Pursuit of the Underground: Part II

Part II:

This new sport was so fascinating to me that I immediately began attempts to imitate the tricks they were performing on that video.  My brother and I began to find more examples; we surfed online communities, forums, and watched a plethora of videos posted online from people all over the world.  I practiced tricks over and over, studying with massive persistence and dedication.  I was determined to conquer the sport.  I was so into freestyle footbag that I almost stopped skateboarding altogether.   I had replaced my previous fascination with something even greater, something new.

So every day, during school, after school, on the weekends, I would eat, sleep, play, and dream footbag.  Eventually I began going to tournaments almost on a monthly or bi monthly basis.  I traveled to Philadelphia, Montreal, Toronto, Rochester, New York City, Portland, Maryland, New Jersey and Orlando from my small hometown in upstate NY.  I began attending these tournaments year after year, going to the same places, meeting the same people, being a part of a modest and awesome underground community.  Footbag was big enough to travel all over the world, yet small enough to the point where everyone knew each others names and where we were all from.  On occasion communication had its barriers, but we all had a common language; footbag.

After about a year or two, I quickly rose to the top of the Intermediate division and began competing at a professional level.  Then it was 2005-2006 East Coast Championships, 2006 US Open Championships in Portland, Oregon, and finally the 2007 World Championships in Orlando, Florida.  I felt such an amazing sense of accomplishment after I had won 1st place for Sick 3 at the 2007 World Championships.  To me that felt like I had done it, I had finally conquered the sport.  Those memories will live forever with me, and were some of the highest points in my life.  It was a time in my life when I had absolutely no regrets.

Through this sport I met the most interesting people and made some of the best friends anyone could ask for.  Of course there were new tricks to be hit, and more tournaments to go to, but I began to taper off from freestyle footbag.  I had put so much time and energy into the sport, but now I felt like I needed something new again.  This chapter in my life was coming towards an end, and it was time to begin a whole new chapter.  I still play footbag casually, but my competitive training attitude had ceased to be. 

Freestyle footbag had many subcultures associated with it.  Through footbag I have learned to juggle, play guitar, edit videos, and more.  Juggling was one that I had gotten into the most once I had hung my footbagging shoes on the wall, so to speak.  That kept me satisfied for a time, knowing that I was doing something creative, but it wasn't the same as footbag.  I continued searching for my next footbag, the next and potentially even greater chapter in my story.

Little did I know my next interest would find me, and that interest was Birdball.  But this story will have to be told another day… 

Posted in: Pursuit of the Underground