If you’ve walked around the Palo Alto High School campus lately, you may have noticed how a small woven footbag has taken over campus, as dozens of people every day are joining the trend to play a game from the 90s.
Hacky sack, a sport formally called footbag, originally peaked in popularity in the 80s and 90s, but people across the United States have increasingly brought hacky sack back.
According to TikTok analytics, TikTok hashtags related to “hacky sack” increased by 330% between April 29 and May 5, and searches for hacky sacks increased by more than 600% in one week in April.
The game is simple: keep the ball off the ground for as long as possible and pass it around in a circle. The simplicity of the sport allows for a variety of players and inclusion.
According to freshman Liam Dahl, he enjoys the sport because of its accessibility.
“It’s an easy way to exercise, and you don’t need a lot of things to start playing it,” Dahl said.
According to Dahl, he got into hacky sack through social media.
“I saw it [hacky sack] on Instagram and it seemed pretty fun,” Dahl said. So I ordered one and I’ve been playing a lot recently.”
Freshman hacky sack player Costa Pashalidis said hacky sack is a great community-building activity.
“I think that it [hacky sack] is a great community building activity, I would just pick up a sack during lunch and start playing with my friends,” Pashalidis said. “It’s really fun and helps keep me active.”
Pashalidis said he likes to include whoever in his hacky sack games.
“It’s very inclusive,” Pashalidis said.”If I see someone playing hacky sack and we have a bigger group I like to invite them to join.”
