Member Profile for heather

Hi! I've been playing footbag since 1983. My first tournament was in Houston, Texas at Memorial park in 1983. I hacked around in college, at The University of Texas at Ausitn, daily finding regular circles here and there. Always with a footbag in hand. I moved to Houston and continued to hack on the beach regularly where I met my fantastic husband Scott. I eventually obtained the Houston reputation as "The Hacky Lady." My first world footbag tournament was in 1988 and I was hooked. After catching the footbag bug, I found myself kicking in every spare moment. Traveling around the United States and Canada , I have had many great experiences competeing with a host of wonderful friends and aquaintances. I hold several Texas State and Southern regional women"s titles from 1987-2004. I also share the World's 1994 Women's Team Freestyle title with partner Julie Simon and a World's 1994 third place Women's Doubles Net with partner Laura Creigh, as well as the World's 2004 third place Women's Doubles Net with partner Tina Lewis. Since 1994 I've had three beautiful children...Austin, Avery,and Ashley. Currently in my spare time I am a jewelry designer: Heathersquiresdesigns.com. I am proud of my accomplishments. Footbag taught me the life lesson that "If you put your mind to it , you can do it." I have been successful applying that theory to the rest of my life, and passing that message to my children and those around me. I have come in and out of retirement, and hope to continue doing so. Footbag will always be in my blood. I went to the 2002 Texas State, where I played open doubles with Tina Lewis and took third place. It was a great tournament at an awesome site in downtown Houston at the Westheimer Art Festival. A site to see! Texas State 2003 was held in Austin,TX. What a great tournament. Chris Seibert and I won Mixed Doubles. Yey! Montreal, Canada for the 2004 World Footbag tournament was fun .I entered Singles Net-placed sixth, Doubles Net with partner Tina Lewis-placed 3rd, and Mixed Net with partner Chris Seibert- placed 5th. Didn't manage to freestyle much though! Maybe next time. Hope to see you there! I've continued my love for Footbag over the years. as life gets mundane, I can always find refuge in kicking. Especially net!! Especially tournaments. Competing in Footbag Net touches my soul and grounds me . In 2005, I was compeled to help the Hurricane Katrina victims in anyway I could. I decided it would be a good idea to contact my footbag friends. I requested footbagers to send footbags to take to the teenagers, who were evacuated from New Orleans and surrounding areas, and relocated to Houston Convention Centers. I was overwelmed by the response from around the world. I received footbags from Germany, Switzerland, Indonesia, Canada, Poland, Russia, USA, etc. I was able to distribute approximately 3000 footbags which were graciously donated. I was fortunate to represent the Footbag community, who are some of the most awesome people in the world. There was a great deal of happiness and appreciation. Thanks again to those of you who contributed. Currently, I continue to freestyle on the weekends at Herman park and Discovery Greene. Come kick with us! Message to you: Keep growing our awesome sport, keep kicking, and never say "I can't "... YOU CAN! Love, Health, Happiness, Spirit, Sincerity, and Focus Heather Squires-Thomas