Footbag
Footbag is a sport in which a small cloth bag filled with granules or sand is played alone or in groups with legs and feet. The ball, often called Hacky-Sack after the brand name of the American company Wham-O , has a diameter of 1–2.5 inches (approximately 2.5–6.3 cm) according to IFPA specifications ( International Footbag Players' Association ) ) and is made from several parts ( panels ) (e.g. leather, linen, or plastic) sewn together. The type and amount of filling allows the balls to be adapted for different purposes: The weight is between twenty and seventy grams, the volume of the filling allows you to adjust how tightly the ball is filled. A well-filled ball (up to 6 cm in diameter) is used for playing on the net; for other disciplines, less filled bags are preferred.
Playing with the ball has become fashionable, especially among young people in recent years. Footbags for beginners and for playing football in a round are now available inexpensively in many shops (the price is usually less than 5 euros). Footbags, which are suitable for online or freestyle play, are mainly available from some websites and are a bit more expensive.
The history of the footbag
About 4000 years ago, the first forms of today's footbag were played in Asia . It was about keeping the ball up in the air with your legs, shoulders and head. Similar ball games are also known from the Maya . Today's net discipline was already played by the Chinese and Japanese (known here as Kemari ). This had developed from martial arts exercises of the Asians, in which the ball had to be seen and hit as the head of the opponent.
Footbag itself was invented in the 1970s by the Americans John Stalberger and Mike Marshall as a pastime. Stalberger had previously had knee surgery and was looking for an easy way to train. It was just a matter of holding the ball (back then a sock filled with rice, sewn together) as long as possible, whether alone, in pairs or in a group, with just your feet in the air. They called the game Hack the Sack . The international breakthrough in the game and sports market followed in the mid-1970s. With the first major European Footbag Championship in Berlin in 1999, a separate scene developed in Europe. More and more clubs were founded and national and international tournaments were held annually. The largest current tournaments (as of 2008) in Europe are, besides the European Championship (IFPA European Footbag Championships), the German Footbag Open (Germany), the ToDexOn (Czech Republic), French Footbag Open (France) and the Bembel Cup (Germany, Frankfurt).
The annual IFPA Footbag World Championships have existed since 1984 , in which the best footbaggers compete against each other in several disciplines.
In 1999 the non-profit organization planetfootbag was founded with the aim of promoting footbag sport in the long term.
The disciplines
Footbag mesh
Footbag over the net is exercised on a playing field the size of a badminton field: The size of the field is 6.1 m (20 feet ) in width, divided in the middle by the "center line" in two halves, and 13, 41 m (22 feet ) in length, divided in the middle by the mesh in two more halves to form 4 equal sized squares ("serving quadrants"). For each side, the right serving quadrant is regarded as "even side" and the left as "odd side" (in German: odd side). The height of the net is 1.52 m (5 feet ). In contrast to the freestyle footbag, the mesh footbag is plump and hard and has a diameter of about 6 cm. The footbag may only be kicked below the knee, all other contact with the body is called an upper body foul. If a player touches the net, it is a net equipment foul. If a player touches the opponent on the side of the field, it is a contact foul (net plane foul).
There are two net variations: double and single. In doubles, the two players on one team may touch the ball a maximum of three times in order to ultimately play (kick) it into the playing field of the opposing team. In singles, however, the player may only touch the ball twice. The game is played for points, with two different scoring modes: In rally scoring mode, every point is counted regardless of who serves, while in sideout scoring mode only the team that plays the specified score scores a point can. If the opposing team wins the rally, there is a change of information. The information (serves) is made from the baseline diagonally into the opposing field. In rally scoring, the sets are played up to 15 or 21 points; in sideout scoring, a set is played up to 11 or 15 points.
The special art of the footbag net lies above all in saving, setting and spiking: Saving is the term used to describe the saving of a ball before it hits your own playing field in order to “keep the ball in play”. Sets are usually high, parabolic templates for the team partner (in doubles) or for yourself (in singles) that allow a spike. Spikes are different kinds of balls. The ball is kicked into the opposing field above the edge of the net, i.e. at a height of 1.52 to 2 meters.
Related sports are Sepak Takraw , which is widespread in Southeast Asia, and spring football, which is mainly played in China .
Footbag freestyle
The freestyle footbag is about performing as many difficult tricks as possible with the bag without it falling down. The player is completely free to choose his tricks . In the most common form of freestyle today, however, the players catch the bag briefly before and after each trick ( stall or delay ). This catching can be done with any part of the body except the hand, the most common form is catching the bag on the toes or on the inside of the foot. Almost all of the tricks players use in tournaments start and end on these surfaces.
This mode is played at championships as well as on streets, squares and schools, making it one of the most versatile disciplines.
There are different names for the components of the trick:
- Delay (del)
- Dexterity (dex)
- Unusual Surface (us)
- Body (bod)
- Crossbody (xbd)
In the championships it is important to perform a choreography (also called routine) to a piece of music of your choice. As a result, the freestylers show various tricks in rhythm. A freestyle takes between 1.5 minutes and 2 minutes, depending on the tournament rules. Choreographies (routines) are performed either alone or in pairs ( doubles ). The best players manage to ensure that the bag never falls on the floor during their entire performance ( dropless ).
The performances are judged on the basis of their technical (technical merit) and artistic (artistic merit) components.
- Kicks
There are three basic freestyle kicks:
- Inside-kick: Kick with the inside of the shoe / foot
- Outside kick: Kick with the outside of the shoe / foot
- Toe-kick: Kick with the top of the shoe / foot
- Stalls / delays
You stop the footbag for a moment on a certain part of the body. They are used to show the beginning or the end of a trick. There are many, here are the most important:
- Toe-stall / delay: The footbag is caught with the top of the shoe / foot. (Usually the first trick you learn)
- Inside-stall / delay: The footbag is caught with the inside of the shoe / foot.
- Outside-stall / delay: The footbag is caught with the outside of the shoe / foot.
- Clipper stall / delay: The footbag is caught with the right shoe / foot, which is crossed behind the body.
- Dexterities
- Around the world: The footbag is played up with one foot, circled with the same foot (horizontal) and caught again with the same foot (toe-stall).
- Legover: The footbag is played up with foot A, circled with foot B (from the outside to the inside) and caught with foot B.
- Mirage: The footbag is played up with foot A, circled with foot B (from inside to outside) and caught again with foot A.
- Pickup: The footbag is played up with foot A, circled with foot B (from inside to outside) and foot B is caught.
- Butterfly: The footbag is being played up. The trajectory leads between the legs and he is caught again with the inside of the foot (foot crossed behind the body) (clipper stall).
- Other components
- Spins
- Ducks
- symposium
- Kneeing
Footbag Circle
The aim here is to simply hold the ball in the air with at least two players as long as possible (with all parts of the body except the hands). Circle is not a world championship discipline. Playing in a circle (also known as a hack circle) is the most widespread form of footbag play, and most players had their first encounter with a footbag in a circle. This version of the footbag is particularly popular in schoolyards and parks. If a group manages that everyone in the circle touches the footbag once without it falling on the floor, this is called a "full hack".
The largest footbag circle to date consisted of a total of 946 people.
Footbag battlesack
Battlesack is a modification of the circle in which players do not play with each other but against each other. A player brings the footbag into play and passes it to another player, who also passes it on. The third player who receives or controls the footbag may shoot the other players with it. If the footbag then touches one of the other players and then falls to the ground, this counts as a hit and the player who was shot receives a penalty point. However, if the shot player or another player succeeds in taking the shot footbag before he touches the ground, that player may in turn shoot the other players with it. Battlesack is not a world championship discipline.
Footbag Foursquare
Foursquare is a variant of the game that can often be seen in school yards or squares in the United States. The playing field is a square that is divided into four smaller ones. The player in the "last" playing field throws the footbag to one of the others and thus starts the game. The player who has the bag in his playing field or who has pushed it out of the playing field is eliminated - then everyone moves one up and a new player enters the first playing field. Only the player on the last field of play can score points - whenever another player is eliminated. Foursquare is not a world championship discipline, but is being offered as an additional discipline at more and more tournaments.
Footbag dance
Here you play with others in a dance-like rhythm, without any fixed rules. Dance, also called Bloughchi, has developed as a counterpart to the rule-heavy footbag variants that are supported by the World Footbag Association . It originated in the early development of the sport. Dance is an extension of circle kicking, which renounces the competitive character of the official disciplines and focuses on the aspect of playing together.
The aim is not only to keep the bag in the air together with fellow players, but to develop a common rhythm and use the entire space to play. All body parts are needed for this. Above all, the stalls / delays of freestyle are not used.
Dance is not a world championship discipline.
Footbag Consecutive
It's about keeping the footbag in the air as often and as long as possible (alone or in pairs). The record for unlimited “kicking” is 63,326 touches of the bag with the foot. There is also the so-called timed consecutive , where it is important to achieve as many contacts as possible in a certain time. Consecutive is not an official discipline of the World Championships.
Footbag golf
As in golf , targets are selected into which the bag must be kicked. This can be a bucket that has been set up, a park bench or just a certain paving stone on the street. In footbag golf, the bag can be dropped from the hands, so it does not have to be kicked off the ground with the foot. Footbag golf is also played at many footbag tournaments, with the "courses" often extending over several holes, which are sometimes laid across the entire venue and beyond. In golf, it pays to have a wide range of footbags. Hard mesh bags for long kicks and soft sandbags for precise shots.
Each player tries to end the parkour with as few attempts as possible. You start at a teeing ground and kick the bag in the direction of the corresponding hole. If the hole has not already been hit, play continues from the point where the footbag was left. The supporting leg is then at this point. You can choose from the range of bags for every step. The bag must not be balanced on the foot, but must be kicked and may only touch the foot briefly. If the bag cannot be played from one location, the bag is brought into a playable position, but the player receives a penalty point.
Set of rules
The official rulebook can be found on the International Footbag Players' Association website.
See also
- Quinlones
- California Games (computer game implementation)
- "Kemari" under sports in Japan
Web links
- IFPA (International Footbag Players Association) website
- Frankfurt Footbag
- Footbag.ch: archetypes of the footbag
- footbag.ch: Video trick list Footbag Freestyle
- planetfootbag: European non-profit organization for the promotion of footbag sports
- Modified Forum: International Insider Forum for Footbag Players
Individual evidence
- ↑ Official Rules of Footbag Sports ( English ) International Footbag Players' Association. Retrieved April 9, 2019.