Interview with Tuukka Antikainen

Article by Asmus Helms

 

This guy is from Oulu, Finland. He has been playing footbag for almost
10 years. He is my personal footbag archnemesis, one of the nicest
guys in footbag and has one of the most interesting styles in Europe.
Fourkast is proud to bring an interview with Tuukka Antikainen:

 

Hello Tuukka
How are you?

 

Yo Yo Yo! I'm great! Enjoying a free day.

 

Let’s start with some history. When and how did you start to play footbag?

 

I had kicked some hacky at school '99, but didn't really start back
then as I was too much into football (soccer). Summer 2000 I was
kicking hacky with my friend and we got idea to look for it from
internet. We found footbag.organd watched some move clips. I remember
watching ripwalk and thinking: "it would be awesome to learn that
trick". Next day I was at a midsummer festival and I saw some guys
playing footbag. Those guys were Ville Laakso, Janne Pesonen with some
of their friends. I walked closer to witness Ville hitting 8 ripwalks
in a row! It was mind-blowing for me in that moment and I really got
hooked instantly.

 

You got into BAP back in 2003. How did you do that? What was the
experience like?

 

Year 2003 Euros were held in Frankfurt and Worlds in Prague. I had
practiced hard and was excited to meet all my footbag heroes for the
first time. I had attended 2002 Euros and met the Czech posse, but
back then by footbag heroes I meant North-American players. I had
watched Pure Freestyle, Sultans of shred, Worlds 99 and Aggressive
Grounds through over and over again, and players like Rick Reese, Ryan
Mulroney, Peter Irish, Sunil and Ahren were my ultimate heroes.

 

So when I entered my first circle at Euros with Sunil, Ales and Ahren… wow.

 

About getting into BAP… To be honest it was bit of a surprise for me
when I was chosen. I had quite a unique trick selection back then,
using a lot of inspins, ducking downtime moves and toe shuffle. I was
also shredding a lot, especially during Worlds. I remember having
great sessions with Yacine, Sunil and Tuan. Tuan and I played almost
the whole night together. Still I wasn’t really trying for BAP yet; I
thought maybe next year I will try to convince everyone. So when it
was time to announce new BAP players I just kept shredding in a circle
until in the middle of a run I heard my name. I can’t remember if I
dropped, I was shocked from excitement as I walked to meet my new
posse members.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You have an interesting and varied game how did you attain that? Could
you tell a little about your footbag freestyle philosophy?

 

I've always been interested in hitting not so popular tricks. Scott
Bevier has really been an inspiration for me with his trick selection.
I have quite good basics from the earlier years and now I just tryout
different stuff, watch a lot of videos and try to use tricks I find
fun. These days my footbag philosophy is to have fun. Not to take it

too seriously anymore, play for myself, enjoy it.

 

Where do you see you in your freestyle career right now? What place
does footbag have in your life right now? Where do you want to take
your game?

 

I've played freestyle almost 10 years now. I'm not trying to reach the
stars anymore. I still want to improve and learn new stuff, but I also
listen to my body and don't try to do stuff that hurts. I also don't
feel obligated to learn everything. So what if I can't hit something
on my flipside, I couldn't care less. When I was really practicing
hard (before 2006) I tried to learn everything, but now I rather
concentrate on elements I enjoy. Lots of inspins, symp dlos, weird
stuff like strange rakes, fairy swirling, whizzs, gyro toes, downtime
ducking stuff accompanied with my basic shuffle shred. I really enjoy
playing now when I have given myself a freedom to choose what I want
to learn and what I don't have to. Freestyle is still very important
for me and I will keep playing for many more years if my body allows
it. I'm also going to compete for a couple more years for sure.

 

Finland seems to have one of the strongest scenes at the moment, with
both young talent and a lot of older great players. Who do you think
make people in Finland so good at footbag?

 

Who or what? I don't know. I think other countries have amazing
freestylers (and net players) as well. It is the dedication to the
sport what makes you good. Of course if you are talented that helps a
lot too, but people who are really dedicated to practice hard and also
think what they are practicing will become great players for sure.
Think about Vasek, Clavens, Felix, Jorden, Milan, Anssi and Jay (he
will be rocking soon). Practice, practice, practice.

In Finland many players have a good style and I think it's kind of a
Finnish trademark or something. That is something Finnish scene might
have created as we always call "the" tricks and try to help younger
players to clean their styles. As hard it is to imagine Felix and Juho
didn't always have a perfect style.

 

Also I have to say that Finnish Footbag Association has worked well in
past organizing tournaments, supporting players’ trips abroad etc.

 

 

It seems like everybody can beat everybody in competition in Finland.
Who do you think is the best at the moment?

 

Hah, well that's a hard question. It depends on what we are looking
for. In my opinion Felix and Juho are the two best routine players in
Finland as they really know what a good show is about. They are both
also very technical circle players. But when it comes to technicality
Anssi and Toni are there too. They both also have very good
consistency. In competitions anything can happen and if you make
mistakes then there are a lot of players ready to take the chance like
Aleksi, I, Tuomas, Santeri, Samu, Lauri... Everyone is capable of
winning the whole thing.

 

The best... for me it is still Felix, he is still just an amazing player.

 

 

You made a really good long video from the NY Jam in Jyväskylä. How
was that jam?

 

As an organizer I think the jam worked out well. We had 3 sessions
with total of 13 hours time to play. The best Finnish players were
there accompanied with Jay Boychuck and Matt Bailey. On the sidelines
we had some sauna and swimming in the icy water action going on and
some parties of course. NYJ is the biggest freestyle event in Finland
and we work on making it better every year. We also welcome foreign
players to join the fun next year. We've had a couple of guests in the
past years and all of them said they loved it.

 

 I hear Felix was there. How is he doing?

 

He is doing great. I think you have to ask Felix to get more detailed
answer as I don't feel it is my place to talk about him too much.
Let's stick with me.

 

 You have currently been to 50 footbag jams/tournaments. What was your favorite?

 

I have so many good memories from different tournaments. All the NYJs
have been a lot of fun. Berlin Worlds were really nice. Finnish Champs
2000 was my tournament, Budapest 2002 my first Euros, Prague 2003 my
first Worlds and for that reason they all have a special meaning for
me. Basically every Worlds I've attended has been awesome.

 

Finally I think Worlds 2003 is my favorite. First Worlds, meeting many
of my footbag heroes (Ryan, Rippin, Kenny Shults, Sunil, Peter Irish,
Yacine and so on),shredding with them every day, being chosen into
BAP, hanging out with Honza and Ales, getting to know the scene for
real. Yes that was an awesome tournament for me.

 

You just went to the Open De France. How was it?

 

It was my first time in Paris. I really enjoyed the city. I want to
thank the organizers: the tournament was well organized, there was
food available, gym was good, lots of players. What didn't work was
the schedule as there were some delays every day. I know that it is
quite common with footbag tournaments, but I think we should really
work on following the schedule. After all it is only fair for the
athletes who have practiced countless of hours to do their best. Maybe
we really need to start scratching people who are late as it really
isn't so hard to come on time.

One of my favorite things about footbag is how we are like one big
family. One of my best examples of that is when you one late night at
worlds 2006 came up to me and some of the Swiss crew and told us you
where getting married. What is your favorite thing about footbag?

 

Yes. We truly are one big family. Everyone is nice and whenever you
meet a new player you come along instantly. Even if I can't attend so
many international tournaments and I haven't seen some of the people
for a year or three, when we finally reunite it feels like we are best
friends. I really love that in footbag community.

For me footbag freestyle itself is also a way to express myself and to
relax. When you shred you must have 100% concentration on it and all
the worries will fade away. It is good place to escape the cruel world
:)

 

So favorite things:

 

1. Friendly community = own family

 

2. The possibilities footbag gives to express yourself are endless

 

What is your least favorite thing?

 

1. Injuries. They kill the joy. I quit freestyling for almost 2 years
because I lost the fun as it hurt to play. During the break I found
the fun of footbag net though.

 

2. Incapability. Sometimes it is very annoying to having these
wonderful ideas in your mind and as you try to express yourself you
just fail as you can't hit what you want. Incapability to hit what I
want pushes me forward the most at the moment.

 

One of the things I always do in these interviews is to ask the last
person I interview to come up with a question for the next. The last
person I interviewed was Ethan “Red” Husted. His question is “What
simple footbag move gives/gave you the most problems? (What is your
secret shame move?)”

 

Well, what it is?

 

Hah, a secret shame move :) I think it must be flipside pixie set. I
really skooled it like crazy back in the days, but it is still really
not consistent at all, which is funny since my better pixie is the
strongest element in my shred. Actually it is not a secret, but fits
the description otherwise. The trick could be for example flip smear.

 

What do you want to ask the next person?

 

When are you coming to Finland's New Year's Jam?

 

Do you have any shout-outs? Any final comments?

 

If you want to be one of the bests, keep on pushing it day after day.
It is not fun all the time, but it will pay off later. Remember to
listen to your body. Injuries suck. If you lose motivation in
freestyle try footbag net instead. Many freestylers have found new
aspects from it. Ask Sébastien Duchesne, Yves Kreil, Karim Daouk,
Jemery Mirken...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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