South American Killers -- SURA 2009

Here, finally, is some video footage of SURA 2009 in Bogota, Colombia.

The future of footbag net is in South America!
I encourage everyone to think about attending SURA 2010 in Caracas, Venezuela.  Venezuela is home to some of the world’s finest beaches and coral reefs, as well as the world’s tallest waterfall.  Venezuela would like to remind you that they win a disproportionate number of beauty pageants, too.  Early December, warm and dry, is an ideal time of year to visit…

Chaos Approved
In 2007 PT, Eric and Patti attended the 1st South American Footbag Championships in Medellin, Colombia.  Their mission: To develop a relationship with the growing footbag net scene in South America.  They provided coaching and participated in various exhibitions to promote the sport, but did not compete because of the wide disparity in skill levels.

In 2008, Jack and Jeremy of Chaos joined Yves Archambault of Pro-Kicker to continue that mission in San Cristobal, Venezuela.  This time, perhaps prematurely, the norteamericanos entered the tournament.  The energy and style of the South American players was easy to appreciate, however, there was too much focus on offense--with plenty of injuries and fouls--and not enough on basics and defense.  That said, a few of the players could legitimately have competed internationally at the open level.

This past December, Jeremy and Jack returned for the 3rd South American Footbag Championships in Bogota, Colombia.  Things have changed.  Several of the South American players are now clearly ready for international competition (you will get to meet a few of them at the 31st IFPA World Championships in Oakland), however, most of these guys are quite young, and though their fortunes may rise with Venezuela’s and Colombia’s, for now it is prohibitively expensive for them to travel abroad.  In the short term, the goal is to get enough North American and European players to attend next year’s tournament to raise SURA 2010 to level 3.  Think about it…

Black Monday: Phoenix 2010

Chaos Domination Tour

Chaos #25 and his loot from the fiery Phoenix

Once again Amy hosted a great net event in Arizona (Thanks Amy!).  The field was small but deep, with players from Memphis, Oakland, San Francisco and Portland.  While the rest of the country was deluged with rain and snow, a patch of sun opened up over Phoenix for the season’s first throw-down.

Sunday was an exhausting day of doubles competition: Pools, Quarters and Semis.  The first semi-final was a re-match of last year’s finalists.  This time Chaos prevailed over Chaos/NPR in 2 sets.  The second semi-final was a Chaos vs. Memphis matchup.  Memphis surprised everyone, dragging Chaos’ finest into a 3rd set.  As the sun set over the arid desert, PT and Eric pulled down their blast shields and forced their way to victory.

Thus the doubles final was a repeat of last week’s tourney in Oakland:  Jeremy Mirken and Jack Harris vs. PT Lovern and Eric Wulff.  In a shocking coincidence, all four players showed up Monday wearing the same outfit, a variation on the ‘little black cocktail dress’.  PT and Eric pulled to an early lead in the first game, but Jack and Jeremy fought their way back, ultimately defeating the #1 seed in 2 sets.

In singles Chris Siebert and Jeremy Mirken battled it out in 3 sets.  Jeremy took the first set, but Chris dug in and ultimately prevailed.  Grueling, brutal, exhausting.  Need I say more?  Chaos is pushing for rally scoring (no side-outs) for singles only at tournaments.  Think about it.

Doubles Results:
Jack Harris / Jeremy Mirken
PT Lovern / Eric Wulff
Chris Siebert / Tuan Vu
Walt Houston / Ben Alston

Singles Results:
Chris Siebert
Jeremy Mirken
Walt Houston
Jack Harris

For complete results, check footbag.org.

Other Highlights:
Walt and Ben are on the verge of cracking the top ranks.  In pool play they took Jeremy and Jack to 3 sets, then repeated that feat in their semi-final against PT and Eric.

Sucky Brad has arrived on the singles scene (look out ladies!).  Mr. Williams pulled an upset in his pool, and later defeated Ben Alston in the first consolation round.  Max points were once again awarded to our very own boy toy.

Despite all the hype, their was no nipple exchange between Walt and Jeremy.  Jeremy was rebuffed on a technicality, and the Suckremony’s MC Sucky Brad was left holding the mic.

Sura '08 Mix II

2008 South American Footbag Net Championship
(Campeanato Sudamericano)
Open doubles video mix

Filmed by Jack Harris and Miguel ‘Pepe’
Edited by Jack Harris

In December 2008 Jack and Jeremy of Chaos traveled to Venezuela for the 2nd South American Footbag Net Championship.  This video features some of the best South American footbag net players.

Notes:
Facebook took down my other Sura ‘08 video because of alleged copyright violations.  This time I posted to YouTube with higher definition.  I’ll repost (and re-link) the original video soon.

World Footbag Championships 2007 - Open Doubles Net Bronze Match in HD

High Definition Video of Footbag Net

All 3 games of the third place match are now available.  Click on the images to view a low-resolution sample.  Click here to see all of my videos on Vuze that can be downloaded via your bittorrent client.

Sorry about the delay for games 2 and 3.  I had to switch to using an older version of Premiere.  As a result the quality is not as good for these games.

I used the MPEG2 encoder for game 2.  Unfortunately the file is much bigger (1.9GB) and the quality seems worse than the Quicktime files.

I went back to the Quicktime (H.264) encoder for game 3.  I managed to get the file back to a reasonable size, but the quality is not very good.

Click HD to see all listings of High Definition Videos.  Click video to see all postings with video footage, high def or not.

World Footbag Championships 2007 - Open Doubles Net Final in HD

High Definition Video of Footbag Net

All 3 games from the open doubles final are now available on Vuze (Azureus 3.0).  Click on the images below.  You’ll have to use a bittorrent client (see Wikipedia page) to download the file.  If you don’t already have a client installed, Azureus is easy (and safe) to install. 
Note:  These videos are in 720p (1280x720).  You will need a reasonably fast computer to watch them.  If you’re computer is more than 2 years old, it’s probably not worth the time and effort.

I posted Game 2 Wednesday morning.  Some people had difficulty viewing the first game.  I changed to 24 fps for this video.  Based on feedback, I don’t think this made any improvement. 

I posted Game 3 Friday morning.  Once the image displays below, you should be able to download it.  Thanks for the feedback.  I went back to 29.97 fps.

HD Teaser Clip

OK.  I posted a short HD teaser clip from the open doubles final to Vuze (Azureus 3.0).  Click on the image below.  You’ll have to download and install Azureus, then download the clip...approx 30MB. 

Before I put more time into this project, I want feedback regarding tools, format, etc.  As far as I can tell Vuze is the way to go for sharing HD video.  Vuze allows Quicktime or Windows Media...I used Quicktime because I think it’s more widely available (MAC, PC, etc).  I have all the matches from finals day in HD.  I plan to post more clips when I have time.  Thanks.

Jack Harris
Chaos #2