Quit as a child, came back as a man.

baserock love · Post by **baserock love** » 07 Sep 2010 01:56

For a few years as a kid I really tried to get into footbag. I had my Tricks of the Trade video, my xeroxed newsletters from the World Footbag Association every couple months and my Juice Facile which was basically the only bag it seemed anybody into the sport owned back then. I was the best kid in my junior high and highschool but I was basically a glorified circle kicker. When i discovered skateboarding, drugs and girls I sorta forgot about footbag.

15 years and a lot of growing up later I found an old box of my stuff while cleaning out my mom's foreclosed house and sure enough, my old Juice Facile from 1993 or something was in it. I looked up some vids on youtube to see where the sport had progressed since and was just floored by people like Klouda and Benda and just everybody at worlds. I did a little research, found you guys, bought a pair of lavers (as of now unmodded but laced properly, when they get dirty i'll probably mod them but I like the way they look too much now, but boy what a difference wearing these over any shoe i ever kicked in makes.)

Not to tell my life story, but it's funny, at age 29 (today actually) I'm utterly hooked again. I have pretty much given up standing still and sitting down in my free time, i just kick and practice now. My first time touching a footbag in probably 15 years i got 50 consecutive kicks and learned flying clippers, the next days i learned left inside stalls, the day after that clipper stalls on both sides, the day after that around the world stalls on my right foot. All things i never could manage to do as a kid. I've progressed more in 4 days then i did in 4 years way back then. Taking a short break because my tendons in my inner thigh are killing me because I hadn't used them liket his in so long.

I love it. Skateboarding cost me most of the cartilage in my right knee and this is great medium impact exercise and i'm always looking for new athletic outlets. I just purchased my first hand stitched 32 panel, a narancsbag from the hungarian gentleman in the For Sale forum and I'm trying to get a hold of Hania to buy one from her as well just to compare a well known and unknown stitcher and see what makes a footbag good (Here's hoping they're both great whatever i end up with, bear, abshire, hania or whoever.)

Sorry for the long post, but thought I would say hi and formally introduce myself as a long time beginner so to speak. If theres any 20 somethings or older in the east bay CA that want to kick I would love to hook up.

Fade2black · Post by **Fade2black** » 07 Sep 2010 05:37

Welcome back to the sport

Check out playfootbag.org to see the beat instructional videos by Anssi Subdberg.

I believe bear and the rest of the Stanford crew are up there in the East Bay... Can someone confirm that?

Anyways. Glad to have you back and keep us updated on your progress

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 07 Sep 2010 06:07

Cool story, and happy birthday

Iron Clad Ben · Post by **Iron Clad Ben** » 07 Sep 2010 07:13

Welcome! East bay (where worlds was, Oakland) is all net players: www.chaosfootbag.com Check out the Stanford club in Palo Alto for freestyle: http://www.footbag.org/clubs/show/sufc

baserock love · Post by **baserock love** » 07 Sep 2010 12:01

Iron Clad Ben wrote:Welcome! East bay (where worlds was, Oakland) is all net players: www.chaosfootbag.com Check out the Stanford club in Palo Alto for freestyle: http://www.footbag.org/clubs/show/sufc

I actually saw them. My only problem is that my car was stolen (<3 Concord) and I am rideless for possibly a year so that makes getting out to Palo Alto a bit of a stretch. Hoping to find somebody actually in the east bay.

Iron Clad Ben · Post by **Iron Clad Ben** » 07 Sep 2010 13:58

baserock love wrote:
Iron Clad Ben wrote:Welcome! East bay (where worlds was, Oakland) is all net players: www.chaosfootbag.com Check out the Stanford club in Palo Alto for freestyle: http://www.footbag.org/clubs/show/sufc
I actually saw them. My only problem is that my car was stolen (<3 Concord) and I am rideless for possibly a year so that makes getting out to Palo Alto a bit of a stretch. Hoping to find somebody actually in the east bay.

Concord, CA you say? You sir, are in luck: http://modified.in/footbag/viewtopic.ph ... 5&start=20

baserock love · Post by **baserock love** » 07 Sep 2010 15:26

Iron Clad Ben wrote:
baserock love wrote:
Iron Clad Ben wrote:Welcome! East bay (where worlds was, Oakland) is all net players: www.chaosfootbag.com Check out the Stanford club in Palo Alto for freestyle: http://www.footbag.org/clubs/show/sufc
I actually saw them. My only problem is that my car was stolen (<3 Concord) and I am rideless for possibly a year so that makes getting out to Palo Alto a bit of a stretch. Hoping to find somebody actually in the east bay.
Concord, CA you say? You sir, are in luck: http://modified.in/footbag/viewtopic.ph ... 5&start=20

Oh cool, thanks for the heads up. Right now the emphasis on inside/clipper stalls iv'e been doing has my groin tendons hurting something fierce, i'm gonna take a short break to let them heal/adjust then i might drop this guy a line.

Fade2black · Post by **Fade2black** » 09 Sep 2010 17:44

yeah .. once you get your body used to that motion you will be good to go!

Tsiangkun · Post by **Tsiangkun** » 09 Sep 2010 20:13

Bryan and I are in the east bay, and we were playing back when the juice was the bag to have.

I'm in oakland, Bryan is in Concord.

baserock love · Post by **baserock love** » 10 Sep 2010 02:39

Tsiangkun wrote:Bryan and I are in the east bay, and we were playing back when the juice was the bag to have.

I'm in oakland, Bryan is in Concord.

No kidding. I'd be willing to bet you two are a helluva lot better than I am but that's pretty much what I'm looking for. The level I'm at, i can probably kick forever practically if I put my mind to it. I've got the basic stalls down well, last things i learned were clipper stalls and toe around the worlds (no idea if that's what it's called now, as a lot of new lingo seems to have popped up in the last decade). I'm improving ridiculously fast. If you wouldn't mind having a friendly noobie around I'd love to hook up with some locals and just have some fun and learn some new stuff, get pointers and all that. I've got 2 bags coming in the mail (my decade old juice is like playing with a paper mache ball. Reaaaaallly light and rollie) plus i'm letting some soreness heal but in the next week or two i'll hopefully have my new bags broken in and be ready to play.

Swizzle · Post by **Swizzle** » 13 Sep 2010 15:24

Really cool story, i think it was more interesting than long

I would say stretch quiet a lot with this new style of footbag too

baserock love · Post by **baserock love** » 13 Sep 2010 18:17

Swizzle wrote:Really cool story, i think it was more interesting than long

I would say stretch quiet a lot with this new style of footbag too

Yeah, holy god. It's all from doing inside stalls, absolutely excruciating pain but only when i do that motion. After reading around about techniques, i realized i was doing all my stall motions with my stalling leg as opposed to cushioning with my support leg. After not touching my bag for 5 days i decided to kick around a bit last night. Everything was fine and then once again, i do some inside stalls even with the proper support leg cushioning and i get the same excruciating pain in my groin tendons or muscles. Possibly i didn't give it enough time to heal but i don't know. This is very frustrating as i'm expecting my first 2 serious freestyle bags in the mail tomorrow with another from hania on the way, and i'd like to use them.

Very annoyed that i can ride 90 miles a week on my bicycle and lift weights 3 days a week and hacky sack has me feeling like an arthritic 90 year old man.

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 15 Sep 2010 06:34

Really uplifting story here. So cool that you got back into it after all of these years. They way you described it, I could really picture myself as you, opening up a shoebox, finding my old dusty footbag gear. Total blast from the past. Best of luck with the game. Sounds like you might have a pretty decent foundation since you used to play a lot as a kid. Hope to kick with you at a future tourney perhaps.

baserock love · Post by **baserock love** » 21 Sep 2010 15:38

Sick*Nick*Slick*Kick wrote:Really uplifting story here. So cool that you got back into it after all of these years. They way you described it, I could really picture myself as you, opening up a shoebox, finding my old dusty footbag gear. Total blast from the past. Best of luck with the game. Sounds like you might have a pretty decent foundation since you used to play a lot as a kid. Hope to kick with you at a future tourney perhaps.

Thanks for the well wishing. Been doing it about 2 to 3 hours a day about 3 to 4 days a week, it's sortof an addiction, my game is increasing exponentially especially since i just got a couple of great real freestyle bags. If you ever end up in the bay area california drop me a pm. I'm definitely trying to meet up with some people from here when i can.

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 21 Sep 2010 16:06

baserock love wrote: it's sortof an addiction

Trust me, I know how it is man haha And yeah If i'm ever close i'll hit you up. Possibly sometime this year actually because my buddy moved down there and wants me to visit plus I really wanna visit since I have never been to Cali and have always wanted to go. Keep on kickin on.