Let the Training Begin

I've always enjoyed searching for footbag how-to books & there are a few out there, although they only cover the most basic moves. It seems nobody have ever taken the time to document the moves - especially for net. There's plenty of videos out there for both freestyle & net, but nothing was ever as awesome as Footbag World magazine! I found a book about takraw called, Takraw 101, Complete Instructional/Coaching Manual. Includes: lesson plans; progress charts; check lists; tests; 200+ illustrated warm ups, stretches and exercises; 120 lead-up activities, games and drills; 90 technical illustrations; step-by-step “how to” for 20 kicks and spikes; 60+ action photos; advanced training program; complete rules.

It's the most detailed documentation of any bag/ball kicking sport I've ever seen. I'm going to add a few new pieces to my regular work out routine. Sure most of the book is everything you already know about spiking & exercise, but I did pick up a few new spike tips. Plus, it details the hand stand spike & the dreaded roll spike. I need some thicker exercise mats in a hurry!

What Happened to Freestyle?

Seriously what happened? I know there are plenty of kids out there kicking, but lately it just seems like there's not much activity. Why isn't there any discussion going on out there? modified.in & footbag.org appear to be at a stand still. I think footbag is just a lull. Have we seen everything there is to do with a footbag already? Did Vasek & Jordan just hit every trick imaginable? Tournaments are becoming few & far between, it feels like all the footbag players in North America got displaced & moved to Europe since Chilly Philly & CSS have died. The New Year's Jam in Chicago & U.S. Open are the last of the large scale American freestyle tournaments. Is this all because of 2012?

Summer Footage: Elliott + "Funky Chicken"

This is a video Derrick Fogle made this summer when i paid him a visit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLvea6hwSQM

Nashville Style Pt.2

Lee Van Sickle footage

Something New

This Thursday the Nashville crew will be trying something new & exciting by having two practice sessions per week. We nearly have 15 members in the metro area & after numerous dicussions I've learned that 3-4 never make it to the weekend practice due to work or family obligations. So after coordinating a dozen schedules, we've finally reached an agreement. Thursdays 6-8 P.M. at Patterson Park Community Center in Murfreesboro. I cannot wait to see you guys out there!

Nashville Style Pt.1

Andrew Coleman footage

Visit to CLCK

Last week Emily & I took a mini-vacation to Chicago to check out Cinematic Titanic (the new invention on Mystery Science Theater 3000 creators). This marked my first trip to Chicago that wasn't in the middle of summer or winter, so the temperature was actually enjoyable. I met up with the CLCK boys on Saturday morning to get in some footbag at Jane Adams Park. We had 4 & that's really all we needed: Cory C., Scott H., Ted M., & myself. While I did manage to lose about 90% of my games, nearly all of them were close matches. I was crushing my sunback spike, but couldn't hardly get any of my sweep spikes to cooperate. We played for a solid 3 hours! It's a shame Zeke couldn't get out of work to join us. Thanks for the good time fellas.

Holly's Back in the Circle

I'm pleased to announce the return of Holly Matthews. She's joined us the past couple weeks & is getting back into footbag & stitching. Holly even played some net with us & Alex was so gracious that he gave a her a sweep spike that knocked her glasses off. Thanks for being a gentleman Alex. It's nice to have more than 2 people in the freestyle circle too. If we actually gain a couple more shredders, I might actually become a decent freestyler someday.

Tomato Art Festival

It's almost that time of year again! The Tomato Art Festival is a fantastic event held here in Nashville. A summer festival where we all hail to the almighty tomato with artists, musicians, food, & vendors. Well, it's kinda like Octoberfest in August for us Tennessee folks. Last year there were more than 12,000 in attendance, so I cannot think of anything better to do than play footbag there. I'm kinda doubtful we'll have enough room for net, but more details to come. http://tomatoartfest.com/

A Week in Alabama

Last week I was attending a flood hazard conference in Montgomery. On the way down I decided to drop by Huntsville to get some kicking in. Chris Ryan is a long time footbagger & juggler, I met him back in '04 at Worlds in Montreal. We hooked up at some music in the park event near downtown. I'm from Tennessee so I can handle bluegrass music, but I draw the line at barbershop quartet. In all my life I cannot recall any other genre of music that could be as distracting. There's a small juggling club in Huntsville, unfortunately, footbag is not nearly as popular in rocket town.

Party With The Nashville Rollergirls

Alex G. & Elliott hit up the roller derby saturday night. It was intra-league bout so there were only 2 local teams competing. The Assualt Rivals managed to beat the Distress Damsels in a really close match. When the bout was over I went down to the floor & started talking with one of the girls "Lady Fury" and she invited us to come to the afterparty at Melrose Billiards. We hit up the pool tables, then moved over to table tennis & dominated anyone that came near that table! After working my "loop kill" shots, we joined a couple of the rollergirls "Lady Fury" & "Maulin Monroe" at the bar. We went through the drinks pretty fast & had a great time. Once the after party was over, we went to the after after party. As it turns out, I cannot operate a camera after 3 in the morning, so I don't have any footage of that.

Kicking with the "Funky Chicken"

I was on vacation last week traveling around Missouri. A couple weeks before Emily & I left, I was attempting to contact footbaggers in the St. Louis area. I was lucky enough to get in touch with a couple, however we weren't able to synchronize our schedules. On the bright side when we went through Columbia, I decided to give Derrick Fogle a call. We met up on Wednesday afternoon & kicked at MIZZOU campus for a good hour. I managed to have a couple decent strings + hitting assassian & phoenix. Derrick shot some video & I had my buddy Paul take some photos.

Finding Out About Jianzi

I've been trying to find out more information on jianzi here in the past couple weeks. It's the Chinese version of footbag that's played with a feathered shuttlecock. Unfortunately, I haven't had much luck finding any related English websites. The sport seems to be taking off in Eastern Europe. Nashville has a decent sized Lao & Thai communitues, but not many Chinese folks. My Grandparents in-law are missionaries in Taiwan, so when they get back I'll ask them what they know. I'd like to see in played here in Nashville.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jianzi

FACIAL HUMILIATION!

Magic Bullet vs. Slap Chop

Andrew Coleman explains all...

Spring Takraw Tournament

Every 3 months there's a takraw tournament at the Wat Buddharam Temple in Murfreesboro, TN. It's ususally a local event, but occasionally we get some out-of-state players from the NC clubs. There are tons of vendors, food, plays, musical performances, etc. I'll be sure to get some video next time. It's really a sight to behold.

Southeastern Championships

Okay so maybe the name is different now, but it'll always be Southeasterns to me. So the Mud Island Belt as it's now called took place last weekend in Memphis, TN on the banks of the Mississippi River. It was a strong turnout with numerous high caliber players from: Birmingham, Chicago, Memphis, Montreal, Nashville, Portland, San Francisco, & Vancouver.

I believe there were 6 World Champions in attendance including Kenny Shults, Emmanuel Bouchard, P.T. Lovern, Chris Siebert, Ken Hamric, & Patti Schrickel. When I'm travelling to tournaments, I rarely feel like I'm in over my head, but this certainly qualified as one of those times. The bottom line is there aren't any bigger names in footbag & I'll be interested to see if Memphis can keep up the big show for next year. Okay here are the results.

DOUBLES
1. P.T./Manu B.

2. Patti S./Ken S.
3. Jeremy M./Jack H.
4. Chris S./Steve D.
5. Walt H./Ben A.
6. Ken H./Tuan V.

SINGLES:
1. Manu B.
2. Ken S.
3. Chris S.
4. Cory C.

5. Tuan V.

6. Jack H.

Home is Where the Bag Lives

We've continued with our regular practices over the past three weeks. This Easter we took a break because everyone had family plans that day. I had already called off practice when Emily said that she'd like to play some footbag. Emily played net all the time from '03-'07, & by the time 2008 came she decided to quit. I think she only played net maybe 3 times last year. So I was pretty suprised when she said she wanted to. We bought a house back in Oct. of '08, so we decided to just set up the net in our backyard. We have just enough room to kick. I've never played footbag on land that I own; it was a nice feeling.

Juggleville IV: Jugglemanji

Well not much footbag this weekend to speak of, however, I did attend the opening night of Juggleville IV: Jungglemanji. It's an annual juggling performance arts showcase which features all types of juggling & exhibits a few other athletic abilities such as jump rope, break dance, etc. I was in the group that performed Juggleville II, where I incorporated footbag into the show. Jacob Weiss has been organizing these events since 2006 & it's always a good time. Thanks again Vanderbilt University for being kind enough to oblige the efforts of the Nashville juggling community. You can check out videos + more photos here http://juggleville.com/4/

Takraw Season Begins

I drove out to the Wat Buddharam Temple in Murfreesboro on Sunday & I'm pleased to report that takraw season has arrived. Luckily I was just in time to play a couple games before the sun went down. I felt rusty, but I can shake that off with a couple more visits. It was a good time hanging out with the my Laos boys again.

The Last Indoor Session?

It appears that Winter is finally over, & I hope that we had our last indoor session on Sunday. Justin, our boxing footbagger, is making some excellent progress on the net court. His basic kicks are coming together nicely & he can pull a wicked sole push.

I knew it would take sometime for the newer players to get used to the game. It's good to see that the effort is beginning to pay off. Our Winter sessions are averaging a 5-man turnout, but we have nearly 10 in the active roster. So it's gonna be exciting to see more kickers show up for the warmer months. We've come a long way from the duo that we had back in August. We might even get to set up 2 net courts this Summer!

Big Tuna

Pic. of the week - Alex staged a solo protest of budget cuts at MTSU

We had a small, yet fruitful session on Sunday. Andrew has been playing net for 6 months straight & it shows. He set a number of sweep serves the other day & is consistantly hitting a couple different types of spikes. The overall rally is much improved when he's on the court, so I think it's safe to say he's a solid intermediate player now. If we could only get a couple more dedicated footbag players I think the skill set for our entire group could improve dramatically.

Jumping

Spiking is the single most exciting thing to do in a game, especially if the person can get some air. If there's one thing I've noticed about my game, I don't jump very much. The only spikes I jump for are sole pushes & sunbacks. So I've introduced some jumping exercises into my workout routine that I trust will pay off when I'm on the court.

JUMPING EXERCISES

1. Deep Knee Bends --- Be standing. Slowly bend at the knees while keeping your back straight. Slowly crouch down as low as possible and slowly rise back up.

2. Toe Raises --- Stand regularly, then raise up onto the tips of your toes. Repeat 30-50 times. Toe-Raise with Weights --- If you have any sort of weights, holding/wearing them while doing these toe raises will help.

3. Jumping Rope--- Jumping rope definitely helps your vertical leap.

Bustin' Dustin Pays a Visit to Nashville

Dustin Yanofsky made a rare appearence on Sunday to practice.

He helped to found & organize our club way back in '02. This was

the first time I've ever been able to get him to play net, & for

someone out of practice he made it look rather easy. So he cannot

pull atomic ducking tricks mid-string like the old days, but he

could change that if he wanted to.

We had a 6 man session at Patterson Park. Alex brought a new kid out named Dennis. Unfortunately, he didn't last very long & pulled his knee out of socket when stretching for toe on the net court. This was an injury he has already sustained, so nothing out of the blue. It was just a suprise becasue I've never really witnessed an injury playing footbag other than a rolled or sprained ankle. I believe he's recovering nicely, although I doubt he'll ever be convinced to play net again. It's a shame.

It's Always Better Outside

We had a decent practice last weekend at the Boxing Resource Center in Nashville. It seems like whenever we kick outdoors we always have more people than indoors. I don't blame anyone, it seems like natural human instinct to stay home when it's cold outside & the weather is crap. So we only had 4 people turn out, lowest showing of the year I believe. We played several net games & shredded afterwards. Justin said he had never actually played 4-square, so we had to throw down. As usual Andrew won, but he always wins at squares. Could Andrew Coleman actually take down Steve Goldberg?

Nashville's 4 - Square Logo

Photoshop can do some fantastic things. It still needs some work, but it's a good start. I know that Zeke is going to be so envious when he sees it.

We had an amazing practice in the M'boro Sunday with 7 people. The past 2 weeks we've been able to kick outside. The shred went down in the KUC after the sunset. It was worth being sore on Monday. As usual, I cannot wait until next week.