History
The cooperative kicking sport has ancient origins from
China, Thailand, Native America, South America, and many
other cultures around the world. Footbag in it’s modern
form was an American invention, created by Mike Marshall
and John Stalberger in 1972. They coined the name
“Hacky Sack”, and marketed the game to toy companies.
The original Hacky Sacks were made of leather or synthetic
suede, and were only two panels stitched together.
Over the decades footbag has grown to many different
countries, and evolved into a highly technical sport, often
being compared to “breakdancing with a hack”. The
practice is still in it’s “X game” stage though, and only
being thirty plus years old, is still considered a relatively
young sport.
In recent years, footbag has grown to international levels,
despite it's classification as an underground sport.
Ten years ago, San Francisco was considered to be
the freestyle capital of the world, with many of the
top players living on the north American west coast.
A decade later, Europe's interest has grown greatly
in the sport, and now Prague in Czech Republic
claims the title for freestyle locations. Three of the
world's top player reside there, including;
Ales Zelinka, Honza Weber, and three time world
freestyle champion Vasek Klouda, along with many
other great players. Other areas with a strong
showing of freestyle include Finland and Germany.
Here are some great footbag related websites to references:
