Hacky Sack Stereotype Set Straight
Here’s a great example of a positive response to inaccurate information. A random online magazine "NW Source" created a new header graphic for themselves, featuring two people kicking a footbag between them. A forum post came up discussing this image. Someone asked what the hackers were doing, and they got this response:
The hackysack is a tool utilized by grungster holdouts from the 1990s. They are native species, often found in seedy bars clutching a can of Rainier, wearing cutoff jeans, ragged Converse sneakers, a Soundgarden t shirt, and flannel. The hackysack is used to establish territory. Those who are familiar with the “sack” will form circles. Those who are not familiar avoid these gatherings, and hope their children don’t think it looks “cool.”
Andrew Hart
Wow, eh? It was obviously tongue-in-cheek; but unfortunately, this view of footbag is prevalent throughout North America. There are many, many examples on the web of people speaking with an air of authority, misinforming people about footbag and "hacky sack ®". But what do you do about it? I’ve been guilty of replying to such comments with a certain bitterness, pedantically correcting the mistakes and generally being far too passionate in my responses. So I was happy when a fellow by the name of Bob Arctor spoke up:
Hackysack (or Footbag as it is more commonly refered to amongst professional players) is a well respected sport that attracts players worldwide of different races, classes and interests. The stereotype of Footbag players as “grungster holdouts” or “hippies” is inaccurate and hurtful to the sport and I would hope that NWsource.com and The Seattle Times do not subscribe to this viewpoint.
For more information about Footbag please visit the website of the International Footbag Players Association at http://www.footbag.org/ifpa/. There you can keep track of the World Footbag Championships going on RIGHT NOW in [the Czech Republic]! Olympics Shmolympics.
He corrected the information and provided a useful link to find out more from an authoritative source without resorting to sarcasm or sounding particularly snobby. Go check out the rest of thread to see the apology from the original commenter, and a couple of other positive responses, including one mother who may now bring her daughter out to a tournament because of the exchange.
I definitely encourage any of you out there to correct comments like this when you see them. You never know how the next world champ is going to find out about this sport, or the general positive impact that you can have in educating the general public about footbag and why we don’t deserve the stereotype that has developed through decades of bad press.
October 7th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
So growing up in the midwest in the late 70’s, hacky sackers were often ‘burnouts’. People in the NW seem to associate the casual hacky sack fan w/ hippies. My question is what percentage are hippies and what percent are other types of groups? I’m not talking about people who take the sport seriously or competitively more so the casual players.
October 7th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
@Andy I think it would basically be impossible to quantify percentages for real, but based on anecdotal experience, personally, I’d say that “hippies” (who are in and of themselves a very diverse group) make up about 40% of the group who play “hacky sack”. Then there’s probably about 20% of folks who fit the “grungester” stereotype. The remaining 40% of people–again, in my experience–are just normal, active people who do lots of other sports, and generally like the non-competitive, casual, and easy nature of hacky sack.