Athlete first, Street Performer second...

I have always struggled with the 'freestyle footbag as street performance' aspect of the game. I love playing in front of crowds, it somehow improves my string length, and it is a great experience to even be able to draw a crowd. But when people say, "You should put out a hat...!" I never had a great response until now.

I'm an Athlete first, and a Street performer second!  So in that sense I do not rely on income from footbag endeavors, and when I play in front of crowds, I usually play in a casual circle. So looking in from the outside, we are a group of people who each take successive turns and we always pass in the same direction. If you watch carefully, we give each other props for good strings, and there is a fairness to it all, in that we each get equal opportunity to do our best tricks. We play like athletes.  When we play in public, we organically draw crowds, people watch us play, but we are playing because we are all athletes trying to improve ourselves, not because we are asking for money.  There is an element of 'showing off', but from my personal standpoint, I am really just trying to put together long strings of guiltless tricks while jamming to the music.  I'm trying to better my overall game, while maybe getting some of the best of it on video.  It's always a great feeling when people give us money when we are not asking for it, they can see the value of passive entertainment.

I've seen my share of effective street performers, and they all have a process. They rile up a crowd. They build up the excitement by engaging passersby to stay for a few minutes for a big performance.  With street dancers, jugglers, gymnasts and musicians, they all draw a crowd and build up suspense for an upcoming show.  Nothing draws a crowd like a crowd.  The whole point of getting people riled up is to get them to open up their wallets and give you money after your performance.  The Street Performers have a 'schtick', a short performance, planned which all builds up to a climactic ending and then they ask for money.  The street performers day is cyclical because they repeat this process for the next group of passersby.  They are organized around the goal of raising money.

I have great respect for Jugglers, Breakers and Gymnasts who can pull off these kind of shows.  They not only have the athletic talent it takes to pull off dynamic tricks, but the performance awareness to monetize on it.  I really wish I had 1/10th the natural performance ability of someone like Peter Irish or Tim Kelly.  They can pull off the hard tricks, with the music and smile looking good the whole time.

So when you see me shredding with my friends next time, please join our circle or watch us try our best tricks, but don't expect too much of an organized show, we're purely shredding for the enjoyment of it!  Not to mention that if we put a hat out, the police in Chicago would either give us a hella-expensive violation or they would kick us out, and we don't want either of those!

I'm an Athlete first, and a Street performer second!

Best regards,
-Enlightener

Shred Notes: 7/31/11  - 1684 Days in a row shredding today.  Been skoolin' tons of juggles, seamless in and out.  osis, spinning osis and twirls into Stepping tricks like blurs, blizzards, blurry whirls and stepping same osis.  Still playing at Mammoth Springs Training Center in Oak Brook, IL mostly.  Vacation coming up.  Keep playing!

Check out my youtube playlists of freestyle footbag videos...

The reason for this post was to let you know that I have reorganized my 100 youtube videos into playlists, located at my channel:

http://www.youtube.com/footbagenlightener

and click on the Playlists option.

See videos in the following categories:

-Competition Videos (23)

-Contest Videos (8)

-Doubles Freestyle

-Footbag in the News 

-Lunch Shred Videos (46)

-Promo Videos (17)

-Youth Outreach

More categories forthcoming...

Happy St. Patricks Day!  I was shredding that day and made a quick little video on my phone, but when I published it to youtube, I selected 'private' and so no one saw my video.   Honestly, the phone app failed 5 times before it published, so I had to retype, on the phone, all of the details each time, even with copy and paste, it took forever.  Frustrating.  Now it is up, and ready to view...

1500 Days of Shred, 1.5 Million Tricks and Playing everyday!

Ever since I turned 40, I've been skooling my footbag freestyle game every single day!  It keeps the mind fresh and the body young.

This video features highlights with some of my thoughts as voiceovers.

Thanks to Theo 'DaMadGreek' Demeris for letting me use his audio tracks for background music!  Check his channel at: http://www.youtube.com/user/DemadGreek


"No excuses."




The dialog from the movie is posted below:

At this point, ive been playing footbag for over 27 years, but when I turned 40 in 2006, which at this point is1500 days ago,   I decided to start playing every day, this short film is really just a compilation of  clips from practic sessions that we call shreds, with voice overs that reflect my thoughts.  I hope you have as much fun viewing it as I had making it.

I'd like to thank the mad greek for providing the background music.

During this time I've been on such shows as America's got talent and local news like wgntv in chicago.

This is my son Alex in a consecutives contest at NYJ at holiday sports festival an annual event that we host.

This is just days after my 40th biryhday when I started playing every day.

My sessions last typically about an hour, sometimes I do 2 sessions a day... but not more than 2x a week.  But at a 1000 kicks per session, comes to about 1.5 million tricks over the past 4 years or so.

When I turned 40 back in 2006, I became obsessed with the concept of "Use it or Lose it," and looked at my errratic shred session schedule, and decided to put my obsession  where my mouth is, and play every day.  So while I have been practicing the craft for the past  23 years, I had undertaken a commitment that was a great personal challenge that would lead to introspecition and some basic truths.

I've come to some conclusions, things like those little pains that never go away, you've got to play through them.   They are just a trick that the body plays on the mind as it tries to get out of work.  Little pains go away a little after starting.  Injuries are different, but I'm fortunate not to suffer from any serious ones.

Sometimes just getting started was the hardest part.  The mental game was strong here.  I found that after I made it through my warm ups, that I no longer wanted to blow off my session.  What I gained from this is an ability to recognize and overcome the mental chatter that might otherwise  supply me with excuses to skip my session.  

I also couldn't let the lack of a location become an excuse.  I boldly walk into hotels and find a spot to play at, sometimes in a forgotten stairwell.  Mainly I play at Mammoth Springs with seclusion and wind protection, at the service entrance at my workplace, or in my living room.  Whenever possible I play at festivals, concerts and promote the sport.  

When I worked downtown, I'd go out in front of my store in full body running thermals, put chemical  hand warmers under my toes just to stay warm.   And when I'd end, I'd literally have steam coming off of me.  

Whenever possible have music to kick to , it really makes it better when kicking with music.

I pretty much always warm up with the same tricks every day, I call them "Warm up strings".  10 in a row, infinity osis, ripwalk, paradox whirl, spinning butterflies and blurs and blizzards. 

I always end with a worthy "Out" string, thats utilizes the things that I had been working on that day, along with my other tricks in a really long string that would be worthwhile to publish on like say, the internet.  

Speaking to the mental part of the game, I try to think of it as play time, or recess... not really a workout.  Work is hard, it's not work, it's fun, it's play, I have a great time doing it.  

Early on, back in 2007, my hip started to hurt.  But it was a blessing in disguise as it changed my focus in a new direction... I started working on my flipside which improved my game and gave my right hip the time it needed to heal. 

I also find, that when I have a goal, something to focus on, when I get into my workout, I get warm faster, it's a strong motivator for me, and when I achieve those goals, I feel a sense of success.

In order to get the most shred time out of a single recess , which most people call lunch... I wear my kicking shorts and shirt under my work clothes, and just shed layers to get started. 

I think an hour long lunch is better spent shredding, because a 15 minute break is really twice as long as it takes to eat.

We've kicked at theme parks, like disney world, at parades in Oak park, at the Daley Center and many venues.  We'be been kicked out of many places  too, by the security there.  We call it the 'Security Test" when the Security guard passes us up and keeps walking then we've passed the security test, if not then we have to deal with security and hope we don't get kicked out.

This is footage from Lollapalloza in 2009.  

Rob McCloskey inspired me back in the day, when I lost 50 lbs. playing footbag, that was back in 1992.  He said 'Kick 1000 Kicks a Day' and I said 'How about a 1000 Tricks a Day."  And I carried a counter with me, and after I did my strings, I clicked off how many tricks I did.  And I wouldn't stop until I reached a 1000 tricks, which took a little over a half hour to complete.   

I did have a lot of accomplishments in the past 4 years or so.  Including 2nd in the World with Keaton Halley in Doubles Footbag Team Freestyle.  And while we were training for that, we went to California and filmed for Americas Got Talent, but we didn't get on the air.

Here is some rare footage of me kicking in a field

And for the first time, in 2010, I got see the footage of me winning the World Championships in 1999.  Thanks to John Hentges for that.

During this time, we attended events such as New Years Jam,  Midwest Regional Championships, Windy City Open, several Funtastik events, Taste of Chicago, Blues Fest, USOpen Tennis Championships, several apperances on WGN-TV, WGN Health fairs, jockey underwear contest, America's Got Talent, Snicker kicker, mountain dew spec ads,  won a camera from a Cheerios contest and I plan to enter more contests!

It's sometimes hard to get started, always hard to stop.

++++++++++++++

Thanks for checking it out!

See ya!

-enlightener

Single tricks from recent days... freestyle footbag...

I have been focusing recently on single tricks.  Actually more like obsessing.  I am transitioning to long string training starting today.  Here are my recent results.  I'd like to hear feedback on the Pixie (same) Twirl...

Pixie Same Twirl & Stepping Same Twirl

Atomic same Whirl

This moment is all we have...

If a footbag freestyle performance isn't a great example of 'living in the moment', then I don't know what is.    From a philosophical perspective all we really have this moment right now.  The past is a memory and the future is merely conjecture.  Time is really the passing of a series of moments in rapid succession.

A footbag freestyle trick takes place in about a second and for most people, that is the equivalent of a moment.  We cram as much action as we can into the moment that a trick takes place in.  Think about it, whether the footbag simply goes from one toe catch or another, or in between delays there were three distinctly unique leg dexterity motions, a half turn and a moving toe pickup like a rake, the same amount of time has passed.  The same moment could be a boring toe delay or it could be a blurriest barfly cross body rake, and then followed by another moment of brilliance, and another.  To achieve multiple motions in a single moment is to master that moment, and I get to do this every single day!

I believe that my life is enriched by this principle.  So many people worry about the future and regret the past.  It is important to make plans to conquer the future, and to fondly remember the past.  Through footbag freestyle, I have really improved my ability to really kick back and enjoy this moment, the only moment that I am guaranteed, the moment I am in right now!

-enlightener

Shred notes for June 2010:

Have been shredding at Great America, Brookfield Zoo, Mammoth Springs Shred Center, Rehm Pool, my double-secret hallway indoor location and at Oak Street Beach.  We've been having a nice summer so far.  Also hit some killer stuff recently...  I have been going through my routine obsessively every day at the end of my shred, but also on alternating days (mostly) I work exclusively on the routine.  What is it called when you do a barfly ending in a cross-body rake?  Well I hit that in blurriest, and spinning varieties.  And on film too. Spent a day just working on threading tricks... hit threading juggles and threaded blurs.  Hit Phobic spinning xross body rake, and a butterfly version of it too.  I have a hell of a video to put together with updates on what I've been working on for the entire spring.  I love this sport!

Rooted, and the Pure Solo modification

This is a concept that has been literally stumbled upon by many, but until now, not fully embraced as a concept in the Footbag freestyle community. I think Rooted tricks deserve a Body add, much like Symposium gets... and Pure Solo tricks definitely should get an extra add.  Not that I really care about adds.
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Definition of 'Rooted':
When a player both catches and lands with the same foot at the same time while the other leg does not touch the ground.


Modification of 'Pure Solo':
When a player shows balance and control after a Rooted catch by freezing position, ideally with a difficult balancing position, like grabbing the non-rooted foot with other hand.

Almost every trick that ends with a toe delay can be Rooted.  Possible that clippers could be Rooted, but unlikely.  Well I did experiment with that and found it is possible, but since I needed to step down almost immediately after the Rooted inside and walk over it, there was no chance of a Solo modification to this, and it was really hard to see if it was even rooted.  So I'm not going to break my ankles over this.  I suppose someone with complete 'crankle' can pull it off, but no rush there for me.


Today I hit some more new ones:
Paradox Solo DLO,
Nuclear Solo toe pickup

The ultimate would be to do all of them Pure.

Rooted is not a new concept, but up until now it has only been stumbled upon by players as a bail.  For instance, even when I do a clipper set step plus extra mirage and end with Rooted it 'feels' like a bail.  When it is done intentionally, it adds an element of difficulty to the tricks that have been modified by it, and deserves an add when being counted.   It can be applied to any trick ending on a toe.  Pure Solo Rooted indicates a grab and frozen balance position at the point of the Rooted maneuver.


Watch the movie above to see many examples of Rooted and Pure Solo.  Ran out of battery today, but added a few new tricks to this concept.


-enlightener



Shred notes: 5/23/10
Been xooting at every chance, no time to blog.  Too bad, as I've been skooling hard.  Today is 1250 Days in a row shredding!  I'll be at Great America all day, so it should be fun.  I've been alternating indoors and out, as weather is still unreliable.  Indoors I skool new tricks and experimental stuff, outdoors I skool routines.  I've been through routine with 1 and 2 drops and 80% accuracy several times, and on tape.  I've hit many new tricks recently, at least new for me... 
Phobic symp rooted mirage. 
Rooted atom smasher
Paradox Rooted DLO,
Nuclear Rooted toe pickup

Fun with advanced concepts...

I was shredding footbag freestyle in my living room today, after playing at Great America yesterday, and I got to thinking about concepts.  A concept is an added level of difficulty or specific motion that can be added to many existing tricks to make them different.  Among the many concepts that are well established are Symposium and Paradox.  I have been working on the Rooted concept for the past week or so, misunderstanding it and calling it Solo most of the time (I'm publishing a video that focuses on Rooted concept with tons of new tricks).  The concept that got me obsessed today was Ducking/Diving.

With most concepts, it is just a matter of time before we get comfortable with them and incorporate them into our daily shreds.  In many cases, concepts can be applied to so many different tricks, that it increases variety potential almost exponentially!

(Shred Notes: 5/3/10) I have hit many, many, many different ducking/diving tricks and today I thought of another one or two.  Probably done by others, but worth mentioning.  I hit Diving Barfly (harder than it sounds) and Diving Down Double Down.  I almost hit Paradox Diving Dyno, so close.

1200 Days in a row shredding...

Today, coinciding with the release of a new touch screen device from a major electronics company, is my 1200th day in a row skooling footbag freestyle. There is some kind of holiday tomorrow too.

Have I gotten better? Yes, absolutely. Firstly, at my physical age, just a slight daily improvement without losing any ground is the minimum I could ask for... but I frequently hit new tricks, new for me and some of them for the first time ever. I really like being the first human being in the history of mankind to achieve something, I even like being among a small group of people who can do the same. Some days I shine, some days I struggle, but every day that I play keeps my body fine tuned and my mind energized. I love this sport. What more can I say?

Shred Notes: March 2010
I didn't post much during March, but a lot was happening. I have had these strange leg pains, seem to be finally going away. I sought out music that I can use for Worlds 2010 in August, and I found it. Thanks to Marcus from work, an accomplished break dancer, for introducing me to some of his favorites. I did not choose one of his songs for this routine, but it will get used. I have already listened to my the song I picked hundreds of times and have developed a rough outline of how I want the routine to flow. I have hit several new tricks this month too, Phobic DLO, Phobic spinning paradox whirl (in the sense that I set under left leg and dex with left leg after spinning, not set from a clipper) and Double spinning butterfly (almost on both sides, twice to left side).

I notice that I was making more blog entries in the winter, and now that I ride my xootr at breaks, I have to find another part of my day to do my blog entries. I have updated the look of the blog.

I also went through my old footbag t-shirt archive. I'm going to give away most of them to other players who might appreciate them, I've taken photos of all of them and I'm going to add the photos to a web gallery and add my notes to them.

Peripheral Vision... Nature or Nurture?

It is so important to have good peripheral vision when playing footbag freestyle. It reduces the need to turn your body and neck as much, and increases the chance you will see the footbag out of the corner of your eye enough so that you can complete the trick.

Is good peripheral vision something that people are born with, or is it something that can be improved upon with practice. When I googled it, I got a wikipedia article that has a great quote...

"Peripheral vision can be practiced, jugglers that regularly locate and catch objects in their peripheral vision do have improved abilities. Jugglers do not follow the paths of individual objects with their eyes, instead they focus on a defined point in mid-air, so almost all of the information necessary for successful catches is perceived in the near-peripheral region. Some juggling patterns and disciplines require extraordinary peripheral vision." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peripheral_vision

"...and disciplines." We are foot jugglers, and in that sense we are another discipline that fits into this model. I really had a gut feeling that it was something that is improved upon with practice, and now I am wiki-sure about it.

I am so glad that I am continuing to keep my streak of number of days in a row skooling footbag freestyle going... 1182 today. A little pain is still there in the back of the upper right leg.

Shred notes: 2/15/10
I am trying to get my music together for world championships this year. I have a really good option that I have to go put into my iphone so I can work on it tomorrow at skool.

Family, Footbag and Earning Power

Introspection can produce clarity. In my case I have recently thought a lot about how what is important to me in life. The result is, in this order...
1) Family (My wife and son are the apples of my eye)
2) Footbag (My sport provides me the health, meditation and infamy I need to thrive)
3) 'Work' (My job provides me the earning power to keep it all going)

I put 'work' in quotes because I truly work for a great company that I look forward to going to every day, almost as much as I look forward to going home every night to my family. The cliche 'If you find a job you love, you'll never work a day in your life' is true for me.

I am passionate about all three of these areas of my life and I am proud to say it. Another cliche come true for me is 'Playing at 100%'. I am committed to playing at 100% in each of these areas of my life. When I am with my family, I am present and attentive to their needs. I do everything I can to make our time together memorable and high-value. When I play footbag freestyle, I approach it with the attitude that I can always be better than I currently am. I can continue to achieve excellence in my sport, and in the process it keeps my mind fresh and my body young. And at 43 years old, that is saying something. Today will be 1171 days in a row of shredding, plus 24 years before that. When I go to 'work', I look forward to being the best I can be, contributing to every area of the business in whatever roles are necessary at the time. It is a very rewarding job and I frequently have to 'pinch' myself because it sometimes feels like a dream.

Sure our family has issues that we are working on, but looking around, we have it pretty good. Certainly, I can improve my footbag game and do more, and I am always working on that. And while I could stand to make more money, life is not all about money... at least I do what I love! Thanks to all the people in my life! I am always playing at 100% and I'm proud to say it!

-enlightener

Shred Notes: 3/4/2010
Yesterday I was trying to hit fairy set barfly (triple dex) and I pulled a muscle in the groinal area on the left side. Me thinks I wasn't quite as warmed up as I thought. This morning, thanks to my 'buffy-like' healing powers, I feel much better. It is an Injury with Honor, but I am glad it is not bothering me as much today.

How to run a footbag tournament... Part 1: Production vs. Promotion

As a long-time event director in the sport of footbag, I have hosted events every year for the past 25 years! During that time I have come to a few realizations that I am going to outline on this blog, over several postings.

Promotion vs. Production...
As an event director, you will need to distinguish the differences between Promotion vs. Production.
Promotion happens on several levels, and I will be addressing each of these in future posts as well. Promotion generally happens in advance of an event, where Production mostly happens 'during' the event.

Promotion is easily broken into three parts,
1) Promoting to the athletes to get the competitors to show up.
2) Promoting to the sponsors to offset the costs and hopefully be able to make money on the event.
3) Promoting to Media to make the sponsors happy, and attract spectators to the event.

Production of the event refers to the actual 'doing' of the event, the leg-work per se. Setting up nets (and lines, etc...), sound systems, tents, banners, and all the things that make the event run smoothly, once the event gets started. Most Production items happen on the days before an event, during an event and for a day or two afterward. Some things that are always on my event production checklist are:
Having forms ready to be filled out, having equipment ready to be set up, loading the van (sometimes renting a van). Think about what you need to do AT the event and that all falls under "Production" of an event.

It is also a good idea to send a summary report to all your sponsors individually, letting them know how well the event went, focusing on how well you marketed their brand... how did that particular sponsor benefit from sponsoring your event. I'm not sure if the follow up falls under Production or Promotion, but it still is good form to complete.

Shred notes: 3/1/10
Still not at 100% but getting better. Had some great long strings. Skooled a wide variety of trix but nothing spectacularly unique. Lots of x-body rakes. Used new warm-up strings and got warm really fast.

Footbag Clubs that don't host annual events are missing the point!

I propose that every footbag club should offer a footbag tournament every year. Thats right, I said it. If you are running a footbag club and you don't host an event, then you really ought to consider hosting one.

When I think of the 'tournament' circuit in the US, I think it has a lot to be desired. There need to be more tournaments, and any club that is serious about the sport should be offering a tournament every year! At least one. They don't have to be elaborate sponsored events that cost a lot of money to produce. They just need to happen. The events don't have to be a multiple-day deal, they can be single day tournaments. We need to offer more opportunity to compete in footbag in the US to be taken seriously as a sport. Don't get me wrong, I take this sport very seriously. I host several events in Chicago every year that are competitions, jams and an opportunity to do youth outreach and expose our wonderful sport to anyone who is interested.

Kudos to those who do offer tournaments! That is GREAT for the sport, we just need more of them.

If you want to learn tips and techniques for hosting footbag events, keep reading this blog, as those topics are coming up! I just wanted to bitch and moan about how many clubs there are vs. how many tournaments are offered. If there was ANYONE within 200 miles of Chicago that hosted a footbag event, and posted it on http://www.footbag.org, I would make it my business to be at that event. You have my support. If you want assistance getting started, contact me directly through this blog. Thanks!



Shred notes: 2/27/10
Pulled a muscle dishonorably in the back of my right leg yesterday. Dishonorable because it didn't happen playing footbag, it happened because I kept having to get under the tables at my newly remodeled place of work to re-wire the place, and one time when I went to stand up... I felt the pull. I was able to skool plenty of cross-body stuff, but it really hurts when I do pixie/fairy moves off the right toe. Also hard to do the 'snapping' motion at the end of the paradox whirl and then still land properly, for instance. I worked on plenty of double spinning osis, and it took a long time to warm up, but I got a good sweat in and generally happy with my performance.