Footbag.com's Position About Footbag Kicking
Please also read our editorial - Keeping the Artistry.
Footbag kicking is a Gentleman's and Gentlewoman's sport for the masses.
It is a democratic sport for all people of all ages. It has grace and symmetry,
inspires cooperation and teaches positive socialization, and is inexpensive
(Steve "Danceman" Blough long ago coined the term "pocket
gymnasium" for a footbag). And it is fun! The whole world is doing it.
New organizations in various countries appear online all the time (think how
many are still not online!). Kicking a footbag is a growing planetary
phenomenun not just a U.S. one.
Some people want to compete to get "one up" on an opponent.
That can also be done with a footbag but we suggest that the highest good from
this amazing sport comes from the cooperation seen in circle kicking and footbag
dance rather than from competition. This world has been ravaged by competitive
forces. Some kingdom wanting another's natural resources and territory. Someone
wanting what the Jones' next door have and more. Someone wanting whatever will
put them in a "superior" position. This has caused wars, angry
confrontations, discrimination, and competitive sports.
>Unlike a lot of other sports, footbag kicking allows the athlete to
compete with him/herself while enjoying the social aspects of kicking a footbag
in conjunction with other people. This sport can literally help bring the world
together peacefully, a world that is incredibly smaller now with modern
technology. Humanitarians, ecologists, and environmentalists everywhere are
calling out to the dwellers on this planet to unite in peace and harmony.
Competition is opposed to that and yet some of us seem to be competitive
creatures, psychologically seeking, always wanting to prove ourselves better
than others./P>
Footbag kicking is an activity in which a person can compete against
him/herself. As all kickers would say, plateaus are reached. The first one is
always, "How many times can I kick the footbag and keep it in the air?"
But it goes way beyond that simple but challenging goal which requires lots of
practice and a good control of the footbag. By always competing with his/her own
skill, one achieves grounding and harmony from within much as the study of
martial arts develops.
The practical aspect of this sport is an expression that physically
connects with the earth over and over again, at once grounding the kicker and
freeing the footbag from gravity, for awhile. It is a singular, peaceful and
harmonious connection between the kicker and the footbag that translates into
activity for the sake of harmony and individual fitness rather than for the sake
of winning.
There are people who can "win" at sports competition and those
that cannot for whatever reason. But if anyone is physically sound enough to
kick a footbag that person can compete with him/herself for a lifetime of
fitness, challenging his/her own best kicking. Circle
kickers and footbag dancers are aware of the symmetry,
grace, harmony, and inner grounding that this style brings to their lives. They
know that their approach to people becomes at once more respectful of another's
personal territory and more sociable by gentle and loving interaction as opposed
to hostile efforts to usurp control of the footbag and vainglory that are the
goals of competition.
Every day we all have to face life, the often drudgery of it, the
flaring of tempers, competition, and fear in the work place, road rage and all
the rest of it in the quest for personal security for ourselves and our
families. Kicking a footbag is a space inside that daily toil that promises
physical joy of an ongoing nature, fun and agreeable interaction with others as
in a kicking circle, and is good for a lifetime of fitness.
Footbag dancers reach various levels of ability -- all along the way it
is a study in grace and being in sync with the footbag and perhaps music as
well. We long for others to know this peaceful yet exhilarating experience that
can reach levels a novice cannot comprehend at the beginning of their footbag
kicking journey.
At footbag.com we are eager to go to the level of beginning students to
encourage and instruct them in the basics of the Bloughchi
style as they become interested in this gentle sport. The
"Bloughchi - a Renaissance of Modern Movement"
paper in this site, written by Steve "Danceman" Blough, reveals the
thinking of professionals in psychology and neurology and what they have to say
about the benefits of eye-foot coordination as well as what they have to say
about the benefits of kicking a footbag in a socially cooperative manner rather
than in a competitive one, especially as it impacts impressionable children.
Cooperation is an attitude and one we support in the arena of footbag kicking.
It takes two, or more, to cooperate. It also takes the ability to not compete
or lock horns ad infinitum but rather to recognize the full gamut of
life, expression, and humanity. Cooperation is equalitarian, never putting one
over another, it is axiomatically non-competitive.
These attitudes are why we put up this site even though we had to teach
ourselves everything that needed to be known to begin it and to continue to make
it better. At request we are beginning to sell
footbag gear as there are many places in the world where a footbag is hard to
find.
In a nutshell, we believe by what we have seen of the joy, the good
humor, and the decency of footbag dancers, that kicking a footbag is a
profoundly personal and grounding experience with very great and positive
societal ramifications. As far as competition goes, we do not believe that
competition is inherent in the human being and we feel competition is at the
bottom of the problems between human beings. So, while we recognize the right
of others to compete we do not support it or teach it. If everyone respected
one another's territory (of whatever kind), which is taught by the Bloughchi
style, then there would be no need for competition.
We think and believe that footbag kicking of whatever kind is good but
we also promote the idea that non-competitive kicking is the highest form of
good in this sport because it can help produce a more peaceful world. That's
our position. So, however you want to be involved is up to you but we want you
to know that you can find supreme enjoyment in non-competitive footbag kicking.
Also, that it is important for your health and safety that you have some
instruction in stance, stretches, and basic kicks. That is why Danceman allowed
his book "Footbag Dance" to be published
online. It was published in hardback in 1984 and is copywrited with the Library of
Congress.
Most of all, footbag kicking is a democratic sport. If you own a
footbag or make one with a sock and dirt or rice, you can begin kicking anywhere in the
world. You can literally kick a footbag to the
betterment of your own health and the society in which
you live because of the grounding that non-competitive footbag kicking can give
to you, the physical control and grace it can give to you, and the peaceful
nature it will give to you if you can do it for the sake of synchronicity rather
than for competition. It is not a head game, it is a foot game. As far as being
involved in events anywhere, simply request or plan "Exhibitions" and encourage kickers in your region to enter them as an exhibitor of their graceful flowing movements with a
footbag, separately or coopreatively with others. For help in planning an event
click here and read the ideas in the box entitled "Event Planning" which is at the bottom of the article: "Try Forgetting About Competition."
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