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):

Nick Landes
David Clavens
Milan Benda

Complete results are available on footbag.org. Also there is a nice writeup of the event on the Fourkast website.

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.

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:
  

• Fearless 55:
  

I had an awesome time there and was psyched to see two old friends, Dr. Sunil Jani and Brian McKenzie. Even though they were both supposedly “retired” they managed to bust out some very nice runs for a couple of old guys (like me).

I shot a few pictures on Sunday and also got a couple of video clips. In the net arena, after about 50 tries, I finally got one decent shot of a spike in the Open Doubles Net Finals (picture to right, the bag is outlined in blue)

That’s Dan Greer getting some good air (over a 5 foot net). He’s partnering with Vince Bradley and spiking on Jim Hankens (bald guy) and Greg Nice. Later in the series, I got this video (right, 19MB) of a nice stuff by Jim (off Vince’s spike).

During the informal shred on Sunday afternoon, I shot a couple of clips of David Clavens and Ryan Thomas busting out. I got a good clip of the super smooth antics of Ryan (brown shirt, 40MB) landing several difficult four-adders and five five-add moves. I also got most of a very solid run by David Clavens (no shirt. 61MB)… I just missed his fist trick, which, for the record, was a genesis (furious whirl) – sorry Dave, it was a sweet link!

Note: If you’re having difficulty viewing the videos, you may want to right-click and “Save Link as” to watch them directly on your confuser. Alternatively, you can watch them directly in our video gallery or watch the YouTube versions at the bottom of this post.

I’d like to send out a special “Thank You!” to Vince Bradley, tournament director extraordinaire. He’s now run the East Coast Footbag Championships for the last 15 years in a row, and this time he finally won at his own event (in both singles’ and doubles’ net). The (partial) results were as follows:

Freestyle Events:
Open Routines

1. David Clavens (PA)
2. Daryl Genz (ID)
3. Ryan Thomas (MD)

Open Circle

1. David Clavens (PA)
2. ?
3. ?

Intermediate Circle

1. Barrett Neimeth (NY)
2. Mike Angeski (OH)
3. Mark Bull (NY)

Open Big3

1. David Clavens (PA)
2. Ryan Thomas (MD)
3. Aric McIntosh (NC)

Intermediate Big3

1. Mark Bull (NY)

Net Events:

Open Singles’ Net

1. Vincent Bradley (MD)
2. Dan Greer (PA)
3. Mark Hunsberger (PA)

Open Doubles’ Net

1. Vincent Bradley (MD)/ Dan Greer (PA)
2. Greg Nice (NJ)/Jim Hankins (NJ)

Novice Net

1. Nikolai (PA)
2. Patrick Neary (VA)
3. Nick P. (NJ?)
4. Noah Hunsberger (PA)
5. Jesska (MD) tied Andrew (MD)
6. Steven (MD) tied Nick (MD)

There were some very unique trophies for this tournament. Mine is shown to the right. Thanks to everyone for attending, and also to Adrianne Dukes for helping run the event.

Edit: I just uploaded the videos to YouTube as well:

George Washington once said:

Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.

In honor of President’s Day, Freedom Footbags is holding a little competition. We’re looking for the best excuse for missing a trick. Now, there are probably an infinite number of ones out there, and we’d like to know what yours is. Here’s a few to get your started:

1. The sun was in my eyes.
2. The wind caught the bag.
3. I thought you were going to get that one.
4. There was a shift in the cosmic continuum.
5. Gravity check.

Submit your answer as a “comment” to this blog (You must include your email address so that we can contact you if you win – Your address will only be used to contact you should you win, it will not be sold or otherwise abused). Winner will be selected based on:

• Originality
• Humorousness
• and Practicality

at the close of the contest on March 14th. The person with the excuse which best fits these three criteria will receive a free $25.00 Gift Certificate good on any item in the Shop (even the new Nucleus hack shoe!). No purchase necessary, maximum (3) entries per household. Remember, having that great excuse probably isn’t going to help your game, but a little levity helps to make those practice sessions easier to come back to.

I find myself playing on slippery floors quite frequently. Over the past 25 years of playing footbag freestyle, I have played on just about every possible surface. From grass, sand, polished concrete, blacktop, marble, glass, wood, and even gravel… I have become a ’surface snob’ as a result of it.

He’s a “surface snob.” I like it. Me too! Scott prefers concrete. I think my favorite surface is a short carpet, like you’d find in the lobby of an apartment building. Carpet burn sucks, but so does road rash; I feel that I have slightly better control over my spins on carpet. How about you?

I find this especially cool because I know Carol. We have kicked with her many times during our years here in Boise and have become good friends. She and her husband open up the gym at Garfield Elementary on Sunday evenings, when it’s too cold to play outside. I’m sure she’ll be at the Hyde Park Street Fair demonstrating her fabulous skills. She can keep it going for quite some time and it’s always a good time to hack the sack with her. I love the long rallies! Come to Boise September 18-20 and kick with the “Hacky Sack Master,” AND check out the incredible freestyle as well. The Idaho State Championships are not to be missed!

There is a fascinating autobiography at the very beginning, with a preface written by Dan Ednie. The manual then goes into very precise detail, instructing the fledgling or competent freestyler alike in a world-class training regime that includes everything from the very basics, through to triple dex moves, sets, cross-training, and advanced techniques in the psychology of footbag. This is almost 100 pages of pure gold for any young freestyler out there, as well as being a highly enlightening and informative read for those of us who are past the age of pure training and competing.

From the footbag.cz website annoucing its availability:

Vasek recently teamed up with Dan Ednie from Australia to write a manual: How to Play Footbag. It is available for download for US$5 and it is 90 pages of How to train Footbag, The Psychology of Footbag and exact trick tips for sets and downtime components. Half of the money is donated to IFPA so please dont steal and email it to your friends.

The Vasek Klouda Manual

It’s definitely a collaborative work, edited by Dan. They thank Ales Zelinka, Dexter Struz, and Milan Benda for their contributions.

Frankly, I don’t think they’re charging enough for this. It’s a philanthropic price, especially considering that half of it goes to the IFPA. I would encourage those of you who can afford it to pay multiple times. I think maybe they should set up another “by donation” payment option so as to allow more affluent supporters to better support/reward this momentous effort.

Click Here to Visit the Worlds Homepage and Watch The Finals Live!

I caught a few minutes of net earlier this morning, but then the feed went offline. Unfortunately the sound was not working, but I did see a few cool spikes.