Home > What is footbag? > Trick components
TRICK COMPONENTS
| Introduction Adds Delay Dexterity |
Crossbody Body Unusual Paradox and xdex |
Introduction
Every footbag trick is comprised of components that generally fall within 6 categories called "adds." These trick components can be combined in a virtually limitless fashion in crafting any trick imaginable.
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Adds
An add is a concept of artificial difficulty that is used in judging freestyle events. The categories are: delay, dexterity, crossbody, body, unusual, and paradox/xdex. It is unfortunately a flawed system that does not gauge wholly accurate difficulty and has yet to be replaced; however, it provides a general understanding that a 1-add trick is quite simple in comparison to one composed of 6 adds.
The following video demonstrates the addition of a single "add" of "difficulty," one level at a time from a 1-add move up to a 6-add move. Transcription, including Job's notation, follows:
1)
Toe stall (1 add): set > toe [del]
2)
Clipper (2 adds): set > clip [xbd][del]
3) Down/butterfly (3 adds): set > op out [dex] >
op clip [xbd][del]
4) Spinning down/butterfly (4 adds): set > (back) spin [bod] > op out [dex] > op clip [xbd][del]
5) Spinning ducking down/butterfly (5 adds): set >
(back) spin [bod] > duck [bod] > op out [dex] > op clip [xbd][del]
6) Spinning ducking symposium down/butterfly (6 adds): set >
(back) spin [bod] > duck [bod] > (no plant while) op out [bod][dex] > op clip [xbd][del]
Video: Footbag concept -- adds, by Erik Chan.
For best experience, view in full screen at 720p.
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Delay
A delay is a trick component in which the footbag is caught on the player's foot or other body part. It is the most basic element following the kick (which is not awarded an add), yet also the most fundamental, as the majority of freestyle tricks both begin and end with a delay. Within the delay category, a surface may be specified, such as toe, inside, outside, or a variety of unusual surfaces (which receive a second add simply for being uncommon.) Generally a trick ends as soon as the delay is performed, hence a single trick cannot be composed of multiple delays.
Video: Footbag trick -- toe stall, by Erik Chan.
For best experience, view in full screen at 720p.
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Dexterity
A dexterity is a trick component in which the player circles the footbag with his or her leg at some point between the initial set and final contact. Dexterities can be accumulated within a single trick and are a fairly common gauge of difficulty. Yet as previously mentioned, there are always exceptions to the outdated add system. For example, most players would consider a trick with a triple spin far more difficult than a trick with a triple dexterity. Similarly, the manner in which the dexterities are performed will determine relative difficulty; generally, multiple dexterities performed in the same direction, with the same leg is harder than multiple dexterities performed in the same direction, alternating legs.
Any dexterity can be performed in two different directions. Yet there are many different styles and motions in which a dexterity can be performed, such as opposite leg, same leg, opposite leg caught on same, and same caught on opposite. Furthermore, they can be executed in distinct motions that compose unique tricks. For example, a down/butterfly is an out-to-in dex caught on clipper with the knee pointed outward, while a whip/reverse whirl is an out-to-in dex caught on clipper with the knee pointed inward.
The most dexterities ever hit within a single trick is 5, including sailing near mofly and nemesis swirl. Dexterity speed can be affected by many factors such as leg strength, weight of shoe, size of bag, and fit of shorts. The following video demonstrates various additions of a single dexterity, one level at a time from a single-dex move up to a 3-dex move. Notice how the tricks build upon each other by combining various components. Transcription, including Job's notation, follows:
1) Around the world (1 dex): toe > same in [dex] > same toe [del]
2)
Down/butterfly (1 dex): set > op out [dex] > op clip [xbd][del]
3) Stepping set (1 dex): clip > op in [dex] > (stepping is a set -- an uptime trick component that precedes a downtime component-- in this case an uptime mirage; see Uptime for more.)
4)
Ripwalk, aka stepping far down/butterfly (2 dexes): clip > op in [dex] > op out [dex] > op clip [xbd][del]
5) Barfly, aka double down (2 dexes): clip > op out [dex] > same out [dex] > op clip [xbd][del]
6) Blurriest, aka stepping far double down (3 dexes): clip > op in [dex] > op out [dex] > same out [dex] > op clip [xbd][del]
Video: Footbag concept -- dexterity, by Erik Chan.
For best experience, view in full screen at 720p.
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Crossbody
Crossbody is a modifier for a kick or delay, where the contact leg is held in position behind the support leg. The most common example is clipper, which is a crossbody inside stall -- an inside stall held behind the support leg. Hence, clipper is a 2-add stall, while toe stall is simply 1. Dragon is a crossbody outside stall. And flapper is a crossbody sole stall (receiving a third add for its unusual surface).
Video: Footbag trick -- clipper, by Erik Chan.
For best experience, view in full screen at 720p.
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Body
Body is a trick component wherein rather than a stalling surface or dexterity type being employed to craft a single trick, a body movement is added. Such body movements include spins, ducks, and jumps (both flying and symposium). Spins can be performed in a variety of ways such as back full spinning, back half-spinning (gyro), front full spinning (inspinning), and front half-spinning (ingyro). These can be combined in further ways such as spinning gyro (wrecking), double spinning, or even gyro gyro (peeking). The following is a video of a spinning clipper.
Video: Footbag concept -- spinning, by Erik Chan.
For best experience, view in full screen at 720p.
A duck is when the footbag passes over the back of the neck some time between the initial set and final contact of the trick. Like spinning, it can be performed to the opposite side (ducking) or to the same side (weaving), or to the opposite side, first passing under the neck (zulu), or to the same side, first passing under the neck (diving). Again, various combinations can be formed, like double ducking, or diving ducking. The following is a video of a ducking clipper.
Video: Footbag concept -- ducking, by Erik Chan.
For best experience, view in full screen at 720p.
Jumps, meanwhile, come in two forms: flying (wherein an intentional jump is performed and eventually followed by a kick or stall) and symposium (which is a forced jump, conjoined with a dexterity, or set thereof, where the leg that is not performing the dex doesn't touch the ground.)
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Unusual
Unusual refers to an uncommon body surface that is used to contact the bag -- essentially any surface other than toe, inside, and outside. Such surfaces include sole, heel, calf, knee-pit, knee, neck, forehead, and head. There is some debate over how this add is awarded, however. Originally a head stall would be granted the unusual add without the delay add, since only unusual surfaces attributed to the leg would gain the add, but this clearly doesn't make sense -- a stall is a stall. This is to say there is contention over whether or not contacts above the waist gain the unusual add. Regardless, the unusual add, like the crossbody add, is employed in direct conjunction with a kick or stall. The following video demonstrates the aforementioned unusual surface stalls.
Video: Footbag concept -- unusual, by Erik Chan.
For best experience, view in full screen at 720p.
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Paradox and xdex
Paradox is one of the most debated concepts in freestyle footbag. While the add system is greatly flawed in representing accurate difficulty, paradox was introduced to provide balance for lower add tricks that felt more difficult. As a result, it has often accomplished quite the opposite. Paradox is a somewhat abstract concept, often explained as either a far-dexing double hip-pivot, a 360-degree full dexterity, or both. It is granted solely to tricks set from clipper. Xdex was developed later to attempt even further balance for far-dexing double hip-pivot and full dex tricks set from toe. Entire countries (such as Finland) refuse to acknowledge its validity. While difficult to explain, the following video demonstrates the trick paradox mirage.
Video: Footbag trick -- paradox mirage, by Erik Chan.
For best experience, view in full screen at 720p.
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Uptime
Uptime refers to a trick or trick component being performed while the footbag is travelling upward, before it has peaked in the air. It can refer to simply a plain set, such as from toe or clipper surfaces. Yet, more frequently it is associated with a dexterity or set of dexterities performed while the footbag travels upward. The following video shows a comparison of the trick mixer (miraging switch) performed in two ways: 1) with the first mirage dexterity performed uptime, while the bag is still traveling up, followed by the second switch dexterity performed downtime, after the bag has reached its peak and is traveling down; and 2) with both the mirage and switch dexterities performed after the footbag has peaked and is traveling downward.
Video: Footbag concept -- uptime and downtime 1, by Erik Chan.
For best experience, view in full screen at 720p.
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Downtime
Downtime is simply the opposite of uptime. The major difference being that uptime is associated with dexterity-conjoined sets, while downtime is more associated with dexterity-conjoined stalls. The following is another comparison of uptime and downtime components, where the trick drifter (miraging clipper) is performed in two ways: 1) with the "mirage" dexterity (open) performed uptime, followed by the clipper stall performed downtime; and 2) with the mirage dexterity performed downtime immediately preceding the clipper stall.
Video: Footbag concept -- uptime and downtime 2, by Erik Chan.
For best experience, view in full screen at 720p.
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Midtime
The use of the term midtime is reserved for more advanced discussion, wherein more nuanced and technical distinctions are made between uptime, downtime, and the short time span between (close to the peak of the bag). For the purposes of this website, uptime and downtime are superfluous in and of themselves. However, it should be noted that they are important concepts in advanced play, permitting a higher capacity for diverse trick crafting (shuffle).
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