Salutations Modified!
It's been a great summer for footbag, and now we go into fall and on into 2010 with some great footbag projects unveiling. From the Sole Purpose Footbag Group, we are happy to announce the launch of the new Fourkast Footbag Company website from the birthplace of footbag, Portland Oregon! This is the final beta mode of the website; though there are a few updates we will add to the structure of the site in the next couple of weeks, the foundation/backbone of Fourkast is set and secure. The site/company represents quite a few different areas of footbag; there are four major areas within http://www.fourkast.com as we launch it. They include;
-The Fourkast Footbag Store (-footbag products and related, ecommerce, retail and wholesale)
-Fourkast TV (Footbag Media, online videos and promotions)
-Fourkast Online Magazine (footbag news coverage and online magazine)
-Footbag Social Networking (video sharing, photo sharing, footbag customizable profiles)
You can check out the site for an expanded breakdown of what we are doing. Essentially, it our intent at the Fourkast Footbag Company to further promote footbag while bringing something new and exciting to the sport. From our research, almost every legitimate sport has a site/entity that provides a stylistic and exciting take on their sport (example; 411VM for skateboarding). This is the role we intend for Fourkast to fill; it will be a mix of information, entertainment, and networking for the people. The launch of this site represents the second part of a four phase project planned. There is much planned on the horizon, this initial step is one we are excited to take.
On a personal note, I appreciate the support the general footbag community has given; from attending our ever growing US Open Footbag Championships to visiting us in Portland and encouraging the footbag scene. A great many things have fallen into place with the Portland group, we are happy to once again be one of the strongest footbag groups in the world. Thanks to our supporters, contributors, and investors in the community (Sean Wingert, Mr. Stalberger, Mr. Shults, Steve Cline, to name a few). We are happy to have the support of many great icons in the sport as we carry on their work. This project honors the founders and key figures in the sport while working to promote to the next generation of player. It will be constantly growing and expanding with new and exciting footbag related things!
http://www.fourkast.com
Quickly, we would like to give a breakdown of the various areas and how to navigate;
Fourkast Footbag Store:
This area is pretty self explanatory; we are offering a variety of products and will be continuously updating our inventory an presenting new items. All production is either local, or made under the articles of Fair Trade or Business Social Accountability. With the store, we are not looking to offer too much that has already been offered, but rather as we move forward, some new things will be presented while keeping the familiar favorites. We have connected to the company that produces the Amaretta fabric; many of our footbags are made of this material or Ultrasuede Light. We also will be continuously updating our apparel area, as a major goal of ours is to promote a sharper image for footbag.
Fourkast TV:
This is a fun area that has a great deal of potential and flexibility. The staff will be presenting a great deal of online videos in this section, but it can also be contributed to by logged in members of the site. You can either embed video from another site (youtube of course), or upload directly to the Fourkast site. There are various sections that a video can be submitted to; our main goal is to provide an easy to navigate footbag video archive that will always be accessible. The major sections are;
-Shred Video
-Tournaments
-Trick Section (to be continuously updated)
-Fourkast Freestyle Team section (highlighting some of the best freestylers in the world)
-Archives (cataloging freestylers past and present) An example of this would be if someone wanted to know how a freestyler from the past kicked (such as Tim Kelly). The curious party would simply keyword search his name (or simply scan the sorted videos) and watch Tim in action. This part of the site will be continuously growing as we add in more and more classic video. We will also be producing our own Fourkast videos of course, with this we have acquired some very nice HD equipment (thanks to Jere Vainikka and Elliot Piltz for the recommendations : )
Connected to the video section (and the whole of the whole site) is a strong keyword search. A person navigating the site could type in the word 'stepping', and every footbag move that had a stepping component in it would come up for viewing (or a shred video of a player that used that component a great deal, such as David Clavens and Blazing). The video section in general will be updated regularly; we encourage people to post video at their convenience. Once you create a profile and password, you can upload at any time!
Fourkast Online Magazine:
This is one of my personal favorite areas of the site, as I enjoy journalism and writing. The main goal of this area is to keep people updated about footbag news and events. We have a team of people covering various topics from recent news to tournament coverage to commentary and such. We are happy to have Asmus Helms and Jay Boychuk on board, as well as guest articles from a variety of people. I am excited to add to this area myself!
Footbag Social Networking:
This area of the site will be constantly growing as we open up the site. At the moment, it consists of the video sharing, as well as a photo gallery and customizable member profile area. In time of course these various areas will connect further to each other as the site evolves. There a few areas of Fourkast that are not unlocked yet pertaining to this; as we go along they will become accessible : )
We will also be promoting our Fourkast Freestyle Team (Nick Landes, David Clavens, Jim Penske, Scott Bevier). In the beginning this means working to give these great players further exposure, as they have represented our sport with honor and style. These players have worked hard to push our sport; at Fourkast we certainly will work to give them more exposure and the spotlight. Much respect gentlemen!
Anyhoo, that is a bit of information, there is much more at the site itself! Much love and respect to the footbag community; the scene has been good to us, thus we are happy to give something back. Expect great things!
Ethan (Red) Husted
Architect, Fourkast Footbag Company
President, Sole Purpose Footbag Group
(877) 593-KICK (5425)
International: 503-442-5303
[email protected]
