University Daily Kansan, May 4, 1981
Page 11
Hacky players don't know agony of defeat
By DAVID McQUEEN Staff Reporter
The five players stood in a circle, eyes fixed on the red and blue golf ball-sized object as it moved from player to player.
One of them, a young woman wearing cutoffs and a tie-dyed shirt, grasped the object with her bare feet and fung it into the air. Reacting immediately, the player raceged into the middle of the circle and rode his傲ace style, using the inside of the ladder before anyone else had a chance to keep it aloft, it plowed to the ground.
Although it appeared competitive, no points were scored. Nobody lost.
To the players, that's the best thing about hacky sack, a game of agility and coordination that's growing in Lawrence and around the world.
Hacky sack is a relatively new game which begin when a Portland, Ore., soccer coach originated the idea of a backpack bag aloft using only the lower body.
HACKY SACK has developed many different sets of rules. In the original rules, the body is divided in two by an imaginary line running from the head to the feet. The player then tries to keep the ball under his fingers and pieces of leather filled with plastic pellets, going from right to left, always crossing that line.
But to Steve Goetz, Lawrence resident, there are only two rules: don't use your hands and don't serve the bag to yourself.
Goetz said he first saw the game played in this area about six months ago. He calls hacky sack the ideal game
because of its emphasis on cooperation instead of competition.
"Basically, I call it the ideal game because nobody wins and nobody loses," he said. "It's a total group effort."
GOETZ SAID the game is appealing to people who are afraid to play computer games.
What makes the game a group effort, Goetz said, is the way they play. All of the people in the circle try to pass the footbag around without using their hands. Any number could play this way, he said.
"A lot of people are afraid to play in competitive sports because they're afraid of the competition—they want more of a social gathering." Goetz said. "And that's what sport is supposed to be, isn't it?"
To a lot of the players, the game can be addictive.
Brian Westmoreland, Independence, Mo., freshman, said he gooked on hacky sack about a year ago as a way to pass the time on the ground while waiting to go skydiving. Now he and several others, most of them members of the KU Frisbee Club, play as much as they can.
During an impromptu game in front of Strong Hall, Westmoreland said that the sport was growing rapidly in the Lawrence area. Last fall, when he came to KU, he only knew six other players. Now he knows over 50.
BRYAN HAAS, Mission Hills freshman and self-proclaimed "hack addict," said he first saw the game played while he was at Padre Island over spring break. Since then, he's been hooked.
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Although the game takes some ability and coordination, Haas said it's very easy to learn. He said he got the hang of it after only six hours of practice.
Sciences, said some additional resources were being added to the department.
"Once I brought it back all my roommates got hooked on it too," she said.
The only new faculty position to be added to the entire college, he said, will go to the computer science department.
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"After I started to play it, I liked it," Byer said. "It requires a lot of foot and eye coordination I never knew existed."
Lisbeth Byer, Prairie Village junior, who was busy jugging tennis balls while her friends were practicing their kicks, said she started playing the game two weeks ago because all her friend did.
He said the department's needs were "top priority" in the college.
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ADDICTION TO hacky sack is not only growing in this country but worldwide, according to Greg Coppasi, the director of Pastime Enterprises, Inc., marketers of the "official" footbag used in the game.
In a telephone interview from his Portland office, in a town where hacky sacks are almost as common as frisbees in the parks, Cortopias said the sport's popularity had just begun to spread from the West Coast, where it's been going strong for years, into several foreign countries.
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If the courses must be limited next fall, he said, it will be because of a lack of money and faculty.
Wallace said the department needed to cut down the size of some classes because of a "mutual lack of motivation by students and faculty."
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Citing the extremes of the situation, Adams said if enrollment doubled next fall, the college couldn't handle it, but if the fee increased by 10%, University's enrollment the same. The college could handle it.
Robert D. Adams, associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and
"There will be some difficulty in some sections," Victor Wallace, director of the department, said.
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Cortopass estimated that over half a million footbags had been sold since the company started producing them in 1977.
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"I don't intend to allow classes to get as large as they were this spring."
"When we first started," he said, "we put out 20,000 footballs. We doubled it."
The computer science department may be forced to turn away some students trying to enroll in some of courses next fall, administrators say.
"Our goal is to see hacky sack in the 1984 Olympics as a team sport," he said.
He said sales of the footbags, which cost about $6, have started to pick up in the last two three weeks.
Although slow at first, hacky sack sales are up locally, according to Denny Marcy, sporting goods buyer for Gibson's Discount Center, 2525 Iowa. He first saw the game at a sporting goods show in Chicago last February.
But for Goetz and his fellow players, playing on a sunny afternoon in front of Wescole is simpler.
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Despite the lack of media attention, Cortopassi still has big plans for hacky sack.
ALTHOUGH MOST people like hacky sack because it's non-competitive, Cortopassi said the team game was
"We just play to play the game," he said. "What other sport have you played where nobody wins or loses?"
"We just haven’t gotten the big cover yet," he said. "Sure, we did on ESPN, and P.M. Magazine did a spot on us. But we still have to make the major networks. A lot of people don’t know hacky sack is so big."
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catching on too. His company sponsors a professional team that tours the country playing a game similar to volleyball. The object is to kick the bag over a five foot net and keep it from landing on the ground.
DESPITE ALL the touring and endorsements from athletes such as the U.S. Olympic ski team, hacky sack for the most part remains obscure. One reason for this, according to Corto-passi, is a lack of media coverage.
Wallace said the lower level courses—CS 200, CS 210, CS 211 and CS 300—would be the hardest to get into next fall.
Today's Kansan is the final issue of the 1981 spring semester.
The Kansan will resume publication June 8. However, during
the summer semester the Kansan will be published twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays.
The Kansan will resume daily publication Aug. 24.
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