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Add Some Blough to Your Kicks
by Todd F. Reinhard
The last couple of months have found us kickin' back with our training. This month a spotlight is placed on Mr. Steve "The Dance Man" Blough, a true master back kicker. To those of us who have been entrenched in the world of freestyle footbag for many years, Steve Blough is a name worthy of hall-of-fame status. However, since our preferred discipline remains relatively obscure to the mainstream sports fan, we have no claim to a hall-of-fame by which to elevate a shining star to icon status. For this reason, I would like to introduce and pay tribute to the man who has influenced and inspired people of all ages and abilities to partake in his passion.
A little over two years ago this country faced perhaps the largest tragedy in its history. And yet despite the immense grief and sorrow that engulfed its citizens, the United States of America stood firm and came together as a cooperative and synergistic body of energy. Over the course of the last 20 years, Steve Blough has spent vast amounts of personal energy in attempts to foster this attitude of cooperation and unity within a culture which he believes to be far too competitive for its own good. Bloughchi, invented and popularized by The Dance Man, is a style of footbag that expresses Steve's personal philosophy and approach to life. First and foremost it is imperative to understand that Steve has always been fascinated with the arts and their ability to induce feelings of peace and harmony within the individual. The footbag became a means by which he could release physical energy and creatively express himself in a unique and satisfying manner. Footbag in fact became martial art in Steve's intellectual manner of thinking. Amazingly, he didn't begin his journey into the footbag world until he was 33 years old. It was at this time that he was introduced to the game by a traveling circus performer. Fascinated by the prospect of developing skills similar to those possessed by his "mentor", Steve filled a sock with rice and started to kick. He practiced and practiced and quickly became absorbed in the process of developing his balance, strength, agility, reflexes, concentration, coordination, and peripheral vision. Moreover, the sensitivity and the element of control that he was developing in his lower limbs were incredible-it was as though he had evolved into a creature with 4 arms and hands! Steve practiced his sport religiously and began to focus upon improving his side and backkicks. Before long, these were the main tools by which The Dance Man sought to distinguish his form of freestyle footbag from the more popular styles of "shredding", trapping, and "stalling". Whereas "shredding" is the term applied to juggling the footbag with the front kick and the knees at a very fast rate, and "stalling" is the art of stopping the footbag in mid-flight on the toes or knees, Blough was more content with approaching his craft from the side and the back. In so doing, he was able to visually take in and acrobatically engage in the entire 360 degree circumference around his body. It is precisely this ability to control and respond to the footbag within the entire circle encompassing ones body that defines the Bloughchi stylist.
Bloughchi is an all encompassing, nonlinear, freestyle footbag dance that stresses fluidity and ease of movement. Although the art can be practiced and performed alone as an excellent mind and body workout and stress reducer, its real character becomes manifest when it is partaken in by a group. Within his many scholarly writings, Blough stresses that the true beauty of his style of play lies within the fact that it inherently involves a COOPERATIVE effort on the part of ALL practitioners. In fact, Steve goes so far as to rail against interpersonal competition that occurs within the sport, and maintains that players should strive only to compete against gravity and ones self. In addition, although he acknowledges the artistry and utility of footbag stalling techniques, he emphasizes that undue attention given to them serves to disrupt the fluidity and synergy that should always hallmark a Bloughchi circle. For when a player intentionally stalls or traps the sac, comrade players are stymied, and the natural rhythm of the "dance" has been broken. In consequence, each player must refocus and adjust to this broken rhythm, which causes a mental lapse in the steady-state flow of the game. In turn, unwanted performance-hindering stress is produced, and the natural energy is further reduced. The gist is that too much stalling breaks up the harmonious dynamics of the team. However, this is NOT to say that control and mastery of the footbag are not coveted goals of the circle players! To the contrary-it is in fact essential for this style of play to come to life! The highlights of Bloughchi group play include rhythmic rainbows (where sidekicks are used to pass the sac from one side of a player's body to the other in such a way that an "arch" or "rainbow" is formed in front of the body), spins, and back kicks. When the players are all in synch with each other, and when the energy is right, these exquisite moves can be made so effortlessly that visual contact with the footbag is no longer necessary. This is the pinnacle of a true Bloughchi performance, and it is achieved only through hours of practice and a completely selfless attitude directed at the goal of continuing the team rally against gravity. This is a conversion of simple child's play into an expression of purposeful art and blissful comraderie. So when plain ol' full- shredding and hackin' the sac begin to become a trifle hackneyed, it just might be the time to do a little dance and add some Blough to them kicks!!
For more about Steve Blough click here and for more about Bloughchi click here.
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