Picking apart my game: Bails vs. Sets

When I think about my 'game,' there are so many aspects that go into the whole picture, that today I am just going to pick apart the concept of 'Bails', what tricks I Bail to, and my strategy for managing Bails in training.

A 'The' or 'Guiltless' trick is well-defined, but Bails are different for everyone. A Bail is a trick that a player uses as their go-to trick(s), for a sense of stabilization, to quickly get centered, and to set other tricks from. A Bail also 'happens' when you go to do a big trick and you "Bail" to another (usually easier) trick. Players sometimes 'revert' to these Bail tricks to get control of the footbag. They are necessary for performances because they give the player a way to stay with the beat, still accumulate Adds and keep their difficulty ratio high.

For some people, a Bail might be as advanced as Torque, Ripwalk or Spinning Butterfly. For most people a Bail ranges from a Toe Delay in the case of a newer player, or more commonly a Paradox Mirage, Butterfly, Osis or Whirl. I noticed that in competition, that many players bail to a Toe Pick-up.

In my case, my bails are mostly Butterflies and Osii... also Paradox Whirls, Torques, Ripwalks in some cases. It also depends on the level you hold yourself to. I now play at a Guiltless level, where every trick is worth 3 or more points. For a long time, about 10 years ago, I pushed myself to play at a Tripless level where every trick is worth 4 or more points. I am not sure when I went back to a Guiltless level, but it was mostly to improve my string-length which suffered when I went Tripless. Plus when I designed routines, I never planned a trick less than 3 adds except a few Unusual Surfaces.

The bigger your 'Bail' tricks are, the higher your Add Ratio will be, which is a big part of improving your game.

A Set can force a Bail. A big difference between a Bail and a Set is whether it is employed to recover from a potential drop, or if it was intentionally performed to get to another larger trick. When Sets are executed properly, they make the next trick possible. Since every trick is a Set for the next trick, Bails are inevitable.

Another way to look at it, is that I manage Sets everyday during training by finding the most comfortable sets for specific tricks, and I train them in combination. Bails are when I use those tricks to recover from a potentially uncontrollable moment.


Shred notes: 1/25/09
Blurry Whirling Swirl to the left today. Why is it still easier to do Paradox Atom Smasher (nuclear style), than for me to do a simple Atom Smasher. Atomic tricks to the butterfly are more of a 'bail' for me because my brain thinks they are more reliable. Still not sure why Quantum still eludes me. Closer though. By using daily training of my flipside pixie and fairy, along with continuing to hit Atomic sets and Nuclear sets, and now Barrages, my game is evolving yet again.