News

Hacking? Sacking? Hacky sacking? No matter what verb you use to describe the footbag sport, it has taken a hold over the St. Louis U. High community for the past two weeks. Bringing together cliques across SLUH on the quad, is hacky sack just another short-lived revival of a vintage trend? 

Originating in 1972 by Oregon resident Mike Marshall, hacky sack — more officially “footbag” — is a sport consisting of a circle of players, all surrounding a small, colorful bean bag. The objective, being to keep the sack off the ground, leads participants to get creative with different tricks and kicks. 

“I've always been just alright at juggling a soccer ball and I think that hacky sacking is a much easier way to accomplish the act of juggling with your feet,” said sophomore Neil Wolak. “So it's kind of just like a more inclusive (and fun) way to juggle and spend some time with your friends.”

After its emergence in 1972, footbag gained traction in the 80s and 90s in college towns across the United States.

“(Hacky sack was always) kind of the culture of the hippies: kind of Grateful Dead-esque jam bands (types),” said Director of Security Dan Schulte. “There was a house right across from our house that these guys would hacky sack everyday (and) they'd listen to jam band music and they hacky sack and we (were) just like ‘What the heck is going on?’”

Now, in 2026, the sack has been kicked from the hippies to the everyday student. During Activity Period and Studium, students of all grade levels can be seen sacking in the quad, though there have also been cons of the recent increase in sacking activities.

“There's been some light fixtures that have been knocked over and other things,” said Schulte. “It's playing ball in the house, when you're a kid mom said ‘don't play ball in the house,’ same thing. That's my biggest con is kids playing inside the building.”

Other than the indoor negative, sacking has brought a net positive impact to SLUH’s community over the last few weeks. Hacky sacking was and is intended to not just be a stress relieving game, but also a way to make new friends, and aid the ever-fragmented communities throughout the world.

“I think at its best (hacky sacking has) strengthened the community,” said mathematics teacher and former sacker Joseph Stickley. “What does it say about the community? It says that deep down, we want to be in communion together, we want to encourage each other, and we want a shared experience. I think that's what it says about the students, which is really touching and encouraging.”

Before spreading its roots in SLUH, sacking reemerged almost three decades later with the help of social media. With different technique tutorials, and widespread opinions of the top “sack shoes,” TikTok has been the main contributor to the craze. It's not just sacking TikTok has recently revived, but it has also been the contributor to the revival of many other vintage trends: clawclips, vinyl records, music (like Fleetwood Mac and Kate Bush), jorts, JNCO jeans, etc. 

“(Hacky sack) is the new Pickleball, it has been around for decades and it just grew in popularity in the past few years,” said mathematics teacher Molly Kelly. “Hacky sack has been around for decades, but maybe now it's making this resurgence and it'll be great.” 

Though, like all the trends repopularized in the recent past, will the sacking trend be just as fleeting?   Safe to say — currently — the activity continues to grow, connecting high-school-age students throughout the country. 

“I mean you see things on Instagram and other things, other schools are doing (too),” said Schulte. “It's just a uniter, this little dumb bean filled yarn sack is getting kids outside playing again. I think it's awesome.”