Open de France de Footbag

Last week was the 12eme (12th) Open de France de Footbag. A pretty unfamiliar sport to most, "footbag", or "net" (as the guys sometimes call it), is basically the combination of hackysack and volleyball. You play the game using only your feet, with a harder version of a hacky sac and a badminton-sized net. Teams of one-on-one or two-on-two, the rules are similar to volleyball; you can only hit the ball once per turn, and you have three turns to get it over the net. They serve, set, and spike, just like in volleyball, only with their feet. It's a pretty entertaining sport to watch... guys jumping and twisting mid air, and falling to the ground with a thud. 

Although a rather small group of players, people from all over the world came to take part in the competition. We hosted 5 Polish guys (yes, 5 guys fit in our Paris apartment!), and there were also players from Switzerland, Canada, and even as far as Venezuela!

This year, the Open was hosted by team RNH (Rien N'est Hacky), which is the team Quentin plays for. Quentin starred in the teaser video that the RNH team made for this year's Open. For those of you who know Quentin, watch closely for the "angry face" close-ups. Yep, Quentin is the only guy that is not included in them. He told me they said it was because he didn't look mean enough. I guess that's a good trait though, right?

This was Quentin's first year in the tournament, so being a newbie, he didn't make it all the way to the finals. I had planned to go every day of the tournament, but I got sick and only managed to make it to the finals day. So I missed seeing Quentin or our friend Jules play (sorry guys), but I did get some great shots of the semi-finals and finals games.

 

I apologize to all the players in advance; I was battling a fever and massive head cold, so most of these photos are only of a few people/games.