Post
by MathieuGM » 07 Sep 2010 11:59
-= Funtastik summer classic 2010 Write up =-
Friday September 3rd
So here we go! Marc, Olivier and I met up at 9 AM to start the drive. We where expecting a 10 hour drive, so we were hoping to get at the hotel for 7 PM, something like that! The drive was awsome, all of us talking for the whole trip. We where lucky enough to only have one car in front of us at the border, so we only had to wait like... 5 minutes? Only one downside : Marc keep farting all the time! It was funny, because he was always trying to find a new reason to open the window haha. The drive was faster then we expected, it only took 8 hours and 45 minutes, so we get at the hotel around 6, or something like that.
As soon as we get at the hotel, we found Jay, just laying there and waiting for anyone else to come to talk to him. So as soon as i get out of the car, i went to talk with him. Funny thing : he left his some at like 4 AM, because he was expecting lots of trafic on that weekend. But there was like... not a single car on the road, so he get at the hotel at 11 AM. He just waited the whole day for other people to come! He had to drive 7 hours from hamilton, while we drove less than 9 hours from montreal haha. I think he was a bit jealous! So we checked in and went to eat a good dinner with jay.
After the dinner, Jay and i went at the pool. We talked about basically everything about footbag.... Training, drilling, warming up, combo. Jay is definitly crazy (in a good way). I remember je talked to me about few drills like : mobius-twirl-rpt. And he just say like 10 CRAZY moves or link he would like to hit during the week end. Here is an exemple : Whirling same bent drifter. WTF? haha. The was really amazing.
After that, i went in the shred room. There was only few people there. There was already a circle going on with Doug Tank and two new players, Meagan and her boyfriend. As soon as i saw Doug, i knew i had to play. We had such a good time playing together in montrael with Dante. Doug Tank is an AMAZING person. And obvisouly, he playes footbag very well... His spinning and duking move are awsome. A pretty good session.
On that night, Jay and Doug had nowhere to sleep, so they just get in hour room.
Saturday september 4th
So, Jay, Doug and I woke up at something like noon i guess! We went to eat a breakfast at Bob Evan's restaurant. Once again, Jay and I had few footbag conversation. We just keep asking each other questions like : who has your favorite style? Whos the best? Who has the best variety, bla bla bla. It's always awsome to see how people don'T agree on style, or trick selection and all that stuff. But overall, few name where coming from everyone : Lon Smith, Dave, Johnny, Juho, Anssi and guys like that. It was cool.
After the breakfast, we went to the event site. Sadly, we took the wrong direction, and we get to the event site on friday, instead of the one for saturday! Doug Tank almost had an accident, i saw that ca like... 2 or 3 foot away from my window. But anyway, doesn't matter, i'm still alive haha! So we get at the event site. There where few circle going on, mainly intermediate circle. It was really nice to see all these enw players shredding hard. Keep up the good work guys! Doug, Tom and I kicked for a while a net bag. This game is so hard! Receving a serve is like trying to hit clipper for the first time. I just cant get the bag back on the court haha. Still, i really enjoy that game. You know, we have such a big net scene in montreal. I'm getting much closer to all the net players. I think i'll play that game on day, don't know when. I'm definitly into freestyle for now...
Then, around 3, Drew Martin said on the microphone : We are going to do a circle contest later tonight, so if you want to resigster, just come to see me or Jay. But the funny part is that Jay was just beside me, and he was like : oh yah? I didn't knew i was orgazing that haha. So Jay and i went at the table. And i absolutly don't know why, but i ended up having all the sheets in my hand. So i did the seed with Jay, i setted up the whole event. Making pool, finding judges and bla bla bla. So we ended up telling all the intermediate to get at the shred room for 7h30 so we could run the event right away. We planned to be able to start the open circle at 8h30, so we can have everything done for 9h30, something like that.
I was a bit confuse, because i have never run a complete circle event. So i ws SO happy to see Steve get in the hotel. I basically jump on him and say : would you please mind to help me with judging haha. So he explained me how judging should work, and we found few judges for the intermediate circle. I like intermediate circle. It's a good way to keep the new players motivated. It's also a good competition experience. they can get use to how circle work, what is important in that competition, how you should play, and all that sutff. So, later, when they get in Open, we can run everything smoothly. We had 6 intermediate players, so we set up 2 circle. First of all, let's talk about Barreith (sorry if i don't spell you name correctly!). He is back at lavers. I feel his clipper look MUCH better in these shoes. Also, Matt Cross told me Barreith has been drilling a LOT these day. We can definitly see that. He had few long string (probably more than 20 contacts?). Mainly mirage, leg over, pick up, clipper and stuff like that. But rpetty much all his move look good, so now he has good fundation to work on! Keep the good work man! There was also Nick Polini. Such a cool guy. Such a weird style. Such a crazy trick selection. He still doesn't perfeclty master the basic, but he can do some impressive stuff and weird link. I remeber that cross body sole stall to swirl or something like that. He definitly deserve to win that intermediate circle. I feel that if he keep drilling the basic, he might become one of those you really want to see play at jam. Keep up the good work budy. Also props to all the other competitor! Hope to compete with you in an open circle in a near future!
Then we went for Open circle comp. We had 3 pool, with 4 players in each. The first pool included Jay Boychuk, Nate Pipenberg, Drew Martin and John Goode. Jay had a wel deserved seed one, Piepenber seed 2 and Drew seed 4. Jay won. Not that much surprising. `Not because the other competitor were not good. But he just work so hard all the time... I feel his game is really getting together now. His string lenght is getting really good. Jay for BAP in 2011? But the one who really impressed me the most is Drew Martin. I have seen Drew play for 2 years now, so i believed i knew his game pretty well. But damn, he improved a LOT in the previous year. I mean a lot... He his much more constient then before and he can throw few big moves and here and ehre. Only to name bedweatter midstring. I was judging that circle. We had hard time to figure out who between Nate or Drew would get the 2nd place. Then, Drew get it. Props man!
For the second pool, there was Ken, Doug, Marc and Natan. It's always so hard to give a seed to Marc Giard... I remember seeing a video of montreal spring jam in 2007 where he made the final with Crazy players like Jorden and scott i guess. But he his a bit out of shape, due to injuries. Still, when he is on this dude hit crazy stuff like double spinning clipper to spining outside stall. He has a pretty good shuffle style too. I didn'T saw much of that circle, because i had to warm up. Still, i heard the crowd explode a few time, espcially after a round of Marc and after a run of Ken. I heard Ken made few funny thing during that circle, but i guess someone else could talk more about it, because i didn't really see anything! So the result was : Ken, Marc and Doug tie 2nd and natan on 4th place. I'm glad for Marc, because i think he was really happy with the result! You know, Doug is really good...
Then there was the last circle. It was supose to be Scott, Me, Cory Allen, and Patrick. But well, Corry Allen was really busdy to have fun with a girl at the event. So he scratch. Rob Creel was kind enough to join the circle, so we had 4 players... Thx Rob. So i only had few minutes to warm up, because i judged the first circle. My warm up wasn'T going really well... I wasn't feeling on at all. So i joined the circle without so much expectation. Especially considering i was playing just before Scott! But when the circle started, i don't know why, but i was playing very well. In the variety round, i did OK. I have never been so good at variety, but i tried to use every concept. Few double dexes, few whrils, few spinning move, few mixer, open set, shut set, atomic set, ducking moves, a twist, few torques. I guess i did OK. Scott was obvisouly dominating that part. But in the density part, i feel i played really well. Probably as good as i can in a good day. I remember having a run of probably more then 20 contact including FOG, far torque, spinning far DLO, blurry whirl or something like that. The crowd exploded after that run. I was feeling pretty good. Scott did ok, but i know he can do much better. So yah, i endend up 2nd. But then, Jay came to see me and said : you know, 2 judges had you really close to scott in the density part. I ws really happy about that. Still, i'm nowhere close to soctt level, considering he killed me in the variety part. Also he can make much better in density part, while i doubt i could have made better. But the good point is that i have done really well in circle contest 2 events i a row (mtl spring jam and funtastik). I think i'm getting more confident! I'm glad about it!
After that, i had a small circle with Bob Rieffer. He is such a legend in my mind. You know, i have beenr eading his blog for so long and sendig him several PM about lots of thing. It was really awsome to meet him. Then, i played 2 square with Steve. It's awsome to play against him in pick up game, ebcause our level is pretty similar. He always bet me by like 2 or 3 points. So we always have good game. I also played with Tom Kotsakos. An other super player. He is so good! I hope we will have more game soon budy! Then i went at bed. I was tired.
Sunday September 5th
Coming later.
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. I really enoyed the time we had together at funtastik! Hope to see you at kickass!
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