Cory Allen shreds it up in his senior picture!

If anyone else has a photo to share please send it to genzu@freedomfootbags.com

Vasek and I have been working on a new Manual which we hope will help Footbaggers all over the world improve their Footbag ten-fold. I’m going to be putting up some exerpts from the book, first part is a short [auto]biography on Vasek – here is the first of three parts:

Dan Ednie

Go check it out!

Demo DVD Freestyle Footbag

We used to have a lot more footbaggers in the US making footbag films…Big Add Chad (A Barred Alien Productions), Ellis Piltz (Flipsider Productions), Eric Windsor (Monster Hack), Dan Klokow (A Paradox Productions), and even some crazy movies from Sam Colclough. Where did all the filmmakers go? Do we have to rely on Europe for good footbag videos? Too bad, because we have some amazing players here in the U.S.

OK, so I’m getting a new hard drive this week with a LOT more space – I have plenty of footage – and a video editing program…perhaps I will have to do it! Stay tuned…

I’m the one who is currently running the day to day operations of Freedom Footbags. I’m so happy I can provide you all with your most prized possessions…

anyone remember when they first realized they were addicted to footbag? I do! 1998: I had bought an Octoe, an original of Flying Clipper that dates back to 1983 (not mine personally), and was learning toe stalls both sides and around the world. I practiced whenever I had the chance…practically anywhere! In front of my apartment, in the locker room at Kodak where I worked, at the park while my kids were playing, in parking lots before and after I shopped, in my bedroom, kitchen…etc.**

Then it happened! My footbag was gone, nowhere to be found! Not in my pants pocket where it could almost always be found, where could it be!? At this moment of panic is when I first realized I was addicted to this wonderful sport!

All’s well that ends well. I found my footbag on the table in my neighbor’s apartment, where I carelessly misplaced my footbag when he and I had played cards earlier in the day.

**I hit consecutive toe stalls for the first time at Kodak. I finally got three in a row, then seven, then my record was nine by the end of my 15 minute break! I hit my first around the world at the park next to the library in Fort Collins. I hit whirls, 10 on each side (with a hand catch in between each one), in the Best Buy parking lot. I hit clipper for the first time in my bedroom, my downstairs neighbors must have hated me!

I find this especially cool because I know Carol. We have kicked with her many times during our years here in Boise and have become good friends. She and her husband open up the gym at Garfield Elementary on Sunday evenings, when it’s too cold to play outside. I’m sure she’ll be at the Hyde Park Street Fair demonstrating her fabulous skills. She can keep it going for quite some time and it’s always a good time to hack the sack with her. I love the long rallies! Come to Boise September 18-20 and kick with the “Hacky Sack Master,” AND check out the incredible freestyle as well. The Idaho State Championships are not to be missed!

So, I glanced at the USA Today yesterday and their cover story got me thinking:

Obesity is a key link to soaring health tab
Report: Costs double to $147B in a decade (source: USA Today, July 28th, 2009)

Approximately 9% of all medical spending is directly related to treating obesity and about 1/3 of adult Americans (72 million people) are obese. Without getting into the somewhat fuzzy definitions of what exactly classifies overweight and obesity, let’s just say that I’m fat (that’s me in the picture), and I’m ready to get back to a healthier weight.

In the past year and a half, I’ve gained somewhere around 35 pounds. I’ve gone from running Freedom Footbags full time (and kicking an average of at least an hour/day) to working full time at Power Engineers and spending the remaining “free” time working for myself (and kicking about an hour/week, sometimes less), while my caloric intake essentially remained unchanged.

As the debate over a national health care plan rages, I’d like to propose the “Freedom Plan”.

Estimates for Obama’s health plan vary widely, but it is likely to cost at least 50 billion (some estimates say twice that) per year.

The US population is currently just over 300 million. This means that the government is going to be spending at least $167 per person per year on their health plan. At the same time, costs for treating obesity will be about three times that amount, or about $480 per person per year.

Now, this is clearly not an exacting scientific study, nor am I necessarily comparing apples to oranges here, but it seems to me that if Obama was to buy, say, 300 million Mr. Sandbags, then every obese man, woman and child in the US would have about three footbags. I’d be willing to offer them at a very good wholesale price (wink, wink), making the cost to the US taxpayer only very small fraction (perhaps 2-3%) of the overall health plan budget.

But the question is, would it actually work? Can you lose weight kicking? For me, I’m quite sure it’s plausible. And, I’d *much* prefer hacking the old sack to hitting a treadmill, jogging, or using some gadget or pill available form an infomercial for just $19.99 (plus $8.95 Shipping and Handling – that part is always in small print) that I’ll use twice and never again. I love the fact the my weight loss method also builds skills and neuroplasticity.

So I figured what better way to prove that kicking it works to shed those pounds than do it myself. The “before” picture is up. We’re currently doing an informal “Biggest Loser” competition at Power Engineers, where we have bi-weekly weigh-ins. Last week I weighed in at a large 223.5. There are five official weigh-ins left in our competition, and I have the footbag on my side (er, on my foot). I’ll keep you all posted…

There is a fascinating autobiography at the very beginning, with a preface written by Dan Ednie. The manual then goes into very precise detail, instructing the fledgling or competent freestyler alike in a world-class training regime that includes everything from the very basics, through to triple dex moves, sets, cross-training, and advanced techniques in the psychology of footbag. This is almost 100 pages of pure gold for any young freestyler out there, as well as being a highly enlightening and informative read for those of us who are past the age of pure training and competing.

From the footbag.cz website annoucing its availability:

Vasek recently teamed up with Dan Ednie from Australia to write a manual: How to Play Footbag. It is available for download for US$5 and it is 90 pages of How to train Footbag, The Psychology of Footbag and exact trick tips for sets and downtime components. Half of the money is donated to IFPA so please dont steal and email it to your friends.

The Vasek Klouda Manual

It’s definitely a collaborative work, edited by Dan. They thank Ales Zelinka, Dexter Struz, and Milan Benda for their contributions.

Frankly, I don’t think they’re charging enough for this. It’s a philanthropic price, especially considering that half of it goes to the IFPA. I would encourage those of you who can afford it to pay multiple times. I think maybe they should set up another “by donation” payment option so as to allow more affluent supporters to better support/reward this momentous effort.

Click Here to Visit the Worlds Homepage and Watch The Finals Live!

I caught a few minutes of net earlier this morning, but then the feed went offline. Unfortunately the sound was not working, but I did see a few cool spikes.