footbag.org

[Ben Leavitt (Benji_Man)]

Seeing how my friend just broke his wrist playing hacky sack, I thought i'd see who else got injuried. No little things like bruises please.

[Benjamin Benulis (ironcladben)]

Here is an injured player's roster
http://modified.in/footbag/viewtopic.php?t=8506

Weird ways you have injured yourself playing footbag:
http://modified.in/footbag/viewtopic.php?t=14436

Personally I've sprained my foot (was out for a good 2 weeks) and suffered from shin splints for about a year which I just overcame. There was one player at the world championships this year, who despite a cracked vertebrae still took 4th in open freestyle routines.

[Ben Leavitt (Benji_Man)]

thanks

[Erik Engstrom (hacked_up_berkeley)]

In 1990 I was playing with a regular kicking buddy in Berkeley, on Sproul plaza. On our consecutive kick #xxx it went high over my right shoulder and I jumped and launched a hard kick to my side. I connected with a concrete pillar at maximum velocity and force at the most concentrated extension of the kick.

I felt and heard a crunch in my mid-back, but being 18 I shrugged it off with a howl and kept kicking. A few years later I slammed into a garbage can in the same plaza and needed 25 stitches just an inch from an artery in my thigh. The next year another player landed on my left knee, resulting in 15 weeks out of action. Worst part is I couldn't get his body odor out of my nostrils for a month.

A year later I had a massive dislocation and breaks in the shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand from a jogging accident. I slowed down at this point, hard to bounce up and down on cement with freely floating fractures.

A few years later I was in a catastrophic car accident with serious back damage.

At 35 all I can think about is the sheer joy and adrenaline rush of the many six hour days bouncing up and down on concrete in Berkeley. Happy to say that most of my injuries are recovered and largely pain free, especially the back. I still feel the first injury though in the center of my back and the muscle-memory of that impact will never leave me.

I used to have debates with older players in Berkeley about the rather chaotic and relatively out of control nature of how I liked to pursue footbag (hard, fast, tight little bags). It brought me into conflict with a number of players who were older and understood what the impact could likely be on my body. I wouldn't trade my experiences, but I certainly wish I had listened to some of their advice.

As I stated I was in a major car accident that was far worse than any of my foot bag related injuries, yet the majority of pain I deal with my thirties is directly related to how hard and long I played. When I'm tired I limp, when it's cold, I ache and I can always feel the sore spot in my back from kicking that column.

Anyway, I'm back. I have six or seven bags from the 80's and 90's that I intend to take back to Sproul and see if they still bounce; worst case I can't, but I'm still going to give it a shot, just with a little less energy and reckless abandon.

Cheers,

erik

[Josh Bishop (OpticalShadow)]

once back in high school we hada hack circle in lunch time everyday but we had to remove our shoes so as not top scuff the floors, well once time me and my friend didnt have time to do that as we had to be somewhere else we got in and this other kid went for my hack and i didnt even see him i lined up for a clipper and he wound up with a broken toe.

[Justin Wilds (wilds)]

I was kicked hard in the face once, but no real injury. Then at the beginning of my summer Phish tour in Atlanta 1998, I was hacking at the top of the lawn on a slope, and I came down on my ankle with a wicked sprain. My foot was cocked sideways and really swollen for most of the tour, by the time I got to Oswego, NY two weeks later I was back to the hack!

[Aaron Holcomb (aaronholc)]

The circle i hack with has quite a few injuries. The latest was a couple broken ribs and 2 broken teeth, both on seperate occasions. Those arent even the worst. the worst i would have to say happened a couple years ago when a buddy of mine took a war hack (hacky sack full of bbs) to the nuts

[Jay Webb (JayWWebb12)]

Haha. Man, 1st semester, we were playing in the high school band room (our main venue at the time for hacking). We were playing 1-2-3-peg, the hack went a little wide from the 3rd person, one of my friends dove for it and recieved a nose-breaking kick to the face. Blood EVERYWHERE, and all he kept on saying was "Is there blood on my uniform?! IS THERE?!" (he is in ROTC). We werent allowed to play in the band room after that.

[Jonah Scap (J_scap)]

we were playing kill (unexpectedly kick the bag hard at someone) and i got hit in the nipple. lol.

[Jarrod Putnam (Pukka)]

I know this is a dead thread but.

Broke my buddy's finger today playing....I feel pretty bad lol

[Colin Kennedy (ckennedy)]

That'll teach him to try catching the bag.

[Jarrod Putnam (Pukka)]

Well, how we play is, once the bag is kicked 3 times, we smack it at someone and we both went to smack it....i just hit harder..

[Gus Curley (ThatLoserGus)]

I went to get a toe kick after my friend kicked it to me and I kicked a ledge breaking my toe. I still hack tho but it hurts to do toe kicks.