Footbag, or what many people think of as hacky sack, only requires one thing - a bag. A simple flick of the foot can get impressive with practice.
"A lot of people think it's kind of like a dance. I myself can't dance at all. It doesn't take rhythm, it just takes grace and agility," footbagger Ben Benulis said.
Footbagger Jesse Lindley called it a sport “similar to juggling a soccer ball.”
“You kick it with your feet and you keep it up," he said.
You start with a bag and usually some friends. Everyone stands in a circle and kicks it around as long as it stays in the air. You can only use your feet and knee – no hands.
Once you’ve got that mastered, you can freestyle, but you need pretty limber legs and ankles.
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Footbag
News 8 Austin’s Amy Hadley kicks it at Auditorium Shores.
 
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"I pretty much stretch every day, even if I'm not footbagging. Like if I'm just standing around, I'll be stretching my ankles for my ankle crank," Benulis said.
Footbagging is not an expensive sport. All you need is a bag and some sneakers. Don’t lace up the eyelets near your toes, that way they’re open like a catcher’s mitt.
"There's different bags filled with different things. Some of them with beads, sand. Some of them are crocheted, they have panels," Lindley said.
While many people call it hacky sack, that's actually a brand of bag. The sport is footbag. Enthusiasts have turned it into all kinds of hybrid sports -- like footbag golf, footbag racing, and footbag net, which is like badminton.
"Footbag is a sport. A lot of people treat it like it's just a game or a toy. But it's a lot more than that," Lindley said.
