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mosher
brutal footbag cronie
Joined: 23 Jan 2004
Posts: 6162
Topics: 112
Location: Toronto, Ontario
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 Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2004 6:24 pm Post subject: Footbag History |
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Ken made a post in his blog that had several "I remember when.." things listed. These made me wonder so much about footbags past that I know so little of.
What I am hoping to find out from this thread is as much footbag knowledge as I can. I am not looking for anything specifically, just footbag stuff. Like who popularized what concepts, who named what, why do certain tricks have the names they do, where were the big scenes at what times, and so on.
I feel rather footbag ignorant and I would like to know more. Could people please fill me in?
Thank you in advance!
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qphox
Bullshit Detector
Joined: 30 Jun 2003
Posts: 2889
Topics: 76
Location: Vancouver, BC
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| Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2004 6:32 pm Post subject: |
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Not really History, but I think regardless of how long you've been playing, EVERYONE can probably think up a short personal list of "I remember when..."'s.
I think the biggest one for me is probably...
I remember when I saw flail on video at Flipsider, and was entirely convinced that the move was impossible and the video faked. 
But as far as history goes, I'd like to hear the same thing. It was so cool talking to Chad in Montreal, he'd just add interesting tidbits of information here and there. 
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mosher
brutal footbag cronie
Joined: 23 Jan 2004
Posts: 6162
Topics: 112
Location: Toronto, Ontario
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| Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 3:03 am Post subject: |
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Well Kevin, apparently nothing ever happened.
Does anybody have anythnig to share?
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quadgun
can't dex
Joined: 25 Jun 2003
Posts: 2222
Topics: 44
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quadgun
can't dex
Joined: 25 Jun 2003
Posts: 2222
Topics: 44
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| Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 3:42 am Post subject: |
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Jonathan Schnieder wrote a cool story about the first 4-dex trick.
http://www.modified.ca/footbag/viewtopic.php?t=6891&highlight=colorado
| Outsider wrote: | Red Shred Husted hit the first ever 4 Dex trick, the Shooting Star (Shooting Down Double Down). I was the first one to witness this (other than Red), and the honor of reporting the advent of this next level of freestyle fell to me. I promptly notified the old e-mail forum. If anyone had hit a quad before that it was far from common knowledge and I would have serious doubts about its veracity.
Funny story about all this really. I'd been freestyling with Genz and Rippin in Colorado for about five years when all of a sudden Ellis moves to Boulder from Texas. A few months later, Red Shred joins us from Cali, and the Colorado shred scene has entered a whole new phase. A few more months pass and Dave Holton, who'd been up in Aspen and coming down to spank us all from time to time decides to join us full time in Boulder, and him, Red, and I all rent a house together. Ellis was supposed to be in on this too, but he found some other place he liked up in the mountains on the edge of town. Brian McKenzie comes out to spend the summer with us in our new place (Summer '99) and the scene in Boulder has never been better (at least, not in all the time that I'd been there.) We even started talking about hosting a comp (the first Colorado Shred Symposium; you may have heard of it). But all of a sudden Red just stops kicking. I'm not totally sure why, but he just kind of quit. He started juggling alot, and I was afraid he'd burn our house down with his new torches. Dave and I were like WTF, cause we'd only gotten into this new house, like, a month before, and we'd all just gone to Worlds, and there was so much shred going on (though, like an idiot, I spent way too much time working all my stupid jobs and didn't have as much free time to shred as everyone else in town. I missed way too many epic jams at Rippin's place for the sake of minimum wage. What was I thinking?) But, okay, whatever. Dave and I still jammed good in our basement and garage, and on CU campus with Genzu, Rippin, Brad Kaplan, Dave Leberknight, Paul Mestes, and some others. But in the midst of all this Red was taking time off. Dave and I trained hard for Shred Symposium in that house (we took 4th and 5th places respectively, just behind Mulroney, Rippin, and Davidson, the top three in the world that year), and still Red wouldn't kick. More than a dozen top shredders spent a long weekend crashing at our shred house, jamming in our basement till 4 A.M., and still Red didn't kick. We try to capitalize on the exposure we got from the CSS and kick alot with at least half-a-dozen newbies from the area, and Red is still not kicking. Months pass, and one night I ride my bike home to find Red sweating hard, and he says "Come downstairs, I want you to tell me if this is clean." Red busts about a dozen shooting down doubles for me, and while not all were clean, more than enough of them were to confirm the first Quadruple Dexterity trick had finally been hit. And that Mother F@#%er hadn't even been playing for way more than half a year! Once again, I was like WTF. There was a meteor shower going on that night (probably the Eta Aquarids in early May, or maybe the Lyrids in late April), and I'd had my eyes out for them while riding home (we were on the edge of town, so we had decent viewing in our neighborhood), so I suggested the obvious name for the trick. Anyway, after that a number of other Shooting quads were soon racked up by various other luminaries of the sport. I remember Genzu started working shooting dlo soon after Red's achievement.
Anyway, thanks for the opportunity to reminisce a little. Those were good times, and I really miss that basement (you can see it in all its glory, and also in the raw in "The California Connection", which, by the way, was edited in large part in that very basement, along with some other early works of Mr. Piltz, such as "Reese's Pieces: Worlds '99 and Churney & Friends"), and having so many cool people sleeping and shredding there. |
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C-Fan
Enrico Palazzo
Joined: 24 Jan 2003
Posts: 6939
Topics: 233
Location: Washington, DC
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| Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 3:48 am Post subject: |
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| quadgun wrote: | Jonathan Schnieder wrote a cool story about the first 4-dex trick.
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I remember that, Red e-mailed the night he hit it. It was really weird, cause his mail was complimenting me on the shred footage my friend Mickey had sent Eli, which would later make its way onto the California Connection.
So his mail was like: Hey Ken. I just saw some footage of you, it was really good. By the way, tonight I made footbag history, by becoming the first person to hit a 4 dexterity trick. I hit it several times, in front of Jon S, and sealed it.
I was like  . It struck me as so funny, because at first I was like: `cool, props on my shred.` And then right after it, was this collossal achievement, truly historic, and I was just like: `why does Red even care about anything else in the footbag world anymore? He just hit the first 4 dex trick!`
I guess this was sort of on topic. Anyway, I mostly just wanted to say, that when my current job ends, I`ll hopefully write a book about freestyle footbag, the history, and the scene. Who knows if I`ll ever really write it all out, but thats the goal. In the meantime, my blog has some trips into freestyle`s past, so hopefully that will be of some interest.
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Colin
Flower Child
Joined: 05 Jul 2002
Posts: 1694
Topics: 48
Location: Montreal, QC, Canada
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| Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 3:57 am Post subject: |
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Ken, PLEASE DO.
Someone needs too, and soon, before some of the details start to fog up.
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NotHisRealName
Post Master General
Joined: 26 Oct 2002
Posts: 2527
Topics: 90
Location: Brisbane, Australia
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| Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 8:22 am Post subject: |
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Not sure if I've posted this before, but here's an interview with Lynton Stephens.
Lynton is the father of freestyle footbag in Australia, and has invented many moves, including Witchdoctor, Assassin and Scorpions Tail, to name but a few.
Basicly, this a run down on the history of the Australian Footbag Scene.
Anyway, here's the interview:
| Quote: | GW: I understand you were kicking in 'hacky' circles through primary school and into high school, and it was this that first grabbed your interest in the sport. I'm also told that in 1996 you really started practicing, while in year 12. How did you first find out about freestyle footbag, and what made you take the step from playing hackysack to freestyle footbag?
LS: I didnt play back in primary school (unfortunately) but i starting hacking with my friends in high school about year 9ish so about 1994. Long time ago, jesus! My friend who introduced hacky to the school was himself introduced to it by an eccentric expat American. It wasnt until 1996 though that i came up with the idea one day whilst bored in a computer class to look up footbag on the net. Quite literally i typed "hackysack" into a search engine and up came a whole bunch of stuff. 10 minutes later i was watching video of rippin rick reese and ryan mulroney with my jaw dropped the floor from sheer amazement. The intricacy and difficulty of the tricks fascinated my and i was pretty much hooked from then on.
GW: I'm told that you and Brendan first formed the MFC while at RMIT (in 1997?), and that by 2001, when Dan joined, the MFC boasted the best footbag squad in Australia. Who were the members of the MFC at that time, and who else in Australia was playing footbag at a notable level?
LS: I met Brendan at college where we were both living in 1997 and 1998. I used to practise on this particular piece of concrete and everyone pretty much regarded me as a freak of sorts, one of the guys at the place started calling me `the foot fucking master' and i had no idea what he was talking about until i saw pulp fiction. But anyway Brendan gradually became interested in it and started learning the basic tricks. Nobody else in Melb was freestyling at this point, there were a few crews around some even listed on the internet but they only ever kicked. I met Richard Cook and Chard from Canada when they visited I guess in 1997. They appeared on Red Faces, etc, but I only met them by accident at a juggling store. That was my first face-to-face contact with freestyle and i was pretty blown away. Maybe 6 months later Sunil Jani visited which gave B & I a major push. Sunil taught me some new moves and drilled me on the whole ambidexterity thing so it was after that when things really began to happen.
GW: When no-one else was playing and footbag was even less well known than it is today, what kept you inspired?
LS: Yeah that's pretty hard. I guess I have a bit of a perfectionist streak and I'm quite obsessive about some things. I was just fascinated with all the possible moves, combinations, etc and about pushing myself to go bigger and bigger. But it was monumentally frustrating at times not to have other people to learn from / show off to / hang out with. I guess the MFC was officially coined in about 1998 but at that time it was basically me and Brendan and it was kind of as a joke that we gave ourselves a name but at the same time we hoped it would grow and it did but extremely slowly. In 1998 and 1999 we would try to organise `kicks' in the city by ringing up various people who were more or less keen on hacksack but it didn't always work. I remember on one occasion ringing up 6 to 8 people I suppose and getting `maybes' from each of them, figuring at least 2 or 3 would show up but being the only person to turn up in the end. That sort of thing was very depressing. I did get a few videos from the states and watched those till I had pretty much memorised them. Absorbing new styles and new moves from those videos really kept me going. I kept in email contact with Sunil as well, and Adrian Dick sometimes and that was great, but in the end I guess what kept me going was just wanting to hit bigger stuff.
GW: Lotus, Karl Murr, and Matt Baker are three other players who have been on the scene for some time. Do you know how long they have been playing, and what they're up to now?
LS: Dont know. Lotus must have been kicking for a long time, maybe longer than me. Karl and Matt probably started 1998 or 1999 I'd guess. Lotus still kicks and probably always will. The Sydney scene seems to have more of a problem with the guys being spread out geographically and Karl and Matt and Steve Ramsey never seemed to get a solid weekly kick going but they can both still play and now that other guys play up there it seems to be improving.
GW: The first Australian Footbag Championships took place in conjunction with the X-Games in Sydney in December 2001. What led to footbag being included in the games, and was this the first event (of any kind), that brought Australian footbaggers together?
LS: Forrester and Steve Ramsey had a lot to do with that. Steve had some contacts and did really well to get us in the door. Forrester put up the prizemoney and helped out a lot, various guys did the organising, Brendan mostly I guess. That was a bit of a breakthrough since it created a focus to get the NZ guys over, we had a little snippet on TV from it and since we were on after the breakdancing there must have been over 1000 people watching it live which stressed a few people out at the time. Then we made a video from it. Yeah, X games was great, not just the shred but the social aspect, we got up to some pretty dodgy stuff that weekend. After that tournament we became committed to having yearly events afterwards.
GW: You're responsible for so many new tricks. How many have you created, and what are they? Also, what?s the story behind the names?
LS: I counted 30 or 40 I think one time. Only maybe 5 or 10 major ones. For the 1st 2 years I played I used airwalk shoes with crappy insides and so I just did toe moves so I guess I developed a speciality for those but gradually I got up to serious clipper-based moves like blurriest swirl, etc. For a long time I just invented the names for my own benefit. Living in oz I never really knew what the guys in the US had/hadnt hit. In many ways it hurt my progress as a player not being exposed to other freestylers but if it had a benefit it would be that i wasnt so drawn into copying other peoples moves i had more impetus to evolve new ones.
GW: What's your greatest achievement as a footbag player, and as a human being?
LS: Interesting qn. My dropless routine at the X Games was a huge thrill. Likewise kicking 1 on 1 with Ryan in New Zealand and with Ales more recently. In terms of stuff I hit, combos my fave would be blurriest>>gyro DLO>>pixie warrior>>blurry whirl>>mobius back in 2000 or 2001. And individual moves the one I like most is cataclysm but my first superduperfly at Jeremy O'Wheels house party and icarus after trying for 18 months were classic moments too. As a human being, my best achievement? I dunno. Maybe the above. I procrastinate. Apart from footbag I havent done much come to think of it.
GW: Lynton, what is Footbag to you?
LS: Freestyle in itself is so amazing. The mind-boggling number of possible tricks/combinations and the beauty of watching a really good player are enough. Watch Ryan or Vacek busting huge stuff - that's footbag, it speaks for itself. But its also been awesome to me and to other people i know as a culture - travelling, meeting crazy people and doing crazy stuff. Its a complete package.
GW: Finally, are there any anecdotes you'd like to share about playing footbag? And is there anything else you'd like to add, regarding the history of Footbag in Australia - including your own personal history of playing footbag?
LS: Hard to single any one thing out. I just like to think that once one of my high school maths teacher used to ridicule me for playing hackysack and she actually said it was a waste of time and i should spend my time doing my maths homework. It seems funny now - MFC has been on tv many times, we've had tournaments, been on the radio, busked, etc. i've invented tricks. people know me. i've been recognised in the street, in nightclubs. It allows me to travel, meet people, do demos for $100/hr, pay the bills. I doubt I could have achieved the same from doing maths. Its just nice that we actually have a quite respectable scene in Aust/NZ (Jeremy, Dan, Jon Murphy, Liam, etc) when only 5 years ago there was jack all and its still getting bigger. Its been good fun being a part of it. Cant wait to see what happens at our tournaments in the future. Thanks!
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mosher
brutal footbag cronie
Joined: 23 Jan 2004
Posts: 6162
Topics: 112
Location: Toronto, Ontario
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| Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 6:22 pm Post subject: |
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wow!
Thanks for posting that Gareth!
I would like to meet Lynton one day, he seems really passionate about footbag. Heh, but aren't we all?
Actually, I think I want to meet every footbagger ever. Oh man, footbag is the most exciting shit ever.
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Chris Hanratty
Mr. Jokey...Joke Maker
Joined: 17 Nov 2003
Posts: 1417
Topics: 60
Location: Nova Scotia
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NotHisRealName
Post Master General
Joined: 26 Oct 2002
Posts: 2527
Topics: 90
Location: Brisbane, Australia
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| Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2004 7:40 am Post subject: |
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Lynton was the most intimidating freestylers I've ever met. And then we introduced ourselves and shook hands, and then went and played some footbag. He turned out to be the best thing to have happened to footbag since forever. A great guy.
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Muffinman
the gimp
Joined: 21 Apr 2002
Posts: 8459
Topics: 310
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2004 8:35 am Post subject: |
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I remember when Just Shred was the only video me and Mark had and I would watch it every single day. More than once.
I remember when Aggressive Grounds and The Sickening came out -- Joel brought the original, unedited videos home from Worlds and I had no idea what was going on (newb!). I remember seeing Brian McKenzie's ass and some girls breasts. I then remember getting my own copies for Christmas and being very confused when the music kept cutting out in the intro to Aggressive Grounds...
Similarly I remember Zohar Pro 
I remember watching She's All That before I knew what footbag was. I remember watching the clip from the movie years later after I had been playing for a while and realizing how silly it was that they tride to pass Chad off for Freddy (Chad's sooo tall!!).
I remember when Eric Wulff played footbag.
I remember the VERY FIRST FOOTBAG FORUM with James Risden, Rob Fuller, Cole Hobson, Mike Wilson and Tim Werner. (That was about 4 forums ago and 4 years ago).
I remember the jokes about Nemesis.
I remember when Ryan Mulroney played footbag.
I remember seeing Yacine hitting pendulum in a video from CSS1!!
I remember Shred Session.
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C-Fan
Enrico Palazzo
Joined: 24 Jan 2003
Posts: 6939
Topics: 233
Location: Washington, DC
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| Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2004 11:44 am Post subject: |
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| Kiser_Tobias wrote: |
Lynton is the father of freestyle footbag in Australia, and has invented many moves, including Witchdoctor, Assassin and Scorpions Tail, to name but a few.
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I highly doubt that he invented scorpions tail.
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NotHisRealName
Post Master General
Joined: 26 Oct 2002
Posts: 2527
Topics: 90
Location: Brisbane, Australia
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| Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2004 11:46 am Post subject: |
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Well, I could be wrong, but that's what I heard (though not first hand).
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qphox
Bullshit Detector
Joined: 30 Jun 2003
Posts: 2889
Topics: 76
Location: Vancouver, BC
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| Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2004 1:45 am Post subject: |
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That was a cool post Erik. I'll add a few more, definitely bigger than my "Biggest one" above...all taken from my whopping two years of footbag experience.
I remember seeing a fellow down the road in Whistler, BC do a legover while chatting with his friends. Of course, at that point, I didn't even know it was called a legover. It's actually a pretty vivid memory. That was my first taste of freestyle ever.
I remember the first VHS video I got, Shred Alert, and how I didn't recognise anyone's names, and how I watched it at LEAST 8 times that day. Yeah, just THAT day.
I remember when Flipsider was the only site I ever visited, and I visited it more than daily.
I remember when Rob Fuller played footbag.
I remember when Brian Johnson played footbag.
I remember when my parents didn't think footbag was a worthwhile activity, and didn't think I was serious about it. And then...
I remember when my Dad redid a room in the basement, solely for "Footbag Practice".
I remember when this video came out. 
~
These aren't really historical, in the sense of footbag internationally, but they're big ones in MY footbag history.
I apologise if I'm straying from the intended topic... 
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lightningbolt
Nothing Vulgar
Joined: 28 Jun 2004
Posts: 983
Topics: 17
Location: Alaska
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| Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2004 2:07 am Post subject: |
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2 stupid newbie questions.
| Erik Chan wrote: |
I remember when Eric Wulff played footbag. |
Who is he? 
| Quote: | | I remember the VERY FIRST FOOTBAG FORUM with James Risden, Rob Fuller, Cole Hobson, Mike Wilson and Tim Werner. (That was about 4 forums ago and 4 years ago). |
I find this very interesting. Could you elaborate?
Thank you to everybody who took the time to write something. I made my day!
Good idea, Mosh.
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full nelson
8-Bit Ninja
Joined: 16 Jul 2003
Posts: 877
Topics: 18
Location: West Virginia
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| Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2004 3:21 am Post subject: |
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The first forum was for Fort Worth(?) Tx, Hackoholics Footbag club. It was a one page list forum where all the topics and replies were listed beneath eachother. Bob and I browsed around it all the time.
I remember when Montrealers used to come down for Funtastik Summer Classic.
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david
Senor Buttercup
Joined: 28 Aug 2003
Posts: 2420
Topics: 128
Location: bethlehem, pa
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| Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2004 3:35 am Post subject: |
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lol what is my video doing there
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Posi-Cole
Atomsmashasaurus Dex
Joined: 14 Jan 2004
Posts: 992
Topics: 71
Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia
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| Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2004 4:44 am Post subject: |
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| full nelson wrote: | The first forum was for Fort Worth(?) Tx, Hackoholics Footbag club. It was a one page list forum where all the topics and replies were listed beneath eachother. Bob and I browsed around it all the time.
I remember when Montrealers used to come down for Funtastik Summer Classic. |
Actually, to post a correction.
The forum was a joint effort of the Hacrifice club, the House of Footbag website that my friend and I ran, and the Ft. Worth Hackaholics website.
We all decided to team up and share one forum in order to get more traffic. At least that's how I remember it. I'm sure Erik can elaborate more on that one.
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the Executioner
BSOS Beast
Joined: 14 Mar 2003
Posts: 443
Topics: 16
Location: Laurel, MD
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| Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2004 4:48 am Post subject: |
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[quote="lightingbolt"]2 stupid newbie questions.
| Erik Chan wrote: |
I remember when Eric Wulff played footbag. |
Who is he?
World singles (and doubles ) freestyle champion Eric Wulff, my old partner, BY FAR one of the absolute greatest most creative powerful players to ever touch a footbag. Defeated Vasek and Ryan at Euros before his retirement.
I REMEMBER, in my early days of competition, WHEN MANY OF YOU WEREN'T EVEN BORN YET
I remember when there was no such thing as shred.
I remember when the preferred bag of choice was a thick pigskin 2 panel hacky sack.
I remember when Tim Kelly played footbag; before he won the national 3 ball juggling championships.
I remember when Rippin invented Scorpions Tail, and Dennis Jones named it.
I remember when nobody self served.
For you history buffs, I have hours of interviews with some of the key architects of footbag freestyle which will end up as a book which will hopefully be done within the next 5 years. I have traced the history back to what I think is the very first trick ever done, how it was discovered, and who was involved.
It's a big project, so please be patient.
Until then, more stories please.
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