Chris Ott
Chris Ott is from Santa Rosa, California, USA.
His footbag history includes serving as founding IFPA Director of Marketing and Director of Operations for Fancy Footwork Productions, Inc. He has been involved in all working footbag committees developing rules for footbag competitions. He is also a Mike Marshall Award winner as the world’s top promoter.
He has won over 30 Open net titles, including the WFA World Doubles Net Championship. He has directed many footbag events over the years, including several IFPA World Championships.
Fancy Footwork was a footbag sports performance group that played for thousands of people over a 15-year period. They made each performance a practice period while entertaining their audience with an athletic show that left them in amazement.
They performed at professional baseball, basketball, and soccer games as well as many college and community outings and festivals. They had a show at a World Cup soccer game where they won the approval of Pelé himself.
Fancy Footwork was the most talented group of footbag athletes ever assembled. Its members included Chris Ott, Brent Welch, Jody Welch, Julie Simons, Lisa McDaniels, Bill Langbehn, Etienne and Constance Constable, Sam Conlon, Steve Goldberg, Brent Stewart, Eric Thompson-Green, Johnny Leys, Tuan Vu, and Lisa Monte, to name a few.
This intense playing schedule led most of them to world titles and Hall of Fame inductions. Playing in Fancy Footwork events was the most rewarding period of time in his footbag career because of the intense competition, wonderful friendships, and the travel they shared across the world to compete together.
Footbag has been a large part of his life since 1977. The enjoyment and physical challenge of footbag sports has kept him interested over all this time.
He began his footbag career with a Haiti-made Hacky Sack and time to spare. Soon he was kicking with all his friends. Footbags fit in a pocket so nicely that they went everywhere with him. They became attached. Little did he know the footbag adventure that awaited him as he met and entered the world of competitive footbag. It was as if his athletic past had only prepared him for the competitive nature of Footbag Net.
Once he learned all his kicks, his natural athletic abilities kicked in and competitive footbag came alive. He found himself riding the wave of development as the sport of footbag grew around him. To be on the cutting edge of something like this was a true pleasure.
From tournament to tournament their abilities grew and the sport’s athletic envelope grew and grew. As the offense developed new shots, the defense would have to adjust, which in turn made the offense adjust, and so on. What a gas.
He is also helping the IFPA set up a marketing plan and direction for footbag sports to follow worldwide into the future. His dreams include club competition at high school and college levels as well as professional-level tours, television, and lots of excitement.
He is also the creator of the Foot-c Junior Footbag Net Game. Foot-c gives young footbaggers the chance to play footbag net and develop into future footbag athletes. Foot-c has turned into quite an adult sport and is enjoyed by thousands worldwide.
He is also the author of the GSM Footbag Net Scoring System. His years of playing net sports and his architectural skills have led him to create a balanced scoring system designed to create more pressure points and more excitement for all.
Footbag has made a huge impact in his life, giving him the confidence to succeed and challenge life to its fullest. He recommends kicking this habit completely.
Chris Ott