Freestyle en la Iglesia

This is a story of modern times...

I sure have to say that today was a weird day. A couple of weeks ago, I finally came across some freestyle football players online. I haven't discovered any footbag players, but at least it's a pretty similar general idea. So every Sunday they meet at Bellas Artes. I went a fortnight ago, but couldn't make it again last week.

So anyway, I got down there and we started playing.

There are always some people walking by who want to have a kick around. Without fail, they kick the ball on to the road. It didn't really matter today as that part of the street was blocked for some reason.

I filmed a couple of short little videos with my camera. I have to start making more and more use of that, particularly for filming things. Anyhow - I didn't hit anything particularly special, no long runs. When you're playing with others though - it doesn't matter so much.

Particularly for me, I have been playing solo for six months now. I have really been missing the sessions with Caroline and Copey where you just call up and it's time to play. So it has been good to find these guys.

Here is a short little video of three of us playing together. I think these kind of videos are always fun. There are some great ones of Honza, Vasek etc. I filmed one a couple of years back with "Bevs" when he was visiting Canberra.

Anyhow. Our next stop was Plaza de Armas, which is the main square of Santiago. We were going to put on a bit of a show and hopefully get some bucks. We played a while, then a policeman signalled to me that I should come over. I partly played stupid (the other part was that I didn't really get it), and even now I wasn't sure what he meant. I think to stop blocking the pathway as too many people were watching.

That was only the beginning of the weird adventure though. We were able to play a bit longer, then went into the city centre. The some girls approached us and asked if we could do a performance at their youth event. por que no?

Well I can tell you exactly por que no, but instead we went there. It was some sort of "modern" church just across the road from La Moneda, the presidential palace.

The kind of modern establishment where they murmur to themselves (speaking in tongues???), place hands on each others heads and, a more rare element - perform some kind of fashion show in the middle of proceedings.

Aside from the language barrier, I honestly couldn't really understand what was going on. I don't think I would have got it if it was in English either. I will just say that they were all completely crazy. After the "fashion show", then there was some kind of contest where there was a crowd vote for the most popular, but yelling and screaming.

I think these were the exact types that old mate Jesus was throwing out when he cleared the traders from the temple. Anyhow, then there was some kind of dance off after the fashion show, and a couple of us presented our skills in that time. I have some video but I will have to make some edits to that, as it doesn't look so good.

So some of us headed for the exit, but then it was decided to stay. The deal that had been struck was these bunch of crazy people would give more and more likes to the page of the freestyle group. A deal worth it? Who knows?

All I know is that it was definitely the most strange place I have given a footbag demonstration. It even beats out the Castlemaine Prison!

New Footbag interview

I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I have begun a new project, I am planning to interview Footbag players from around the world, at least one per week. I haven't really put all that much planning into it yet, so each week I will just pick someone I'm interested to talk to in the Footbag community, and see what's happening with them and what their thoughts on the Footbag world are.

This week I chose to go somewhere between Australia and Chile, and there is really only one active player in that region, Phil Morrison from New Zealand. The "Red Rocket".

Here is a video made from a few years ago, from some of Phil's visits to Australia. It was made by Ian Pritchard, a good friend of mine. It was part of the 2009 video contest at Worlds in Berlin. Phil and I shared a dorm with some other great guys that year.

You can read the interview on Shred Global here. I am keeping to my target so far of one per week, although my real goal is to have 100 by the end of the year, which is almost 2 per week.

Got talent?

I just got an email last night, talking about getting an "elite Footbag team" together for the next series of

Australia's Got Talent. They may have been watching the Czech version, with Honza Weber and Vasek Klouda, two of the greatest Footbag players of all time, and want to do something similar.

That video just recently had over 100 000 views on Youtube, which is really a huge amount for Footbag. A great routine song too (see Phil Morrison, Australian Championships 2009).

I honestly don't think anyone in Australia is at the right level at the moment, maybe Dan Ednie, who appeared on the first series of the show. You may remember this infamous green suit in the semi finals

The question I have is, is it really good for Footbag? I think yes, any of these TV shows, they have huge viewing numbers, and especially kids are very interested in it. The problem is that Footbags, good ones anyway, are quite inaccessible to the general public. It's an easy sport that doesn't need too much equipment. However, all this equipment is not available at your local sports store. That is the real trouble.

Anyhow, it's just a missed opportunity for me. I am actually still yet to make my television debut in relation to Footbag. Maybe the Chilean television world will have me...

Congratulations to Jan Honza Weber, World Footbag Championship

After all these years (I think it's 10) and many placings close to the top, 2011 has seen Jan "Honza" Weber from Czech Republic as champion of the world, routines.

Honza has been playing at the top level for a long time now, I think almost every championships he's been in, he's made it to the finals. However, for so many years, he has been in the shadow of Vasek Klouda, who has plenty of championships in his collection. Not this year though.

I talked to Honza last year quite a bit at Worlds in Oakland, USA. We had a few really good chats, and it seemed he had this burning desire to win the championship, probably moreso last year, but if it didn't happen there, he would be just as hungry this year. Seems like this was still the case, so very well done and very well deserved.

Sorry to disrupt the travel posts...we are in Delhi now...more on that shortly.