Boxing Resource Center

Our winter practice sessions in Nashville are being held at the Boxing Resource Center. Justin (one of our new members) is a boxing coach & has been kind enough to let us use his gym for the past few weeks. At our session on Sunday one of the other newbies (John) said he wanted to step up in the ring & fight. How could Justin say no? Well..... hilariousness ensued & it looked something like this.


It's an awesome place to practice. There are tons of punching bags & plenty of medicine balls to throw at one another. It always leads to an interesting session, one way or the other. Anyway we had 7 people at our weekly practice on Sunday. Footbag is always better with friends.

Return of the Sickle

This weekend marked the return of the Sickle. It's great to see him back in the circle & on the net court as well. I know it's only been 5 months or so since he left, but how many people do you know that can pull a double spinning osis mid-string? Andrew was so psyched he almost hugged him - I think. In the past 5 months we've gone from 2 to 5 regular kickers + numerous part-timers. The king of Nashville freestyle is back, so put your hands in the air!

Footbag Shoes

I know there has been some discussion among our newer members about what the best shoes are for footbag. Well there are shoes for net & shoes for freestyle. So I'm gonna run down the list of what footwear to buy. You may be able to find a better deal elsewhere, so shop around before you spend $100. In fact the best place to get shoes is at Marti & Liz's Shoes in Murfreesboro. The address is 810 NW Broad St. Murfreesboro, TN 37129.

FOOTBAG NET

Nike - Air Max 90 (Difficult to find) http://www.pickyourshoes.com/size/nike_air_max_90.htm $70 - 95













New Balance - M1123 (Moderately easy to find) http://franksshoes.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=87 $120













Adidas - Superstar II (Easy to find) http://www.amazon.com/adidas-Originals-Mens-Superstar-Basketball/dp/B0007QCQA4 $45 - 65














FOOTBAG FREESTYLE

Adidas - Rod Laver (Difficult to find) http://worldfootbag.com/catalog2/showgroup/clothing $50

Quantum - 03 (Impossible to find) http://www.freedomfootbags.com/shredshop/ $80

New Blood

In the past couple months we've managed to get four new people playing footbag in Nashville alone: Taylor, Justin, Nikoli, & Micah. We may have even sparked a two-man scene all the way out in Portland, TN thanks to the Willi B-Day Jam. By footbag standards this is an explosive rate of growth. We had six kickers at our practice session in Murfreesboro on Sunday & we're normally only accustomed to three. It appears that the e-mail list, blog, & footbag donation program are helping to motivate our local scene. Keep kicking it people.

Winter Footbag

I finally bought an awesome indoor net set last week. The posts aren't set in the ground like some volleyball sets, no massive posts that have to be wheeled out onto the court, and it can even be set up within a racuqetball court. Ladies & gentleman may I introduce the future of indoor net.

Willi's B-Day Jam

Memphis Legends - Willi & Lei Lani

Last weekend Willi Williams (Memphis Footworks legend) came to Nashville to celebrate his 50th birthday. We held a get together at Centennial Park & invited jammers, footbaggers, & a lone unicyclist to the party. There were 15 people altogether with plenty of disc & footbag to go around. We had the opportunity of meeting a few new faces & some that have been in hiding for months. Old school disc pros Ron K, David K., & Willi attracted a number of tourists' cameras with their antics. It's always amazing when all the talent shows up. Thanks for coming down Willi.

The Last White Hope

The best news I had this Summer was when I heard Andrew C. was moving to Nashville to attend MTSU this Fall. If your thinking my Summer was just lame... well it's not everyday the best freestyler in the Southeast moves into town. Nashville Footbag was standing on its' last leg. The net sessions were down to me & Alex, plus Lee S. was moving to Cookeville for school. Andrew transferring here was the shot in the arm that we needed. We've seen the tide swing in Nashville from freestyle to net, & then to almost no footbag at all. So when Andrew moved here I thought, we really need to just play both freestyle & net. The footbag scene is small enough as it is, there's no need to add another wedge. We started having sessions at the start of September, & I'm pleased to announce that net players are circle kicking & freestylers are on the net court. Andrew's Foot-tastic Extravaganva was a footbag gathering back in July that welcomed Andrew to Tennessee. Here's a few photos taken from the jam.

Andrew C. & I go way back. I first met him at a little event that we threw in Chattanooga back in 2003. Andrew drove up from Atlanta with another freestyle prodigy by the name of Ben B. This was the first of many meetings between the Georgia & Tennessee boys. We were completely blown away by the endless strings & high caliber tricks he was drilling. The only event that we had that day was an intermediate shred 30, & if I recall correctly, Andrew didn't compete that day because he was already kicking at pro level. Ben B. did compete & edged out our Nashville sensation Andy C. to take top billing. Here's a photo from back in the day - Chattanooga '03

Organization + Schedule

Nashville doesn't have a shortage of footbaggers, we have a lack of organization. I know that we have 15 footbaggers in the metropolitan area, but the problem lies with getting everyone to the same place & at the same time. I realize that everyone leads a busy life & there's usually something more important on the agenda i.e. family, work, & school. The reason I started the blog is to help Nashvile footbaggers communicate better. This gives everyone the opportunity to contribute their opinions & share ideas about the Nashville scene.

Schedule - Currently we are practicing on Sunday afternoons from 3-5 P.M. We alternate locations between Nashville (Centennial Park) & Murfreesboro (MTSU Campus). The schedule is coordinated around the given timetable of the active members & we try to accommodate all.

Centennial Park - 2500 West End Ave./MTSU Campus - 1301 East Main St.

About Nashville Footbag

Nashville Footbag was founded in 2002 when I was attending MTSU (Middle Tennessee State University). I had rediscovered footbag that year & heard about a small group of kickers in Manchester, TN. We started having regular freestyle sessions every weekend. The original members included: Andy C., Dustin Y., & myself. We picked up a few more players and grew to 7 members. It was fantastic because we all started kicking around the same time, I could see progress in every practice. Nashville maintained an excellent freestyle scene until 2005 came around. The Manchester circle broke up when they graduated from high school & moved to attend different schools.

As the freestyle scene declined, footbag net started to gain popularity at MTSU. We started with only 2 players in 2003 & had up to 9 members by 2005. It was great to have the competition & the friendships that we had formed over the years by kicking a bag around. In 2006 the bubble burst when we lost a couple members, & in 2007 we lost a few more. By the time Spring came around in 2008, we only had 2 active kickers & it was the first time we couldn't get 4 people on a net court in a long time. It was an unfamiliar feeling & I decided it was time to do something about it.