Nathan

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 12 Dec 2011 09:17

Good post Nathan.

Yeah, the first time a friend/acquaintance your own age dies, it really comes as a shock. This has only happened to me a few times, but every time through the sadness, there also comes for me a sense of gratitude. Like, it reminds me that things can change or end at any moment, and therefore I should really savor every day and all the experiences I have.

Nathan wrote:the combo I hit was vertigo>fog>phoenix>69.

That's really sick. The first link especially, but also throwing 69 deep into a fearless string is impressive.

Also: I agree with your thoughts on footbag needing a cool site, and also finding a better name for what we do. Sadly, I don't have any answers off the top of my head.

boyle · Post by **boyle** » 26 Dec 2011 06:49

Too bad to hear about your friend, that's sad to hear.

I like seeing posts expressing thought about the current state of Footbag and where to go from here. It seems a lot of people are coming to the realisation that there is a lot of breath wasted on explaining the difference between "footbag" and "hacky sack" - just wait til you get them started on the different naming concepts...

I think something that could be done more by all of us (us being "the footbag community in general" is simply sharing things- videos, articles etc, with the "general public" (or simply, our non- Footbag friends through Facebook, Twitter etc). Playing in public spaces and having videos with cool scenery in the background is another thing that everyone can do.

It would be brilliant to have some bags to simply give away each time someone got interested. It's not really particularly financially feasible, particularly if you're a student, or don't have a job.

I think most people in the footbag community want it to become a big deal, but are hoping that someone else will do it. The beauty would be for a big sponsor to do a long running deal with Footbag (eg: Ken in Japan with Pepsi in 2003 or so). These kind of things would need to show Footbag as a sport in its own right, not just as a gimmick or a novelty to sell some crappy product.

I spend a lot of time thinking about this sort of stuff - especially now I have a whole new country to try and convert! It would be great to see a lot more thoughts from other players around the world too.

Are you planning on doing any more trekking now that you have completed the AT? That is a pretty impressive accomplishment.

Nathan · Post by **Nathan** » 29 Dec 2011 13:19

Thanks for the reply Dan, I agree with your thoughts there.

Oh yeah, and I do want to hike more. There are a couple more 2000+ mile trails out West that I hope to find some time to complete. Probably when I graduate from college.

I haven't played hack for a couple weeks now and my back it still rather fucked. I tried to replace footbag with running but that ended up hurting my back as well. So now I'm doing nothing athletic at all and it sucks. I'm skipping out on the session in NYC since I couldn't play anyway.

On the plus side, I have a few things to look forward to in 2012. Here they are:

I heard back from PSU and Footbag Club is official, which means we can ask for some money and rent out a room on campus. With those two perks, I think we should be able to run a successful tournament. I probably won't have too much time to set it all up, but we've got about 5 club members I can count on to help out, and East Coast tourneys are usually only about 15 strong anyway. So I'm looking forward to getting started on that when school starts back up.

I think my little comp for a free bag went well, although in retrospect picking a winner was really tough. However, I have another that would basically remove my own opinions from the process and I think it will be really fun. I think when Aleksi posts his review from the first contest I will post the second.

Hopefully, I will revive my experimental East Coast blog, which is still linked in my signature, in some form. I was looking back over the posts recently, and I think they are pretty interesting and better than most blog posts on modified. They certainly were better than anything I have written in this thread.

I should have some bags for sale by this weekend if anyone is interested, too.

Peace.

boyle · Post by **boyle** » 02 Jan 2012 11:12

hey man- too bad to hear about the back troubles. Injuries are so annoying- the worst. But it does give you time to think about where you want to take your game, or what to do about promoting footbag, blah blah.

...or to sit around and get fat

I think your club at PSU will do really well- quite simply because you already have a scene regularly playing there. Even if it's not that many people, that can grow some more. Try and get as much money as possible out of them- particularly if you can get a good reputation early on, then say you need to have a big competition, and pay for everyone's accom (then have them stay on your floor...). There's a lot of money to be had from these uni clubs. I'm not so sure how it works in the states, but I ran a club for a little while when I was at uni, and even though there were some funding cuts, and we didn't really have any other "real" players, the uni gave us a reasonable amount of money.

Already having players gives you a big advantage as the people controlling the money will be able to see you actively building a scene etc (one would hope).

I would love to see some "in depth thoughts on the game" or something like that on your East Coast Kick site. It's good to have more writing on Footbag "out there" in the world of internet, rather than just on Modified- which is something I should do more of too.

Sorry for writing such long winded crap in your blog- but I think some of your ideas on "the future of footbag" are pretty similar to mine and it's not something that's discussed so much of late.

Will you go to Worlds this year? I hope to go- but we'll have to see about that.

Nathan · Post by **Nathan** » 02 Jan 2012 21:50

Worlds is pretty much as impossibility. Hopefully this summer I will be at an internship myself (with luck it'll be with Backpacker Magazine in Boulder, CO) so I won't have much time off.

My back is still feeling shitty. I've been sleeping on the floor instead of my soft mattress.I've also been trying to stretch but it's often quite painful and leaves me feeling worse than before. I think I need to visit a doctor soon.

I've been stitching instead of playing. Here are my latest bags:

Both are for sale, check le siggy.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 03 Jan 2012 07:07

It'd be so sick if you were out in Boulder for the summer. I'd make a point to come up a few times, and you could also come down to check out Denver and crash with me.

Good luck with the convalescence.

Nathan · Post by **Nathan** » 28 Feb 2012 18:09

Ken, Boulder would indeed be sick. I'm turning in my application tomorrow, so my fingers are firmly crossed.

Just wanted to update because I'm finally back to playing regularly again and loving it. Lately I've hit some sweet stuff I've never done before like:

-gig bs
-duck pdx torque bsos
-symp whirling swirl bsos
-bs blur> pix ss symp whirl
-a bunch of links with flails

Getting psyched up for the PSU Jamps as well. My to do list is as follows:

-Finalize reservations for sick outdoor venue in the heart of campus
-Get coverage from school paper and other media outlets
-Design t-shirts and fliers
-Make some prize bags, ask for some donations
-practice some more so I don't suck at my own tourney

I've also been writing a lot, the best of which has been displayed in my column for my school paper. Read em here if you're interested: http://www.collegian.psu.edu/staff/nath ... nberg.aspx

DTank126 · Post by **DTank126** » 02 Mar 2012 10:41

Hey man sick highlights. Ducking p torque sauce is totes boss.

Wish I could make it to the PSU jam but unfortuantely finals and stuff make it kinda tough. Will you and the other PSU guys be around in the few months after April? I'm going to be graduating this year and was thinking about traveling around the States a bit and would like to visit PA for a weekend or something. Would love to kick with you and your crew again.

Also I read a couple of your articles. Fuckin hysterical writing, man. I really enjoyed your portrayal of hipsters and how "going green" is the new buzz word. Way to tell it how it is. Are there any particular journals or newspaper companys you're applying to?

Nathan · Post by **Nathan** » 02 Mar 2012 16:32

Thanks Derg.

Sucks you can't make it to the Jamps. If you do make that road trip, I might be around. It's more likely I'll be somewhere else though -- either in CO at Backpacker magazine or in Maine doing trail work on the AT. I'm sure we'll see each other soon though. I'll tell Nick to go fuck himself a couple times for ya.

For now I'm off to Georgia (it's my spring break) to hike a small section of the AT again. Looking forward to meeting some people trying to thru-hike this year and give them food and beer from our car.

Nathan · Post by **Nathan** » 21 Mar 2012 12:58

The trip to Georgia was awesome. We met a bunch of cool people and it confirmed that I want to spend a couple more years hiking once I get out of school.

Played hack a few times since then. New tricks

pdx whirling swirl
fairy mobius
symp torque

PSU club made a new friend last week. He's buying a bag from me and hopefully will be coming to our sessions and getting lavers soon.

Other than that, amped for the Jamps. Making a prize bag tonight.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 21 Mar 2012 13:06

Props on phobia.

Any word on Boulder internship?

Good luck with the Jamps!

Nathan · Post by **Nathan** » 19 Apr 2012 20:38

It's been a while since my last post.

First things first, I want to sum up my feelings about the Jampionships, which are: it fuckin rocked! So, so fun. I'm glad I finally organized a tournament, even if it was pretty mellow.

Some highlights for me:
-Jon Schneider showing up early and having a good talk with him Thursday night.
-Seeing Ian's exhibit on Friday night (so cool that I'm going back again tomorrow)
-Meeting new people, especially Zach, since we're both seasoned players
-Seeing all my East Coast homies again. It's always a pleasure.
-A couple really good conversations with Zach about style and our favorite players
-4 Square. Doug: "I'm gonna get you so fucking out!" after Zach and I rip on him for dropping 4 straight toe stalls
-Watching Nick teach Anton atomics in my basement even though he was this drunk minutes later:

-Playing well in prelims
-Hogan ripping circle finals
-Watching two of our PSU noobs making it to intermediate finals
-Never saying anything nice to Doug Dicktank until the very end of the tournament. I think we both shed a few tears then..

It was just a great time and totally worth the effort of organizing it. Thanks again to everyone who came. Thanks for making each night at my place really fun, but staying clean and respectful.
Thanks to Boats for the music.
Thanks to Waylon for the prize bag.
Thanks to everyone who bought beer.

You all rock.

Otherwise, Life has been really good, as well. Going back to school was tough, but made easier by a couple cool things.

-Got accepted to an internship with Backpacker Magazine in Boulder, CO.
-Was asked by my department head to join an in-depth reporting class next year. It's invitation only -- of the several thousand journalism students, about 10 get into the class.
-Several of my articles have been picked up by the Huffington Post -- here's one I wrote a couple weeks ago: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-daily ... 17514.html

As for footbag, I've been playing alright. Only a couple things stand out to me right now. This weekend I hit

dive drifter>duck drifter>rpt

And today I hit 10 fearless:

bld>bs blur>fuck butt>bld>mat>sumo>dark>fog>phnx>blw>drop on blw

I think with some work on flip pixie and flip nuke I can hit more soon. 15 doesn't seem out of reach this year.

lates,

Sporatical_Distractions · Post by **Sporatical_Distractions** » 19 Apr 2012 21:56

Nathan wrote:-Got accepted to an internship with Backpacker Magazine in Boulder, CO.

That is incredible! I've read their guides many times

h0ag3yb3atZ · Post by **h0ag3yb3atZ** » 20 Apr 2012 04:49

That picture is great, everything i could've hoped for and more.

aw yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyya nathan. props on all of that, especially the 10 fearless.

boyle · Post by **boyle** » 20 Apr 2012 12:32

well done man, you're doing well in the writing and the shred. 10 fearless is sick. Getting into that class is a great achievement. I have read some of your stuff, I enjoy it. The internship with Backpacker Magazine should be great too.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 20 Apr 2012 12:51

Enjoyed the dumpster diving piece, and it's cool the Huff picked it up.

Hard to describe how stoked I am that you'll be moving into my backyard this summer. I want to shred regularly with you. Guaranteed fun.

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 21 Apr 2012 13:30

Still a pleasure witnessing the Fearless 10 man. And much thanks for the helpz. Looking forward to playing tonight.

...and as I already told you... I GOT A SURPRISE FOR YOUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Nathan · Post by **Nathan** » 24 Apr 2012 20:19

Badda boom! Thanks for the comments y'all. Good to know people are reading!

Ken, I am stoked to play as well. I'm not gonna have a car, so getting to Denver might be tough, but hopefully we can figure something out. I should be right in downtown Boulder and have quite a bit of free time, since it's only a part time job. How far away is Denver?

I've also heard that Pete Irish is in Boulder these days and is doing shows on Pearl Street on the reg. If we can get him to shred with us too I'm gonna be stoked.

So PSU footbag has been going HAM on the hack these past two weeks. Nick's been attacking the bag and therefore hitting bigger tricks better. Stuff like whirls and drifter.

Our noob Ivan is starting to hit some very unnoobish tricks like blur and dlo and symp mirages.

We played today and I hit a few things of note

-rubberman with blizzards and reactors (that might be a stupid way to describe that drill, but fuck it)
-vertigo-blurry torque

Actually, that might be it. Ohwell, still a good sesh. We played with a brand new 14 panel I made and it reminded me of the fact that 14's are awesome since they take like an hour to sew and play better than 32's.

Here are some things I would like to hit before school starts up again in August:

-15 fearless
-a beast
-gyro egg bsos
-blenders (should help with the beast)

Yeah.

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 24 Apr 2012 21:42

Great session tonight. I had a blast. Footbag has never been so fun, now that my runs aren't as boring, thanks to your tips and drills. Looking forward to the next one.

Nathan · Post by **Nathan** » 09 May 2012 21:42

Yoyo,

Had my first session in a while and started off just shredding but felt the urge to drill. So I ran up to my room and found an old list of drills I made in the fall and knocked em out. I had already hit a bunch of them at earlier session but this time I just went down the list and hit every one in order. it felt great, and probably took me an hour overall.

I won't list them all -- it was 30 in all -- but some are worth a mention, since they are weird or awkward or kinda tough. Like:

pdx whirl> muted diving clipper>swirl>rpt
atomic pickup>pix ss symp mir>rpt
pix gyro toe>ss butter>dlo>rpt
duck pdx mir>atomic ss pickup>ss toe whirl

I feel like these are the kind of drills that give you good variety and confidence to hit strange links in shred, so it was a fulfilling session.

I've also been making bags recently, since I've come to terms with the financial realities of unpaid internships. So if you like my bags or think they might be good please check out the link in my signature.

Off to Boulder in 10 days.