Clipper Kicker

IFPA World Footbag Championships

2010-06-06T14:55:00.000-07:00

The IFPA World Footbag Championships are coming up soon in Oakland California From August 1-7th. Two days ago i got an email from with important information about the Championships. So in case you guys are not part of the Footbag.org mailing list i thought i would post it here.

_________________________

  Hi, everyone,
 
Please read this carefully if you are planning to attend the 2010 
IFPA World Footbag Championships coming up in just 8 weeks in 
Oakland, California. There are important deadlines coming up and we 
strongly request your help in making this event a success.
 
(1) REGISTRATION & PAYMENT:
 
All competitors MUST pre-pay by July 18th (about 6 weeks away). There 
are no exceptions. Go to 
http://www.footbag.org/registration/register?tid=1265745512 
immediately and register. If you already registered, please help us 
out and pay now by returning to this same link and clicking through 
to the payment screen.  You must pay online or have a friend pay for 
you (see Q&A below for full details). Please also make sure your 
e-mail address is up to date on your IFPA membership (footbag.org 
profile) so that we can contact you if there are any problems.
 
(2) OPEN SINGLES NET - FORMAT CHANGE:
 
If you are playing in Open Singles Net, please be advised that this 
year it will be a SINGLE ELIMINATION format. That means we will not 
be doing the traditional round-robin pools for the first round! 
Instead, we will go straight from the seeding to single-elimination 
brackets for Open Singles Net.  Note: Intermediate and Women's 
Singles Net, as with all other net events, will be the traditional 
round-robin pools for qualifications, moving into brackets after the 
first round.
 
(3) HOTEL RESERVATION DEADLINE EXTENDED:
 
The reservation deadline for the host hotel (Marriott - Oakland City 
Center) has been extended to July 1st. Please reserve your room soon, 
however, as the hotel is starting to fill up! Better safe than sorry 
-- you can cancel for no charge if you find a roommate and combine 
reservations as long as you do it in advance. So please just get 
yourself a room so you're sure you'll have a place to stay that is 
convenient and where everyone else will be!  The Marriott has the 
nice feature that it is connected to the main tournament site, and we 
will be able to hang out in the lobby of the convention center most 
nights until quite late, without getting hassled. So this is really 
going to be a great place for everyone.  The details on the hotel are 
on the registration form so please just click the link above.
 
(4) MORE INFORMATION:
 
More information will be coming soon or is already available on the 
website. Please visit http://www.footbag.org/events/show/1265745512 
where you will find links to the general information website, a map 
showing the relevant sites, links to registration info and more 
lodging details.
 
Detailed information for net and freestylers, including 2010 rule 
changes we are applying to this year's competition in both 
disciplines, will be forthcoming, so please keep an eye out.
 
Finally, for detailed questions about registration and payment 
options, please scroll down to see the Question & Answers section 
below.
 
Thanks!
 
   Steve
 
---------
 
REGISTRATION & PAYMENT -- QUESTIONS & ANSWERS:
 
Q1: I do not have access to Paypal in my country. What can I do?
A1: Find a friend or family member in a country with Paypal who is 
willing to help you to lend you the money so you can confirm your 
registration. You can re-pay them on your own time (by mailing a 
postal/international money order, by sending a bank transfer, a bank 
cheque, or whatever makes sense). See A3 for more details on what to 
do once you identify someone to help you.
 
Q2: Paypal operates in my country, but I don't have an account. What 
are my options?
A2: You don't need an account to pay via credit card (Visa, 
MasterCard). So, if you have Visa or MasterCard, you can pay using 
the normal method (see above) -- simply choose Visa or MasterCard at 
the payment screen and fill in your details. If you do not have a 
credit card, your only option is to borrow a friend's card (easiest) 
or to set up your own Paypal account and connect it to your bank 
account for electronic funds transfer (bank transfer). The 
instructions are on the main Paypal site in your country. This can 
take up to 10 days, which is still plenty of time -- so if this is 
your only option, start it TODAY!  It will be something you can use 
again later, so it's worth the effort. Once you have your account set 
up with bank transfer funding, you can pay using the normal method 
above.
 
Q3: For whatever reason, I can't send the money directly using the 
online system, so I need a way to send it separately. Can I do this, 
and if so, how do you know the payment you received is for me?
A3: We don't have the resources to easily coordinate this for a lot 
of people, so my strong request is that you avoid making us do 
anything special for your registration payment. 90% of people without 
credit cards can use the answer in A2 above to resolve their 
situation -- you just have to ask a family member or friend to allow 
you to use their credit card for the payment. If you have NO OTHER 
CHOICE, then your best option is to find a club organizer or player 
who has Paypal or credit card to help you.  In that case -- or in the 
case in A1 above -- e-mail me directly *after* you identify the 
person and are sure they are willing to help you, and I will 
coordinate with you and the person helping you to get you 
instructions so I can reconcile the payment and associate it 
correctly with your registration. (If you don't tell me, I can't 
figure out who paid for you, so you must talk to me first so the 
right information is in the payment.)
 
Q4: Do I have to pay by the deadline if I'm not competing but I want 
a player's pack (i.e., registering as non-competitor)?
A4: No -- only competitors (including Master's division) must pre-pay 
by July 18th. Non-competitors may pay at check-in, though we may not 
be able to confirm your T-shirt shize if you don't pre-pay. (If you 
pre-pay, you will have a pre-made player's pack waiting for you with 
your exact shirt sizes/types as requested.) To be clear, however, it 
would help us immensely if you pre-paid in any case -- since 
presumably the reason you're registering at all is that you want to 
help us out financially with this event. So please really help us out 
by pre-paying so we can use that money to pay for the hard costs of 
this tournament. (Thanks!)
 
Q5: Why do you require pre-payment? Isn't that a bit Draconian?
A5: This is the World Championships, and as such, it is the most 
important competition in the sport this year. We need to know how 
many people are coming, who's competing, and have this all confirmed 
well in advance of the first day of competition. For several reasons, 
the only way we can guarantee that you are coming is if you pre-pay 
-- and, honestly, a major reason is also that we need the 
registration fees well before the event to pay for all the hard 
costs. By having a confirmed headcount well in advance of the actual 
first day of competition, each event director can ensure proper 
seeding, and even drawing up qualification brackets/pools so that you 
know exactly where you stand when you check in! Also, it helps us 
plan and save costs by ordering the right number and sizes of 
T-shirts, and cancelling events that don't meet the minimum criteria 
(so we can avoid paying for medals and simplify our final schedule if 
we know certain events won't take place).  We tested this requirement 
last year in Berlin, and it was a raging success. Before the first 
day of competition last year, we knew exactly how many competitors we 
had (and who they were), which made planning substantially easier and 
led to a much better tournament from the players' perspective.
 
Q6: I don't have a partner for one or more of my doubles events. Is 
that going to be a problem? Or do I have to indicate who my partners 
are in the registration form by July 18th as well?
A6: We're glad you asked. :-) Yes, you must have partners listed on 
your registration form by July 18th. We will be sending out e-mails 
on July 18th to all competitors who do not have partners, with a 
grace period of 24 hours to pair up. But you MUST have paid by July 
18th before we will allow this. If you do not pay by the 18th, you 
will not be listed in the e-mail we send to others who are looking 
for partners since we will have cancelled your registration. If you 
end up without a partner by the end of July 19th, you'll be removed 
from the particular event in question.  If there are an odd number of 
players pre-paid for a given event, someone will end up being without 
a partner and thus will have to be removed from the event. So, it's 
in everyone's interest to pair up early, and ensure your partners pay 
by the 18th as well!
 
Q7: If my registration is cancelled because I don't pay by July 18th, 
what are my options?
A7: We would be very happy to have you attend as a non-competitor and 
to pay the US$40 non-competitor fee at the check-in desk during any 
of the posted times. But we will not be able to slide you in as a 
competitor once the deadline passes. There will be no exceptions. So 
if you're worried about it, start figuring out *now* how you will get 
your payment to us by the 18th. See Q1-Q3 for details.
 
Q8: How do I return later to complete my payment if I only registered 
but didn't pay? Similarly, how can I return to add a partner?
A8: The registration system is very smart and remembers all your 
choices regardless of which computer you use to sign in. Just go to 
the registration form at 
http://www.footbag.org/registration/register?tid=1265745512 any time 
you like before the deadline, and if you're not signed into your 
footbag.org account, it will ask you to sign in. Once signed in, 
you'll see the entire registration form, with all your previous 
choices (if any) selected. You can close the window if you have no 
changes, but if you want to make changes, just make them! Then follow 
the on-screen instructions to confirm your changes to the 
registration, and if you haven't paid, go ahead and click the "Pay 
using PayPal" button on the last screen.
 
Q9: How can I make sure my Paypal payment went through and my 
registration is confirmed?
Q9: You will get an e-mail to confirm your payment. To make sure this 
happens, *please* do not close the Paypal window right away after the 
confirmation screen!  Please WAIT about 5 seconds for it to redirect 
you back to footbag.org. Then you will see a confirmation from 
footbag.org, that contains your exact registration details.  At that 
point, and only then, you can close the window. If you close the 
window too early, I will have to finalize your payment by hand -- so 
please avoid making me do this. (Thanks.) Just a little patience on 
the final screen will go a long way! ;-)

Our New Direction

2010-03-30T14:20:00.000-07:00

The new direction for your favorite Foot Bag Blog has been set. It is a direction that may take it a different way then some people may have hoped for but hopefully a direction that will bring more readers to this blog and more athletes to the sport of footbag.
What is this mysterious 'Direction' you may ask?
Well from now on this blog will be focused on the Hackers that are not competing in the tournaments but are not lazy circle kickers (no offence). Check out are new and improved About page for more information.
I am also going to try to post regularly at least every Thursday, though i might miss my self proclaimed deadline because some times i can be pretty lazy.
I know I'm a total hypocrite.

Coming Out Of Hibernation

2010-03-30T14:13:00.000-07:00

I have to admit this blog has kind of gone into hibernation during the first winter of its career, with only a few posts here and there, when ever things got interesting. This post signifies the end of Clipper Kickers hibernation!
________________

One of the larger tournments is coming up in a couple months . European Footbag Championships hosted by the IFPA European Footbag Committee. For more information and a list of commitee members and thier contact information check out Footbag.org's pag:
European Footbag Championships

Hemp Footbags

2010-02-02T20:31:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to show you guys one of my all time favorit Footbags and no its not an Abshire or some hand-stiched 32. Its Hemp.
I first picked one up at a small hippie-ish shop(You no what i mean.) in down town Kingston. And it is perfect for me. Remember that,
I
Said
Me!

I didnt say it was the best or that it was the perfect footbag i said it was perfect for me. Thats because it duarble, i play anywhere and everywhere and that means gravle and pavement alot. Its also heavy which is a must for me in a Footbag. I also love the crushed rock.The down side for me is that it doesnt have great pop but its other features make it worth the sacrafice.
Picking a Footbag is all about preference, there is no perfect Footbag everybody likes something differnt, that fact that my favorit hemp Footbag doesnt have much pop might realy annoy you and make kicking hard yet for me its perfect, for me.
I Think These Are The Same Ones

Winter Footbag

2010-02-02T20:16:00.000-08:00

     By now I'm shur everybody is just itching to get out for a good kick, well if you live in canada that is.

This Winter iv been kicking in my basement. But the low roof annoys the hell out of me so that is not the best place to retreat to during the cold winter.
    My nieghbour has a almost emptygarag that I have kicked In a couple of times. The down side to this place was that the groud always seemed to be dirty no mater how much I sweep, Although it did keep the elements out it is cold out.
    If you wanna hack in the winter you gotta find a gym. Lucky for me my teacher was the one who got me into footbag so when ever the opertunity presents it's self we head down the gym for a kick. I'm shur that isn't the case for every one so you could just get A member ship at your local YMCA or that sorta thing.

What Makes a Good Footbag Shoe?

2009-12-19T18:17:00.000-08:00

People who are new to Footbag always ask about shoes.

What kind of shoe should you get?

Well Rod Lavers of course!

They are simply the best. Lately people have come out with Footbag shoes such as Quantum's and The Nucleus but i will always stand by my Lavers, I mean its gotta be the most popular shoe for a reason.

Some times though some people cant get Lavers for what ever reason or need to buy an other pair of shoes but they still want to be able to hack with them.

So, what makes a good shredin' shoe?


     Well, First we need to think about the toe box. The toe box is just the top of the toe. This part needs to be very flat. You'll notice on Rod Lavers it is and if you mod and lace them properly they become almost concave.

     For the Inside, out side and heel you should follow the same guidelines, FLAT as possible. Though good luck finding a shoe with a perfectly square heel.

     Fabric also is incredibly important, Rod Lavers have mesh which is great because it is breathable, and you can feel the Hack through it, even better if you mod them(ooo modding could be a good future post). Personally i really like suede, the footbag really sticks to it and you can feel it depending on the thickness.

     Insole are important if you want to keep you ankles and especially your knees in working order. The insole most recommended by the Footbag community are Spenco Polysorb Total Support. A good Footbag insole should cushion the front part of you foot specificity the ball of your foot because that is where you should land. It also need to absorb a lot of shock.

Zocha Jam '09‏ Results

2009-12-06T17:23:00.000-08:00

Sorry about these latest posts i admit they have been sorta boring, but anyways here are the results from the Poland Footbag tournament Zocha Jam 2009‏!

Doubles Net:

1. Petr Stejskal/Pavel Hejra
2. Piotr Bałtrukiewicz/Wiktor Dębski
3. Wojciech Jamski/Rafał Andryka

Singles Net:

1. Piotr Bałtrukiewicz
2. Pavel Hejra
3. Wojciech Jamski
4. Mariusz Wilk
5. Rafał Andryka
5. Petr Stejskal

Women Freestyle:

1. Sylwia Kocyk
2. Karolina Modrzejewska
3. Gosia Nycz

Open Freestyle:

1. Arkadiusz Dudziński
2. Damian Gielnicki
3. Marcin Bujko
4. Michał Biarda
5. Jakub Grabarczyk
6. Mateusz Janicki
7. Bartosz Bubula
8. Tomasz Ostrowski
9. Ales Zelinka
9. Mariusz Wilk
9. Patrik Cerny
9. Maciej Bujko
10. Maciej Niczyporuk
10. Jindra Smola
10. Kamil Wysocki
10. Wiktor Dębski
11. Arkadiusz Stanek
11. Paweł Nowak
11. Michał Ostrowski
11. Rafał Kaleta

Shred30:

1. Arkadiusz Dudziński - 240 pkt
2. Jakub Grabarczyk - 195 pkt
3. Marcin Bujko - 183 pkt
4. Damian Gielnicki - 180 pkt
5. Mariusz Wilk - 160 pkt
6. Mateusz Janicki - 158 pkt
7. Paweł Nowak - 118 pkt
8. Maciej Niczyporuk - 113 pkt

Sick3:

1. Damian Gielnicki (Sumo > Atomic Drifter > Bedwetter)
2. Mateusz Janicki (Sunilwalker > Spikehammer > Pixie Symp. Whirl)
3. Arkadiusz Dudziński (Sumo > Atomic Whirl > PS Eggbeater)

Request Contest:

1. Damian Gielnicki
2. Arkadiusz Dudziński
3. Wiktor Dębski

Circle Contest:

1. Arkadiusz Dudziński
2. Damian Gielnicki
3. Marcin Bujko
4. Maciej Bujko

Doubles Freestyle:

1. Jakub Grabarczyk/Damian Gielnicki
2. Gosia Nycz/Wiktor Dębski
3. Arkadiusz Dudziński/Mateusz Janicki

2 Square:

1. Wiktor Dębski
2. Michał Biarda
3. Arkadiusz Dudziński

Footbag Golf:

1. Kamil Wysocki
2. Michał Ostrowski
3. Marek Wierzbicki

T-Shirts

2009-12-06T06:24:00.000-08:00

I have started a line of Footbag T-Shirts, you can check them out in the side bar.
More to come soon.

Russian Open Results

2009-11-22T15:25:00.000-08:00

I have finaly been able to find the results from the Russian Footbag Open:

Net Game

Doubles
1. Ives Kreil / Oxana Prikhodko
2. Mikhail Kayanov / Nikita Kobec
3. Juliya Tikhomirova / Arkady Lobankov

Singles
1. Ives Kreil
2. Nikita Kobec
3. Evgeny Shiryaev

Intermediate Freestyle

Routine
1. Azat Sadretdinov
2. Nadya Koshkina
3. Slava Romahin

Shred 30
1. Azat Sadretdinov
2. Nadya Koshkina
3. Roman Ivanicky

Circle
1. Nadya Koshkina
2. Roman Ivanicky
3. Andrey Tamorko

Sick 3
1. Slava Romahin
2. Nadya Koshkina
3. Azat Sadretdinov

OPEN Freestyle

Routine
1. Pavel Motorov
2. Alexandr Orlov
3. Artem Dem'yanov

Shred 30
1. Artem Dem'yanov
2. Alexandr Semichev
3. Pavel Motorov

Circle
1. Ives Kreil
2. Sergey Pikaov
3. Pavel Motorov

Sick 3
1. Alexandr Semichev
2. Vitaliy Lishay
3. Artem Dem'yanov

Request Contest
1. Alexandr Orlov
2. Artem Dem'yanov
3. Pavel Motorov

Iron Man
1. Vitaliy Lishay
2. Sergey Pikaov
3. Bogdan Skichko

-Courtesy of Andrey

Update on the Russian Open

2009-11-12T13:11:00.000-08:00

The Russian Open will start this saturday at 10:00 and end at 10:00 pm on Sunday.
The folowing events will be included in this week-ends tournement:
Open Performance Routines
Intermediate Routines
Open Net Singles
Open Net doubles
Sick 3
Big one
Iron Man
Open Circle Competition
Intermediate Circle Competition
Request Competition

Schedule:
Schedule Freestyle:
Saturday
10.00 - 12.00 Check in
12.00 - 12.30 Intermediate Singles
12.30 - 13.00 OPEN Circle
13.30 - 14.30 OPEN singles
14.30 - 15.00 Shred 30
15.30 - 16.00 Request Contest
Sunday
14.00 - 14.05 Iron Man
14.05 - 15.00 Intermediate Circle Final
15.00 - 16.00 OPEN Circle Final
16.00 - 16.30 OPEN Big 1
22.00 -
Award ceremony

Schedule Net:
Saturday
10.00 – 12.00 Check in
12.00 – 12.30 Singles, Doubles
Sunday
12.00 – 18.00 Singles, Doubles
22.00 - Award ceremony
-droncha, Modified.in

My Favorite Clip Of My Favorite Footbager

2009-11-11T17:20:00.000-08:00

Vasek Klouda is my favorite hacker and he secured that posistion even more with his book 'The Vasek Klouda Manual'. A highly recommended buy. He teamed up with Dan Ednie from Australia to write it.Its not just a HOWTO , its actually a really good read with tips and training ideas thown in all over the place.
Above is my favorite video of him 'Vasek Klouda - King of Footbag (part 3)'.

Check out this thread!

2009-11-10T16:53:00.000-08:00

Fourkast Magazine
Really cool links to a bunch of articles about Footbag.

Upcoming Tournaments

2009-11-09T18:50:00.000-08:00

There are a whole bunch of Footbag Tournaments coming up, even 2 this weekend.

The Russian Open which will include Freestyle and Net events and will be in Moscow
For info contact Oxana Prikhodko at kuchi-kuchi@inbox.ru

The Black Bear Cup will have circles, rippin run and more this tournament will be held at UMaine Rec Center, Orono, Maine, USA for more information contact John L. MacCormack
at john.maccormack@umit.maine.edu

Other Tournaments-


Prague Net Open		November 20-22
Footbag Táchira Cup		November 21-22
Zocha Jam 2009		December 5-6
German Footbag Championships 2009		December 5-6
Finnish Footbag Championships		December 11-13
Kick-Mas Jam 2009		December 11-13

F.A.Q

2009-01-09T17:38:00.000-08:00

Isn't Footbag just 'Hacky Sack'?

No! Hacky Sack is a copy-righted name owned by Wham-o. Do NOT buy Hacky sack brand Footbags i promise you they are crap.The way i think of it is Footbag is a sport and Hacky Sack is a game. This is because for all Footbag sports whether it be Net, Freestyle, or even Golf you have to practice and have good equipment. But with Hacky Sack you can use pretty much any Hack and you don't need to put much effort into practicing.

What sort of equipment should i get?
If you want to take it seriously and get really good the buy:
Rod Lavers - Try to find solid colored ones, The white mesh gets dirty fast!
Mr.Sandbag - You might want to get the deal of 3, there sorta fragile.
Shorts - Any pair of shorts that are breathable, not to baggy and don't come down past you knees will work.

Do I really need special shoes and stuff?

If you are shur you realy want to stick with it then yes. But dont go out and buy $60 Rod Lavers and spend $30 on Footbags just because you saw some guy in the park doing it. Just buy a Mr.Sandbag at first and if you really like it then buy the Lavers and stuff.

What is the origin of Footbag?
Well, Native peoples of around the world played games similar to Footbag but, Modern Footbag came from John Stalberger and Mike Marshal in 1972. Mike had made a little bean bag that hes was kicking around and John was recovering from knee surgury and was looking for a good way to exersise it. Togather they marketed their new game as 'Hacky Sack' sadly Mike Marshall died of a heart attack in '75 at the age of twenty-eight but John carried on the brand and eventually sold it to Whom-O,Owner of 'Frisbee' .

What are the some different sports?
Freestyle-Freestyle Footbag is a Footbag sport where players demonstrate their abilities by performing sequences of acrobatic tricks.-Wikipedia.org
Consecutive- Keep the Footbag air born as long as you can using your feet and knees.
Circle- Players stand in a circle and pass the hacky sack around the circle, getting it around once is called a 'hack'.
Net- Footbag net is a sport in which players kick a Footbag over a five-foot-high net. Players are not allowed to use their hands -Wikipedia.org

Any other tips?

Get you fundamentals down first! Thats pretty much toe kicks and stalls, inside kicks and stalls, outside kicks and stalls and clippers.
Remember to learn tricks of BOTH sides.
Don't stop practicing a trick untill you can do it in your sleep

About

2009-01-01T19:33:00.000-08:00

Clipper Kicker
Footbag For The Rest Of Us
Is exactly what it sounds like.
There's Freestyle Pros who hang out at all the tournements and there are the circle kickers who just kick when there bored. But what about the rest of us? The ones who arnt decked out in short-shorts and Quantums but still practice hard and treat it like a real sport.
Well thats 'the rest of us' and thats who this blog as for.