SPYY – Technology for Players

while driving to an aikido seminar yesterday, i remembered an old description of japanese horsemanship which i read a long time ago.

i’m paraphrasing: ‘it can be said that there are four types of horses: excellent, good, poor, and bad. the best kind of horse will run or stop at the command of his rider even before he sees the shadow of the whip. a good horse will respond immediately at the crack of the whip before he feels any pain. the poor horse will react to some measure of physical pain, and if the worst kind of horse reacts at all, he will do so only when the pain of the whip has sunk into the very marrow of his bones.’

almost all of us would prefer to think of ourselves as the ‘best kind of horse’; as ‘excellent’. failing that, we’d like to be ‘good’, and so on. this is just as true of players as any other pastime or profession. it’s totally natural to do so, because our society tells us that our worth is linked to our achievement; to our product. what is the ‘product’ of our sport, however? how do you measure it? by a trick list some other player compiled? by your placing in a contest as judged by other players? i think that no extrinsic standard will ever feel wholly valid and unassailable. your skill is just as good as you feel it is as you do it; just as worthwhile and fulfilling.

i don’t know that the stratification of excellent to bad is really the best way to think about things like throwing. no one wants to feel ‘bad’, but in many respects, it’s best to see oneself as the poorest manner of horse, because that horse allows for the most room to grow; the most reason to practice. Read the rest of this entry »

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We’re putting the finishing touches to Guy Wright’s signature series throw, the Punch Line! Look out for final release information on the SPYY blog soon! In the mean time, please enjoy Guy throwing his red with silver splash pre-release. Read the rest of this entry »

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Hello friends. This is just one of those little thoughts that make me enjoy what I do a little more.

The portable happy machine:
It all starts with what makes you or rather what makes everyone happy. Well, its chemicals…in your brain. (serotonin, dopamine, endorphins, whatever) when these chemicals are released it makes you happy. (To put it in a really simplified way) lets call it happy juice. Nice and simple right?

The tricky part:

Getting it to be released. The reason that your brain releases happy juice is because your brain has determined that your body has done something awesome and therefore it (you) deserves a reward. So it’s all about the reward for effecting the physical world in just the right way. So if you get your body to dance around just right your brain will see that and say “hey that’s some mighty fine dancing. How bout a dose of happy juice?” and BAM! You’re happy. Read the rest of this entry »

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