Tall Lanky players, was it not? Dave, Honza, Penske, Flash Gordon, Vasek... maybe Milan Benda (sorry i'm prolly spelling this wrong) is tall and skinny, but he was the only one I think.

I am tall and skinny, and I get very frustrated by it. I feel even that I was not made for footbag because of it. Form and style is paramount (imo) for footbag, and it is incredibly difficult to skool anything the way you want to skool it when you've got half a mille of legs to keep track of. Having good style is very hard for tall, skinny players. All my favorite players are of an average body type (or of an athletic build). I think there's a reason that physically stronger players tend to have better styles (in the exception of liquidy fluid styles like that of Takumi, for example); a strong core and strong legs allow you to be more precise. In order to stand up straight, and jump high, and stay ballanced and keep all your limbs in check, you must rely on your muscles... if you don't have enough muscle, you wont be able to perform properly. The longer your limbs, the more muscle you need to be able to control them. ...this is my oppinion.

Thus, I really hope that you're wrong Jeremy. Wasn't it quoted in Freestyle Fantasy: "An ounce of style is worth a tonne of adds"? I hope that the sport can keep emphasis on style and form. Again, I agree with WD40; I'd rather see Vasek or Dave hit something like eggbeater than something hit sloppily by the tall and skinny, nomatter how many adds.