Name: Freedom Footbags
Location: Nampa, Idaho
Website: http://www.freedomfootbags.com

Most people commonly refer to the sport of footbag as Hacky Sack. When you see people kicking around a small round object, you say, “Look, they are playing Hacky Sack!” Back in the 70′s, Wham-O started mass producing the first official footbag which they called a “Hacky Sack.” The founders of Wham-O, Arthur “Spud” Melin and Richard Knerr were known as the gurus of blockbuster fads, according to the Wham-O website. From the Slip ‘N Slide, to the HULA-HOOP, the superball to the limbo party kit, from the FRISBEE to the Hacky Sack, Wham-O was has been bringing the best toys to the market for 60 years now. And when we talk about fads, we are serious! Wham-O sold 25 million Hula Hoops in 4 months! The Hacky Sack went through a similar phase, when they flooded the market in the 70′s and 80′s, it seemed Hack circles were everywhere! The name Hacky Sack stuck but that is the trademarked name of one specific brand.

My older brother initially got me kicking, he had two of those official footbags and let me play with one. Two leather panels, sewn like a baseball, and hard! We had my friend’s older sister drive over it in the car to try to soften it up! It wasn’t easy to play with, luckily times have changed!

When it comes to kicking a footbag, some people can go on and on. For example, on November 15, 1995 Ted Martin set the men’s record with a total of 69,812 kicks, taking him 7 hrs. 38 min. 22 sec. The women’s record was set by Constance Constable on April 18, 1998 with 24,713 kicks taking her 4 hrs. 9 min. 27 secs. But after a while kicks can get boring, in my opinion!

Sometimes fads come and go and sometimes they evolve. So, the sport of footbag evolved into two distinct disciplines, footbag net and freestyle footbag. Here at Freedom Footbags our focus is on the evolution from basic circle kicking to freestyle footbag. We have some of those great bags for the Hack Circle. We have Sipa Sipa’s, and the Hempster that can be kicked all day long. Then we have the Mr. Sandbag, the SandMaster, and the Infinity for those of you who want to learn to stall. We have the Fourkast 14 when you start to take freestyle a little more seriously, and when you want to hit the big tricks, we have the Bear Bags, the Fearless 55, and other specialty footbags, hand sewn by the professionals for optimum playability. Accurate sets, multiple dexterity moves, and good solid catches.

We’d love to see you take the game to the next level! If only I could have lunch with Arthur “Spud” Melin and Richard Knerr and find out how to make freestyle the next big fad, and not just the very cool underground sport that it is!

Name: Freedom Footbags
Location: Nampa, Idaho
Website: http://www.freedomfootbags.com

Wow! What a worlds it was this year! It is so awesome to see the level of play going steadily up every year. I didn’t compete this year – it was nice to be able to sit on the sidelines and simply watch the routines without the pressure of being a competitor or a judge. While there were other events, the freestyle routines are my favorite and considered by many to be the standard by which “the” world champion is judged.

There were notable moments from each of the three rounds. Lon Smith had an incredible routine first round and it was the highlight of the day for me (Thanks to John Goode for the slightly shaky video) :

Unfortunately, Lon’s semifinal routine was not quite as solid, and the competition for making it to finals was extremely difficult!

Nick Landes (stitcher of the Fourkast 14 footbag, which, coincidentally is the footbag that Lon Smith used in his dropless first round routine) had an epic semi-finals routine:

Thanks to Evan Lovely for capturing and posting this video (and rooming with us at Worlds).

The singles finals routines were absolutely incredible. My good friend Peter Irish was the emcee for the event. Woman’s Champion Tina Aeberli dominated the field and clinched her 5th straight world title with this awesome routine:

A honorable mention goes out to Sunny Freeman Genz (co-owner of Freedom Footbags) for making it to the finals and placing 6th in the world.

The open finals pool was incredibly densely packed with talented shredders. Two players, David Clavens and Milan Benda had two of the best routines ever… All I can say is I’m very glad that I didn’t have to be the judge.

Second Place, David Clavens:

And the 2010 World Champion, Milan Benda (using a Bear Bag footbag):

I believe this is the first time in history a player with the last place seed managed to clinch the world title. Very well done!

Most of these videos are available at Evan’s YouTube channel where you can watch these videos in high definition (720p):

Name: Freedom Footbags
Location: Nampa, Idaho
Website: http://www.freedomfootbags.com

It’s that time of year again, time to head to Portland and shred with Sole Purpose and other footbaggers from around the country, and the world! In 2007 Jim Penske was crowned national champ, only to have David Clavens take it from him the following year. In 2009 Jim wanted the chance to reclaim the title, but instead attended his brother’s wedding in Northern Idaho. Scott Bevier, a new transplant to Portland, currently holds the title. I can still remember his awesome routine at the Nautilus event site in Vancouver, Washington (just across the river from Portland). The choreography was excellent!

There is going to be a lot of talent at this weekend’s event. With the World Championships beginning the following week, many Europeans have made their way to the US and will be competing at both events. I can’t wait to see all the amazing shred! I especially love the Water Temple Shred on Monday, after the official tournament has come to a close.

If you are in the area, come check it all out! And if you don’t make it, you can find the results online at www.footbag.org That’s also where you’ll find all the info to get you there. Peace

Oh, and here is a video of Scott’s winning routine from 2009.

Name: Freedom Footbags
Location: Nampa, Idaho
Website: http://www.freedomfootbags.com

Freedom Footbags will be attending the Boise Rec Fest at Ann Morrison Park this weekend! We’ll have a booth set up and will be offering the majority of the items from our shop. Additionally, on Saturday at 3:00pm we’ll be holding a workshop (they call it a Hacky Sack workshop, but we’ll only have footbags on foot, er hand). We’ll have instruction for players of all levels. For those of you old schoolers that still have VHS players, we’ll have a bunch of free VHS shred video tapes available (while supplies last).

Name: Freedom Footbags
Location: Nampa, Idaho
Website: http://www.freedomfootbags.com

Last month Wired Magazine did an article on the now infamous Fire Footbag:

Originally, we were quite disappointed with this article, for the simple reason that we provided them the Fire Footbag to use to make this video…

And then they went and linked to another company’s product! That has since been remedied (they fixed their link), and their karma is cleared.;). That being said, they did have an interesting take on the whole article/video, but apparently they didn’t read the very important SAFETY INFORMATION first!!! Oh my word I hope they had a fire extinguisher handy when they made that video!

The other thing I found entertaining (from an informed perspective about the sport) was that they claimed to have landed a “sick pogo butterfly move” with this object. First of, I say, “yeah, right.” And secondly, pogo butterfly (which is a no-plant stepping-set butterfly) is only worth 5 adds, and the link is to www.footbag.org’s 6-add move list. Even though it’s not to the right place, I was happy to see them linking to the best resource out there! Footbag dot org is without question the best place for players to find players anywhere in the world. If you want to really see what footbag is about, you need to go to a tournament, and footbag.org is the place to find the one nearest you.

On a side note, I remember being called early one morning a couple of months ago by a rather distraught lady from Wired Magazine, hoping to get another Fire Footbag sent to them via Next Day Air. She said the fire footbag had gotten wet and they couldn’t figure out how to restart it. In my head I remember thinking they must have used water to put the thing out… However, After watching the video, I see that they were more dedicated than I originally gave them credit for. I told her the key was to just douse the thing in fuel – even a wet bag will restart with enough fuel on it. I guess at least it was sanitized once they got it restarted.

And, though we don’t have a 6-add move, this video shows Jim Penske hitting a 5-adder with a fire bag:

Name: Freedom Footbags
Location: Nampa, Idaho
Website: http://www.freedomfootbags.com

The short, simple answer: The best footbag is not Hacky Sack! The best footbag for you is ultimately dependent on just what you want to do with it. Whether it is ridiculously difficult tricks or just basic kicks, we’d strongly recommend against any Hacky Sack brand named footbags. Even though they were the “original footbag”, they just aren’t what they used to be. Invented in 1972 by John Stalberger and Mike Marshall in Eugene Oregon, the first original footbags were quality products. However, once Hacky Sack was taken over by Wham-O, the production was moved to China and the product greatly suffered; stressing quantity over quality.

Here at freedom footbags, we have a very different philosophy, stressing quality over quantity. Our top recommendations, based on what you are looking for in the best footbag are as follows:

* Best Hard Core Freestyle Bag: Fearless 55 or Hania Footbag.
* Best intermediate shredder footbag: Richard Abshire 32 or Fourkast 14 (for the economically frugal).
* Best beginner freestyle footbag: Mr. Sandbag Footbag.
* Best bag for basic kicks: Anything in our shred shop, with the exception of the Boota Bag, Sipa Sipa, Hempster, Night hack or Chain Mail bags… They’re all decent for basic kicks, but nothing to be going for records with.

Name: Freedom Footbags
Location: Nampa, Idaho
Website: http://www.freedomfootbags.com

When joining new circles, or simply questioned by curious passers by, I often get asked a variety of questions or comments about the footbags I’m using. Almost inevitably, one or both of these two things come up:

1. That footbag looks small!
2. Is that legal for competition?

My answers are always the same. In short, “Yes, and, yes.” Now for the long answers:

1. In general, the footbags that are used by seasoned freestylers are significantly smaller than they were ten years ago. That’s because there has been more and more focus on moves with multiple dexterities (circling the footbag with the leg/foot). The upper echelon of players today can consistently land tricks with four dexes (e.g. nemesis, arch-nemesis, blurriest swirl, pixie paradon swirl…)! Getting around the bag four times with a big floppy sack is unnecessarily challenging, hence the shift toward smaller diameter bags.
2. The International Footbag Committee, specifically the Rules Committee, lists the specific characteristics of a legal footbag as follows:
107.01. Footbag Specifications

To be used in competition, footbags must:

A. Be approximately spherical in shape;

B. Have a soft, pliable covering; they cannot be rigid balls;

C. Contain loose filling of any material; and

D. Be subject to the following size and weight restrictions:

1. Diameter of footbag: Minimum: 2.54cm (1.0 inches); Maximum: 6.35cm (2.5 inches)

2. Weight of footbag: Minimum: 20g (0.71 ounces); Maximum: 70g (2.47 ounces)

All of the footbags sold on Freedom Footbags (with the exception of the Nighthack) would be considered legal for competition. See our footbag comparison table for size and weight data.

The following photos show a SandMaster (a good intermediate footbag, representative of how large footbags used to be – though maybe a bit larger) and a Fearless 55 (a top level professional bag – the typical size for a pro bag today – though maybe a tad smaller) with standard golf ball for comparison. My how things have changed!

*

SandMaster:
SandMaster Footbag with golf ball

Fearless 55:
Fearless 55 Footbag with golf ball

Name: Freedom Footbags
Location: Nampa, Idaho
Website: http://www.freedomfootbags.com

* What: IFPA East Coast Footbag Championships
* When: This Weekend, May 22nd and 23rd, 2010
* Where: College Park Community Center in College Park, Maryland, USA
* Who: D.C All Stars are hosting

This is an IFPA sanctioned event. It’s a footbag tournament and therefore I am predicting this event will be a BLAST (based solely on past experience… Even though this will be my first ever East Coast Championships, it is somewhere around my fiftieth tournament). Yes, since I’m temporarily situated on the East Coast, I’ll be making my way over for the weekend to see some old friends and make some new ones. Freedom Footbags will be sponsoring this event. I just got my tickets a few minutes ago and I’m already feeling excited… Now I just need to get in shape over the next week, yea sure.

Name: Freedom Footbags
Location: Nampa, Idaho
Website: http://www.freedomfootbags.com

I apologize for taking so long to post the results for our “Top Excuses for Dropping a Footbag Competition“. I was just going to give just one prize, but we had several good answers and it was a difficult choice. Therefore, without further ado:

* Place: Runner Up
* Prize: Honorable Mention only
* Author: Brian Bear (maker of the Bear Bag)
* Excuse: “I made this bag special so when I switch to my normal bag I’ll land more tricks and feel like I improved ”

———–

* Place: 3rd
* Prize: $5.00 Gift Certificate
* Author: Timothy
* Excuse: “Normally I’m dropless, but this gravity is so much different than the moon.”

———–

* Place: 2nd
* Prize: $10.00 Gift Certificate
* Author: Cory A
* Excuse: “On a clear day, a unexpected raindrop hit the bag, my exceptional footbaging senses noticed it. The approximate .0331415926 M/S velocity increase made me quiver. I was in a tight spot, i didn’t have much time to think. I made my choice. I overcompensated. It was as simple as that.”

———–

* Place: 1st
* Grand Prize: $25.00 Gift Certificate
* Author: Chris
* Excuse: “It’s the only way to end a purposefully all-the string.”

———–

Congratulations to all of our winners! (They will be notified via email in moments).

As a side note for those that don’t know, in footbag the term “the” (rhymes with “duh”) refers to a dexterity that isn’t clean. For example, a “the” around the world would be one where the foot made the motion of going around the bag, but didn’t actually circle the bag.

We’ll have another contest coming later this month, so stay tuned to the Freedom Footbags Blog (or subscribe to our feed in the box at the bottom of this page)!

Name: Freedom Footbags
Location: Nampa, Idaho
Website: http://www.freedomfootbags.com

Learning to juggle two footbags is actually fairly easy with just a few minutes of practice a day.

The basic steps are as follows:

1. Master the toe stall.
2. Lean the “juggling set”.
3. Repeat.

I realize that may sound a bit simplistic, but that’s really all there is to it. If you haven’t mastered the toe stall yet, you may want to print this out for a rainy day sometime in the future… Don’t even bother trying to juggle (unless you enjoy frustration ).

Juggling Path

Now, the “juggling set”, quite simply, is an arching set that returns back to the foot. It’s a bit tricky to put in words, but the sketch to the right (I’m no artist) should illustrate the proper flow of the bag. In this illustration the player would be on the left, facing the right side of your screen.

The key to realize here is that the release/set and the catch/delay are offset by roughly 10 inches. This is absolutely critical with two bags to eliminate mid-air collisions.

Thus, the set is towards the body, and it follows a parabolic arc that ends up roughly 10 inches closer than where it was set from. To begin with, practice this set with one footbag until it comes naturally.

Next, you’re ready to move on to two footbags, but with only one catch. Start with a bag on your foot and for now forget it’s even there. Focus on the bag in your hand only… Release it from your hand with a slight upward (maybe a foot) toss that matches the path of the picture on the right (the bag on the upper right is in the approximate release location you’re looking for). Just after you release the bag in your hand, set the bag on your foot using the same motion shown back up to your hand. Remember, at first the one on your foot really isn’t important – all you need to focus on is doing that hand toss to your foot (which you’ve already got mastered). Getting the set with the bag that’s on your foot will come with practice. This is the basic fundamental key: Being able to do one catch (switching the bags between your hand and foot) with the proper path. It may take a few sessions to get comfortable with this (it didn’t come to me quickly).

Now comes the magic part… Forget the hand catch mentioned in the previous pargarph, and go back to the foot, repeat, and now you’re juggling. Note: Don’t forget to practice both feet. Also, the path of your foot is essentially a mirror of the path of the bag, but with a much shorter amplitude (height).

PS: Below is a video I have of myself juggling two Nighthacks. It’s not the greatest tutorial video, but it was handy .

(Note: if your browser does not support the video below, check it out on YouTube or better yet, since the YouTube version is pretty fuzzy, I highly recommend you watch the )

Name: Freedom Footbags
Location: Nampa, Idaho
Website: http://www.freedomfootbags.com

So, I was surfing around the other day and ran across this flash video on newgrounds.com showing some truly Insane Hacky Sack:

This is an impressive piece of artwork, and very imaginative and creative. Based on the types of tricks, I’m guessing the author has probably never seen professional freestyle footbag… That and the fact the video is named “Hacky Sack Insanity” in the first place. Those tricks are practically impossible anyway, much less using inferior Hacky Sacks. It looks like I’m going to have to skool up on my gymnastics before being able to attempt most of these tricks.

Anyhow, for the record, the guy only got 70 contacts, and my record (under “Juggling Two Bags”) is (he boasts lightly) 182 with two footbags .

Note: I just realized my unofficial world record is categorized in the wrong section (3 vs. 2 adds). When just juggling two bags (with delays) each catch is worth two adds, not three adds

Name: Freedom Footbags
Location: Nampa, Idaho
Website: http://www.freedomfootbags.com

I was checking out some footbag videos on Vimeo and discovered a recently uploaded film from long ago.

A Lovely CSS from Evan on Vimeo.

This footage was from CSS5 (Colorado Shred Symposium) the very first tournament I directed 6 years ago. It opens with early footage of my son Dylan, back when he was 12 and we had big hopes and dreams of him becoming a World Champion some day! lol

Ryan Mulroney and Steve Goldberg flew out for the 4-Square Tournament, the video includes scenes from a fierce final battle between Mulroney, Goldberg, Duchesne, Genzu, Anderson and Irish. Ryan walked away with the winner’s cap and the cash!

You’ll enjoy some incredible freestyle juggling from “The Sandman” himself, Paul Mestas as well as “The Juggling Monk” Peter Irish.

You’ll also catch some contorted combos from “The Outsider” Jon Schneider, and some sick shred from Jim Penske, Sunil Jani, Eric Reily, Justin Dale, Ricky Moran, Bryan Fournier, Juan Rangel and others.

Evan’s creativity comes out in this film and it also has a great soundtrack.

More about Evan: Evan Lovely likes Ashtanga Yoga and Technology. Hip Hop and Yerba Mate. Loud Music and Quiet Conversation. Good Beer and Good Travels. Juggling and Freestyle Footbag. He lives in Missoula, Montana and is a Web Designer for freeStyle Media.
View his portfolio here

Name: Freedom Footbags
Location: Nampa, Idaho
Website: http://www.freedomfootbags.com

The Nucleus footbag shoes have arrived at the Freedom Shredquarters! After a check for order accuracy and a quality inspection, they will be ready to move out – and onto your feet!

This has been a long journey: from the original concept, to finding investors and a manufacturer, from learning Mandarin, to developing and testing prototypes, from customs and inspections by the Department of Homeland Security, to resizing to ensure a good fit. Queency Mateo of Nucleus Footwear stuck with it through all the challenges and now knows what it is like to bring a footbag shoe to the market for the seemingly small but growing community of shredders around the world who have been hoping and dreaming of a new footbag shoe! We will admit they are not perfect and we know there are a few things we will change on the next version, but for now they will do the job. Jim Penske and Evan Gatesman hit plenty of 7 add moves in these shoes (right out of the box) last weekend at the Vegas Jam!
Oreo, the official mascott of Freedom Footbags, wags her tail happily at the arrival of the new Nucleus Footbag Shoes!

Oreo, the official mascot of Freedom Footbags, wags her tail happily at the arrival of the new Nucleus Footbag Shoes!

Queency has a lot of ideas and irons in the fire…fundraisers, TV spots, and a US tour…just to name a few. We at Freedom Footbags are pleased to be partnering with Nucleus Footwear in an effort to grow this unique and amazing sport!

Name: Freedom Footbags
Location: Nampa, Idaho
Website: http://www.freedomfootbags.com

So you want to lose your weakside and even out your game, becoming more ambidextrous. The short, simple answer is obvious: practice both sides evenly. However, the practicality of this is another matter entirely. Hence, I offer the following suggestions:

1. Start with your vocabulary. Nix the weakside, bring in the flipside. It was, again, Eli (Ellis, Elliot, Intergalactic, Zohar – he is a man of many names) Piltz that coined the term “flipside”. As I understand it, his basic reasoning was that when you consider the subtleties of language and you always call your “less skilled side” your “weakside” you are unconsciously reinforcing the thought patterns of that side being weaker. Thought is energy, and it has the power to manifest reality (depending, of course, on the level at which you have said thoughts).
2. Always start with your flipside! Weather it’s a pass taken with a kick, or starting out a trick string, start it out on the flipside first. I particularly like the idea of doing both-sided drills that start and end on the flipside. A very simple example would be leg-over (or switch) three times (flip, strong, flip). This skools the flipside twice, and enforces linking in and out of the trick.
3. Dedicate sessions to working only your flipside. These can be frustrating, but will pay high dividends.
4. Use your flipside exclusively in a new circle. Approaching a new circle is wisely approached as a delicate endeavor, and you don’t want to be immediately branded as a “hack hog”.
5. Another great time for honing the flipside is coming back after an extended break from the sport. I consider myself in this category, having kicked barely once a week for most of the end of 2009. In slowly getting myself back into shape, I find that since both sides are struggling, I may as well focus on working them both evenly. Lately I’ve even pushing my flipside even more. The end result will be that by the time I get back into shape I’ll be significantly more even-sided).
6. Of course, if you’re just a beginning hacker, or just now getting into serious freestyle, there is no better time than now to make a commitment to ambidextrousness… The further you get down the one sided path, the harder it is to even out. I highly recommend working both sides as evenly as possible. Though rare, serious one-sidedness could potentially lead to a form of spinal curvature called scoliosis.

Name: Freedom Footbags
Location: Nampa, Idaho
Website: http://www.freedomfootbags.com

Are you Bigfoot, Sideways or Ambidextrous?

Ellis Piltz and (apparently in conjunction with or at the same time as?) Damon Mathews came up with these concepts to describe people’s (generally one-sided) footbag trick tendencies:

* Bigfoot: Favoring the all surfaces (toe, inside, outside, heel, sole) of only one foot (right or left).
* Sideways: Favoring one side of the foot (and body) over the other (e.g. left inside, right outside, and right toe OR right inside, left outside, and left toe).
* Ambidextrous: Favoring neither foot over the other. Of course this term has been around long before Piltz and Mathews – I’ve also seen it called ambipedal or pedidextrous (both of which are rare).

Myself: I’m Sideways (favoring my left inside, and my right outside, toe, sole, and heel), but (of course) striving to be Ambidextrous (stay tuned for my next post on tips for this).

In thinking about this I was wondering if there are Sideways kickers that favor, for example, the same toe as inside or if the toe and outside are always linked. I’m guessing this could tell something about the way the brain is wired… Anyone?

Name: Freedom Footbags
Location: Nampa, Idaho
Website: http://www.freedomfootbags.com

Zeb Jackson has been hacking the proverbial sack for a little over three years now. I remember the first time he visited the Freedom Shredquarters back in 2007: He was able to do toe stalls fairly well, and perhaps a few two add moves with a bit of struggling. Nevertheless, he persevered and continued to make trips to the Shredquarters to kick with Jim, Sunny, and myself, steadily improving. He now lives with Jim in Boise and skools frequently with him.

Zeb, who’s also an accomplished video editor, gives us clear evidence of his progress since those first days in this self-edited video:

Zeb Jackson January 2010 from Jim Penske on Vimeo.

Zeb Jackson January 2010 from Jim Penske on Vimeo.

(You can also download the full (57 MB) windows media file from our free comprehensive hacky sack video gallery in the player’s spotlight section.)

He now plans to win the 2010 World Footbag Championships in San Francisco this upcoming August. A bit of a lofty goal, but if he really practices hard and forgoes a few luxuries, such as sleeping, anything’s possible!

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