Mid 2010 Worlds Footbag Championships Report

Update!

David Clavens has won both the Circle competition and Shred 30 competition. In Circle, it came down to a tie between David and Damian Gielnicki. A "hack off" was declared, essentially another round with only the two tied players competing for 1st. David won by unanimous decision, though Gielnicki threw a strong game as well. Congrats David, keep up the good work!

David Clavens Wins the World Footbag Shred 30 Competition

Shred 30 Scoring Results:

1)Dave Clavens - 274

2)Norek - 255.93

3)Marcin Bujko - 253.26

4)Honza - 232

5)Phill Morrison - 230.22

6)Lon Smith - 218

7)Damian Gielnicki - 209.54

8)Evan Gatesman - 203.5

9)Jim Penske - 201.6

10)Nathan Pipenberg - 197.6

Tina Aeberli has won both the Women's Circle competition and Shred 30 as well. Congrats Tina, you are a true professional and inspiration!

Written Thursday August 5th

The 2010 US Open Freestyle Footbag Championships are in full swing right now! It has been an exciting week, full great shred and amazing performances. The event itself is being held at the Oakland Convention Center in downtown Oakland California essentially. The event site for freestyle footbag is very nice; it is basically a large convention hall that is open 24/7 to the players. From what we have seen, footbag in one form or another is happening there at almost all hours of the day. Many top shredders have attended the event, including Milan Benda, David Clavens, Scott Bevier, Norek, Honza Weber, Nick Landes, Jim Penske, Damian Gielnicki, Anssi Sundberg, Lon Smith, and of course the reining champion Vasek Klouda. The competition level is extremely high, thus far there have been many amazing dropless or single drop routines. Here are just a few from the event, courtesy of our good friends over at Shred Global.

David Clavens Semi Finals Routine

Honza Weber Semi Finals Routine

Jim Penske Semi Finals Routine

Lon Smith Semi Finals Routine

The nine players going to finals for Routines are;

Arkadiusz Dudziński (Norek)

Jim Penske

Honza Weber

Scott Bevier

Milan Benda

David Clavens

Nick Landes

Vasek Klouda

Damian Gielnicki

Circle Competition Finals are;

Jim Penske

Damian Gielnicki

David Clavens

Phil Morrison

For Women's Routines, Tina Aeberli is seeded top going into finals. Her first day routine was a dropless and professional masterpiece.

Other highlights from the event so far;

-Scott Bevier had an impressive dropless first round Routine

-Tina Aeberli's dropless Routine

-Nick Landes' semi finals dropless Routine

-Lon Smith's incredible first day dropless Routine

Many of the above mentioned Routines were some of the greatest highlights of the event thus far. Tina Aeberli brought the house down with an amazingly professional routine that was virtually flawless. Lon Smith surprised everyone with what was described by Kenny Shults himself as the "the best routine I have ever seen". Unquestionably strong praise from one of the great masters of footbag. Nick Landes' semi finals routine was the an unbelievable crowd favorite. When his two minutes of absolute mastery were completed, a great roar went up and almost the entire bleacher crowd rushed the floor to mob the triumphant young freestyler. Truly a moment defining point in his already spectacular career. Here is the video of that spectacular Routine.

Nick Landes Semi Finals Routine

Sideline shred has also been impressive. There is much to report, we will do a wrap up of sideline excitement at the end of the event. Initially though we were lucky enough to witness one combo that truly stood out. Yesterday Lon Smith executed a jaw dropping 21 unique fearless run (all five add tricks in a combo). After all these years, Lon continues to inspire and excite. Our hats off to the great Lon Smith, without a doubt one of the legends of freestyle footbag now.

Day four of the freestyle tournament will being today at 4pm. This includes Double Routines, and Shred 30 round 1. The other half of this great footbag event is of course Footbag Net, which has been exciting to see for sure. With the previous (and long running World Champion) Emmanuel Bouchard retiring undefeated, the title of World Footbag Net Champion is up for grabs. It is anyone's guess who will take it in freestyle as well. In past years, Vasek simply was miles ahead of the competition. This year, it feels more balanced with such great players as Jim Penske, Norek, Damian Gielnicki, Scott Bevier, David Clavens, Honza Weber, Nick Landes, and Milan Benda turning up the heat and exitement in finals. There is of course a great amount of information more, and we will be happy to report it as it unfolds. Now, off the excitement of the event!