More Info : Juggling Equipment : Flying Clipper : Juggling Stick

Hacky Sack & Juggle Videos
Some good hacky sack or footbag videos and juggle videos from YouTube.

If you've got hacky sack or juggle videos of yourself using Flying Clipper products, send them to us. We'll post 'em here!

Used by the Pros..
PHOTO: Kenny Shults - Winner of more than 50 World Footbag Championship Titles in the Open Pro Division - more than any other player in the sports history. A pro like Kenny uses only the best footbags in competition. Read Kenny's endorsement of Flying Clipper:

"The Flying Clipper line of Professional Footbags are the ONLY footbags I have used in competition for more than 10 years. They have demonstrated to me a genuine commitment to producing the highest quality footbag possible. In my opinion, they have succeeded."

Here's a link to a video of Kenny talking about the sport of competitive footbag, with some shots of him in action.

Tips and How-To's

Interesting Info

About Us
A quote from Flying Clipper co-founder Jim Fitzgerald: What attracted me to the game of footbag:

"In the mid-1980's, there was nothing quite as good as entering into what we called "the zone," when everyone in the circle was intent on only one thing--keeping the footbag aloft. The circle would move with the footbag, not vice versa. I mean to say that no one person tried to control the flow of the footbag and the person next to you was always there to cover your possible drop with their own "save." In this kind of play and movement, trust could be developed within the circle which could elevate the play to something greater than what one individual could accomplish. It was like being transported to a higher level of play. That is what I experienced in footbag, a co-operative form of play adequate for a new age of sport and that is why I made footbag my game, my sport and my living. See if you can 'catch the magic!'"

Jim Fitzgerald

Flying Clipper's roots reach deep into Footbag history. It's founders are all long-time kickers, who have kicked for both fun and competition. All three partners are former World Footbag Champions and have each successively been inducted into the Footbag Hall Of Fame. They understand footbags from the inside out and pride themselves on creating top-quality, tested bags that fly. Because all three partners are also avid jugglers, Flying Clipper also enlarged its footbag designs to accommodate juggle balls.

Reed Gray, Jim Fitzgerald, and Dennis Ross created Flying Clipper in 1983 to handcraft a complete line of superb play, exceptional quality footbags and juggle balls. Breaking into the market with three innovative designs: the Tangent, The Octoe and the Footpet, handcrafted in cowhide and chamois.

Named after one of the first official trick kicks, Flying Clipper also evokes the speed and genius of legendary Clipper Ships of the 1800s. The innovative, sleek design of these wooden vessels revolutionized the world of shipping with grace, beauty and astonishing speed. Cutting edge design is a hallmark at Flying Clipper Footbags. We introduced the first multi-panel footbags and juggle balls, and we were the first to use durable, washable synthetic suede.

We revolutionized freestyle competion with the Juice Facile, our extra soft synthetic suede footbag. At the Footbag World Championships in 1985 as Ken Shults was accepting his all-around footbag honors, he took out his new Juice Facile Footbag, rolled it in his hands and said: "This is the Juiciest footbag I have ever kicked". The crowd all started chanting "JUICE, JUICE, JUICE, JUICE." Not stopping there Flying Clipper went on to create the Legend and Juice Netbags which have forever left their mark on the game of footbag net.

In touch with the changing world of footbags, we listen to the players and they told us they wanted a sand-filled bag. When we realized that nothing of quality was available on the market, we designed the first hand sewn sand filled footbag. After achieving a "no-leak" hand sewn footbag, Flying Clippers' Dirtbag® is quickly becoming the standard for new kickers...see for yourself, check out our catalog!

What is a Hybrid?
Hi everybody, Jim here at Flying Clipper introducing you to our Tossaball Hybrid juggle balls. Many jugglers ask me what is a Hybrid juggle ball? And I say this:The Hybrid juggle ball is a hand sewn ball that uses two very different filler materials which do not co-mingle, that is to say that one filler material is isolated from the other. The Tossaball Hybrid juggle ball looks like an ordinary pentagonal dodecahedron but actually each pentagon has another pentagon sewn flat against it. Just before each pentagon is completely sewn into the ball, a weighed amount of heavy crushed rock filler is added between the panels and then it is sewn shut. A pentagonal dodecahedron is made up of twelve pentagons which are exactly the same size and that uniformity enables us to achieve a balanced weight ratio within each pentagon. Crushed rock being heavier than plastic pellets insures that most of the balls weight is isolated to the outside edge of the ball. The interior of the ball is then filled to volume with recycled plastic pellets.
Some interesting things occur when so much weight is isolated to the outside of a sphere. Jugglers have called it “true flight” which translates into predictable flight. Because of the weighted rim, Hybrid juggle balls go up and down like no other balls before. As all good jugglers know, any small improvement in the performance of your prop can make a big over-all difference in a juggling experience for both the juggler and the audience.
Another attribute of these fine juggling balls is absorption of shock. When Hybrid juggle balls collide, the shock is absorbed rather than radiated. Crushed rock against crushed rock tends to absorb shock and not reflect shock. Collisions become less troublesome and the balls do not tend to roll when dropped because of the absorption tendencies of crushed rock.
Still another fine characteristic of Hybrid juggling balls is two layers of fabric used in the construction. Double layers of fabric result in double strength in regards to the shell of the ball and less stretch over each panel of the ball as two layers act as a bias.
Because of the isolated weight to the rim of the ball, you will never find a hand sewn juggling ball that rolls and stalls like a Tossaball Hybrid juggle ball.
And lastly if all of this was not enough, Tossaball Hybrid juggle balls are completely washable.
Hybrid juggle balls were first introduced in fall of 2008 at the Portland juggle Festival and I have been continually perfecting them since that time. I draw from my own experience and I listen to what the jugglers tell me. I have personally hand sewn more than 50,000 footbags and 25,000 juggle balls in my career as a craftsman which has spanned more than 31 years. Regrettably, because of repetitive motion problems in my arms and shoulders, I can no longer do the craft that I love. As a way of re-inventing myself and the craft, I began to dabble in the physics of juggle ball design which has lead to the development of what I think is a great line-up of high quality juggle balls.
Lastly the term "Hybrid" came about because this new way to hand sew a ball is our attempt to "cross over" as it were to a new line-up of hands and feet juggling balls which is our ultimate goal. We are not there yet but we think in the future more and more jugglers will be using all four limbs to manipulate objects into the air. Hats off to good friends like Peter Irish who has shown us the way.

Jim Fitzgerald ~ Hybrid Designer