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TERMINOLOGY
Important note
To avoid any confusion, it is important to note the recent introduction of the Descriptive System of Freestyle Footbag Elements (colloquially known as the Descriptive System). This system strives to employ more concise and efficient trick and concept naming. Yet, while widely used at IFPA-sanctioned events for a number of years now, it has yet to be officially or popularly adopted. For the purposes of this website, it only affects a handful of trick and concept names that have been changed:
"Around the world (out-to-in)" is now "orbit."
"Legover" is now "switch."
"Butterfly" is now "down."
"Pixie" is now "open."
| Adds Bail BAP Body BOP Crossbody Delay |
Dexterity Downtime Duck Genuine Guiltless Job's Notation Midtime |
Move Paradox Run Set Shred Stall String |
The Tiltless Trick Unusual Uptime Xdex |
Adds
An add is a concept of artificial difficulty that is used in judging freestyle events. Adds are trick components that can be combined in a virtually limitless fashion, from the following categories: delay, dexterity, crossbody, body, unusual, paradox/xdex. It is unfortunately a flawed system that does not gauge 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. For more on this see Trick Components.
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Bail
Bailing refers to linking to a below-average-difficulty trick (relative to the player's skill level) mid-run. In advanced freestyle, these tricks usually include, if not limited to, down/butterfly, osis, and paradox mirage (see BOP). A bail is one of these tricks. "Bail" can also be used to refer to a player unintentionally falling to the ground.
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BAP
BAP is an acronym for Big Add Posse, which is an elite team of
top-level players that are nominated and inducted at major tournaments around the world. The current roster (as of December, 2013) is 75 members inducted since 1992,[13] many of whom are now inactive. One who is inducted is referred to as having been BAPtized.
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Body
A category of adds and a trick component such as a spin, a duck, symposium, or flying. See Trick Components for more.
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BOP
BOP is an acronym for Butterfly, Osis, Paradox Mirage, referring to the 3 most commonly employed bail tricks. It is a bit of a misnomer since the introduction of the Descriptive System of Freestyle Footbag Elements, as the trick "butterfly" is now also known as "down." It can be used as a verb, as in "He just BOPped" or as a noun, referring to either a single of the 3 tricks, or all 3 as a single concept, as in "BOPs."
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Crossbody
A category of adds and a trick component wherein the position in which the delaying leg is situated is behind the support leg. See Trick Components for more.
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Delay
A category of adds and a trick component in which the footbag is caught on the player's foot or other body part. See Trick Components for more.
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Dexterity
A category of adds and a trick component in which the player circles the footbag with his or her leg. See Trick Components for more.
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Downtime
Downtime refers to a trick or trick component being performed while the footbag is travelling downward, after it has peaked in the air.
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Duck
A duck is a trick component within the body category wherein the footbag passes over the player's neck some time between the initial set and final contact.
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Genuine
Genuine refers to a set of tricks or a run wherein none of the three BOP tricks, down/butterfly, osis, or paradox mirage are present.
Originally, genuine also precluded repeated tricks (the same side once on each side would have been permitted).
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Guiltless
Guiltless refers to a set of tricks, a run, or a level of skill wherein no tricks of a 2-add difficulty are
present. A 2-add trick is a "guilt." Playing guiltlessly is considered the first step in becoming an intermediate or advanced player as the majority strive to play entirely guilt-free beyond warm-up.
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Job's Notation
Formulated by Ben Job, Job's notation (Job's for short) is a descriptive system
(not to be confused with the Descriptive System of Freestyle Footbag Elements) based on the 6 categories of trick components, wherein the order of components and their properties (such as dexterity direction or delay surface) of a single trick are transposed in writing. Job's is particularly useful in describing an unfamiliar trick to another player (given that player can read the notation) or clarifying a trick's various technical aspects. It is unfortunately inconducive to describing all tricks.
An example of Job's notation for the beginner trick, around the world, is: toe > same in [dex] > same toe [del], where "toe" indicates the setting surface, "same in" indicates the dexterity direction, "[dex]" indicates the dexterity add category, "same toe" indicates the delaying surface, and "[del]" indicates the delay add category. A quick glance informs the reader that around the world is 2 adds.
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Midtime
Midtime refers to a trick or trick component being performed while the footbag is at its peak in mid-air.
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Move
See trick.
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Paradox
A category of adds and a concept wherin a dexterity is considered more difficult due to a full 360-degree circling of the leg around the footbag (often determined by a double hip-pivot), when set from clipper. See Trick Components for more.
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Run
A run is a series of tricks --
generally 5 or more. A short run is generally referred to as a "String."
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Set
A set involves projecting the footbag into the air, generally from a delay or kick. It can also refer to a hand toss.
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Shred
"Shred" is
both a noun and a verb, referring to the act of playing freestyle footbag. Examples: "One's shred can be complimented as particularly stylish;" "'shredding' is the act of linking tricks in a run."
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Stall
See delay.
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String
See run.
A string can also refer to a shorter run, such as 2 single consecutives tricks, which would be considered a string, yet not a run.
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The
"The" can be used as both a noun and a verb. A the originally described an unclean dexterity (unclean meaning that the leg does not fully circle the footbag
). However, within the past few years it has come to be used in the context of such trick components as ducks (the bag passing too far above the neck or too far in front of the crown of the head) and sometimes even spins (improperly set or not fully executed). Examples: "A 'the' is an unclean dexterity;" "that around the world was really the." This can make for particularly confusing conversation for an outsider.
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Tiltless
Tiltless refers to a set of tricks, a run, or a level of skill wherein no tricks of a 1-add difficulty are
present. A 1-add trick is a "tilt." Playing tiltlessly is considered a significant step in becoming a beginner-level player as many strive to play entirely tilt-free beyond warm-up.
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Trick
A trick is any combination of add components (including none) that are performed between a set and either a delay or kick. Two dexterities followed by a delay is a trick, yet so is a delay in and of itself.
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Unusual
A category of adds and a trick component that specifies delay or kicking surface other than toe, inside, and outside, including sole, heel, calf, knee, neck, forehead, and head. See Trick Components for more.
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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.
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Xdex
A category of adds and a concept wherin a dexterity is considered more difficult due to a full 360-degree circling of the leg around the footbag (often determined by a double hip-pivot), when set from toe. A toe-set equivalent of paradox. See Trick Components for more.
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