Forums > Other Toys > So - hackysack - whats your view?

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strugzBRONZE Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,964 posts
Location: Southampton - Possibly..., United Kingdom


Posted:
after a weekend with the boy G me and meg have been arguing about this artform..........

whilst i recognise is does require skill we cant seem to pin down the argument we keep having on msn so a little help would be appreciated:

"...We don't stop playing because we get old, we get old because we stop playing......."


YakumoSILVER Member
veteran
1,237 posts
Location: Oxfordshire, United Kingdom


Posted:
 Written by:

2. i never said it didnt. thats a topic other people have brought up and i havent touched because i'm sure at freestyle level people are going to injure themselves, just like you would playing other sports like tennis or squash which involve a lot of strain on the leg joints.



squash/tennis doesn't guarantee problems though, it does put on more strain than normal but it's not unnatural movement by design.Problems would arrise merely from overdoing things, and not knowing not to allow locking out of the joints.
The closest thing brought up by far, so far, is mogul skiing, that does force some nasty angles on joints, I'd not thought about it before, but I had a conversation with a friend years ago where they'd brought it up as being deadly for knees.

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Mr MajestikSILVER Member
coming to a country near you
4,696 posts
Location: home of the tiney toothy bear, Australia


Posted:
ow, i can understand why it would be. next time i see my friend i'll ask him about it.

"but have you considered there is more to life than your eyelids?"

jointly owned by Fire_Spinning_Angel and Blu_Valley


Mark HustedGOLD Member
member
177 posts
Location: Fresno, CA USA


Posted:
I've been reading a bunch of posts on here about people having injuries in the future if you play freestyle footbag. I believe it would depend on how hard you train yourself, "how" you are training yourself, and the genes that you have. For instance, if you shred for an hour a day on cement...your will experience more soreness as opposed if you shred for two hours on interlocking anti-fatigue mats. What I meant by "how" you train yourself is the techniques you are using. For example, on an around the world (toe stall, set vertically toward the knee, in-to-out or out-to-in dexterity[when your foot circles the bag], same toe delay. If you were to set the bag vertically toward the knee you would be putting less stress on your knee as opposed to setting the bag out from your body where your leg would "flail" around the bag. This flail associates the same concept as kicking a soccer ball correctly and hyper extending your leg to kick a soccer ball. Now what I mean by genes.....some people just got better knees. Some people can smoke non filter cigarettes for their entire life and never contract cancer. I think we all need to know our bodies and by doing so we know our limits to what our bodies will tolerate. Our bodies do talk back:-)
Mark

Keep it Lit....


animatEdBRONZE Member
1 + 1 = 3
3,540 posts
Location: Bristol UK


Posted:
Bit late, but I'll add my bit into this:

I'm gonna call it hacky sack. Just because I can. What's in a name? people call it CJ, or contact juggling, but where's the juggling? Many things have been later known by only a trademark, and nobody cares. Why should this be different? People call it body popping. body popping only really refers to the hit, not all the different movements and styles, such as waving, tutting, strutting, locking, breaking, uprock, downrock, robot, animation etc etc... I could go on all day. anyway, I've learned to accept that people need a point of reference, just as when I'm told 'Hey, you're like that guy from Labyrinth'... Basically, sort it out. stop being pig headed and ignorant.

In my opinion, out of all the things I've tried, The hardest thing to catch on your foot, is a four inch stage ball. it's light, and it has a tendency to bounce off. pull your toes back to catch a ball, and the cup you create naturally to catch a ball is too small for a four inch. get the timing and speed wrong and it bounces off your foot. also, it tends to spin really easily.

a smaller stage ball is easier, but still likes to bounce. the size makes it easier for your toes to grip it.

I started off with a hacky sack when learning to catch on my foot, because it was DAMN easy. it helped my legs and feet to learn the beginnings of the motions needed to throw and catch from my feet.

Anything partially filled is easy to catch on the feet, or indeed anywhere else where you don't have the same level of control as your hands. Fact. Why do so many people think these partially filled russian balls are cheating?

Acrylics are moderately easy to catch on the feet. the weight means they don't bounce. they're still not easy, but the weight also helps it to sit into your foot, rather than want to bounce off.

Juggling beanbags are moderately easy to catch on the feet. The size helps a lot. the toes create a perfect cup for the ball to land in. they're also designed to have minimal bounce. the looser filled or more give in the bag, the easier it is to catch.

I'm yet to see anybody actually manage a footcatch with a football. everyone I've seen always traps it against their shin. that's not a controlled footcatch. the only people I've seen do it, are francis brunn, and people he's taught. and that's only on video.

A five inch stage ball isn't too bad to catch, but again, you need to adjust for the size. the weight of it is nice, because it's not too light to bounce straight off. It's small enough to not have to trap against your shin as well.

I think most of the skill (about 90%) in hacky sack in is the throw, or pitch. the catch is the easy part. see for yourself. learn to catch things on your feet. I guarantee, you'll catch a hacky sack before you catch a solid ball.

basically, hacky sack has it's place. A hacky sack has helped me learn many things, but it's not the be all and end all. it is fun, though. So is Ball Contact. And Poppin'. Now, stage balls, they're where it's at. wink Hacky sack can look good. When it's controlled. Freestyle footbag looks really crap IMO. Footballers can make stuff like that look good, why shouldn't hacky sack look the same?

I've also noticed, that since training footcatches, when something falls below the reach of my hands, my foot goes to catch it instinctively. I love juggler reflexes.

As for making things look smooth and easy, that's damn hard. there's not many people at all that make things look easy. I've not seen any contact staffers make it look easy. I can always see the effort involved. I'm pretty sure that all staffers will agree with me here. in my opinion, you should control the move, not have the move control you. when I do a chestroll, the basic of bodyrolls, I'm aiming for it to look 100% effortless. I want to move into position, and the ball should roll on it's own. there should be zero visible effort. no adjustment of my body position to help the ball roll, it should just roll. I should a completely relaxed posture. This is damn hard to achieve for any discipline. it takes years of practice and loads of dedication to do that.

Empty your mind. Be formless, Shapeless, like Water.
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Water can flow, or it can Crash.
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Mr MajestikSILVER Member
coming to a country near you
4,696 posts
Location: home of the tiney toothy bear, Australia


Posted:
 Written by: Liquifies_Through_Contact


I've also noticed, that since training footcatches, when something falls below the reach of my hands, my foot goes to catch it instinctively. I love juggler reflexes.




smile i love this too, i've stopped so many things from breaking this way smile

"but have you considered there is more to life than your eyelids?"

jointly owned by Fire_Spinning_Angel and Blu_Valley


DurbsBRONZE Member
Classically British
5,689 posts
Location: Epsom, Surrey, England


Posted:
Strugz doesn't do hacky-sack, but if he did, he'd be the guy on the right wink

Extreme Hacky Sack

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Slacker of enormous magnitude


strugzBRONZE Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,964 posts
Location: Southampton - Possibly..., United Kingdom


Posted:
ubblol

"...We don't stop playing because we get old, we get old because we stop playing......."


Mr MajestikSILVER Member
coming to a country near you
4,696 posts
Location: home of the tiney toothy bear, Australia


Posted:
ubblol

you know PROPER extreme footbag is where you kick the bag 5 times in a cicle then everyone tries to grab the bag and pegs it as hard as possilbe at someone else while everyone without it tries to run away smile bruisy fun

"but have you considered there is more to life than your eyelids?"

jointly owned by Fire_Spinning_Angel and Blu_Valley


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