End Of An Era

Cliche alert! 

Peter Irish performed his final competitive singles freestyle routine this past Sunday at the East Coast Footbag Championships in College Park, MD; the same event where he first competed 20 years ago.

chaosfootbag.com generally reports exclusively on the happenings in the world of footbag net.  However, on occasion there is a footbag event so significant it must be covered even if it is not directly related to the net discipline.  This is just such an event.

Peter is the greatest competitive footbag freestyle player of his time.  He set the standard for the world both in the shred circle and with his competitive routines, and I don�t doubt he has somehow inspired every player of today�s freestyle generation.  Even after 20 years of competition and at the ripe old freestyle age of 36 he is among the best shredders in the world.

So at about midnight on Saturday June 10th Eric �Ironman� Wulff and Tuan �Disco Ninja� Vu briefly came out of freestyle retirement along with Sunil �Tsunami� Jani to join Peter �The Executioner� Irish for one last shred session in honor of his grand finale.  These four east coast freestyle legends are also best of friends and they made up the only shred circle on Saturday night.  It was a classic freestyle scene in the basement of tournament director Vince Bradley�s house except for the fact that many of the greatest freestyle players of the today�s generation who were present, such as Gordon �Flash� Bevier, chose to sit this one out � instead taking the role as spectator.  Perhaps they were simply respecting their elders .  In any case, for a little over an hour, with AC/DC�s Back In Black serving as the soundtrack (perfect!) and with Vince�s band, Boxcar Collision, warming up with a live drum and bass accompaniment to the driving AD/DC rhythm, ‘The Foundation’ of East Coast freestyle took a trip back in time and threw down with authority and style � partying like it was 1999.  I think everyone who packed into Vince�s basement - spectator, partyer, and shredders alike � came away with a similar feeling � it was an epic flashback session.  Just a great time! 

Props to new schooling David Clavens who, later in the session, humbly requested to join the circle 4.  He wanted to shred with these guys, some with whom he may never again have the chance, and he took full advantage with an impressive display of technical prowess and styley combos.

In footbag net, Eric Wulff won his first ever East Coast Net Championship by taking the open doubles title.  It�s no coincidence that after approximately a dozen failed attempts to achieve ultimate victory at ECFC in the footbag net division, he finally did so while partnering with Chaos #4, John Leys who was competing at this event for his first time.

Game 2 of the straight set victory was won in dramatic fashion as John and Eric needed to come back from down 0 � 9 to finally claim victory at 18 � 16.

John Leys dominated the open net brackets not losing a single game, let alone a match, in either singles or doubles.  He defeated Yves Archambault in the singles final; a close fought two game battle.

Much honor to Jamie Lepley who battled for the bronze metal squeaking out a 3 game victory over Phil Lessard of Montreal.  Phil may have extracted a bit of revenge winning the bronze medal match in open doubles with his partner, Francois, over Jamie and Vince Bradley.

Props to the Montreal crew who once again made it down in force - this time particularly inspired to do so in honor of Peter’s last performance.

Many thanx to all those who supported the event:

Prokicker, Funtastik Alternative Sports, Freedom Footbags, and the IFPA.

Also, I�m just going by memory here so if I missed anyone I�ll be trying to verify and update this list ASAP.

Of course, very special thanks to Vince Bradley who was head producer, head director, lead housing authority, and monumental rock star of the tournament.  This was the 11th year in a row Vince directed the event and man - it was a great party!

Check footbag.org for complete results - coming soon.  This is just a summary ...

open doubles net:
1. John Leys / Eric Wulff (2 - 0)
2. Yves Archambault / Russ (2 - 0)
3. Phil Lessard / Francois
4. Vince Bradley / Jamie Lepley

open singles net:
1. John Leys (2 - 0)
2. Yves Archambault(2 - 0)
3. Jamie Lepley (2 -1)
4. Phil Lessard

open singles freestyle:
1. David Clavens
2. Gordon Scott Bevier
3. Peter ‘The Executioner” Irish

Cross Country Shred:
1. Jim Pensky - Santa Cruz Invitational, Santa Cruz, CA (232)
2. David Clavens - ECFC - College Park, MD (221)

we’ll miss you peter!!!!!!

i shoulda kicked, but i wasn’t steady.

and the massive chunks of rust falling off might have squashed the spectators.

i hear Clavens steefryles in black reeboks.

SWEET! 

- at the bing, please leave a message

hrm. 12th, consecutive, i think.  i’m a dozen years long at this shiz

95,96,97,98,99,00,01,02,03,04,05,06
01,02,03,04,05,06,07,08,09,10,11,12

but who’s counting

-
‘chenzo

Thanks for posting about this, Eric Long Live Peter Irish!

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