Epic.
Despite a few organizational hiccups the footbag was very good indeed. Dexter kicked ass at net, Olaf returned from the dead and Ales made his triumphant (if not terribly successful) return to routines. Speaking of routines Damian had one of the best I've ever seen. Unfortunately he didn't perform it very well and tied for 5th. And Vasek of course is Vasek and took first with a bad ass routine played to a mix of a couple seconds of every song ever.
All of that was nice, but nothing compared to most rippin run. Usually the time for a bathroom break or to go get a banana, this one was truly epic. Leading up to the final Vasek had 3 consecutive 40+ move battles, the first was probably the longest ever in the history of the event. He met Damian Gielnicki and with Polish pride on the line they played for well over 80 contacts, with most estimates at over two minutes. I say estimates because although several people were there with cameras, no one seems to have recorded it (I'm also guilty of this, but who knew?). After Damian dropped Vasek finished with 7 consecutive fearless. The next round, again another epic battle. I don't know if it was a conscious effort on his part, but Vasek quite literally played circles around his opponent, playing around the perimeter of the playing field. By the final battle, instead of showing signs of tiring out he started throwing in superflies and other nasty tricks. He may have lost his world title but Vasek is still the best.
Circle was by comparison somewhat tamer, but also enlightening. Because I was there we can call Zocha an international event, but basically there were about 10 Czechs and a bunch of Poles. With only 2 countries represented, the quality and depth of the players there was staggering. It also sucked for me.
Not having any kind of seed I had to play a qualification round, which I assumed had a variety round and a difficulty round, when actually there was only one round. So I did a bunch of weird but low add moves and ended up last in my pool. Wiktor swears the format was posted on the website. I never saw it, but then I also thought I was going to Warsaw. Anyway, it was disappointing. [Wiktor, thank you for organizing circle]
I also competed in request contest for the first time, went out on a stupidly easy combo (stepping same legover -> same drifter), followed along on the sidelines for another 2 or 3 combos and then filmed the rest. I think it should never be an official event at world's, but it's still a lot of fun.
And of course I talked with Olaf. He didn't compete in anything and hasn't been playing a lot lately. When I asked him why he explained that he'd been doing a lot of dance, body building, concentrating on his studies and basically broadening his interests. He also quoted my story "the quest for BAP," in the process. I'd hate to think I'm partly responsible for someone finding balance in their life, but I may be guilty of it. My apologies to the footbag community.
I shot over an hour of HD footage, but lost most of it due to an accident. However you can download Vasek's Finals Routine. Thanks for reading,
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