Features
It's in the Bag!
U of G student and world champion footbagger gets his kicks on campus
BY REBECCA KENDALL
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| Jorden Moir demonstrates one of his award-winning footbag moves. Photo by Martin Schwalbe |
Jorden Moir has a strong toehold on the footbag. The first-year mathematics student is one of the top five footbag (more commonly known as Hacky Sack) players in the world. This summer he competed in five freestyle events at the world championships in Frankfurt, Germany, placing first in the shred 30 and unseating the reigning four-year champion.
"The shred is like a 100-metre sprint," says Moir. "You have 30 seconds to do the most difficult and unusual tricks possible without dropping the footbag. It's all about speed and agility and keeping the bag low enough to do as many tricks as possible."
Despite the popularity of footbag around the world, it's still considered an underground sport and only a few people do it professionally, says Moir, who grew up in Dundas.
"We try to promote it as much as we can. Obviously not everyone's going to play it, but we want people to know that the sport exists, that there are serious athletes who train for it and that it spans far beyond just kicking."
No one knows that better than Moir, who says footbag has "helped me develop as a person, given me confidence and helped me interact with people. It also keeps me in shape."
Just a few years ago when he was starting high school, he was never invited to join the students who spent their breaks and noon hours in a circle kicking footbags because he couldn't keep up.
So one day instead of heading to the school cafeteria, he took his lunch money to a nearby store and bought a crocheted footbag.
"In the beginning, I knew just a couple of basic kicks, and I practised from there," he says.
To find out more about footbagging, Moir searched the web and soon realized how far-reaching the activity is and how advanced the footwork and tricks can be.
"I was totally blown away the first time I saw some of the video posted on the web. It was so beyond my perception of what the sport was, and I became obsessed with learning everything I could about it."
Since then, he's been to 35 competitions throughout North America and Europe, including contests in Toronto, Montreal, Chicago and Seattle. Last year, he was flown to Copenhagen to give a demonstration at Denmark's national competition. He also competed in the world championships in Helsinki, Finland, placing third in the 30-second shred and fourth in the open singles freestyle. This August, he placed second at the U.S. Open in Portland, Ore.
Each freestyle trick has a certain number of points, and points are determined by the complexity of the trick, Moir explains before warming up to demonstrate his skills. His skill level allows for up to eight points per trick, he says, adding that in Germany he racked up 240 points in 30 seconds, and his personal best is 268.
Dressed in his standard "uniform" of shorts and a sleeveless shirt, he shows off some basic moves such as toe kicks, knee kicks and stalls, which are moves that don't generate any points but are used to join one move to another. Gradually he progresses to more difficult and intricate tricks like "the mirage," the "atom smasher" and "the royale," which is one of his many signature moves.
"If you invent the trick, you get to name it, and some of the names are pretty ridiculous," says Moir, who has developed more than 50 tricks, including "the lawnmoir."
"I'm well-known for thinking outside the box," he says as he ducks, spins, kicks and weaves the footbag around his body. "It's about figuring out how to cram as many elements as possible into one complex trick."
The moves mastered by professional-level footbaggers like Moir are often so quick that the human eye can readily miss some of the finer elements. He explains each of his tricks to this reporter and a growing audience, making it easier for unskilled observers to understand what they're seeing.
In competition, the routines are videotaped so they can later be slowed down for the judges to accurately score the performance, says Moir, who continues to answer interview questions despite the attention he must pay to his footwork and movement.
"Some people may think what I do is a novelty, but those who see it are blown away," he says.
He adds another layer to the performance by throwing in a second footbag and a series of red balls that he juggles while keeping the footbags in constant motion.
Moir says he often practises tricks for hours at a time, trying to perfect his craft and develop new and innovative moves.
"The key is repetition and to never give up. It's truly an art form when you can do whatever pops into your head. My main goal in footbag is to do whatever I want whenever I want."
His next competition is in Prague in early 2007. A series of videos of him in action has been uploaded to www.youtube.com and can be accessed by keying "Jorden Moir" into the search field.