Official Rules of Footbag Sports

A. Choice of Footbag: Prior to the start of play, players (teams) shall decide which footbag will be used in the game (match). In case of disagreement, tournament officials will provide a footbag.

B. Footbag Dimensions: Footbags used in regulation footbag net play must fall within specifications set forth in Article 1, Section 107.01-D.

C. Coin Toss: A flip of the coin will be used before the first game (and third game if necessary ) to determine service or side. The player (team) with highest seed calls the first coin toss. The player (team) who wins the coin flip has the option to serve first or defend a court side. The player (team) who does not make the call of the coin toss in the first game calls the coin toss in the third game, if necessary.

D. Ready for Service: Each person shall be in a ready position preparing for play by either standing in the proper receiving quadrant or standing behind the service line. Server must wait until receiver is ready.

E. Changing Sides: Players (teams) switch sides before the second game of a match. In the third game of a match, or in a match of only one game, players switch sides at 6 points for a game played to 11, and they switch at 8 points for a game played to 15.

A. Live Footbag: The footbag is considered "live" beginning with the moment of contact by the server's foot, and is considered "dead" as soon as the footbag touches the ground, net stanchions, anything beyond the court perimeter, drops below the net without going over it after a player or team has used the maximum allowable number of kicks, or a foul occurs, whichever comes first. Note: A Net Equipment Foul supersedes all other fouls, and may occur after the footbag would otherwise be declared dead (see 303.08-C), unless a net plane foul (see 303.08-D) causes a net equipment foul, in which case the contact foul supersedes the net equipment foul, or unless the footbag is driven into the net with such force that the footbag's trajectory causes the net to contact a player on the other side of the net.

B. Legal Kicks: A kick is legal when the footbag is contacted with one continuous striking motion by a legal kicking surface. This includes double hits, rolls, and pushes, as long as a striking motion is used and the delay, double hit, or roll is clearly accidental.

C. Player Classification: No player will be allowed to move down in division in the same tournament (using singles net as the standard). For instance, after playing singles footbag net in an intermediate division, a player may not play doubles footbag net in a novice division.

D. Doubles: In doubles net play:

   1. Players will not be allowed to substitute for any reason once their first match of the tournament is in progress.

   2. The use of arms to screen a shot is not allowed. Screening the serve, in any way, is not allowed.

   3. Uniforms are encouraged for all competitors in net events.

A. Hand Toss: The server must drop or toss the footbag into the air before kicking it over the net.

B. Service Rotation: When the serving person's or team's score is zero or even, service is made from the right-hand court; when the serving person's or team's score is odd, service is made from the left-hand court. Service goes cross court, from server's left to receiver's left, or server's right to receiver's right. In doubles, the serving team switches courts as necessary for the server to be in the correct court. Receiving teams do not switch courts.

C. Server Rotation: In doubles play, for each game of a match, the first team to serve chooses which player will begin service. After the first team makes their choice, the receiving team will choose who will receive the first serve. The player on the receiving team who does not receive the first serve will be the player who serves first after the first side out. For each subsequent side out of the game, service will rotate to each player in turn. In the second game of a multi-game match, the losing player or team serves first. A coin toss determines which team serves first in a third game. When no scorekeeper is present and a team has served out of order, the team loses the serve and any points gained during the out of service foul. All players resume correct positions on the court.

D. Scoring: The server shall call the score before each serve. The server may not serve until one second after calling the score.

E. Partner Position: In doubles net play, the server's partner is required to stand inside his respective quadrant during the service. Screening of the serve by the server's partner is a foul.

F. Support Leg Position: The support foot of the server must remain completely behind the boundaries (within sideline and centerline extensions) of the proper service quadrant until contact with the footbag has been made.

A. Point: A point is awarded to the serving team only. A point is awarded when the receiving player or team fails to return the footbag over the net and in-bounds in the allotted number of kicks (2 for singles, 3 alternating kicks in doubles) or commits a foul (see 303.08).

B. Side Out: Service shifts to the other player or team (a side out) when the serving player or team fails to serve into the proper service court, subsequently fails to return the footbag over the net and in-bounds in the allotted number of kicks, or commits a foul.

C. Game: A game is the first player or team to score 15 points. At the tournament director's discretion, preliminary games may be to 11 points. Players must win by 2 points.

D. Match: A match is the winner of two out of three possible games, except in consolation rounds or losers' bracket in double elimination tournaments when one game to 15 points makes a match.

A. Scoring: Call the score before each point.

B. Service Rotation: Maintain service rotation and proper serving quadrant.

C. Let Serves: Call all let serves.

D. Line Calls: Rule on line calls only when asked by players or line judges.

E. Penalty Assessment: Assess penalties for fouls, including delays of game (See 303.08-I) and unsportsmanlike conduct (see 303.08-K). Scorekeepers should use verbal or colored carding system to warn players of penalty assessments.

F. Crowd Control: Maintain crowd control (noise and movement).

G. Arbitration: Arbitrate player conflicts.

H. Replays: Call for replays of points when necessary.

I. Injury Time-Outs: Authorize injury time-outs.

J. Line Judges: Be responsible for line judges when necessary.

K. Out-of-Bounds: Maintain out-of-bounds around net court.

A. Number Allowed: Three time-outs are permitted per team per match. No more than two time-outs per game are allowed.

B. Duration: Maximum time-out allowed during a game is two minutes. Between games, a maximum time of three minutes is allowed.

C. Injury Time-Outs: One injury time-out per team per match is permitted. Time limit for injury time out is set by tournament official. If a player forfeits any game or match in an event, the player does not need to scratch the entire event.

D. Penalty: If any of the above time-out rules is violated, a foul will be assessed (see 303.08).

A. Consecutive Foul: In singles net, when a player contacts the footbag more than two consecutive kicks. In doubles net, when a player contacts the footbag twice in a row.

B. Delay Foul: When the footbag is delayed or stalled on the foot.

C. Net Equipment Foul: When any part of a player's body or clothing, attached or unattached, touches the net, the guy wires of the stanchions, or the stanchions themselves without stated equipment being propelled by a footbag driven into the net with such force that the footbag's trajectory causes the net to contact a player on the other side of the net. For the purposes of a Net Equipment Foul, a point lasts 3 seconds after the footbag has been declared dead (See General Net Rules 303.02-A). Net fouls supersede all other fouls, unless a net plane foul (see 303.08-D) resulted in a net foul, in which case the plane contact foul supersedes the net equipment foul.

D. Net Plane Foul: When a player touches the opponent while breaking the plane of the net (above or below the net).

E. Receiving Foul: In doubles net, when a player receives the serve out-of-order, a point is awarded to the serving team.

F. Service Line Foul: When the support foot of the server touches the service line or beyond before contacting the footbag on the serve, and when the support foot is outside the sideline or center line extension.

G. Total Kick Foul: In singles net, when the footbag is contacted more than twice or in doubles net when the footbag is contacted more than three times before it is returned over the net.

H. Upper Body Foul: When the footbag comes in contact with any part of the upper body or clothing. Upper body is defined as the kneecap and above.

I. Delay of Game Foul: When a time-out exceeds its allotted time (see 303.06-B).

J. Interference Under Net Foul: When player contacts the footbag under the net on the opponent's side of the net before the footbag has been declared dead (303.02-A).

K. Unsportsmanlike Conduct Foul: Scorekeepers and tournament officials are allowed to assess unsportsmanlike conduct fouls (see 107). "Silent" foul cards or verbal warnings will be used to communicate the assesment of foul to players. Yellow cards will signify warnings, and red cards will signify ejection from the game. Players/teams are generally allowed 2 yellow cards before being presented with a red ejection card, but these limits may be modified by tournament officials.

L. Line Rope Boundary Foul: When rope based line equipment is used, significantly altering the position of the line is considered a boundary foul.

A. Tournament contributions: Seeding for each category is based upon the the player's current IFPA Ranking, recent tournament performances, plus the results of the previous two annual tournaments of the event that is currently being seeded.

B. IFPA Rankings: Each player is ranked based on the number of points they have. Points are earned at IFPA sanctioned tournaments only. Each tournament is assigned a "level" based on its size and history. There are four sizes of tournaments: Worlds, Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3. The level and number of points a tournament is worth is determined by the Results, Ranking, and Seeding Committee and approved by the IFC.

The number of points a player receives is given by the following table:

Tournament	W	F	SF	QF	R16
Worlds	650	455	293	163	91
Level 1	300	210	135	75	42
Level 2	200	140	90	50	28
Level 3	100	70	45	25	14
Where W = winner, F = finalist, SF = semifinalist, QF = quarterfinalist, and R16 = round of 16 finalist.

The point breakdown is as follows. W gets 100% of tournament value. F gets 70% of tournament value. SF gets 45% of tournament value. QF gets 25% of tournament value. R16 gets 14% of tournament value.

A player's "year-end ranking" will be calculated from points received in all tournaments held after the previous year's World Championships and through that year's World Championships. For example, a 2003 rank begins with tournaments held in 2002 (starting after the 2002 World Footbag Championships) and ends with the 2003 World Footbag Championships.

A player's "current ranking" is calculated by summing points received at (1) all tournamnets within the past year including those for the event that is currently being seeded, (2) two-thirds of points earned at the World Footbag Championships held two years prior, and (3) one-third of points earned at the World Footbag Championships held three years prior.

C. Submission of results for seeding: Results from all IFPA-sanctioned events should be sent within two weeks after event to: IFPA Sanctioning Director and IFPA statistician or their designees and should include the following:

   1. Name and date(s) of event;

   2. Results from all events down to last place;

   3. Scores of all matches played during the event.

D. Timing: The rankings will be updated when results from sanctioned events that meet seeding requirements are received.

E. Availability of seedings: Tournament directors should request the latest seeding results 2 weeks before an event, to be sent free-of-charge. Anyone may request the latest copy of seeding/ranking points; a small fee will be charged to cover printing and mailing costs. Direct requests to IFPA Sanctioning Director or IFPA Statistician.

F. Criteria: The ranking system will be used only to advise tournament directors in seeding. It should not be the only criteria used in seeding. Other criteria should include:

   1. Recent tournament performances;

   2. Tournaments not attended;

   3. Individual match records.

G. Usage of seeding: All players/teams shall be ranked and assigned a seeding number before competition begins. This seeding number will be referred to as their initial seeding and will be based on the best information available to the Tournament Director. Players will be distributed into the appropriate seed slots in brackets or pools based upon their seed.

A. Movement in Brackets: In a double elimination format, a player's first loss puts a player into the "losers' bracket". Such a player can continue to advance until his next loss. Ultimately, the winner in the losers' bracket faces the winner of the winners' bracket in the finals. The winners' bracket finalist has the advantage because he has not lost, and can win the event in one match. If the losers' bracket finalist wins the match, then the two players or teams are tied and another match is played to determine the winner of the event.

B. Game Length: In a double elimination format, the winners' bracket is normally played with matches being the best 2 out of 3 games to 11 points. However, the final four matches in an event (finals, finals of the winners' bracket, and the last two matches in the losers' bracket) are played best 2 out of 3 games to 15 points. In the losers' bracket, matches are a single game to 15 points, except for the last two as noted above. This shorter game length expedites the losers' bracket, which has more matches and can take longer to play. The tie-breaking match of the event (in case the losers' bracket finalist wins the first match against the winners' bracket finalist), may also be a single game to 15 points.

C. Consolation Brackets: In a consolation bracket format, the loser(s) in the first (and perhaps second) round go into a consolation bracket. They can advance in this bracket until their next loss. The winner of the consolation bracket, however, does not face the winner of the winners' bracket. Instead, they are simply the winner of the consolation bracket.

A. Movement in Pools: In pool format, players/teams are divided into pools, and tournament play consists of a number of rounds where the top 2 players/teams advance to the next round (or, more commonly, single-elimination playoff brackets). Play within a pool is round-robin; each player/team plays every other player/team. Pools should be run as follows:

B. Distribution in Pools: Players will be distributed into pools based on their initial seeding. Pool sizes should be limited to 3, 4, and 5 with 4 being the optimal number. Pool sizes of 3 should only be used when there are more than 5 and less than 8 players/teams. (see 306 and Figure 3: Pool Competition Worksheet and Figure 4: Example Pool Layout).

C. Game Length: All matches within a pool will be best two-out-of-three games to 11 points.

D. Subsequent Round(s): A player's/team's match record shall determine her/their seeding in the next round of play. Where there is a tie, initial seeding will determine who gets seeded higher in the next round (or bracket play). The following stipulations apply:

   1. If a player/team is 2nd in the pool, she/they shall be seeded no higher than x+1 nor lower than 2x, where x equals the number of pools;

   2. If two players/teams in a pool have the same match record, the player/team that won the head-to-head match between them shall be awarded the higher place in the pool;

   3. In the rare event of a 3-way tie in the pool with the head-to-head match results forming a circle, the following criteria shall be used (in order) to determine the highest-placed player/team, with the next highest-placed player/team being determined by the head-to-head match between the remaining two:

      a) Highest ratio of total games won to total games lost in all games played in pool, including those played against the player/team not in the 3-way tie;

      b) Lowest number of total points allowed in all games won against the other two teams in the three-way tie;

      c) The odd person out in a three way fist-to-palm tie-breaking ritual, officiated by the tournament director.

Center Line: Divides the length of the playing court in half to create the four equal quadrants.

Coin Toss: A coin toss at the beginning of the 1st and 3rd games to decide serve and side.

Fault: An error incurred while serving: A. When serve does not land in proper receiving court. B. When two let serves occur successively. C. When player commits service-line foul.

Let Serve: A serve which hits the net and lands in the proper receiving quadrant. Server is allowed one more serve.

Quadrant: One of four 10 ft. X 22 ft. areas into which the footbag net court is divided.

Receiving Player or Team: The player or team that is on the receiving end of the serve. In doubles net, there must be a player in each quadrant and the team must receive serve in this order until side out.

Receiving Rotation: In doubles net, after the service rotation has been established, each receiving team member must be in the quadrant they were in during their team's last serve to receive the opposing team's serve.

Screening: Blocking an opponent's vision in doubles net with the upper body. May also apply in blocking service (although screening the serve is a foul).

Seeding: The arrangement of the draw for footbag net events, so that the better players do not play against each other in early rounds.

Serve: Used to begin play. The server kicks the footbag from behind the service line into the receiving quadrant.

Service Ace: Occurs when receiving team fails to make contact with footbag landing inside the proper receiving quadrant.

Service Line: The back line from where the serve is initiated.

Serving Player or Team: The player or team initiating play with a serve.

Side Line: The side boundary lines of the playing court.

Side Out: When the serving player or team fails to return the footbag over the net during play, creates a foul or fails to get a good serve into play. The opposing team becomes the serving team:

      a) when a serve does not land in the proper receiving court,

      b) when two "let" serves occur successively, or

      c) when a serving player commits a service-line foul.