Dante's Blog

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 10 Oct 2010 19:25

Hey Dante.
Flurry is one of my dream moves (I think the other one I haven't hit is alpine mobius?). After reading your brief advice on schooling barrages, I footed it a few times both sides. I can totally hit it. I can't wait!!

I'm inspired by your and Mathieu's training regimes.
Actually I'll prolly have some barrage stuff in a compilation video I'm gonna make from being back home for a week. I hope they're okay. Do you have any way of telling how clean they are? Or tips for deeper dexes? I think my good side is fine, but flip could be zero dexes..

Dio · Post by **Dio** » 10 Oct 2010 23:56

That's awesome Erik! I'm sure you can do them too, your DLOs are super solid so it's really just a matter of fitting in that first double dex. I'm schooling flip barrage HARD right now - the 2 key components are set height and starting the first dex as early as possible. I find that on my flip, I can't clear the second dex and my calf hits the bag. I think the higher the set, the cleaner the dexes are likely to be. Tomascz (sp??) from Poland emphasized the importance of set height in flurries and concentrating on that really helped me.

Looking forward to seeing your video!

I had a 1.5 hour session here at home in Stratford (home for Thanksgiving). Definitely a drill session but got some cool things down:

Flurry bsos
Open Ducking Legover b2b
Alpine Barfly (new)
Whirly Gig bs
Symp Whirl -> Osis rpt
Matador bsos (first try, clean)
30 spinning down (flipside, non consec)
30 spinning clipper (flipside, non consec)

I also drilled lots of flipside double downs, barrages and symp whirls. Also tried gyro eggbeater a bunch of times for fun

didn't hit it... my gyro sets need work.

Didn't play today and tomorrow I'm heading back to Kingston. Looking to play Tuesday. Also, check out the newly posted footage from Kickass 3 at the EAST KICK blog:

http://eckick.wordpress.com/

Props to Nathan for the posts and Mat GM for the awesome video and editing!!!!

Dio · Post by **Dio** » 12 Oct 2010 20:33

Fun outdoor session with Greg today. Met a player named Chase who surprised us when he hit open clipper and osis after asking if we were playing 'hacky sack'. What a joker

looks like the Kingston crew just got bigger!!

Not many highlights from today, I was feeling a bit tired. My shoes are also iffy, the right one especially has no support and can be hard to shred all-out in. Anyway, just worked on spins, double dexes and gyro sets. Going to continue in that direction of course

Swizzle · Post by **Swizzle** » 13 Oct 2010 14:05

=O. Stop getting better so i can catch up >.<
=D

Dio · Post by **Dio** » 14 Oct 2010 20:36

Haha Cory don't worry dude my footbag playing has still been pretty casual lately, no intense drilling. I don't have the time right now with midterms coming up and projects due :/

Awesome 2 hour shred with Derrick, John and Greg in the JDUC tonight. Lots of cool stuff from this session in general but only a few highlights:

Shut Eggbeater (new)
Alpine barfly
Lots of barraging, double downs and whirl-tricks

My game felt pretty on tonight and my string length was better than usual, although it needs work. Great to have a 4 man session in Kingston!

Dio · Post by **Dio** » 19 Oct 2010 21:38

After a few recent sessions I've definitely been getting into a flow with footbag - feeling good about my style and tricks. The two things bothering me right now:

- playing in broken quantums (2 new pairs incoming)
- flipside

Yeah flipside is getting better but it' still a pain on some relatively basic concepts. Today I hit

Quantum down (new, flipside)
Toe far double down -> spinning clipper (flip)
Toe near double down (new, flipside)
Clipper near double down (new, flipside)

I'm making progress but still need to drill hard to get things like flip far blenders and flurries right. My flip barrage is looking great right now. My flip double down feels much better than ever but still needs work to smooth it out (and hit barfly).

Today I also hit Ducking far torque (new) and rubberman on demand. Also tricks like ripped warrior, ps whirl and all sorts of dlo's are coming much easier mid-string.

Shred tomorrow, despite having 4 midterms and 3 projects due over the next week and a half -_- we might actually have 5 players out tomorrow, with the additions of John Bagi, Derrick Ogden and Chase Crewdson (from CA). This might be there first time in a LONG time that Kingston has had more than one circle going!

Dio · Post by **Dio** » 22 Oct 2010 21:10

Played solo for an hour and a half today. Lots of drilling for flip double downs, spinning and blenders. A few of my recent flipside training highlights:

Barfly (new on flip)
Barfly->Barfly
Toe double down->blur rpt
Toe double down->ducking far mirage rpt
Far blender->osis rpt
Spinning whirl -> osis rpt
Flurry bsos

My main focus at the moment is my flip double downs. I can hit them from both toes and both clippers but the clipper sets are still more difficult than my toes. I really gotta' nail barfly repeats and school my flip flurry as well. Next trick to hit on flip: whirr. Once I have these components down to a certain degree I will brush up my spins again.

Also just received my new pink/white size 10 quantums in the mail today! (thanks Marco) time to start breaking them in. I also have a pair of size 10 black quantums on their way.

Dio · Post by **Dio** » 03 Nov 2010 19:39

Update: didn't play for a week due to midterms and overall exhaustion. Played yesterday and today and I'm seeing progress with my flipside double downs!

Barfly b2b
Blurriest->Blurriest (flip blurriest new)
Barfly->spinning Down rpt
Barfly->far torque bs
Toe double down->far eggbeater rpt
Open double down bsos
~20 contact run with open torque, far torque bs, whirr, spinning far whirl bsos
Drifter->far drifter->vortex bsos

I'm trying to do my flip barfly in every string (usually as first trick) and I'm trying to hit as many tricks out of barfly as I can. My double dexes are coming along great! Still working on spins but they are fairly consistent now. Breaking in my pink quantums, hopefully they are ready for NYJ. Taking tomorrow off and then playing Friday.

Dio · Post by **Dio** » 05 Nov 2010 15:03

Awesome session with Greg tonight. Feeling good (despite my Quantums falling apart). Some highlights:

Barfly x7
Barfly->matador rpt
Barfly->far drifter rpt
Barfly->blizzard->open double down->ripwalk rpt
Cool run ending with flail->quantum down
Flurry->legbeater rpt
Blurriest->blurriest
Fusion bs (new on flip)

And basically tons of barfly/double down practice. My flip barflies are feeling so much more steady and I can throw in midstring now. Double dexes on both sides are coming along nicely

Flipside flurry is also feeling better than ever, probably from the mixer drills I've been doing. Just going to continue focussing my flip double dexes, symp components and spins for now. Playing again Sunday.

Looking forward to NYJ in Chicago!

Dio · Post by **Dio** » 09 Nov 2010 15:40

Just finished an hour long session here in my room! It actually is big enough for me to play in. Well, drill in anyway.

Still focussing those barflies... hit 100 on my flip (2 sets of 50) and just 25 on my strong. My strong is still much more stable than my flip but I can throw either in midstring, even as blurriest.

Other than the barfly drill I tried playing in my new pink quantums for the first time after breaking them in over the past month or so. Hit rubberman on my first try with them so that's a good sign

Gonna' shred tomorrow with KFM. NYJ coming up next month in Chicago, can't wait!

Dio · Post by **Dio** » 27 Nov 2010 11:40

Been a slow month for me and footbag, school really picked up. However, we only have one week left before exams so I'll have more free time to play! But still have to study

Played for 2 hours today with Greg at the JDUC. FINALLY GOT

FLIPSIDE WHIRR (yay)

After much practice, I've finally hit whirr bsos. Super pumped about that. Flip flurry feeling a lot better too. Overall good session, Greg was on fire too, hitting nuts spinning/ducking strings as well as torques and stepping stuff midstring!

On another note, I'm SO pumped to hear that Worlds 2011 will be in Helsinki! I've been planning on going to Finland anyway this summer to visit all my friends there (mostly in Lahti). This way I'll fit worlds and visiting friends into one trip

oh man that trip is gonna' be wild, I can't wait to get my hands on rullakebabs, Fazer Sininen and Salmiakki Koskenkorva again! As well as the pelikone machines to feed my gambling addiction

NYJ in 3 weeks!

Dio · Post by **Dio** » 14 Dec 2010 10:52

Haven't had lots of time to update this, exams have been so busy -_- but luckily I only have one more (organic chemistry...) and then it's time for NYJ in Chicago!

Been playing solo at my house in my friends room (mine's too small). Small but good sessions. Drilling lots of barflies and double over downs! New tricks from last night:

Dolomite (first try ever!)
Superfly

Also been hitting lots of flurry bsos and whirr bsos! Feeling good about those tricks now. Going to do circle at NYJ I think, would also like to do a routine but I've had no time to make one! I'll definitely have one for Worlds 2011 though!

Dio · Post by **Dio** » 21 Dec 2010 17:19

NYJ

AWESOME

I'll do a more detailed writeup later but I played a lot and got tons of tips from other players. A few things I've got to think about:

- dexing earlier and stronger on mid/downtime component tricks like blurry whirl, scorpion's tail and blurry drifter

- work more DLO's into my strings (pdx, fog, gyro)

- work on gyro sets, spinning 75-90% of the way around and stabilizing before attempting a downtime component

- both sidedness, as always

Booked a massage for Thursday, I'm feeling pretty sore. Gonna be back at it soon, practicing hard over the break!

PegLegHolly · Post by **PegLegHolly** » 22 Dec 2010 16:28

abstract · Post by **abstract** » 12 Jan 2011 13:40

dante, you are an incredible footbag player & a cool dude.

yesterday's session was crazy.

insane strings; lots of pdx dlo, which i hadn't seen too much from you before, midstring superfly, mullet, mobius bsos, atomic barrage bs, & 1.30 dropless on your routine already, damn.

happy new year. let's school this nonsense.

Dio · Post by **Dio** » 16 Jan 2011 19:38

Thanks a lot Mr. Greg! I have to thank Matt K. for the advice on DLO, specifically fog. He helped me hit blurry whirl->fog bsos at NYJ last month!

It was a sick session though, me, Greg and Chase threw down in the JDUC for an hour and a half! First session in a month for the KFM but we're right back into things. CAN'T WAIT FOR SUMMER.

Had a solo session tonight in my house... limited room and slippery floor but whatever -_-

Focussed on pdx blenders, mostly flip. Quickly got food processor bsos! Even spun out of a few. Feeling good about that! Developed my pixies a bit more, just making them faster. And still drilling flip everything and spinning bs. Routine is coming along... Helsinki will be so much fun - I can't even wait...!!! Until then, it's shredding hard in Kingston!

Zjeezy · Post by **Zjeezy** » 17 Jan 2011 05:53

it was awesome meeting you and kicking at NYJ. Let me know when your gonna be in Stratford and we will try and plan a windsor shred or something

Air · Post by **Air** » 20 Jan 2011 06:18

You're progressing really fast Dante, props for that.

Great that you're coming to Helsinki, see you then!

Dio · Post by **Dio** » 22 Jan 2011 14:09

Zach - yeah man thanks - we'll definitely get a southern Ontario/Detroit jam together at some point when I'm back in Stratford!

Aleksi - thanks a lot man! Can't wait to shred with you again this summer in Finland!

I'll be there for like 3 weeks so I'm planning to eat tons of kebab, hit the sauna multiple times everyday, buy every Fazer candy I can, drink 10 bottles of koskenkorva and spend the rest of my money at the pelikone. Gonna be a blast.

Jay and Mat GM just left my place here in Kingston! We shredded yesterday for 3 hours and today for almost 4. Lots of good footage to use in our Team Canada video which will be posted soon (Jay is editing I believe).

A big note - I hit my first 7 add today... MONTAGE

so I'm stoked about that, it will be in the video! I played pretty well as did both Jay and Mat so look forward to our video!

Dio · Post by **Dio** » 27 Feb 2011 10:00

Been a while since I posted here - just got back from a vacation in Myrtle Beach where I got some much needed outdoor shred time!

Drilling atomic sets again to clean them up as well as the ever-improving spinning components. I've started playing in baggier shorts since I think my style was a bit 'lazy' wearing my medium Fourkast shorts. With longer shorts, I'm forced to increase the speed/strength of my atomic and stepping sets which should improve my form. I'll post a video eventually and see it looks any different...

Other than that - school is still in overdrive with midterms and projects all over the place this week (last week was our Reading Week) so I'm not sure when a consistent Kingston shredule will be back in place - certainly by the time the warm weather rolls around!

Booking Worlds tickets soon...