footbag.org

[David Moutard (vraidave)]

I'm not too great yet, but I'm working at it, and when i do get decent, I want to enter competitions. I was just wondering if there are ever tournaments or competitions held in Michigan, USA? If I could get some help, I'd appreciate it

[Allan Haggett (allan)]

First of all, check out the club listings for your area and ask folks there directly, but you're probably going to have to leave Michigan to get to a tournament any time soon

You could look into hosting a tournament yourself; I bet a bunch of people would show up, and you'd likely get volunteers looking to help you out with the details of how a tournament should be run (especially if its IFPA sanctioned).

I also don't recommend that you wait until you "get decent" to go to a tournament Going to a tournament is the fastest possible way to get good at footbag. It's such a huge boost to your skills to play with others. Your progress will be markedly slower if you wait. I guarantee you that you wouldn't regret getting to a competition ASAP. With the US Open coming up fast, I highly recommend that you get yourself together and go to that!


Here's a video of a tournament from 2007 in Michigan ...

[David Moutard (vraidave)]

Thanks alot! Much appreciated

[David Moutard (vraidave)]

One more question, how are competitions for freestyle usually run/judged? I'm curious as to how one wins, haha.

[Allan Haggett (allan)]

This is a bit of a loaded question, as there are multiple events for freestyle

1) Traditional Routines. In the 'singles' event, each player gets two minutes to perform a choreographed routine to music of their choice. Under the current official system, each judge assigns two scores (out of 6) of merit; one for artistic, and another for technical. There are usually three rounds: qualification, semi-finals, and finals. 'Doubles' events are basically the same, but there are two players, and they have three minutes for their performance. There are other judging formats you can read about in the rule book

2) The "Circle Contest" is a newer format for competition. You can read the details of this format here, but basically this is a system more closely matched with how people naturally play within circles. There are various criteria to be performed in various stages of the event.

3) Shred :30. Each player gets 30 seconds to perform as many technical tricks as they can. ADD value and variety are the main vectors, and there is no artistic component to this event. The most unique high-value moves done in the time, wins.

There is a ton of information on this and more in the rule book, and the reference section of this site has all the info you'll need on the ADD system and other technical aspects of footbag freestyle. Just do a lot of reading, go to tournaments, and you'll be an expert in no time

Good luck!

[David Moutard (vraidave)]

Really helpful, I appreciate it. How much does an IFPA membership cost? Sorry for all the questions, but you seem to be a valuable source of knowledge

[Allan Haggett (allan)]

You're welcome, David, but while I may know where to look, it's really this website that is the valuable source of knowledge To that end, I would invite you try to answer some of your own questions by clicking around and doing a bit of reading. The last thing I want to do is discourage you from participating and asking questions where they may not be obvious, but it would be good if you could try to help yourself a bit first before asking in here.

By clicking on the IFPA link in the menu to the right, the very first sentences tell you how much membership costs. The first year is free, and with one more click, you get the full breakdown of membership tiers and their respective costs.

If you've any more questions, please don't hesitate to ask; at the same time, a little bit of effort on your part will go a long way, and will make more people want to help out when you find good questions that aren't particularly easy to answer.

Thanks for your understanding

[David Moutard (vraidave)]

Lol i saw that the first year was free, but never looked farther. Sorry! Thanks a million man.