Portland pro team
has challenge in the bag

Originally printed 10/05/06
Article by Tim Stumm

It's not long before the four men kicking a 2-inch beanbag in the middle of Portland's Pioneer Courthouse Square begin to attract a crowd. And once their legs start moving, it's easy to see why.

Sweat drips down the face of Kenny Shults, a 40-time footbag world champion, as he lifts the bag in the air, spins around and catches it on his foot. Without skipping a beat, the 44-year old Portland resident quickly unleashes another flurry of tricks.

Eventually he stops and tosses the bag to Jacob Wren, a Gresham resident who at 19 is the youngest in the group.

Wren is tentative at first, but he soon settles down with tricks of his own.

A recent graduate of Sam Barlow High School, Wren represents part of the new breed of footbag participants. A former hockey player and gymnast, he was searching for a sport that required a high level of intensity but didn't include the nasty side of competition that turned him off to organized sports.

"Footbag was the perfect fit," Wren said. "It's one of the most physically demanding sports I've ever played."

And in Portland, Wren has found the perfect town to pursue it.

"Right now the Portland area is the capital for footbagging in the U.S," said Ethan "Red" Husted, president and spokesman for Sole Purpose Footbag, a professional group of six elite kickers, including Wren, who travel around the world competing and performing.

Although some trace the game back centuries, it first gained prominence in 1972, when John Stalberger and Mike Marshall, both of Oregon City, decided to put together a marketing plan after kicking around a homemade beanbag. They called their product Hacky Sack. The sport's official name is footbag, but most still know it by Stalberger and Marshall's brand name.

Official numbers of the sport's participants are hard to track, because so many play casually. The International Footbag Player's Association, a U.S. nonprofit, has seen membership grow from 30,000 to 200,000 in the past five years, according to Steve Goldberg, it's co-founder and former executive director. Husted estimates that millions of Americans play the game regularly, but only about 100 at the level of Sole Purpose's kickers.

The game requires a blend of balance, coordination, focus, and willpower, according to Husted. The most popular form is freestyle, which, at a recreational level, can be as simple as players sitting around a circle and taking turns kicking, or "hacking". In freestyle competitions, players choreograph routines with music, executing difficult moves in sync with a song of their choice. Participants are judged by a panel of experts, much like in figure skating competitions. Footbag net, which follows rule similar to volleyball, is played with a 5-foot net between two or four players.

At most events, music with fast beats and rhythm, such as hip-hop or rap, dominate- one sign the sport is shedding its laid-back reputation. And the Internet is helping a younger crowd pick it up. The average age of a footbag player has dropped from 25 to 19 over the past five years, Goldberg said.

Wren was inspired by videos on the Internet of professional footbag players and was blown away by their skills. He studied their moves, sometimes dedicating six hours a day to practice.

"What makes it so demanding are the tricks," Wren said. "Most people don't understand how technical they can be. One little tweak can make something 10 times harder, and unless you know what you are looking for, you don't realize that."

He started practicing with Sole Purpose, which opens its practices to anyone, in January. Recently he was awarded a purple team jersey, recognition that he had made the squad.

The team competes in 12 to 13 events a year, including the Footbag World Championships, which drew competitors from 60 countries to Frankfort, Germany, in July, and the U.S. Open Footbag Championships, held this August at Colonel Sumner's Park in Southeast Portland.

In addition to competing, Sole Purpose performs at events around the Northwest, including schools, corporate gigs and Saturday Market.

"Besides demonstrating the necessary skills to make the team, you have to also be a performer," said Husted, who is in charge of fine-tuning the roster.

The team practices two or three times a week throughout the year. Newcomers are always welcome, said Husted, who added that it's not uncommon for the group to combine forces with another circle of footbag players if they are kicking nearby.

The team rarely deviates from practicing at Pioneer Square, for strategic reasons, Husted said.

"It has the most exposure," he said. "This is where footbag began. People expect to walk by and see someone kicking around a bag here."

Sole Purpose Footbag Team:

What: A professional footbag team with six members, including Gresham resident Jacob Wren, 19.The team performs at local events and competes around the world.

Who: Players must meet a set of requirements to make the traveling team, but practices are open to anyone. The team often practices at Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland, 701 S.W. 6th Ave.

For information: Contact Ethan "Red" Husted at 503-380-4395, or visit the team's web site at www.solepurposefootbag.org.