The Importance of the Footbag Pass and How to do it WellBy Steve "Danceman" Blough
The pass is the most important kick in your whole routine. First of
all, it shows you have total control of the footbag. It doesn't matter what you
can do, how many kicks you have mastered, or how complex you have assembled your
program: without a good pass, it's all in vain.
The pass determines whether the circle will
continue to move the footbag around or whether it ends with you. If you have
mastered your kicks you have the ability to move the ball to the next person
according to that person's ability. If the person you have selected to pass to
cannot handle certain kicks or has not mastered certain types of kicks, then the
type and accuracy of the pass sent to the person will determine whether the ball
continues or it is dropped.
For it to be a growing circle, each kicker must understand what the
other people in the circle can and cannot do. For example: if John, let's say,
cannot make a left back kick yet then it would be fruitless to pass the footbag
to him in a manner that would require him to make a left back kick. It is up
each circle kicker to analyze the abilities of the people in the circle to make
various kicks and then when they control the footbag to properly respond with an
appropriate pass according to those abilities. A pass to another person's
strength insures the ball will keep moving and that the self esteem of the group
stays intact.
The stronger the group's ability to understand each other's individual
kicking strengths, the stronger the circle will be.
In my earlier days of kicking if everyone in the group was able to get
one kick without a drop it was called a "hack". It was very exciting.
Now, in a good, strong, social circle of the Bloughchi style, the particpants
assemble many kicks per person throughout a routine without a single drop. Such
a volley is very common among kickers of the Bloughchi style.
A "hot dogger" in a circle defeats the whole purpose of circle
kicking. Nobody likes to stand in a circle and just watch one person showboat
and then drop the ball. That gets old real quick and basically disolves the
continuity of the social aspect of the group.
In summing up: develop your program well, understand each other's
strengths and weaknesses, and strive to move the footbag into the areas that
enhance the circle's continuing integrity to keep the footbag aloft.
Remember, in a circle it does not matter what you individually can do.
What matters is your understanding of the group as a whole and how to enhance
that understanding with your strengths and leadership. Everyone can practice
individually to become stronger in various kicks, but in circle kicking the
focus is on keeping the footbag in the air.
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