The sport of footbag is celebrating its 24th anniversary. In these few, short years, footbag has developed into a well-recognized sport with an estimated 20 million players in 22 countries. However the majority of footbag's growth continues to be in its country of origin, the United States. Canada is running a distant second in product sales, active players and special events, so our neighbors to the north continue to show promise of growth.

Over the years player and product interest has surfaced in a number of countries, but faded due to lack of long term corporate funding or necessary player support. With the popularity of soccer in most countries, it remains a mystery to promoters why footbag's growth remains elusive.

In February 1985, footbag received its first true shot in the international arm when Nissho Iwai, a Tokyo-based advertising and marketing agency, bought the rights to distribute Hacky Sack® footbags in Japan.

Nissho Iwai's worldwide activities include handling the import, export, and offshore and domestic trade of more than 10,000 different commodities in four major categories: metals, machinery, energy and general commodities. The Hacky Sack footbag fit into their general commodities sector which includes, among other leisure products, well known footwear and clothing of Nike.

Nissho Iwai made a gallant attempt at marketing their footbag line, including extensive television, newspaper and magazine blitzes, WFA tour team performances and training camps, the creation of a players association, and the staging of a tournament that, with 180 participants, was the largest to date. In spite of its efforts, Nissho Iwai scrubbed its marketing program and dumped the product after less than one year.

The Japanese footbag market remained dormant for nearly three years, until October 1988, when the Tourist Service Co. Ltd., one of the many subsidiaries of Kintetsu International Express, founded the Japan Footbag Assn. (JFA). The new Tokyo-based association, patterned after the World Footbag Assn., vowed to promote the sport throughout Japan's school system, publish newsletters and instructional materials, host events and provide a variety of live demonstrations. Footbag was back on a roll in one of the world's most industrious, progressive, and--with a population of 110 million people--crowded.

For the debut promotion of the JFA, WFA Director Bruce Guettich and tour team members Sam Conlon, Lisa McDaniel and Kenny Shults, were invited to host demonstrations in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan. That same year, Jim Caveney and Chris Ott were hired to conduct player training camps aimed at college students.

Photos: (Above) WFA representatives, Bruce Guettich (right) and Peter Shunny supply a sampling of freestyle to an enlighten Japanese crowd. (Right) Guettich drills "the fundamentals" with eager youths in Tokyo.

From 1988 to 1990, the JFA worked to promote footbag as a "new American sport," and received extensive newspaper, television and magazine coverage. But for the next few years footbag would slide to the back burner as Japan's economy nose dived into one of its worst recessions, brought on by the Gulf War crisis. Even though communications with the WFA lapsed for nearly four years, the JFA and its management remained optimistic for a full recovery.

Once on the rebound, the JFA mounted an aggressive campaign targeted at establishing a strong player base. In 1994, the JFA joined forces with one of Japan's premiere sports organizations, Saskawa Sports Foundation, to present footbag and 30 other sports to the public during the "Sports for All" festival in Tokyo. At the festival, high energy footbag freestyle and footbag net demonstrations, as well as free personalized clinics, were provided by WFA representatives Bruce Guettich and Peter Shunny. An overwhelming public response to footbag resulted in a repeat WFA performance in October 1995 in Kobe, Japan. The presentation came during a special "Sports for All" festival dedicated to benefitting the victims of Kobe's tragic earthquake earlier in the year.

The JFA is now working to cultivate "core" players. The association is trying to establish connections with teachers at Nippon College of Physical Education, home of Japan's Ultimate Flying Disc Champions. The JFA is seeking a few motivated students to train in footbag with WFA staff members in Colorado for two weeks in March. On their return to Japan, those students would establish a recognized footbag club, train new players and organize special university events. This deployment of students is scheduled to take place every year.

Soccer has become a popular sport among Japanese youth, and Japan's professional soccer league ("J-League") is going strong in its second year. Footbag is easy for soccer players to pick up, and this trend bodes well for the future of footbag.

There are many closet footbag players in Japan, and to bring them out of the woodwork the JFA wants to hold its first-ever competition, focusing first on footbag consecutive.

The JFA is making a new start and shares with the WFA the dream that footbag will spread far and wide throughout the country.

CONTENTS

Foreign Exchange | Shreducation | Barbie | Records
Worlds | Results | Tricks | Sipa
FootNotes | Events | Products

Copyright © 1996 World Footbag Association.

On-Line Edition by Steven L. Goldberg, January, 1996.