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…

Chris Ott put it all together.  Chaos will be driving the net competition!  More details to come soon. See you here!

31st IFPA WORLD FOOTBAG CHAMPIONSHIPS
August 1-7, 2010
Oakland, California, USA
Contact: Chris Ott, chris@footbag.org, 707 576-8145
(Prize money event)

Oakland Marriott City Center
1001 Broadway
Oakland, California 94607 USA

Full details Here

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.

Doubles Net:
1. Jeremy/Jack
2. Eric/PT
3. Patti/Tuan
4. Chris Young/Fletcher Funk
5. Jake/ Josh Declercq
6. Brad/Dirk

Singles
1. Patti
2. PT
3. Jack
3. Jer
5. Brad
6. Chris Young
7. Jake
8. Josh

Schedule:

10:00 Singles Bracket to Finals
1:00 Doubles Bracket to Semis
4:00 Doubles Semis
5:00 Doubles Finals
6:00 Singles Final
7:30 Player Dinner TBA
Entry: $10 All events

Location: Tassafaronga Recreation Center 975 85th Avenue Oakland, CA 94621-1637

Contact: PT at ptlovern@chaosfootbag.com

Upon arrival at the El Dorado airport in Bogota, Colombia I was met by my partner Jack Harris, and two of the finest footbag promoters in South America: Carlos Marquez, and this year’s event director, Edgar Camargo Leal. After piling into a taxi, we were whisked off to a Bogota storefront where we met up with many of our South American hermanos from SURA 2008. Unfortunately, due to the economic climate of South America, several talented players from Venezuela were unable to represent in Colombia this year. Regardless, those in attendance happily rejoiced at being in each other’s company and told stories of the past year. At dusk, our mini-bus arrived and we piled into it, quite uncomfortably, as we dangerously set tail pipe for Cajica (pronounced, ka-hee-CAH), a small city outside of Bogota. After 90 minutes through the sprawling urban environment of Bogota, we arrived at this year’s tournement event site: Club Campestre la Hacienda. Although Jack and Jer considered themselves to be in fine playing shape, there was one problem . . . we had never before dealt with the rigors of playing at 9,000 feet (or about 2800 meters) above sea level. And we would do this on less than 24 hours of acclimation time!

Before tournament day one’s events (at 8:00AM), Jack, myself, Carlos, Elias, and Edgar got the opportunity to present the sport of footbag net live on TV station Caracol in Bogota. I’ve never seen so many hot women. You could call the demo successful, although the set was cramped and the net was about 5’8” tall and 12’ wide. Upon completion of the appearance, Edgar received a second call and once again, we were off to a second local TV station to perform another demo. The second demo went well, and both Jack and I were honored to be interviewed (in Spanish, hah) about our Colombian experience thus far. We drove back to Cajica and got ready for the singles competition that day. 

Singles day went well, with both Jack and I rolling through our pools and round of 16. Although I had the #1 seed, I faced my first formidable opponent in the round of 16, Luis “El Chino” Sarmiento. I won in straight games. He presented a good challenge, especially with 20% less oxygen at my disposal. The quarterfinals would be played on day three, and my opponent was to be Andres Vivas, a young, upcoming Venezuelan player. Jack, after losing a game to his round of 16 opponent, defeated Diego Chavez in the third game to set up a quarterfinal match with the player who defeated him last year at SURA 2008, Victor Lezama.

On doubles day, SURA day two, we breezed through the doubles competition reaching the Semis. The other three teams to make the semis were Nelson Castro and Elias Golzalez (outside Caracas), Carlos Marquez (San Cristobal) and Oscar Loreto (Caracas), Reinaldo Perez (Caracas) and Andres Vivas (San Cristobal). The last team mentioned, upset the number 3 seed in the quarterfinals in order to reach the semis.

On day 3, singles quarterfinals were played. I beat Andres Vivas in two straight games, setting up a match in the semifinals against Carlos Marquez. Despite his best efforts, Jack lost to Victor Lezama, again, prompting South American celebration #1. The four singles semi-final competitors were: Jeremy to play Carlos Marquez (San Cristobal), and Victor Lezama (Caracas) to play Jairo Lagos (Caracas). Without exaggeration, Victor steamrolled over Jairo Lagos in two straight games, while I struggled to defeat Carlos (16-14, 15-13). I was very impressed with the improvment in Carlos’ singles game. His training (and that of the other SA players) is paying off.

Somewhere in those first 3 days, Jack and I held a clinic in order to demonstrate some of the finer points of the doubles game and the way that we train concepts specific to the singles and doubles games. It was translated into Spanish and video taped by several players.

Day 4 of the tournament was semifinals and finals day. In the doubles semis, Reinaldo Perez and Andres Vivas narrowly defeated Carlos Marquez and Oscar Loreto in 3 games, while Jack and I defeated Nelson and Elias, also in 3 games. The finals were set: Team Chaos vs. Reinaldo Perez (2nd consec. finals appearance) and Andres Vivas (first finals appearance ever). To make a short story even shorter, although Reinaldo and Andres played hard, they were no match for Team Chaos, which played virtually mistake free on the way to a straight set victory (15-6, 15-4). It was an emotional experience. In the singles final, played immediately after doubles, Victor and I played 3 exciting games. In the first game, I came from behind to win 16-14. In the second game, I was unable to close out the match, losing 9-15 to a resilient South American. In the third game, after losing the coin toss, I got out to an 8-7 lead on the “good side,” but was unable to overcome Victor’s brilliant court coverage, defense, and poor light conditions. He won the third game and the match 15-8, and was cheered, then swarmed, by his South American compatriots (which you can see in my facebook photos). Congratulations Victor!

At the awards ceremony, after receiving our medals, Jack and I were unexpectedly honored with a plaque from La Corporacion Footbag Colombia, given in recognition of CHAOS footbag’s efforts to promote the diffusion of footbag in the South American continent. It was a moving experience.

I am thankful for the time I spent in South America, playing with and against these talented athletes, and I hope to return each and every year until the sun sets on the final Yves of my footbag career. 

It was not a classic like their first meeting last summer but a pretty damn good match.  A descent come back in game 3, after being down 6-9, lent itself to some drama for the home crowd.

Flo and Patti have their 3rd World Championship in 4 years!!!!  They won 2 games to 1 over PT and Manu.

Congratulations to both teams and thx for the show!!!