“Sack is life. Sack will never die.” So declares freshman Holden Bode, and judging by the recent scene at SCH lately, he may be onto something. The hacky sack is a small crochet footbag once beloved in the late 20th century, has made a roaring comeback in schools nationwide, and SCH is no exception. Turn any corner on campus and you will likely see a group keeping a mini bean bag aloft with flicks, stalls, and kicks. But spend a few minutes watching one of these impromptu hacky sack circles, and another pattern emerges just as clearly: almost everyone in them is a guy. So what’s keeping girls on the sidelines of this revival?
To understand the gap, one must first understand what makes hacky sacking so appealing. For many students, it’s less about the sport itself and more about what forms around it. “It’s something fun you can do with your friends and it helps build a sense of community and teamwork,” said junior Asher Hawkins. “You get to hang out with different people and have fun.”
That sense of community is a huge part of why sack circles have spread so quickly across campus. But not every student finds them easy to walk into. Junior Cece Pressman said, “I think it’s intimidating because a lot of these circles are all boys, and it’s hard to start when not many girls are doing it.” Still, Pressman sees the tide beginning to turn. More girls are picking up the hacky sack, and more circles are forming, making it easy to follow. The question is: what took so long?
The intimidation Pressman described doesn’t come from nowhere. Hacky sack is, by nature, a very public game. Every missed kick, every fumbled pass, happens out in the open for everyone to see. While that vulnerability is part of the fun for many, it can feel like a much higher stakes proposition when you’re a girl contemplating joining a circle full of guys who have already been playing for weeks. No one wants to be the worst person in the circle, and when the group is already established and tight-knit, it can feel nearly impossible to break in, even if no one is actively keeping you out. The circle isn’t locked, but it can certainly feel that way. And the longer it stays mostly male, the more it reads as a male space, making it even harder for the next girl to take that first step. It becomes a self-reinforcing cycle. One that has less to do with whether girls want to play, and more to do with whether they feel like they belong there.
The hacky sack revival at SCH is a truly joyful thing. A rare, screen-free moment of connection during a busy school day. But like so many casual social spaces, it has defaulted to being a guy thing. The good news is that, as Cece Pressman notes, things are already starting to shift. More girls are right and more circles are opening up, and the barrier is getting lower. If Holden Bode is right, if sack is life, there is no reason that life should only be lived by half the school. So the next time you see a hacky sack circle forming, maybe the craziest thing you can do is simply walk up and ask to join. The footbag doesn’t care who’s kicking it!
