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HOW DO I MODIFY MY SHOES?

Since the majority of shoes used for freestyle footbag were not designed with the footbagger's needs in mind, three of the 5 most popular models, the Adidas Rod Laver, the Reebok G-Unit, and the Adidas Climacool, require significant modifications in order to be optimized for play. The Climacool is the most difficult of the three to modify, requiring careful cutting of plastic around delicate mesh, and caulking of the instep surface. This process can easily take 3 hours for a first-timer, and another 1-3 days to allow for drying.

Shoe modifications are best taught in person, and text alone is certainly not sufficient, so we will rely on the work already done for us by experienced footbag shoe modders who went to the trouble to document the processes for each shoe with photo examples.

 

Adidas Rod Laver
See instructions by Dat Phan: here.

Reebok G-Unit 6
See instructions by Waylon Lew: here.

Adidas Climacool 1
See instructions by Tom Mosher: here.

Quantum/Nucleus
Since the Quantum and Nucleus shoes were designed specifically for freestyle footbag, they require no modifications.

 

Additional modifications
While the above are the core modifications that are largely necessary for the respective shoes to be freestyle-ready, players have devised many additional modifications for specific purposes that may prove useful depending on personal preferences. One example is the Brocka mod, invented by Peter Brocka from Slovakia, wherein a chunk of the padding around the ankle is removed to increase flexibility for clipper stalls.