Enter Birdball: Part I

Part I:

After a few years in my freestyle footbag lull, I was desperately craving a new outlet for my creativity and physical energy.  I contemplated going back into hardcore training mode with footbag, but every time I tried, it just didn’t feel the same.  I was still seeking for that next best thing.

For the time being I kept occupied by working for my father, he is a contractor.  We installed windows and occasionally doors/French doors in residential houses and sometimes schools/other larger scale buildings.

On October 24^th, 2011, I was working on a school up in New Lebanon, New York with my father and brother, Darrow School.  We were installing storm windows on the inside of the buildings because these were old historical shaker buildings, the outsides had to be untouched.  It seemed like any normal day on the job, things were running smoothly, we were moving along in a quick and organized fashion.

And then it happened, my new calling had arrived.  It came in the form of an email.  This email would soon prove to change my whole life as I knew it.  I remember this moment very well.  

This email was sent from a Terri Lynn Jamison at Enter Play Sports.

“We have a new sport called Birdball that uses some skills that are akin to those in Hacky Sack, martial arts and kickboxing. We have been presently working with some hacky sack players in NYC (Matthew Cross & Company) but were hoping to find some players closer to home to help us promote the sport and create videos. Please let us know if you would like more info. We are located in the Lake George/Warrensburg area. “

After reading this, my eyes lit up.  

 I was always excited to read about someone contacting me via my freestyle footbag portfolio.  Especially contacting me to promote/play a new sport they have created.  This opportunity was straight up my alley, and exactly the kind of thing I was interested in doing with my life.  I sent back a response almost immediately, as fast as my fingers could type on my phone.

I responded:

“Hello Terri,

I am very interested in helping you promote this new sport.  Matthew Cross is a very good friend of mine.  I live in Ballston Lake, NY which is near Saratoga/Clifton Park.

I’d love some more information on the subject.  Let me know what you had in mind.  I also know some other players in the area that may be interested.

Hope to speak with you soon.

Will”

I noticed they had already been working with several other footbaggers from the NYC area, including one of my very good friends who I’ve known since the beginning of my footbag career, Matt Cross.  I gave my friend Matt Cross a call, looking to gather up some more information about the sport since he had been working with this company already.  It was quite early when I called him so he groggily responded to my excitement with a, “Go for it!”

I couldn’t wait to be done with work, go home, and hop on my computer to see what kind of video’s and information I could rummage up on Birdball.  I remember watching the videos and thinking about all the different kind of kicks and returns I could perform, it felt like footbag did when I first started.  Using my instincts, I immediately wanted to play this new sport.

To be continued... 

Will Digges
@Enter Play Sports

Posted in: Enter Birdball