footbag.org

[Josh Newtown (D3M0NJ1NX)]

My name is Josh, most oftenly called Newtown. I am 17 almost 18 and for four years now i have been smoking weed . Each time i have smoked then played it seems i perform better and i'm able to keep the sack in the air longer. Although i dont freestyle often i still play regular circle hack. I know in many cases people would think, " Yea he thinks he is better cuz he is stoned ." Thats not the case for me. I am well aware of my ability while high. My focus towards the sack seems almost amplifyed, and my mind is set on how to hit the sack, where the sack will be located when it hits my foot, and where it goes after hitting my foot to premare for my next move. Most of the time the effects of weed cause some to be uncorrinated and disoriented . Either there are only a handfull of people like that or im just like everyone else. So i would enjoy some elaboration and feedback on my experiance and thought behind the effect of weed and hacky sack.

[Benjamin Benulis (ironcladben)]

[Brian Sherrill (longshanks)]

finding the right state of mind to play in can be tough. sometimes i smoke and play better, sometimes i smoke and play worse. it also depends on how much you smoke: if you're high all the time, chances are you will be better at hacky when you are, cause you feel in a more normal state of mind...
the only thing i can say for sure is i have more fun doing it when im lit.

[Roy Klein (RoyKlein)]

I've heard and personally experienced that Footbag in North America suffers greatly from the label of a "stoners' sport", thus not taken seriously as a challenging physical and mental activity.

With that in mind, I think it would be extra important for our sport's official forum to be clean of conversations connecting the two, such as I'm sure body building forums don't allow (or at least very firmly frown upon) discussion regarding steroid injections as a means of performance enhancement.

Just a thought.

[Josh Newtown (D3M0NJ1NX)]

Well i understand the lable that the people in the United States gave "hacky sack" but my feeling towards the two related subjects is a strong relationship in my experiance. Ill say that every person that i have met who plays "hacky sack" or played once in their life smokes weed or played because of smoking weed. see when people call me lazy or stupid for smoking i get livid at the fack at that i smoke weedbut i also do track and do very well and i do plan on going to college. I as well as my friend, who has also commented on the subject on one of the fourms, belive that we are able to use the drug wisely and reponcablaly. So if someone were to think that they classify this sport a stoner sport then thats their opinnion. But i belive that this sport should not be labled a stoner sport and looked down apon. I hope u didnt feel attacked by my short disertation but i just wanted to explain myself fully and clearly.

[Scot Hansen (scothansen)]

[Josh Newtown (D3M0NJ1NX)]

Alright, i give up everyone else win. I know very well that if i keep talking this will never end so im going to try on another topic a little less contraversal......... and ohh yea i may have misspelled things in my other post but yet i am not a good speller, yet i never have but thats just me.

[Roy Klein (RoyKlein)]

Newtown: Good grammar and spelling go a long way in helping your opinions to be taken seriously. English isn't my first language, and because of that I usually double (or triple) read before I click "submit" and look up words that I'm not sure of their meaning or spelling. Since this applies to more than just internet forums, it's a good habit to build and the internet is a great place to practice it.

Scot: I'm aware that the NBA and many other sports are not drug free and may have a bigger drug problem than in footbag, but they don't have the image problem nor the illegitimacy as a serious sport. When you play basketball people don't assume you smoke dope. When you play footbag, they do.

Generally speaking I think this is a legitimate discussion, parallel to a discussion whether Redbull enhances your game or not. But perhaps there should be an exception regarding weed, where we'd be better off if discussing it was made more general ("effect of weed on sports" rather than "on footbag") or on a less public stage ("General - non footbag" forum, or perhaps on Modified).

[Jack Willis (green420jdubb)]

[Roy Klein (RoyKlein)]

Wow, what a blatant fail in relevancy, Jack. I'm very tempted to attribute it to your smoking habits, but I won't, too easy.

Let's see here. Where did I say that Marijuana is bad because it's labeled as a drug? Nowhere. You came up with this argument, not I.

Where did I say that Marijuana makes you lazy and that's why it shouldn't be discussed? Again, nowhere.

Where did I say anything about my personal feelings regarding weed? Same place I did for all of the above, nowhere.

That covers everything you had to say, proving the fact that your entire response had nothing to do with anything I said.

I will reiterate my point in smaller words and more examples.
As far as I know, and no one disputed me on this point, footbag is a sport that has a negative image due to the association of drug using in North America. Allot of good people, weed smokers or not, are serious athletes in this sport whose recognition is negatively impacted by this fact. Others want to see this sport become Olympic, and again efforts towards this goal are harmed by the image. Finally, day to day casual players have to hide the fact that they play footbag because they might lose their jobs or be treated differently because of their affinity to kicking a small bag that shouldn't have to be associated with weed.

In conclusion: The effects of weed on footbag: Bad.

This has NOTHING to do with my opinion of you, my opinion of weed, or whether I smoke weed or not.

I never said you should quit doing what you're doing, I simply suggested we move such discussions to a less public arena. It doesn't really belong to "General Footbag" Forum anyways, as it is more about weed than footbag, if we'll be honest with ourselves. Very bitchy of me, I know.

Take my suggestion or leave it, I said all I had to say on the matter.

[Josh Newtown (D3M0NJ1NX)]

Most of the arguments made against my unfavorable subect are intelligent and insightful. I have to say I truely agree with most of what everyone is saying and the point that is trying to be made. I realize that if the sterio type of footbag beeing a "stoner sport" continues, that the sport will not make it to the competitive level desired (thus the olympics). In all aspects I am appalled by the fact that the sport of footbag is not already an offical olympic sport. Some of the events in the olympics, to me, shouldn't even exists(synchronized swimming for example). If this is classifyed as an olympic sport why can't footbag be one.

It seems most unfortunate that I happen to be one of the countless people who smoke weed and play hacky sack (sorry for calling it hacky sack its a bad habbit). I must admit I was not directly introduced to hacky sack by the use of marijuana. In the 7th grade I met a new friend who taught me and got me in to playing hacky sack. Not too serious with the sport at the time, I still had an intrest to get better. By the time I was a freshman I was able to comfortablly keep the sack in the air. During this time I was shown moves like the Jester (aka. The clipper) which ultimately expanded my intrest to maintain a strong skill.

My sophmore year I moved to a new school and dropped the sport of footbag. The easiest way for me (as well as many others) to make friends was to find the stoners. This is the main reason for my useage of pot today. I would go over to Willis's house and smoke weed then have nothing to do. I brought up the idea of playing hacky sack. Just like most people Jack was not good by any means. Everytime I went to his house and smoked, it seemed learning how to play hacky sack was becoming repetitive. Eventually he developed his skill, and is at the skill level I am currently at. As we continued to smoke we got a desire to learn more and more cooler tricks. Thats where we discovered a totaly new game of hacky sack (named footbag). As Jack became a member of this site, I was quickly interested and joined.

Although not totally sure, I created this topic to know of other situations where a person smoked weed and played foot bag and how it effected their playing ability. I appologize to anyone who objects my relations of the two subjects. From my experiances smoking weed and playin hacky sack or footbag are closely related. Alot has been learned on my part and alot can be taught to others who read this fourm. I understand your opinion on the subject and I hope you can understand where I come from.

[Theodore Fritsch (yyz)]

Great topic Josh!!!!! We should be discussing the topic of drug use in Footbag(Josh:aka Hacky-sac). I believe it is a performance changing substance that if all goes well in the future will have to be banned from the sport. Footbag will have to conform to all of the guidelines set up in other sports if it is to become more of a mainstream sport.
My personnal experiences are simular to scotts. I use to have too get lit in order to freestyle, net not so much but I still did. I thought that when i did not have any I would not do well. I proved it over and over when i did not have any. So I always had some prior to freestyle. After a long lay off from footbag I had quit all mood altering substances(except cigs). The first time I competed in footbag I not only had no weed but I also did not have my chosen music and a broken ankle that was not 100% healed. I got through the mental block and finished Fourth in freestyle and first in both singles and doubles net.
I truely believe that it is a personnel choice to use mood altering drugs before playing. I have not experienced that weed always makes a person lazy,in fact in some cases the opposite is true I also hope that people will not partake and play, because one day the sport will require that you don't.
Josh I would suggest that you do what you need to too continue to progress your game. I do hope that whatever you do, please keep in mind that others will be watching you as you get better. I would hope that you would not want to ruin the sports chances of growing. see ya ted f

[Allan Haggett (allan)]

@Roy I think it is a *huge* exaggeration to say that the sport "suffers greatly" because of an association with marijuana use. Most people who hold this association are thinking about hippy hacky slackers (who promote the association), and have never even seen modern footbag. In my experience, people who see real freestyle/net being played might remark on how they thought that "hacky sack" was a lazy stoner sport, but now they don't. To say we have a negative image *because* of weed use is both dramatic and fallacious.

@Ted the day we "ban" marijuana from footbag (how would you propose we do that, anyhow? drug tests?) is the day I quit having anything to do with this sport. And I would *actively* fight against people who would seek to implement such testing in any capacity. "If all goes well" with this sport, we will respect peoples rights and not waste time trying to implement testing for something is none of anyone's business.

[Roy Klein (RoyKlein)]

I think I mentioned above that I formed my opinion based on two (out of two) personal experiences (one in Atlanta, the second in PA), where me mentioning footbag automatically labeled me as a stoner, and stories from friends who live in the states. It might be only in the U.S, or just in several states, or I might be dead wrong.

My only concern in all this is that people who don't some week and do play footbag may suffer negative consequence from the perpetuation of this association. If you say that it is not the case, I believe you and drop my case.

[Allan Haggett (allan)]

Wow. Just re-read my post. I didn't mean to come across so passionately on this I guess I stopped actively participating in these forums for a reason ...

Roy, I do think an association partially exists, but I just don't see how it really affects the perception of the sport in any truly negative way. Major corporate sponsors aren't withholding support because of it.

I'll reiterate that people who label footbaggers as stoners "automatically" make an association with the stoner/hippy game of hacky slack. This is not an association with modern footbag. Most people--when they see *real* footbag--automatically recognize the skills and amount of practice it takes; the last thing people who have *seen* modern footbag will associate the sport with is marijuana.

If I had to step back and be more objective about this issue, I'd probably say that people could take more personal responsibility and keep private, personal choices, private and personal.

Oh, and Ted: tobacco is a mood-altering substance that is far more injurious to you and others than marijuana ever could be. If we should ban *anything* from footbag tournaments it should be this substance.