The 2010 World Footbag Championships

More than you’d ever need to know as a player or spectator is right here.  Errrr, or can be accessed via the links in ‘What’s Up’ above (see World Championships | WFC General Net Schedule | WFC - Everything Net).

Want to see your seed?  What pool are you in?  Who are you playing in your opening match?  It’s all there - for Sunday morning anyway.

Sunday, August 1st is Opening Day at the 31st running of The World Championships of Footbag.  At least 150 players representing 10 countries or more have arrived in Northern California and are prepared for 7 Days of competition which kicks off, sorry , Sunday morning at 9am with the first round of Open Singles Net.

What’s it all about?  If you don’t know footbag… well… it’s hard to describe in words.  Hmm, an amalgamation of martial arts and volleyball with your feet?  If you’re familiar with a sport called Takraw, it’s similar but played as doubles or singles instead of 3 per side, and the ball is much smaller.  Matches are generally the best of 3 games to 11 or 15.

Footbag?  Yes… footbag.  I know :(.

It can only best be described with visuals so embedded below is a highlight video from The Green Cup in 2008, a footbag tournament hosted by Team Chaos from the Bay Area.

All the Open players/teams are now seeded and the pools and brackets are drawn up.  We’ll try to update the status of the net competition here daily.  The ‘WFC - Everything Net’ link(s) should be useful and mostly up to date throughout the week.

Follow yourself or your favorite players, get event locations, match times, contact information, etc.

The featured matches happen on Thursday and Friday in the evening, and Saturday.

Montreal - Yet Again

The AkiSphere 2010, presented by AKIQ

Thanks Aki Quebec!  I stole a link to your flash vid to liven up my post and I can’t figure a way yet to link it from the embedded flash itself .

Now for the post…

I’ve said it many times before.  Probably every time I’ve attended a Montreal tournament and lived to write about it.  But don’t simply expect to get out alive.  If the competition doesn’t get you then the city just might.

Make no mistake though, it will be worth it.

If you consider yourself a net player then you must attend the Montreal summer event.  If not every summer then every other.  Figure out a way to make it happen and then make it happen again.

This year was the 2nd installment of the The AkiSphere, officially titled The AkiSphere 2010, presented by AKIQ.  However, Yves Archambault and his partner in crime of the time, Martin Cote, started this whole Quebec summer tournament scene some 20 years ago.  It’s not a grand stage.  It’s a simple venue.  Basically, invite some friends who happen to be kick ass net players, setup some nets in Parc La Fontaine, deliberate over the seeding (and basically get it right), draw up the brackets, and GO!

Of course, come finals day - line a center court, bring in a sound system and some banners, organize a staff of judges and downtime entertainment, and then let the players set, yet again, a new standard for quality of play in this no budget yet highly competitive sport!

4 of the 13 teams had a legitimate shot to win the doubles event.  From the semi final matches through to the championship and including the bronze metal match, all of them were highly entertaining if not epic!

First up on Championship Sunday was the #2 seeded Gilles Demers and Francois Depatie-Pelletier against the #3 seeded Team Chemistry - Ben Rochon and Jean Francios Lemeaux!  Gilles and Frank won in straight sets 15-12, 15-12 but the match was a bit closer than the score.

Next up, it was the no. 1 seeded Chaos #3, PT Lovern, and Montreal/Chaos #27, Emmanuel Bouchard VS the number 4 seeded Chaos #2, Jack Harris, and Chaos #25, Jeremy Mirken.  Most of the crowd expected a lop-sided result for PT and Manu.  They were heavily favored.  However, Jack and Jeremy showed everyone they well deserved the stage come showtime and they pushed the defending champions to 12 in both sets.  Most notably, jumping out to a 7-1 lead in game two only to relinquish it to the 2008 and 2009 Montreal champions.

Hence, the stage was set for a highly anticipated title match between the no. 1 and 2 seeded teams.  The rally of the day was won by PT and Manu in game 3 with two incredible digs followed by an total kill.  First Manu got under a murderous sweep from Franky and then PT did the same from the same.  Each dig was a perfect 5’ high bump, followed by a juicy set, and while the first impressive answer from Manu was dug (seemingly effortlessly), PT saw a picture perfect set from Manu to which he could do nothing if not absolutely murder it… sunback… boo ya!  The war, however, went to Gilles and Franky in 3 sets - 15-13, 13-15, 15-13.  There were many amazing rallies including several side out duels that seemed to go on forever.  GThe crowd grew and stayed for the entire match. Why not?  How could you leave once you caught a glimpse and dared to sit and watch.  It was simply epic.

Somehow, following the doubles final Franky managed to challenge JF in the singles final.  Well, I’m not quite sure if that’s the best way to describe it.  JF took game one 15-1 and it looked like the long hot intense weekend had taken from Franky any motivation for a fight.  Then, he answered JF in game two, um, 15-1… wha?!?!  Yes, seriously!  In the end JF’s experience was the difference and he finished off the doubles champion 15-12 in game 3.

For the bronze metal - CHAOS!  Our boyz, Jack and Jer, yes… Chaos #2 to the twoFive, notched perhaps their biggest victory yet while defeating the current Green Cup champions, Ben Rochon and JF Lemieax, in straight sets 16-14, 15-12.  Jack and Jer jumped out to a… 2-11 deficit in game one?  Yes, but only to come back and win that.  I mean no disrespect to Team Chemistry.  Chaos’s jubilation is a result of how this highly this team is regarded.

On behalf of all Team Chaos I thank Gilles Demers, Luc Legault, Martin Cote, and the entire staff of the AkiSphere!  You were great hosts and ran a solid event.  We’ll never forget it and will surely return.

Before then, we’ll see you at The 2010 Green Cup, presented by Chaos, and The 2010 World Footbag Championships!

Ciao

Here’s a link to an interview Gilles took part in on some Montreal News affiliate…
http://www.radio-canada.ca/emissions/rdi_week_end/2009-2010/Entrevue.asp?idDoc=114315&autoPlay=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.radio-canada.ca%2FMedianet%2F2010%2FRDI2%2FRDIEnDirectMatinWeekend201007040800_3.asx

Seeding - Footbag Net - WFC 2010

Hi all, I’m happy to post the FIRST DRAFT of the seeding of the Open Singles and Open Doubles Net events for the 2010 World Footbag Championships. I’m the Net Director for the 2010 WFC. Myself and a staff of about 8 people will be maintaining the seeding.

This is a living document and will be updated based on registration and event results until worlds begins. We will likely update it weekly or more until then.

The Sooner You Register The Sooner You Get To See And Debate Your Seed.

Our goal is to provide some transparency to the seeding process and give everyone a chance for input ensuring the cleanest seeding. Come tournament time we want no surprises, if not controversy.

So, should you have any questions/input please don’t hesitate to express it on the fw forum or our facebook group. You can also email me directly at ewulff@footbag.org.

http://www.footbag.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=42362#42362

Thank You! I’m sure I’ll hear from at least some of you soon

Easiest to read from this link…
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AgniDQXVJU3RdExfVEczVXpnS1RoS1V2cE43N09yb1E&hl=en

Of course, you can also view it here. This is current as of June 27th, 2010
Open Singles:
1 Pohjola, Matti 2291
2 Tuomas Kärki 1475
3 Demers, Gilles 1658
4 John Leys 341
5 Siebert, Chris 796
6 Depatie-Pelletier, Francois 983
7 Deschenes, Alexis 338
8 Schrickel, Patrick
9 Mirken, Jeremy 971
10 Vu, Tuan 520
11 Lezama, Victor 504
12 Marquez, Carlos 431
13 Harris, Jack 384
14 Current, Cory 281
15 Bradley, Vincent 475
16 Greer, Daniel 288
17 Duchesne, Sébastien 269
18 Veltman, Edwin 202
19 Uusitalo, Janne 197
20 Loreto, Oscar 172
21 DeClercq, Jake 114
22 Vozar, Tim 102
23 Baron, Dan 100
24 DeClercq, Josh 94
25 Young, Chris 85

multiple world titles as a team: ****; multiple world titles: **; world title: *; major titles as a team: $$$$; major title: $; tournament title; #
Open Doubles: Teams - Registered points 1st player points 2nd player total notes
1 Florian Goetze / Patti Schrickel 2947 1675 4622 ****
2 P.T. Lovern / Emmanuel Bouchard 2885 3113 5998 ** / **
3 François Pelletier / Gilles Demers 2471 2200 4671 $$$$
4 Tuomas Kärki / Jani Markkanen 1470 2299 3769 $$
5 Christopher Siebert / Kenny Shults 882 394 1276 * / **
6 Eric Wulff / Luke Legault 545 1803 2348 $
7 Matti Pohjola / Janne Uusitalo 1896 419 2315 $
8 Jeremy Mirken / Jack Harris 1173 1092 2265 ##
9 Tuan Vu / Alexis Deschenes 913 644 1557 # / *
10 Jim Derricott / Steve Dusablon 115 437 552
11 Carlos Márquez / Oscar Loreto 554 541 1095
12 Cory Current / Scot Hansen 208 99 307
13 Daniel Greer / Chris Cleaver 360 223 583
14 Josh DeClercq / Jake DeClercq 159 159 318
15 Chris Young / Fletcher Funk 118 58 176
16 Chris Young / Fletcher Funk 118 58 176

Alive and Kicking In Chitown at The WCC

The drama started on Friday before the tournament action even got under way.  They don’t call it the Windy City for nothing and the Memphis boys experienced Chitown’s wrath first hand as a 70MPH gust off the lake brought a tree down on top of them.  Perhaps it is by the grace of the footbag gods?  Perhaps it is their cool scrappy Memphis style?  Perhaps… sheer luck?  We don’t really care how but The Boyz are still with us and barely a scratch was had.  Life is good.

The match of the day on Saturday was a nail biter between the #3 and 4 seeds, Team Chaos and Team Memphis respectively.  Current World Champion, Chaos #8, Patti Schrickel, and his partner for this event Chaos #5, Eric Wulff, lost game 1 to Team Memphis, Ben and Walt, 15-21.  Chaos controlled the tempo in game 2 however, as Patrick’s serve came alive.  They took it 21-15, forcing the rubber.  Game 3 wasn’t as pretty as it was scrappy with the wind and the sun toying with service tosses and sets.  The crowd of, hmmm - let’s call it several including the head judge, was treated to a roller coaster ride including some fun for the whole family - pg13 may contain strong language, “WTF!?” .  In the end, Schrickdog and The Wulff, that’s Team Chaos 5 to the 8, pulled out the match executing down the stretch - 21-19.  Following that, Eric and Patrick advanced to ‘The Show’ at Navy Pier with a straight set win over the 6th seed in the elimination round.  They’ll face Cory Current and Scot Hansen, event director, for a spot in the Championship Match.

The upset of the day goes to Cory and Scot who stole the #2 seed from Chaos #25 and Chaos #2 in the pool and in stunning fashion, hence gliding into the semi-finals with a bye in the elinination round.

The #1 seed, Chaos #3, PT Lovern, and Honorary Chaos #27, breezed thru their pool as expected and will face Jer and Jack in the semis today.  This match has tremendous showtime potential with 3 great defensemen and 3 offensive powerhouses on display.  I’ll let you figure who I’m speaking of .

As for the other semi-final, it’s not my place to speculate since I’m one of the participants.  Bahhahaaa… Patti and Eric are the favorites but Cory and Scot made it clear they’re not to be taken lightly.  All the pressure is on Eric and Patrick to live up to expectations.  There is potential for a Cinderella story here as the hometown team would love to advance to the Championship match.

Singles, hmmm… well, ok… Patrick Schrickel, Chaos #8, *may* face Chaos #25, Jeremy ‘I booked a flight out Sunday evening’ Mirken should there be enough time to fit it in before ‘Jer Bear’ has to leave.

I’ll be back with a wrap-up tonight or tomorrow morning.

Happy Father’s Day and esepcially to those Chaos fathers and fathers of Chaos fathers !

The 2010 Green Cup Presented by Chaos - code name Tahoe

The Chaos Footbag Club is pleased to announce that the 2010 Green Cup Presented by Chaos will be held in beautiful South Lake Tahoe on July 24th and 25th, 2010.

This will, no doubt, be an epic Chaos event.

We elected these dates in order to provide a pre-Worlds tournament that will draw the World’s top talent.  Players will try to improve their world ranking heading into the World Championships, which begin the following weekend in Oakland, California

The location will show off some of the most scenic areas California has to offer; provide for some high altitude training; and allow you to relax and prepare for 2010’s biggest event.

Google Map with all event-related locations (Meet at the “BIG HOUSE” Friday night unless instructed otherwise.  For driving directions click on the BIG HOUSE link in the Google Map):
Green Cup 2010—Lake Tahoe Map

Pre-registration is now live, please register today:
http://www.footbag.org/registration/register?tid=1268445253

The event listing at footbag.org is at:
http://www.footbag.org/events/show/1268445253

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Registration Is Open for The 2010 World Footbag Championships

Please support The World Championships by registering as soon as possible.  You are not required to pay until July 18th and you are not required to have a partner for any events when you register.  Of course, the more info you can provide, and the more money you can contribute , the better.  However, the main thing is… Please Register.  That in itself will help us help you.

I’ll be back with more on The 2010 World Championshiops soon.  In the meantime…

http://www.footbag.org/events/show/1265745512

Please?