Where is this sport going?

Jim · Post by **Jim** » 22 Jan 2006 09:35

when i used to play heavily like 2 years ago there were only like 600 people on modified. now theres a registered like 1,800! i really hope this sport doesnt become like skateboarding cuz then it will just be a trend and all that shit. does anyone think the sport is growing too fast and should stay underground, or do you want it to become part of the media? i know this has been posted before a long time ago but i want to hear peoples current input

dp · Post by dp » 22 Jan 2006 09:53

Well, I'd say the great majority of people who made modified accounts don't post or don't even look at the forum anymore.

Outsider · Post by **Outsider** » 22 Jan 2006 10:35

I say go big. I don't care about "legitimacy" or media exposure or money. But look at it this way: where I live, there are about half-a-dozen serious kickers (my club, The Ministry of Silly Walks), and then, 45 minutes north of us is this one other guy who's playing hard but he's go almost nobody else to play with in his town (Xian), and then an hour south of here is this one other guys who's coming up fast (Troy), and he says he plays with a bunch of his friends, but he and his posse are really knew and I wonder how long his friends will stay interested. Then, an hour east of here is the New York Footbag Association, a pretty regular club, almost a dozen members (a dozen who actually show up most of the time or some of the time at least), and that sounds pretty good, but really NYFA represents all of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and some areas lying outside of the city itself (Westchester?), so thats a pretty large area, and one of the mostly densely inhabited areas in the world at that.

What I getting at is: why do I have to travel an hour in either direction to find the next serious kicker? I want there to be some serious kickers in every town between me and Xian, me and Troy, me and NYFA, but there isn't. Its like alot of empty space, alot of No-Man's-Land, and it shouldn't be. It's not like its sparsely populated around here. It's another town every ten feet around here, all with lots of people. And all those people aren't playing footbag. I don't care if we're "taken seriously as a sport" and I don't give a damn about sponsorships, but I don't like the fact that there just isn't anyone playing footbag in most places you go around here. There's no good reason for that, damn it. I want to see somebody playing just about anywhere I go. Thats what I'd like to see for footbag.
Growing too fast? Yeah, right. If only. Growing too fast? I'll drink to that.

Will Digges · Post by **Will Digges** » 22 Jan 2006 11:00

Well said John.

david · Post by **david** » 22 Jan 2006 11:15

Jon,

You forgot about that kid 45 minutes to the west.

Anz · Post by **Anz** » 22 Jan 2006 11:23

There are some players 22 hours to the east too.

All the happenings would be lame if footbag would get bigger. Now even Worlds is a jam where everybody knows everybody.

bigdirtyfoot · Post by **bigdirtyfoot** » 22 Jan 2006 11:38

Dude - Jim Jansen - do you still like cake?

I support footbag getting bigger.

Jdigges · Post by **Jdigges** » 22 Jan 2006 11:41

Right on John. During break, there is 5 people in our club, one of the members goes off to college 4.5 hours away. The next closest kicker to us is Albany which is a 30 minute drive, but after that, we have to travel 4+ hours in any direction to get to the next kickers. it would be nicer if there was a denser footbag population. Like you said, there is a TON of No Mans Land.

Jorden · Post by **Jorden** » 22 Jan 2006 11:47

I say it will go big. There's just too much sick and impressive stuff that can be done.

You also gotta be careful there, Jim. It could be that the popularity of internet forums has grown as well in the past 2 years. Dont forget to factor that in.

But yeah, shred's grown -- just not anywhere in my radius.

Troyson · Post by **Troyson** » 22 Jan 2006 12:19

i dont think that it will ever be huge like bball or basketball, but i think it will eventually at least be known by people other than footbaggers. I dont understand how it will not eventually grow. At my high school at the beginning of the year I was the only one who could do somewhat of freestyle. Now we have a club with usually 10 people each time, about 5 people have a sandbag and/or lavers, and basically everyone is trying freestyle. Every time i show it to someone they are amazed and compliment me because they can see how different and cool it is. The only way that footbag will every become "big" is if people are playing it everywhere. Right now noone knows about it and whoever does recognizes its uniqueness and think it is cool. Only time will tell what will happen to footbag.

Outsider · Post by **Outsider** » 22 Jan 2006 12:25

David said:

Jon,
You forgot about that kid 45 minutes to the west.

Sorry, David. You're right. Another blatant error. And perhaps the best example of my position. Just think about it: the strongest shredder in the area, a powerful Jedi, but with no posse to speak of. Why doesn't Clavens have anyone else in his town to kick with? Worse still, while Bethlehem might not be so big, its right inbetween Easton PA, and Allentown PA, cities of substantial size. Why aren't there serious clubs in Easton and Allentown? I don't know. I'll bet that all three of those places have a variety of basketball teams, soccer teams, baseball teams, etc. All three of those places probably have chess clubs, poetry clubs, and book clubs. All of those places have "Magic: The Gathering" clubs, and musical groups of various kinds, and groups of skateboarders who, if not formally connected, at least know where to go to find the other skaters in town. Why wouldn't we want the same for footbag?

slapdash21 · Post by **slapdash21** » 22 Jan 2006 12:27

Boston has nothing. in fact, pretty much all of MA is rather devoid.

SandWraith · Post by **SandWraith** » 22 Jan 2006 12:47

Boston : St. Louis :: Massachusetts : Missouri
i.e. no shred scene

sen · Post by **sen** » 22 Jan 2006 13:00

Jorden wrote:
But yeah, shred's grown -- just not anywhere in my radius.

You should just move to Maidstone so we both have someone to shred with.

I met other freestylers from Saskatchewan once and haven't heard from them in a long time. Anyone know what happened to the guys in Saskatoon?

Bander87 · Post by **Bander87** » 22 Jan 2006 18:48

The thing about skateboarding... I think why there are so many posers and whatnot is partly due to the fashion sense about it.

Guest_2 · Post by **Guest_2** » 22 Jan 2006 19:04

I like it the way it is

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 22 Jan 2006 20:07

I would pretty much be prepared to do anything to have another solid guiltless player who lived in the same state as me, or even better - the same city. The bigger the sport gets the more chance this has of happening. Definitely bigger.

I'd also say that I think playing footbag is fairly easily the most enjoyable thing I do in my life and if I didn't have to spend time working I would have more time to enjoy it even more. I do a lot of demos and stuff - not just because I need the money but because It's a fantastic feeling to pay the rent or whatever using the sport I love so much. I can see there would be cons to making a living out something you love but for somebody who spends pretty close to most of my life playing footbag or thinking about it - I really can't see that be an issue for me personally.

Samurai · Post by **Samurai** » 22 Jan 2006 20:57

The sport is morphing. View its mutations: net and freestyle. One is fast and powerful. One is quick and flowing. Imagine possible combinations of them. When obstacles and a super powerful bouncing energy ball. I have decided that there should be a fantastic video game rpg version of 4 square with insane powers and super ultra coolness. We would have so much fun.

I am going to implemend this idea and make a part 3 of the movie. Freestyle Insanity. The only way I can do it is with sponsership. I have no mind for this. So please if any one of you can try to obtain sp0ns0rship then we can get as many stars for this project as we can. And.. eventually turn it into a series of movies. That would be so amazingly great! I want to get a cast of main characters and tour the world and eventaually make an olympic sport that can only be played in the future or better yet.. IN VIRTUAL REALITY. HOLY CRAP IT COULD BE VIRTUAL FREESTYLE REALITY ONLINE. hhaaa..

anyway brainstorming is fun but we should do this and this is one possible future of the sport

Wasabi · Post by **Wasabi** » 22 Jan 2006 21:22

Definitely go big. NYFA is a cool club to be in, with the regulars showing up as usual, but it's definitely a great feeling to see someone young and new, strutting their stuff pretty well in footbag out of the blue. In this case, media exposure is a good thing. But money, fame? I don't really care for these things nor do I want them in footbag. I'm still learning so much in this sport, and I don't want it to turn into a trend like skateboarding. A fulfilling activity to bring people together and getting more people to join in the fun is the goal, I believe. I want more people to know about footbag, and enjoying it for the hardships they'll encounter if there is any.

Outsider · Post by **Outsider** » 22 Jan 2006 21:36

Bander87 said:

The thing about skateboarding... I think why there are so many posers and whatnot is partly due to the fashion sense about it.

That's an excellent observation, Mr. Adler. I had this same notion a while ago. Actually, it wasn't my notion, but my sister's. She is very intelligent. Anyway, you can think of it as something that skateboard has to offer (i.e. something skateboard has to SELL!), a fashion that goes with it. Skateboarding has a particular fashion, and whats more, it is closely aligned with snowboarding fashion. Skateboarding isn't a big success because of how cool the sport it (actually, I do believe that it has, unfortunately, a lot to offer that footbag doesn't), but because it SELLS STUFF. There is hundred-dollar products to be sold. And there are clothes. Everybody needs to wear something, and even the people who don't actually skate, or don't skate that much anyway, can still PURCHASE skateboard-style clothes. Footbag does not have an ATTITUDE to copy, and even if it did, we don't have a FASHION LINE to go along with it (the attitude or the sport). Those lines of clothing, those products that can be sold to millions of people beyond just those who participate seriously in the sport, is one of several things that contributes to the success of skateboarding. A potential footbag fashion-sense would be much more limited, unfortunately. Running shorts, t-shirts... Nothing that can't already be sold with the help of some other sport to promote sales, or something besides a sport. Alas... All we've got are shoes, and we don't even have OUR OWN SHOES, mostly just some old-skool tennis shoes, and, more recently, some gangsta shoes. And the shoe companies sell plenty of those without our help. Shit. What is the solution? I'm not sure that there is one. C'est la vie. Sorry to be such a downer.

Where is this sport going?

Stay underground or Go big?

Where is this sport going?