Increasing the Popularity of Footbag

footymatt · Post by **footymatt** » 27 Dec 2006 12:31

Jeremy- I like your thoughts on playing, maybe when I get to hitting some long strings of 2-3 adders I'll be able to "collect" a little cash and spread footbag cheer. But for now I can see what you're saying because, although I'm not as diverse as you are, I do get people that watch me and give me good words and cheers. And your abosolutly correct about little tricks blowing big minds. People don't know what footbag is, so a toe stall is more than they can do and it's a big move! I show off vids of myself to people and they're at best 2 add strings and people are like "wow your so good! how long you been doing that?" Then I show a vid of David Clevins, and to the unknowing, we're equal in skill (yes David, I know your better

). But I don't see me getting to a point that's hitting big 5-6-7 add tricks, just the "easy" ones. So we'll see about how that goes. Anyways, gotta dip out-later

kyle · Post by **kyle** » 27 Dec 2006 19:16

I think we could use some history on this topic. How did freestyle skateboarding grow from its banana-board days?

Oroza · Post by **Oroza** » 27 Dec 2006 23:48

watch 'dogtown and zboys' - skateboard history.

Atom · Post by **Atom** » 10 Jan 2007 05:40

argh... i read almost the Whole topic in one sitting, and now I get to share my 2 cents.

the comment about holding your stalls, and doing simple tricks....every person can recognize a kick because they understand that you have caused an impact to the bag and it is now going up, we have all learned to kick as children. but they may not catch what is physically happening with the bag at the point of contact if you hit ripwalk or butterfly>far legover. if you show them a solid delay/stall they won't be chasing the bag with their eyes and lose where it is going from the stall.

and I fully agree about videos with more basic tricks, I started playing footbag and was trying to catch up to Suderman and another kid who were hitting 4's and 5's...all videos showed 2's and 3's to be filler and thus i was more concerned with hitting ripwalk and dimwalk when i started then I was with hitting consecutive clippers, or legovers. i mean i still ignore ATW which would have been a useful buiding block towards pixie and fairy sets.
I have more thought on what was said...but i pitty the next guy readin the whole thread just to comment

And a note to you jorden...I don't know if you realize this but most things you said about presenting footbag in public was how the .hack// club worked (cards and public shreds and so on)

dan the man · Post by **dan the man** » 10 Jan 2007 10:22

i totally agree. when i first became interested in footbag, it was a clipper that always interested me. not the clipper that we all know of, but whenever i saw butterfly, dimwalk, parkwalk whirls and the like, i always thought that they were all clippers.

i came from the stereotypical version of hackysack, where a jester was the best that you ever see, so whenever i saw super advanced moves i could not appreciate it like i can now. also when you play the stereotypical version of hackysack a jester is really cool to be able to do, but you usually only worry about "can i do it" not "how many can you do?".so when i began i was always trying to hit the next best move which was why i hit ducking butterfly before i could do 2 mirages in a run. i was hitting clipper to clippers, and my brother walks in and goes "why do you keep doin the same trick, nobody cares..."

i agree with the solid delay/stall and i also think that you can loose the bag through dexes

dan the man · Post by **dan the man** » 10 Jan 2007 10:31

i forgot to add, i was just sittin at school in cpu class watching a video of vasek, and the kid sitting beside me was like "where's the ball?"

there's no way that you can get as excited as i am when you can't even see the footbag. it takes a footbagger to appreciate the more extreme aspects of footbag.

another thing, the kid sitting beside me is prolly scared now to EVER play footbag because of the way that vasek makes it look... impossible. so if i was ever to show someone footbag ever again i'm definately going to show them someone that is not neccesarily bad, just does simple tricks made to look very easy. i think that's the best way to make ppl interested in footbag.

most of my friends think that footbag is cool but way beyond there level and requires too much time to practice. i hope to change this over time, however it is very difficult to change their aspect on it now that they have seen vasek and alot of different pros like david clavens etc.

zach4th · Post by **zach4th** » 17 Jan 2007 19:06

We just need more airtime---> http://youtube.com/watch?v=pX5gRaxcviE

Even if its 15 seconds.

Dat · Post by **Dat** » 12 May 2008 17:52

I showed a footbag video to some people today. The 3 comments they said:

1. "Can't see the bag. It should be neon."
2. "This guy likes to play with his shirt off."
3. "That's intense. My head hurts now."

Kljopa · Post by **Kljopa** » 13 May 2008 03:20

The first statement is so true.

I dont know why people started using smaller and smaller bags.It doesnt make your style better or anything and makes it hardly visible for people.

I myself play with old school size bags, all the people i know said that it was a good change.They enjoy watching me play more.

The dead contact thing is good too.A good thing is to start a string with 10 kicks>then stalling tricks.The person can see the difference then betwen kicks and stalls.

Footbag needs to look, played to music , to loud music in public places.To make an impression of an underground dance style.

I dont know if i made any sense at all.

PoisonTaffy · Post by **PoisonTaffy** » 13 May 2008 03:38

Playing to music in a public place is a good idea, and I've been doing it for about a month now. When there's a big circle, it feels like a party.

I kick with a bunch of non-freestylers, and when they have the bag it usually goes higher and farther, and I think bystanders enjoy seeing the bag having more airtime and how the kickers go out of their way to kick it back to the circle. Further, the bigger the circle, the more attention we get, as long as most people can keep the bag in the air and pass it when its their turn.

We also actively invite interested bystanders to join the circle, so that instead of watching for 2 minutes and leaving, they end up staying for 30 minutes, get to try it first hand and sometimes even buy a bag.

The only problem is that I get really bored in circles with more than 3 people as I'm the only one doing freestyle, but sometimes you have to sacrifice a session for promotion.

Kljopa · Post by **Kljopa** » 13 May 2008 03:50

Yeah airtime definatly, flying clippers kick>clipper stall kicks ass.

I believe if people introduced footbag as a form of breakdance it would be recognized more.

Well it is a dance, a strange one though.And you do BUST out from time to time and express yourself.

QuantumBalance · Post by **QuantumBalance** » 15 May 2008 01:34

i had a breakbag session today with another hacker.. it was epic.. i learned a few new tricks, have some bruises and scrapes to show from it

-sam

Kljopa · Post by **Kljopa** » 15 May 2008 06:03

Awesome Sam! Im not alone!

I have a few breakbag tricks too and a few ideas i didnt try yet.
Goooo b-baggers.

add me on msn, id be happy to talk about b-bag moves.