Article V - Footbag Freestyle

502. Field of Play

502.01. General:

The playing area may be of any surface, e.g., grass or wood floors, that is level and free of obstructions and holes, and that affords reasonable player safety. The playing area should be a circle approximately 40 feet in diameter. Indoor areas are acceptable if they have sufficient overhead clearance; 20 feet is recommended.

502.02. Spectator Safety:

The playing area should be well-marked with ropes or other means to ensure the safety of the spectators and to prevent interference with the routines.

503. Equipment

503.01. Footbags:

A player or team may use 1 or more footbags which must fall within the specifications set forth in Article 1, Section 106.01-D. If more than one footbag is used, the footbags need not be similar or identical. Tournament officials, including judges, have the right to inspect a player's footbags immediately before or after their freestyle routine in order to determine the characteristics of the footbag.

503.02. Uniforms:

Team members are not required to wear a uniform, although uniforms are recommended for best presentation of the routines.

503.03. Audio Equipment:

Audio equipment, with the ability to replay taped or recorded music at a sufficient decibel range to enable the players, judges and spectators to comfortably hear said music, shall be provided.

503.04. Aids and Props:

Players may include various aids or props in their routines, only if these aids or props do not pose any possibility of danger or harm to any players, judges or spectators. These aids and props should not be a substantial part of the routine, and must be approved by the tournament director, who shall have absolute discretion to deny inclusion.

504. Rules of Play

504.01. Play:

Freestyle is performed individually (singles) or in teams (2-3 players). Routines are presented to music and judged on the basis of their presentation, technical composition, difficulty, and drop count.

504.02. Timing of Performances:

A. Time Limits: Singles routines are allowed a maximum of 2 minutes. Team routines are allowed a maximum of 3 minutes. Minimum times may be set by the tournament director.

B. Start of Timer: The timer for a player's performace will start with the first performance sound or motion.

504.03. Judging Systems:

There are two primary judging systems; a formula-based judging system and a ranked-component judging system. These or other judging systems are chosen at the tournament director's discretion.

505. Formula-Based Judging System

505.01. Judges:
A panel of judges evaluates each routine. The judges are composed of other competitors, either those from other pools, or those who have been eliminated during previous rounds of play. The tournament director will draw up the judging assignments based on the entered competitors, and players are encouraged to cooperate so the event runs quickly. The judges are organized as follows:

A. Drop counter (one): Each time the footbag contacts the ground or the player makes a saving hand catch, one drop is counted. An unintentional upper-body contact, or "slop", counts as one-half drop.

B. Contacts counter (one): Each contact made as part of a "move" is counted. Basic kicks are not counted by the contacts counter. The point of counting add contacts is to compute a ratio of adds to contacts, which is used to determine the degree of difficulty of the routine. The higher the ratio, the more difficult the moves made by the player.

C. Add counter (one or two): An "add" refers to adding features to a basic kick to increase its difficulty and originality. There are 5 categories of adds, and a move may involve more than one kind of add. For examples, refer to the Section on Well Known Moves at the end of this Article. The add categories are:

1. Delay. Catching, trapping, or stalling the footbag.

2. Dexterity. Circling the footbag in flight with the foot, pendulum carries of the footbag, carrying the footbag around the support leg, and jumping over the footbag as it is delayed on the other foot.

3. Body. Spins between moves and moves made in the air (i.e. "flyers").

4. Cross-Body. Moves made on the left side of the body with the right foot, and vice versa. The active foot is crossed behind the support leg during the move.

5. Unusual Surface. A move made with something other than the basic kicking surfaces, which are the inside, outside, toe, and knee. Examples include the tip of the toe, heel, calf, shin, back of the knee, and the upper body.

D. Presentation judges (three to five): The presentation judges evaluate the competitors in five categories:

1. Music and Movement considers the relationship between the player(s) and the music, including the timing of moves and music, the rhythm of the routine, and the start and finish of the routine.

2. Floor, Planes & Travel considers the use of the floor area and the use of different kicking planes.

3. General Form considers the flow and confidence of the player(s).

4. Distribution & Linking considers the linking of moves together into combinations and the distribution of moves among the add categories.

5. Personality & Originality considers the players' appeal to the audience and the artistic impression, including style and originality.

E. Composition judges (three to five): There are judges for each of the add categories: delay, dexterity, body, cross-body, and unusual surface. The technical composition judges evaluate a players variety in a category. Judges award 1/10th of a point for each unique move that satisfies the criteria for the category.

F. Team judges (three to five, during team routines only): The team judges evaluate the team routines in 5 areas:

1. Equal Work considers the balance of work done between the players in a team.

2. Unity & Cooperation considers the use of "co-ops", or team moves, as opposed to individual moves.

3. Pass Difficulty considers the difficulty of passes between players, including adds by the passer and adds by the receiver.

4. Pass Variety considers the variety of passes and exchanges made.

5. Formations considers the variety of formations in the routine.

G. Head judge: The head judge's duties are to ensure that all other judges are present and ready to score each routine, and to ensure that the presentation and team judges are within their allowed range (see 504.04-C and -E).

H. Multiple assignments: At the tournament director's discretion, in order to reduce the number of judges required, a judge can take two judging assignments, e.g., one composition category and one choreography scoring sheet. The head judge can take one regular judging assignment.

505.02. Scoring Tabulation:
A score is composed of 4 parts in singles, and 5 parts in team.

A. Drop score: 5 points minus 1/4 point per drop (1/8 per slop). A slop is an accidental upper body contact. A saving hand-catch counts as one drop. A routine with 20 drops receives no drop score, and a dropless routine gets 5 points.

B. Difficulty score: 5 points maximum, obtained from the following formula:

             Difficulty = (Adds X Multiplier) + (Adds / Contacts)
             Multiplier = 0.0100 for Singles
             Multiplier = 0.0067 for Team.

        For example, a singles routine with 87 adds and 54 contacts:
             Example score = (87 X 0.01) + (87 / 54) = 2.48

C. Presentation score: A maximum of 10 points. Each judge gives up to 2 points in each of the 5 categories described above, for a total of 10 points. A player's final presentation score is obtained by averaging the scores of all the presentation judges. All presentation judges must agree within 1.5 points on the score for each player or team. For example, if the highest score for a player is 7.3, then the lowest score for a player must be at least 5.8. The head judge is responsible for getting the presentation judges within the allowed scoring range.

D. Composition score: A maximum of 10 points. A score of .1 point is awarded for each unique move that contains an add in each category. The Delay category is worth up to 3 points; the Dexterity, Cross-Body, and Body categories are each worth up to 2 points; and the Unusual category is worth up to 1 pointfor a total of 10. Traditionally, a composition judge evaluates only 1 category, and the results of all judges are summed to obtain a player's composition score.

E. Team score (if applicable): A maximum of 10 points. Each judge gives up to 2 points in each of the 5 categories described above, for a total of 10 points. A player's final team score is obtained by averaging the scores of all the team judges. All team judges must agree within 2 points on the score for each team. In the final round, agreement must be within 1.5 points. The head judge is responsible for getting the team judges within the allowed scoring range.

F. Total score: A maximum of 5 (drops) + 5 (difficulty) + 10 (composition) + 10 (presentation), or 30 points. Team totals include an additional 10 points for the team score.

505.03. Software Support:

A Macintosh HyperCard® application is freely available for use in tabulating freestyle results. Inquire with the IFPA. Ed. Note: On-line software for footbag competition support is available at http://www.footbag.org/software.html.

506. Ranked-Component Judging System

506.01. Judges:
A panel of judges evaluates each routine. The judges are composed of other competitors, either those from other pools, or those who have been eliminated during previous rounds of play. The tournament director will draw up the judging assignments based on the entered competitors, and players are encouraged to cooperate so the event runs quickly. The judges are organized as follows:

A. Presentation (3 to 5): Presentation judges will evaluate the competitors in the following four categories:

1. Artistic Expression: considers choreography, use of co-ops (for teams), use of music, and the judge's overall impression of the routine.

2. Variety: considers the range of possibilities of skills and combinations demonstrated by the players in each component of a move and/or combination of moves.

3. Use of elements: considers use of space, time, environment, and music.

4. Originality: considers creativity and new ideas.

B. Difficulty (3 to 5): Estimations of difficulty should primarily consider the relative risk of the moves attempted. That is, to what degree has the routine included techniques of play which other players in the contest would have difficulty completing without incurring execution deductions? Additionally, credit must be given for the difficulty of combining moves. The relative risk of a combination is greater than the total risk of all component moves.

C. Execution (3 to 5): Estimates of execution quality involve the amount of deviation from a flawless technique. Serious errors such as drops, wild kicks, stumbling or other major, unplanned breaks in play obviously detract from high-quality execution. More minor errors such as hesitation, awkward movement, resetting stalls, or loss of balance should also be considered.

506.02. Scoring Players:

Judges should give full, sincere attention to each routine being judged, ranking competitors relative to each other for the pool and factor being judged; with 1 being best, 2 being second best, etc. Guidelines to follow are:

1. Read the explanation of the aspects of play you are expected to judge.

2. Keep appropriate notes about each routine on your worksheet. Use any method of note-taking you wish, but be consistent.

3. Focus only on the assigned evaluation factor.

4. Be aware of your potential biases, and evaluate competitors as fairly as possible.

5. Review notes and give full consideration to all routines after all competitors have finished.

506.03. Tabulating Scores:

Each judge's score for each routine should be added together. The lowest total score takes first, the second lowest score takes second, and so on.

A. Resolving ties: If total scores are identical, the team with the greatest number of 1st-place rankings is to have the highest final rank among tied teams. If 1st-place rankings are identical, the comparison moves down to 2nd-place rankings, and on down until the tie is resolved.

507. Tournament Procedures

507.01. Pool Format:

Players are divided into pools, and each pool is judged separately. Each pool consists of 4 to 8 players. In general, the top 4 of each preliminary pool advance to a qualifying round, and the top 2 of each qualifying pool advance to the final round. Recommended pool sizes are:

1-7 players:

1 pool, all advance to finals.

8-14 players:

2 pools, top 2 or 3 players from each pool advance to the final round of 4 or 6 players.

15-21 players:

3 pools, top 2 of each pool advance to finals, or top 4 of each pool advance to qualifying round of 12 players.

22-28 players:

4 pools, top 2 of each pool advance to finals, or top 4 of each pool advance to qualifying round of 16 players.

29-35 players:

5 pools, top 4 of each pool advance to qualifying round of 20 players.

36-47 players:

6 pools, top 4 of each pool advance to qualifying round of 24 players.

507.02. Pool Seeding:

A. Ranked Order: Each pool is ranked from bottom to top, with the top-ranked player or team performing last in the pool. Seeding in the preliminary round is based on players' performance at previous events. Seeding in the qualifying and final rounds is based on the players' performance in the earlier rounds.

B. Random Order: At the tournament director's discretion, the competing order of any pool of competitors may be assigned by random draw.

507.03. Judging Assignments:

A. General: Each player is obliged to serve on the judging panels. Players who fail to show up for a judging assignment in the preliminary rounds will be scratched from the freestyle event. Players who fail to show for a judging assignment in the final round will be penalized at the tournament director's discretion. The pool and judging assignments should be made and announced at the same time so the event runs smoothly.

B. Judging Rotation: Note that men's and women's pools can judge each other, so the total number of pools should be considered when organizing the event.

2 pools:

pool A is judged by pool B, and then pool B is judged by pool A.

3 pools:

pool A is judged by pool C, then pool B is judged by pool A, and then pool C is judged by pool B (i.e. a particular pool will judge, rest, then kick).

4 pools:

pool A is judged by pool C and pool B is judged by pool D. Players from pool A and pool B can alternate their performances to overlap judging and performing times. Pools C and D then perform and are judged by Pool A and B, respectively.

5 pools:

organize 4 pools as described, then run one pool by itself.

6 pools:

pools A and B are judged by pools E and F, pools C and D are judged by A and B, and pools E and F are judged by C and D. Players alternate from the two pools performing to allow judging overlap.

507.04. Mixing Categories:

Men, Women, and Intermediate players may be mixed in a pool in order to facilitate judging. For example, there might be two pools, each composed of 2 intermediates, 2 women, and 4 men. These two pools can judge each other, but the players compete against only those in their own category.

507.05. Final Results:

The final results of a competition are based on the results in the final round. Scores from preliminary rounds are not accumulated towards the final score, although the preliminary results may be used for seeding the final round.

508. Glossary

Add

Short for "addition." A movement made in addition to a basic kick. Adds form the basis for determining a move's difficulty. A move may involve more than one add, e.g. a delay and a dexterity add, or a flyer (body add) and a cross-body add.

Body

An add category that involves extra body motions during a move; typically a flyer or a spin.

Add-Contact

A contact of the footbag, either a kick or a delay, made while executing a move with at least one add. Basic kicks are not counted as contacts.

Cross-Body

An add category that involves kicking on the opposite side of the body by reaching behind the support leg with the kicking or catching leg.

Delay

The act of catching or trapping the footbag as opposed to kicking or striking it. Delays are one category of adds.

Dexterity

An add category that involves moves like circling the footbag in flight with the foot (an "around-the-world"), carrying the footbag around the support leg (a "wrap"), or carrying the footbag behind you and over the head (a "pendulum").

Unique Move

For the purpose of Composition Judging, a unique move is any move containing an add value whose add components are different from any other move done in that performance. Spin directions and leg direction in dexterity moves are considered different; moves coming from a different set are not unique unless that set forces another add component (i.e. body, in the case of "paradox" moves) to be added.

Unusual Surface

An add category that involves the use of a surface other than the normal inside, outside, toe, and knee surfaces. Examples include the tip of the toe, the heel, sole, shin, head, chest, and back.

509. Well Known Moves

Comment:
This section lists many of the common footbag moves, giving their name, add count, add categories, and a description. Unfortunately, the explanation of the more complex moves may be incomprehensible if you haven't already seen the move. Many more moves are possible. Experiment! [Ed. Note: there is a "living" document of footbag moves on the on-line footbag frequently-asked-questions page at http://www.footbag.org/faq/.]

Note that the add count for a move counts the final delay of the move (if any) but not the delay (if any) involved in the set for the move. This convention ensures that sequences of linked moves are properly counted.

Toe Stall

1 add (delay) Delay the footbag on the top of the toes of the foot.

Inside Stall

1 add (delay) Delay the footbag on the inside surface of the foot.

Outside Stall

1 add (delay) Delay the footbag on the outside surface of the foot.

Knee Stall

1 add (delay) Delay the footbag on the knee.

Spin

1 add (body) Spin around in between kicks.

Flying Outside

1 add (body) Jump and kick with the outside surface of the foot.

Flying Inside

1 add (body) Jump and kick with the inside surface of the foot.

Clipper Kick

1 add (cross-body) An inside kick made with the kicking leg tucked behind the support leg (i.e., cross-body).

Sole Kick

1 add (unusual surface) A kick made with the sole. Kick with the right foot on the right side of the body, pointing the knee down to get a flat sole.

Cloud Kick

1 add (unusual surface) A kick made with the calf of the leg.

Forehead Stall

1 add (unusual surface) Delay the footbag on the forehead. Note, this move is one add, and does not count in the delay category.

Neck Catch

1 add (unusual surface) Catch the footbag behind the neck Note, this move is one add, and does not count in the delay category.

Around the World

1 add (dexterity) Circle the footbag in between toe kicks.

Around the World Stall

2 adds (dexterity, delay) Circle the footbag and catch it with a toe stall. The set can be a toe stall, inside stall, or kick. Remember that the set is not counted in the 2-add ranking of this move, but the last delay is

Leg Over Stall

2 adds (dexterity, delay) Pass the setting leg over the footbag and catch the footbag on an inside delay.

Mirage Stall

2 adds (dexterity, delay) Set from a toe stall, then circle the footbag with the support leg and catch with the setting foot. Circle the non-setting foot to the inside and below the footbag, then up, over, and back to the ground before catching with the setting foot.

Clipper Stall

2 adds (cross-body, delay) A cross-body inside delay.

Hop Over

2 adds (dexterity, delay) Holding an inside delay, jump over the suspended foot with the support leg, ending in a cross-body position.

Double-spin

2 adds. (2 body). Two spins between moves.

Flying Clipper

2 adds (body, cross-body) A flying cross-body inside kick.

Bent Knee Clipper

2 adds. (body, cross-body) A flying cross-body inside kick, except the support leg is tucked under the kicking foot instead of extended as in the Flying Clipper.

Toe Clipper

2 adds. (body, cross-body) A flying cross-body toe kick.

Knee Clipper

2 adds. (body, cross-body) A flying cross-body knee kick.

Flapper

2 adds (cross-body, unusual) A cross-body sole kick.

Dragon Fly Kick

2 adds (body, dexterity) A flying inside-to-outside leg over. Jump with the support leg, then circle the footbag to the inside, then up, and over while making a flying inside kick.

Sole Stall

2 adds (delay, unusual surface) Delay on the sole of the foot.

Squeeze

2 adds (delay, unusual surface) Catch the footbag in the crook of the knee.

Pendulum

2 adds (dexterity, delay) Toe delay that is carried directly behind and up, with the released footbag going over your head and landing in front of you.

Rake

2 adds. (delay, dexterity) Reversal of a pendulum. A toe delay is made behind you and the footbag is carried forward.

Wrap

2 adds. (delay, dexterity) An inside delay is carried around the support leg to a cross-body position.

Walk-Over

1 add (delay) An inside delay in which the delaying foot is placed on the ground while the other foot steps over the delayed footbag.

Probe

2-3 adds. ((body), cross-body, delay) A neck or shoulder catch that is dropped behind you to a cross-body inside delay. If the catch is blind, an additional body add is counted.

Butterfly Kick

3 adds (dexterity, body, cross-body) A flying leg-over cross-body inside kick. The non-kicking leg goes up and over the footbag while the support leg comes up into a cross-body inside kick.

Butterfly Stall

3 adds (dexterity, delay, cross-body) A leg-over to a cross-body delay. The support leg goes up, over, and lands to support a cross-body inside delay.

Whirl Stall

3 adds (dexterity, delay, cross-body) From a cross-body inside delay set, the support leg circles the set footbag from back to front, then lands to support a cross-body inside delay.

Osis Stall

3 adds (body, delay, cross-body) A spin into a cross-body inside delay. Set the footbag to the right of your body. Turn to the left so the footbag passes behind your back. Bring the right foot up into position for a cross-body inside delay. Sink into the catch. Complete the turn in a cross-body delay position.

Refraction

3 adds. (body, cross-body, delay) A spin, cross-body, to a delay. The footbag is set in front of the body, an inside delay is initiated, but a spin towards the support leg and a wrap-like carry brings the delay into a cross-body position. This is similar to an Osis.

Double Around the World

3 adds (dexterity, dexterity, delay) From a toe delay, circle the footbag twice before catching it with a toe delay. Jump slightly with the support leg and point your toe down during the first circle to make it easier.

Double-Leg-Over

3 adds. (2 dexterity, delay) After a toe set the support leg and the setting leg go over the footbag, and a toe delay finishes the move.

Eclipse

3 adds. (delay, dexterity, body) A flying jump-over. An inside delay is performed in the air as the other leg jumps over the catching foot. Finish in a cross-body delay.

Symposium Mirage Stall

3 adds (body, dexterity, delay) Like a Mirage, except the setting and catching foot does not touch the ground as the support leg circles the footbag and lands to support the toe delay catch. "Symposium" is a term for moves where the setting /catching leg does not touch down during the dexterity move.

Paradox Mirage Stall

3 adds (body, dexterity, delay) like a Mirage, except the support leg circles the other direction, from the outside, over, and inside to the ground to support the toe delay catch. "Paradox" implies that the upper body's momentum must be reversed (twice) to perform the leg dexterity.

Drifter

3 adds (dexterity, cross-body delay) From a toe delay set, circle the footbag with the support leg to the inside, up, over, and around into a cross-body delay.

Torque Stall

4 adds (dexterity, body, cross-body, delay) A Mirage into an Osis. From a cross-body set, the support leg goes up and over the footbag, initiating the spin into the cross-body delay, or Osis.

Spinning Osis Stall

4 adds (body, body, cross-body, delay) A spin into the Osis.

Butterfly Swirl Stall

4 adds (dexterity, dexterity, delay, cross-body) A hop-over inside around-the-world. From an inside delay, the support leg jumps over the footbag as the other foot completes an inside around-the-world. End in a cross-body inside delay.

Spinning Butterfly Kick

4 adds (body, dexterity, body, cross-body) Spin into a butterfly kick.

Blur Stall

4 adds (dexterity, dexterity, dexterity, delay) From a cross-body inside delay, Mirage with the set leg, then Mirage paradox, with the support leg, to a toe delay catch with the non-setting foot.

Da Da Curve

4 adds (dexterity, dexterity, cross-body, delay) From a cross-body inside delay set, the support leg does a leg-over from inside to out, the setting leg does a leg-over from outside-to-in, and the non-setting foot, which never touches the ground, catches the footbag on a cross-body inside delay.

Whirling Swirl

4 adds (dexterity, dexterity, cross-body, delay) From a cross-body inside delay, the support leg circles over the footbag from back to front as the other foot completes a cross-body inside around-the-world. End in a cross-body inside delay.

Symposium Whirl

4 adds (body, dexterity, cross-body, delay) Like a Whirl, except the setting foot does not touch down as the support leg circles the footbag and lands to support a cross-body delay by the setting foot.

510. Sample of Ranked-Component Judging Scoresheet

Comment:

After taking notes and watching all performances, each judge should rank (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.) each player's/team's relative performance in the specific factor being judged. The rank numbers that all judges have given for each person/team should be added together. The lowest score takes first, and so on. Ties are resolved by awarding the higher place to the person who got more higher places.

Figure 7: Ranked-Component Judging Worksheet

Note: You can DOWNLOAD A PRINTABLE FORM in Adobe^® PDF format. Click here to download the PDF file; use Adobe^® Acrobat to view and print the file.