World-Wide "RECRUIT A Footbagger" Day: SEPT. 2

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Hi my name is Nick. You may remember me from being a ding-dong on this forum and I also organized "World-Wide Play Footbag Day". Well My ultimate goal was to expand the sport and get some new players.... I know some players kicked all day in public and made videos, which was awesome! Thank you guys again!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzAHydo4 ... re=related[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxDK1Xc3ns4[/youtube]



My idea expanded the sport a little, I guess, by showing footbag to some people who haven't seen it... But I was thinking the other day and I got a new Idea....


RECRUIT A Footbagger Day.

It's sort of similar to the old holiday I came up with, but with a new twist... Instead of just playing footbag in front of people, you gather your crew or just go out yourself and carry posters and flyers and actually vocally promote the sport to people (best bet is to aim for people who already play "hacky sack").

How?

Create colorful posters summoning hacky sack players (you know there have to be hacky sackers amongst these crowds of people you see every day)

Slogans like "Talk to us/me if you play hacky sack!" or "Learn from Pros!" or something like that to get a hacker's attention.

Flyers to hand out with information and individual contact information


Judging from Chris Dean's North American Headcount thread, if every footbag crew/player in just North America did this and had at least ONE new recruit (maybe more!?), we would have expanded our sport by AT LEAST 24 players in JUST THE USA & CANADA! Plus I would hope other countries would get in on this idea, which means plenty more in Finland, Russia, Brazil, Czech Republic, Spain, etc...

And the way I look at it is if people who are all by themselves go and recruit on this day, maybe they can find a student/regular shred partner.

Yes, I know I'm not a BAP player or anyone special, but I see big things in the future of footbag, even if some of you may not. I think my new holiday might be one big answer we've been needing.

(Also keep your eyes peeled for new ideas from Nathan Pipenberg and I. We've been talking and we think we have some really great ideas to promote the sport further.)

[C-Fan]

Any reason you picked a weekday for this? I feel like a weekend would be much easier to promote on.

[F[uns]tylin' Eclectic]

Oh crap! I knew Sept. 4 was the date of the other one, but I forgot to take into account the weekends switching... I guess this should be Sept. 2

What do you think, Ken?

[Iron Clad Ben]

Alright, I may give this a shot

[rjadamson]

Love the idea. But at this point our Seattle club really caters to potentially adding new players every single time we play out in public!

Justin Dale actually had business cards made for Rain City Shred a month ago. The card has footbag.org and our club's email address printed on it. Seattle has a a bunch of little street fairs and festivals over the summer, and we've been handing the cards out to casual kickers who join us. After explaining that we send out session information via email we're pretty much good to go. Last Sunday we even had two circles -- one in which footbaggers would busk for a crowd and one where casual kickers can realize they won't be scolded for self serving and getting lots of attempts in on their first tricks. It's very satisfying hearing some kid say, "I could never do that," and then eat their words because they've hit their first legover and/or mirage within the hour. I got one of those moments on camera a couple days ago (and another that didn't make it on film):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thdpjhsX ... e=youtu.be[/youtube]
Look how stoked everyone is!

Until new kickers really get invested into playing I also try to take care to stay on them about coming. If I get their phone number or email I'll bug them so they know we really do want them to make repeat appearances. If possible we'll schedule follow-up sessions in places close to where new people live so there's less onus on them to make a big trip.

Considering Sunday is our main club kicking day you can bet we'll be out promoting on September 2 this year.

I do have a bone to pick with you about this, however:

Yes, I know I'm not a BAP player or anyone special, but I see big things in the future of footbag, even if some of you may not.

That's madness. You are totally someone special. That's what the helmet suggests.

Seriously though -- props for all of your ideas aimed at promoting this sport.

[Anton]

Great idea, ding dong! We need new players to keep the energy and enthusiasm in the sport!