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footbag.ee - home of footbag
Footbag History
In the summer of 1972, Mike Marshall and John Stalberger met in Oregon City, USA, and became good friends fast. On the very same day, Mike Marshall took out a sewed beanbag, and juggled with it, using his hands, feet and head. Mike had recently learned the game from a Native American. John got hooked with the game and they started to kick the bag nearly every day. In half a year they managed to control the bag easily and the activity became something more than just a way to spend free time. They named their new game "Hacking the Sack." A while later they named the sport itself "footbag", as "Hacky Sack" was turned into a trademark.
In 1975 Mike unexpectedly died of a heart attack, but John continued with the support of the new players. Next year, the National Hacky Sack Association (NHSA) was established and there were new players joining the organisation nearly every day. They performed everywhere were it was allowed - schools, public areas, concerts, etc.
Detailed histories of freestyle and net can be read below
History of Footbag in Estonia
Footbag probably made it to Estonia in the mid 90's. At first, people simply kicked the bag, as freestyle and tricks were not known of. In 1998, Enzy Tamme, a student at the Oulu University in Finland, started playing footbag net with the local kickers. He also established the first club in Estonia. Uve Poom started kicking in the summer of 1998 with a footbag brought from the States by his friends. Next summer, Ermo Naarits took up the activity. However, freestyle was unheard of up to the day www.footbag.org was found. The rest, as they say, is history. The players started practicing trick, winter sessions were organised, Tallinn players met Enzy Tamme and on December 20th 1999 Tallinn Footbag Club, which is the Estonian scene leader today, was established. Other important milestones are perhaps the Snickers Footbag Tour, conducted in spring 2001, and the first Estonian Footbag Championships on October 7th 2001.
Development of Freestyle
Freestyle grew out of consecutive kicking. The latter was the only official event beside footbag net in the 80's. At first, a simple system to judge the technique of the basic kicks was used. Somewhat later a thought to have a competition judging tricks and choreography emerged. The first competition where freestyle was held as an official event took place in 1982 and the winners turned out to be Bruce Geuittich and Greg Cortopassi. Two winners were announced simply because at that point a team consisting of up to 4 members could attend freestyle. In 1983 two National Championships were held in the States - the first were ran by the NHSA and the other by World Footbag Association (WFA). Accordingly, the winners were Kenny Shults, a player who has earned most champion titles in the world, and the legendary Jack Schoolcraft. But probably the only reason to Jack Schoolcraft's first place at the WFA championships was that Kenny Shults was too tired to attend after an epic footbag net finals game. The judging systems for freestyle have altered during the years and are not the same at all the competitions even today. However, the main principle of valuing both the technical and artistic side, has stayed the same. At the 2002 World Championships a system similar to that of the figure skating was used.br>br>
Development of Footbag Net
In 1977 the NHSA players in the state of Oregon were using a regular sports hall as their training facility. A volleyball net was set up there and they decided to give it a try, in order to gain more control over the bag. The dimensions of the court were 7 by 14 metres, the net itself was 2,5 m high and it was allowed to touch the bag with the knees. In doubles, or actually team play, up to 5 kicks were allowed (but not more than two by the same player) and in singles the number was 3. A couple of years later the players started experimenting with the size of the court, and finally they settled on the badminton court. At the same time, the numbers of contacts were brought down from 5 to 3 in doubles and 3 to 2 in singles.
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trick: toe blizzard
author: shredhead
time: 06.12.2002
location: Copenhagen
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