The Pain of the Disco Ninja, Matt
Palmquist, San Francisco Weekly
When you hear the phrase ‘hacky sack,’ does the image of stoned
hippies sloppily kicking a ball around come to mind? Or do you
think of the highly competitive sport of footbagging, where
contestants perform sequences of gravity-defying moves like the
‘Paradox Blender’ and ‘Shooting Torque,’ keeping a sack airborne in
routines set to music? Though footbagging remains rather obscure,
its participants bring to it an unparalleled devotion, sometimes
crippling their bodies in pursuit of footbagging perfection. Such
is the case with Tuan Vu, a world-renowned competitor known as the
‘Disco Ninja’ of footbagging. Though Vu is plagued by repetitive
injuries of his knees and ankles, he’s still seeking to win the one
title that has eluded him–the world singles footbag champion.
Despite now needing a cane to reach the competition floor, Vu says,
‘When you’re competing…when you nail a trick, and you’re looking
at the bag and a dexterity goes around…there’s nothing in the
world like it.’
–Erica Sagrans
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