hey everybody. so i strongly believe that footbag should be an olympic sport if a sport like table tennis is..... i felt so strongly in fact that i wrote my junior persuasive paper on it. i thought you all would appreciate it and like to see my point of view, as well as check to make sure i have it all right. i hope i dont come off too strong against hackysack.... but i knew my audience would be old people who think of hackyslackers when the word footbag is mentioned, so if it seems harsh, keep that in mind. thanks if you take the time to read it, and please comment lots!
Freestyle Footbag Deserves Olympic Status
Footbag is commonly mistaken with the pointless pastime of “hackysackâ€
Footbag as an Olympic Sport (Junior Paper)
-
EoghanMcDowell
- Atomsmashasaurus Dex
- Posts: 921
- Joined: 10 Aug 2007 16:16
- Location: Talent, Oregon
- Contact:
Awesome dude, this paper is really well written. The only thing i would have against it is that it seems you mention table tennis and how if it's any Olympic sport then footbag should be to multiple times, but overall, it's awesome. The thesis is clear and the conclusion is good. I also like how you went in depth about Footbags intricacy and also gave a good and clear explanation of Job's notation. I just hope that when you turn this in it's double spaced and proof read. Great job dude. Better essay then i could write. For now at least. (I frickin hate writing essays)
Eoghan Patrick Morgan McDowell
Re: Footbag as an Olympic Sport (Junior Paper)
I thought this paper strayed greatly from what the topic was supposed to be. You spent the entire time saying what footbag is instead of saying why it should be in the olympics. I also thought it was very poorly reasoned and poorly researched. Footbag's not in the olympics because it doesn't meet olympic specifications, specifications you obviously didn't research or else you would've seen immediately why footbag's not in olympics.
More specific problems I have with the paper-
You say hacky sack is "pointless". I disagree, it's a quite a lot of fun. Sure I think footbag is more fun, but a good game of hacky sack is always welcome. I would bet at one point you loved hacky sack too, or else you probably wouldn't be playing footbag.
Also, what the hell do you have against table tennis???
I reread this before posting and saw it looked pretty harsh, so sorry, but that's just what I thought of it, and if you didn't want people's opinions, you wouldn't have posted it up.[/b]
More specific problems I have with the paper-
You say hacky sack is "pointless". I disagree, it's a quite a lot of fun. Sure I think footbag is more fun, but a good game of hacky sack is always welcome. I would bet at one point you loved hacky sack too, or else you probably wouldn't be playing footbag.
Also, what the hell do you have against table tennis???
I reread this before posting and saw it looked pretty harsh, so sorry, but that's just what I thought of it, and if you didn't want people's opinions, you wouldn't have posted it up.[/b]
Danny P.
-
frozenwalkway
- Shredaholic
- Posts: 179
- Joined: 16 Mar 2007 19:46
- Location: Rhode island
did some light research after reading pirate man's post
"A sport or discipline is included in the Olympic program if the IOC determines that it is widely practiced around the world, that is, the number of countries that compete in a given sport is the indicator of the sport's prevalence. The IOC's requirements reflect participation in the Olympic Games as well — more stringent toward men (as they are represented in far higher numbers) and Summer sports (as more nations compete in the Summer Olympics). To be able to be competed at the Olympics, for instance, an event must be practiced by men in at least, fifty countries on three continents, and by women in at least thirty-five countries on three continents.[2]"
wikipedia -
"A sport or discipline is included in the Olympic program if the IOC determines that it is widely practiced around the world, that is, the number of countries that compete in a given sport is the indicator of the sport's prevalence. The IOC's requirements reflect participation in the Olympic Games as well — more stringent toward men (as they are represented in far higher numbers) and Summer sports (as more nations compete in the Summer Olympics). To be able to be competed at the Olympics, for instance, an event must be practiced by men in at least, fifty countries on three continents, and by women in at least thirty-five countries on three continents.[2]"
wikipedia -
Sonny Duong
I agree with Danny, to a point. I like the fact he just came out and said it. I think that if the paper was longer that all that background info would've been fine, but you need to seperate the background info from your reasons for it being in the olympics. A lot of background info is always welcomed in papers like this, but you seemed to stray from "this should be an olympic sport" to something about hacky sack. Just organize your thoughts better. Think about a bunch of different questions to ask and answer them in your paper as kind of a rebuttal. Maybe the paper shouldn't even be about why footbag should be an olympic sport, but why it's at the same levels as other olympic sports or something and how it can achieve olympic status (although an idea like that wouldn't work since you wrote a persuasive paper). Not a bad paper though, I liked it. 6.524 out of 10 
no. heres my responses to comments:
i love table tennis =) i play ping pong way hard core, i was just saying it also is a sport that isnt considered "classic" like baseball, or basketball, or football, but somewhat "alternative". again, i like it almost as much as footbag.
i had to put LOADS of background info on footbag before i could even start to make my argument.... becasue the correctors of this junior paper will know NOTHING about footbag. i cant say "it should be an olympic sport" while people are still thinking "isnt it just kicking a sack?" and i couldnt make it longer.... it HAD to be between 4 1/2 and 5 pages.
i dont REALLY think hackysack is pointless. i obviously think its far inferior to footbag freestyle, but i had to exaggerate my viewpoint to make an unknown vantage point see my own perspective... do you understand? and if you read my first post, i kind of explain this, and apologize in advance for coming off too harsh.
i really like that info on the # of countries required for a olympic sport..i wish i had found that, i would have altered the point of my paper. research is not my strongpoint, and i struggled on this paper, but worked hard to make ot what it is, and im happy with it =)
i love table tennis =) i play ping pong way hard core, i was just saying it also is a sport that isnt considered "classic" like baseball, or basketball, or football, but somewhat "alternative". again, i like it almost as much as footbag.
i had to put LOADS of background info on footbag before i could even start to make my argument.... becasue the correctors of this junior paper will know NOTHING about footbag. i cant say "it should be an olympic sport" while people are still thinking "isnt it just kicking a sack?" and i couldnt make it longer.... it HAD to be between 4 1/2 and 5 pages.
i dont REALLY think hackysack is pointless. i obviously think its far inferior to footbag freestyle, but i had to exaggerate my viewpoint to make an unknown vantage point see my own perspective... do you understand? and if you read my first post, i kind of explain this, and apologize in advance for coming off too harsh.
i really like that info on the # of countries required for a olympic sport..i wish i had found that, i would have altered the point of my paper. research is not my strongpoint, and i struggled on this paper, but worked hard to make ot what it is, and im happy with it =)