IMO some russians are killing freestyle in a way... you're limiting freestyle to only go in one direction. No innovation. Just train rolls when doing uppers coz it's harder, train sits by doing long combos and stall moves, train lowers by doing the hardcore shit.
to those who say john farnworth, jeon kwon, yo etc... are not freestylers are a bunch of wankers. period.
I do agree that with freestyle you must be committed to it just like in skateboarding, footbag, and other underground sport/arts.
and yes at the rate russians are improving at "LOWERS" they're the best at doing that. But those who say creativity isn't FREEstyle are just plain stupid.
my definition of freestyle is doing what you want with the ball using mostly your feet, not just atw variations.
and it's true that szymo, skora, and luki are better than probably all russian fsers. MP, Artes and Baruzdin imo are the only ones from Russia who can compete and WIN at the highest levels.
It's because they don't limit themselves to only training one style, with the exception of MP. MP is the best at lowers in Russia to me and is just a complete phenomenon. Depending on who works harder, I don't think it will be too long before MP will surpass Skora completely like how Skora surpassed Palle and Fx. Artes and Baruzdin are just extremely high level at all round. like seriously high level...
MP = Skora (but skora is way better sits and uppers)
Artes and Baruzdin = Szymo and Luki (but szymo and luki are way better at flow and speed)
And for those who doubted the tournament at prague, it had palle as a judge
I believe that Russians are the fastest at improving when it comes to lowers, maybe even uppers, but what about the rest of freestyle? Leha has great (most probably the best) advices when it comes to improving stamina, techniques of moves, etc... He really is like the 1st PROPER freestyle coach and he's a master at freestyle theory no doubt. But it doesn't mean you can't listen to other ppl with great knowledge on OTHER parts of freestyle. It's like you're a boxer and you have a stamina coach teaching you how to improve on quickness or power...
Where are the Russians when it comes to creating new tricks? Even at lowers, you guys have no new atw variations/combos/moves.
I really want to hear the opinions of Professor Leha and Mr. Alex (MFS, Masters degree on freestyle sport) on Japan freestyle. They don't use much hands but they're a fan of hiphop fs (block moves). I especially want to hear your opinions on Kamalio, Yo, Yosshi, Petike, Yamato, Tokura, Martin Schopf, Jeon Kwon, Rene etc... Are their styles considered freestyle? If they're freestylers, are they good freestylers?
