When did you see your first footbag?

I worked as a raft guide in California in 1979 and 1980. I think I may have seen my first footbag in 1979 at Yosemite. And, the first time I kicked there were about 20 people in the circle and I kicked it like twice.
But, in 1980 my friend Phil Henderson visited from Corvalis and we kicked just one-on-one and it was great fun. I couldn't find one to buy, so he sent me one later that fall when I was back in Boulder. My other good friend, Chris Spain, and I kicked every day after that.

It took me a while to get my own, but I was instantly addicted. After about three weeks I think my record was 9 or 17 kicks. I reached 100 after a couple months, I think.

What else were you doing at the time?

Nothing was completely displaced. I was also taking Karate at the time, and rock climbing. But, I kept with footbag. Also, in 1982 I saw Mag Huges and Bill Hayne, and they were playing over a net! I was so amazed to see them kick the footbag back and forth 20 feet apart, with total control. Chris and I started playing Net after that. When I went to grad school in Berkeley I hooked up with Bill Langbehn, Niel Fischer, Brent Stewart, Colin Cowles, Etienne Constable, Jody Badger, and Julie Symons. We played a lot of net and freestyle.

Bill Langbehn and I set the 1-pass world record at 10,454 kicks. I believe that was in 1987. That record stood for a few years until Andy Linder and Ted Martin passed us up. Jody and I have won the Mixed Doubles Net world title 7 times and went to the finals 11 times in that event.
 

I went to the finals in Open Doubles Net twice, the first time with Jim Caveney in 1991 and the second time with Alf Marcussen in 1995(?). I believe we were beaten by Kenny and Randy both times. I went to the final round in freestyle quite a few times, especially in team with partners Bill Langbehn and Etienne Constable. I think my highest team freestyle finish is 2nd place, and my highest singles finish was a fluke 3rd place when I placed ahead of Ricky Reese (!) I was tournament director for many tournaments, starting with the first one in Berkeley in 1987 with Etiene Constable. We hosted many Western Regionals at Berkeley. Later our club (BAFL) hosted the World Championships in 1994 and 1995. I've painted a lot of net courts over the years. I typed in the first edition of the Official Rules of Footbag Sports, and did the updates for the first few editions. I created a freestyle scoring program, two versions, and was freestyle tournament director at the World Championships several times. I created a registration program that has been used at several of the more recent world championships. It links to the www.footbag.org registration system and is available for use with any tournament. Ask me about it.

The Sports future?

Footbag is here to stay. I hope that Footbag Net retains its critical mass and continues to gain popularity. Its hard, but its great fun. We need
continued exposure in schools via touring, and we need folks to set the net up regularly and invite newcomers to play.
 

Email Brent: welch@acm.org