Muffinman

[Muffinman]

So it's been close to 2 months since the last time I played. I did my physio for like 3 weeks and then was feeling quite good. I'm still being wary, but I really wanted to try out playing today. It went smashingly. Like, I sucked at playing, but there was no pain or anything So I think I will slowly get back into it and stretch/yoga the crap out of my body on a hopefully daily basis.
I played for probably an hour-ish? Mostly just tiltless and bopping. I specifically didn't try anything hard or even any guiltless downtime stuff, even though I've been dying to do barflies and air shredding them every day.

I had a 51, a 39, and a 55, and then 50 osii and 50 butterflies > handcatch, so that felt good just for stamina. Consistency felt kinda crap and I feel like I need to learn how to cushion my stalls better, especially on butterflies -- I've become too accustomed to just having them stick, and I think that's a hindrance. I also played for the first time with one of the bags I made after Worlds (I only ended up making 3, though still have all the panels cut out for 7-9?)

One thing I did do was decide that I would re-implement illusions into my game. I don't think I've done illusions in runs in a decade. My typical session warm-up is mirage > clipper > far mirage > clipper [repeat] (and with legovers and pickups), and the same with osis replacing clipper. I always left out illusions because since 2004 they hurt my knees and long after that I never included them because I knew they were the. So I really suck at them now. But I did the drills with the illusions, and it felt soo good. I don't know how clean they were -- probably not very. But honestly I don't care too much.

So I guess some notable things I did in addition to those tiltless drills were:
-stepping illusion and blizzard both BSOS
-spinning illusion and gyro illusion both BSOS

I have probably never ever done these things.
I also tried ducking, but I felt it might be a bad idea to keep trying new things and just see how my heel feels tomorrow before pushing forward in any capacity. It probably also helped that I specifically didn't film, even though I have a backlog of songs that I've been dyyiinngg to make videos to. Filming makes me push too hard and do things that I probably shouldn't be doing.

[Muffinman]

Just had an incredible first session with Zach and Alex. It was really, really fun and I played a lot better than I expected. I'm going to be so sore tomorrow. This was my second session in 2 months-ish? Some highlights:
-95-contact and 121-contact runs
-hopover swirl both sides (flip was new)
-footed gangsta party
-food BSOS first try
-lots of knee-bumping fun (all 4 gimpy whips, gimpy double downs, gimpy DLOs, etc)
-one run with knee bumps and calf bumps -- at some point knee > calf > whip > spinning, or something midstring.. felt really cool
-blurriest > hand catch > other side with Alex's crocheted bag first try
-rev whirlwind BSOS first try (with other neat stuff in that same run?..)
-blurry drifters and tombstones BSOS first try (I don't do drifters because they hurt my one hip, so it always feels good to nail em )

I dunno, it felt like I did a lot of good stuff, but can't remember more specific highlights. Just longer runs and bigger tricks in general. I felt nauseous after that first 95 run and thought I was done, but we kept playing and having mini breaks for quite a while. Awesome considering all of us were out of practice.

Alex hit his first blur and ripwalk too! And then proceeded to hit them a ton more times. We're planning weekly sessions on campus now, which I'm really stoked for. And I'm also super happy that I have no heel pain! I'm going to ice and stuff anyway just to be extra careful, but here's to hoping I'm just better now

[BuckRuckus]

Awesome that you're able to play again! I REALLY want to shred with you again!

[Muffinman]

If not soon, then we'll have to get together often when I'm back living in Toronto. Like old times

[C-Fan]

-95-contact and 121-contact runs

Guiltless?!? Props!

[BuckRuckus]

I'm likely moving back to toronto too! Let the golden era of FAT return!

[Muffinman]

I really look forward to that! When are you moving?

Also, thanks Ken
I don't think 121 is my longest, but it's close.
I think this is still the longest one I have on video (78 contacts in 2005): http://www.footbag.org/gallery/show/7349

[Muffinman]

Another great session today. Really fun and some good stuff from everyone. I had barely recovered by today though. I couldn't bike to school yesterday 'cause I was still just so beat. Like, no heel pain still, so... yessss. But muscularly... Ugh. Been doing yoga daily pretty well, so hopefully that will be helping. Uhh. Lemme try to recap some highlights:
-double spinning clipper BSOS at Zach's request (well, he asked, "can you do it both sides?")
-blurry drifter > ripwalk [repeat] (firsty try?) at Alex's request
-A run with far symple swirl BSOS and rev swirl BSOS
-food BSOS again?
-bed BSOS first try with, like, spinning whip > ripwalk repeat same run?
-a run with blurry whip > spinning whip [repeat] and then.... something else cool in the same run.
-some longer, dense runs -- felt good, gyro DLOs, fogs, blurriests, and stuffs

Nothing too unique from my usual fare, but I'm still trying to get back into my groove -- will probably take a handful of sessions before I start trying new things again. Alex suggested a second weekly training session though where we just work on single things, which sounds perfect. I lost my pixie sets, and I want to train those hardcore. Like I have trouble with smears... What happened?


Alex:
-drifter x4
-ripwalk midstring really solid
-noticeable improvement in run length and difficulty (like even from beginning of session to the end)
-footed last contact of drifter > pdx mirage > same butterfly [repeat]
-playing almost guiltless in a lot of runs

Zach:
-ripped warrior first try
-wetdream
-footed alpine GYBAS
-lots of long, consistent runs


Just. Lots of fun. Two Asians asked if we play soccer on separate occasions. And we went grocery shopping "as a team building exercise" after, which was productive since we all had to go anyway! Oh, also, Zach, brought us foot long subs! Amazing. A really great hangout altogether. Looking forward to next session


Oh, also, Alex founded BLAP (Big London Add Posse? I dunno). He gave us amazing BLAP names too basedon some show, Sparticus. I can't remember. They were just great. Mine was, like, Hammer of the East, or something. His was better. Oh, and also, I watched this before the session. This is what got me into footbag. I went home and looked up "hacky sack" on the internet:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9eRUXficRw[/youtube]

[Asmus]

Nothing too unique from my usual fare, but I'm still trying to get back into my groove -- will probably take a handful of sessions before I start trying new things again.

Your out of groove footbag skills are impressive!

I love that scene from She's All That! HOLLYWOOOOD!

[Muffinman]

Thanks Asmus
Jay asked me for a submission for his nostalgia video compilation thread, but it's been over a month since I gave it to him and it seems like the thread is dead, so I may as well post it here:


Ryan Mulroney, dropless routine, Worlds 1997
This was one of the first footbag videos that really stuck with me. I remember sitting in the computer lab in high school watching videos on DallasFootbag.org and San Antonio Club Kickers (SACK) with Windsen Pan over and over, but this video stuck with me. It was certainly the first routine video that I enjoyed. Something about the combination of the music and the crowd reactions to the Vasek of the time. I've always told myself that if I ever do a routine it would be to this song.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv1W-bsFxA4[/youtube]
James Risden
There was no video in particular because back in those days online videos were few and far between, and since everyone was on dial-up internet, or just getting onto super slow broadband, videos were short (usually single run clips) and sucky quality. Before the days of online forums everyone in the freestyle community communicated through a moderated Footbag.org mailing list and this one guy that nobody had ever heard of kept claiming to have hit ridiculous combos that nobody believed. At one point he said he had hit blurry drifter > bedwetter, but he somehow (I don't even remember how, since this was before YouTube -- .org?) shared a video of him hitting it and minds were blown (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmoSdV8-Y08)! I remember just after graduating high school I lived with my grandma. This was just before I was guiltless, in, like, 2000 or 2001, air-shredding ripwalk > ripwalk, my dream combo, I would watch his videos saved to my computer on repeat all day long. There were some longer ones with multiple clips, but this was the longest I could find online on short notice. James was my first favourite player and I wanted to be like him so much in every way! (I didn't get to meet him until 2010 Worlds in Oakland, a decade later..)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWYWiXOP3AE[/youtube]
Summer Falling, by Sam Colclough
This video is really meaningful to me for a number of reasons. First, the music is flippin groovy. Second, this was a video of two events I think, and I was there at one of them -- one of the first times I ever met Sam, whom I talked to on AIM a lot in those days. Third, OOPS was a footbag staple for me "growing up." OOPS was the California club of Sam Colclough, Chris Pinkus, Chad Devlahovich (who's got some of his incredible peak-level shred in here), Eric Windsor, Bryan Fournier, Jeremy Mirken, et al. Sam posted session videos almost weekly on his website, with write-ups of all significant sessions. It would be the model upon which I would build Hackrifice in every respect, including stealing his idea of "Move of the Week" (which started with Chris Pinkus' Warp invention). But super most importantly, this was the first significant footage of Ricky Moran, who would be my second favourite player who really inspired me to shift from being a shuffle-y player to a spinning and ducking player following my major injuries in 2003/04. I had met Ricky at my first major tournament, CSS4 earlier that year, I guess, and he had won intermediate routines. I played in circles with him and he wasn't even playing guiltless. But then less than half a year later Sam was messaging me and telling me how Ricky was hitting superduperfly both sides and alpine marius. I didn't even believe him and then he put out this video. I guess you don't see a lot of the craziness but there's another video from the same Vegas Jam where he does hit those tricks on the sideline in front of a wall. This video just encapsulates a lot of what forged my perception of and approach to footbag to this day.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL54qL573LE[/youtube]
BONUS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUTt_DzH9qI
I was struggling over whether to include this or Shred With Sunil, but this clip... just, no words. At the time this was mind-blowing. Wicked's reaction says it best. Quiet Nite by Allan was another nuts classic from this Worlds. So hard to choose!

[Muffinman]

Haven't played in a few weeks again. School is stressful and after getting over my heel issue, my tight hip, which was my very first injury in 2004, started really bothering me again. I looked up some good stretches, and they seem amazing, but I was too tender so I've left it to rest for about a week. Anyway, hit a couple tricks barefoot last night: infinity swirl > hand catch > other side, and near butterfly swirl > hand catch > other side. The latter might be new? (Although I've done ripcurl both sides before) The setting height has to be super specific for that one, it seems like.

Dying to play and I have a paper I have to do next weekend (writing one right now too), although I can prolly whip it up in a night, but I probably still won't go shred in Toronto because of my hip I just want to play regularly for once in my life. And get better.

[C-Fan]

Great nostalgia choices, and write ups too. Glad you posted them.

[Muffinman]

Thanks for the reply Ken
Something I forgot to mention in my write-up for Summer Falling was that the track is from an Aphrodite album that Sam made us all chip in to buy at HMV when we went to the mall for lunch before the first day of events. I think we listened to the album all weekend. Also, oh man, I haven't watched this in yeeaars, but here's a video I made from the same event: http://www.footbag.org/gallery/show/12663

[Muffinman]

First pain-free session since Worlds today. It was really fun and I played okay. Not great, but I was really excited to do this and knew I'd be rusty not having played in a few weeks again, so I'm really happy with the results. We had a 9-person session in Toronto. Zach, Johnny, and I drove 2-3 hours (one way) to shred for about 2 hours and turn around to go home. Cassy pointed out that there wasn't a single pair of Lavers in a 9-person session! Climacools x2 (me and Josh Lackey!), G-Units x3 (Mike, Camille, Zach), Quantums (Cassy, Johnny, Alex), and street shoes (JJ). Zach had a bad day. A frustrating drive and then it turned out that he forgot his shorts He seemed to play well though.

Johnny was frustrated, but had some really sick links still. I didn't get to play with Cassy much. And it was really great to just see Josh, but his game seemed pretty good for not having played in years!

I hit double spinning clipper > reverse whirlwind first try at some point. I had some good runs too, but kinda mostly just standard stuff for me I think. I had a lot of energy and my hip wasn't killing me like I was expecting.

We stopped at Johnny's on the way home to London with Alex too and just chilled, ordered pizza, worshipped Johnny, and played some games. Really fun day. And I'm excited to play more. We're gonna start jamming at the school gym since Alex and I have free membership and I have a handful of passes for Zach and Johnny before I move back to Toronto in December.

Also I filmed some basic trick videos for a project I'm working on a couple of days ago.


EDIT: Oh, Johnny opened a run with 4 consecutive double pickups. Super tight.
EDIT 2: I remember hitting blurriest > blur > reverse reactor [repeat]; not new, but I don't think I've hit it many times? Also, Johnny reminded me that this jam was the decade anniversary of us meeting for the first time at the Erik Chan Birthday Jam in Toronto when Eli Piltz, one of my favourite players, came down from Montreal and gave me a Flipsider tshirt as a birthday present I think that was also my first time in Toronto. And meeting Tom Mosher and bunch of the other FAT crew.

[Muffinman]

Just had an incredible session. Just felt really solid, and was fun. I think I hit everything that I CAN hit:
-pigbeater and bedwetter BSOS (dropped trying symp eggbeater -- never hit before, although I think I've done backside bed both sides...)
-pdx torque and mobius BSOS (dropped on gravedigger)
-haze and fog BSOS to open a run with other stuff (highlight of that run was hitting the flip haze straight out of the pass from Zach)
-stepping ducking clipper > blurriest BSOS, reverse whirlwind BSOS
-whirr first try? (really close to flip in a couple tries, but felt bad on my knee)
-blurry whirl BSOS
-PS whirl both sides? (didn't feel good on my knees, so I won't be trying to relearn whirls)
-paradon > ps whip > DLO [repeat] (first try at Alex's request), and then pixie paradon > ps whip > DLO [repeat] (rolled off?)
-pixie same illusion > smudge [repeat] (first time ever?) -- trying to get my pixies back
-food BSOS first try
-ended the session with a 110-contact run

I don't know. Other stuff. I felt like I had a lot of solid runs that tested my entire vocabulary, not just the usual fare. Had a go at tombstone > stepping whip [repeat], but no go. Did some vortexes. Gyro DLOs. Reverse montage BSOS? Did a few flurries. Pixie paradon and blurriest BSOS, dropped on the second blurrier? Oh yeah, also footed double spinning clipper > ps whip [repeat] first or second try. Wanted to try that more, but felt like going for runs instead. No pain, great shred, first session in the campus gym. Good stuff. Zach almost walked into the girls' change room.

EDIT: Oh yeah, also did some sumos and reapers

[Muffinman]

We've been playing weekly or more since that last Toronto jam. It's really great. We're still trying to figure out how the university gym works, but we booked a squash court for next week since we were kicked out of our regular locations today. It was frustrating and ruined the session for me, so I didn't even really try for most of it, but I did a couple neat things on command. Zach said he was only going to do one more run, so anticipating the end of the session I did fog > pixie whip > blurry whip BSOS, spinning whip > blurriest, and spinning whip to gyro DLO other side. I also did wetdream and bedwetter both BSOS first try, which is something I've probably only done a handful of times? I don't do wetdream that often, though it's my official favourite trick.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Nice links dude. I haven't had my first Wetdream yet I footed it once, but it's tough. I agree, very cool trick. You guys should film next time. You have a sweet troop of players. A video would be rad.

[Muffinman]

Thanks Nick
I was going to film today, but we're not allowed to in the rec centre, and I was only going to because we were hidden away in a squash court, but some girls kicked us out 'cause they'd booked it and we didn't realize that was a thing. Next week I'll film, since we've got that court booked!

[C-Fan]

Sweet that you have an indoor venue for the winter, and people to play with. Sounds like a recipe for improvement! I also second the requests for video.

[Muffinman]

Jammed today.
It felt really good, but I was really winded the whole time for some reason. I don't know why -- lack of air in the squash court? My experience at, like, YMCAs is that the courts are usually more air-conditioned than other areas, but it seems like no area in this rec centre is air-conditioned. Even the gym was really stuffy.

Anyway, we filmed. Alex seemed really on. Like, he's progressing really noticably. He struggling with DLO BSOS in the last few sessions and now he's almost BSOSing pdx. Long runs too. Zach is busting long runs as usual, and he had lots of WEIRD things too (which he always happened to be doing when people walked by).

I was specifically intending to do more long runs instead of harder stuff, but it was really hard to stick to that. And I didn't, really. I had a couple really good runs, but I don't remember what I did. One had double spinning clipper BSOS, stepping whip > fog, and maybe spinning whip > gyro DLO? I don't remember. But we'll film a few sessions and then put something together hopefully. It'll be a nice reminder of my time in Londo (in lieu of a campus tour video I wanted to do, but couldn't mostly due to injury) since I'm moving back to Toronto next month.


On another note, I've got a crapload of schoolwork this week, but one of my final projects is a website to teach beginner footbag and I'd love some feedback. I'm hoping to finish the content late tonight, but any ideas, or feedback on what I've done so far would be helpful I know a lot of my tricks are the/thin in the videos, but since this is only really for my instructor, I'm more concerned about written content. I'll probably post it to the Facebook group once it's done to get more feedback.
http://publish.uwo.ca/~echan332/footbagfoundations/