Jan Struz
Jan ‘Dexter’ Struz is one of the most influential European footbag promoters in the sport’s history. He is responsible for building up the world-renowned Czech Footbag Association, which included multiple freestyle world champions such as Vasek Klouda, Jan Weber, Ales Zelinka, Milan Benda, Jindra Smola, Patrik Cerny, and Dominik Simku.
Jan began playing footbag in 1997 in Prague and evolved his game over the next year. He credits his college friend Giulio de Blasio for getting him into the game, who gave him his first footbag (which was crocheted) while telling him "this is something you might be good at.” Indeed he was, and soon he developed a higher technical skill level and love for the sport.
Dexter was not only an accomplished freestyler, but also played footbag net, freestyle and net doubles, and footbag golf. These were the sport’s main disciplines at the time.
With a few other dedicated players, he founded the Czech Footbag Association in 2000, which continues today with a mix of veteran and newer players. In its early years, it quickly became one of the greatest footbag clubs of all time, again producing numerous stars, as well as making a lasting impact on the sport. For decades, the Czech Footbag Association led the way for freestyle footbag, thanks to Jan’s promotional efforts and the strong talent level of the group. Within the Czech Footbag Association, his hometown club was called the Prague Dictators, a team of the world’s best freestylers at the time.
Dexter credits his early influences to sources like footbag.org, and in no particular order, the following players; Justin Sexton, Andrew McCarger, Jan Zimmermann, Ole Schnack, Jendrick Schroder, Alex Michelewski, Steve Goldberg, Frank Gutowski, Mika Koistinen, Ryan Mulroney, Rick Reese, Kenny Shults, Teva Dave Holton, Peter Irish, Eric Wulff, Chad Devlahovich, Brian McKenzie, Lon Smith, Sunil Jani, and Ahren German. In later days he credits his Czech Footbag Association peers TMS Tyrpekl and Vojta Polák for their work in their group, as well as Ali Dastradj, Jan Zimmermann and Ole Schanck for their organizational support.
Jan had many accomplishments during his long footbag career, including the following milestones;
-The Czech Footbag Association, since 2002
-Directing Worlds 2003 and 2008 in Prague and 2016 in Trnava
-Running the Planet Footbag Czech branch
-Directing the renowned Todexon footbag tournament in Prague
-Executing a dropless semifinals routine at Helsinki Worlds 2005
-Winning the Open Doubles European title with Pavel Cerveny in Lausanne 2006
-Performing countless demos and shows in the Czech Republic and worldwide
-Directing the most recent Quantum Footbag Shoes project
For his outstanding work as a footbag promoter, organizer, player, and inspiration, Jan ‘Dexter’ Struz was inducted into the Footbag Hall of Fame in 2014.
