Huddled in circles on the Academic Quad, groups of students kick around hacky sacks, which according to Jojo McCabe (sophomore), are small woven balls filled with beans. Their group aims to hold a sack session at least once a day, McCabe said, but as often as possible is ideal.
“Hacky sack is a game where you stand in a circle and kick around a little beanbag,” McCabe said. “It is so dumb, but it’s exhilarating. It brings me a lot of joy and love for my community.”
The goal of the game, Maxine Ray (sophomore) said, is simple: keep the sack in the air for as long as possible without using your hands. Ray said other than that, there is little to no strategy — just made-up rules.
“The main [rule] is that you try not to use your hands, but then we’ve added [more],” Ray said. “You’re not allowed to say ‘sorry’ in the circle, and also every time you hit your feet with someone else, you have to grab them by the elbow and shake elbows.”
Since there are few real rules, Caidan Mann (sophomore) said it is easy for anyone to hop in the circle and join. In fact, according to Mann, many members had not played hacky sack before attending Occidental.
“I love watching people get better,” Mann said. “People join and do not know exactly what to do and then they build skills. It’s so much fun when everybody’s into it, everybody wants to get better and try new stuff and it is really welcoming.”
Mann said a lot of the game is just trying to get your friends to do cool tricks. One of her favorite ones, she said, is a trick named by their hacky sack group called “The Jester.”
“The Jester is when you lift both legs and you take your right leg and you make a square,” Mann said. “You flick your right leg behind the left leg and you do a little jump in the air and then you hit it with your back leg, the one that’s crossed behind.”
Simpler tricks that involve the whole group are more common, according to McCabe.
“A hack is if everyone in the circle hits [the hacky sack] once, and then a hacky is if everyone hits it twice, and then hacky sack because everyone hits it three times,” McCabe said.
Even with the tricks involved, Magdalene Selin-Williams* (sophomore) said the activity remains inclusive and inviting.
“It is an active thing without being too focused on your specific athletic ability,” Selin-Williams said. “I like that anyone can just come up and kick a hacky sack around for 30 seconds, or a few minutes, or half an hour. I like the way that it brings people together and I like how supportive everyone is, even if you miss it.”
According to Ray, community is an essential aspect of why the group keeps coming together to play.
“I think the community is a big part of it,” Ray said. “Just having a moment with all of your friends where you can take a break and decompress as a group and just play around and have fun brings that childlike wonder. It has a tendency to bring people closer rather than split them up […] you’re all one big group with a common goal and I think that that’s a beautiful thing.”
While many of the group members are friends, Selin-Williams said people often join, allowing everyone to meet new people. McCabe said opportunities to meet new people is exactly what makes hacky sacking so special.
“People aren’t embarrassed to be bad at it,” McCabe said. “I feel like it’s not competitive, like there’s no scoring, so you’re just sort of kicking it around. But I also like that it provides an opportunity for conversation with people you don’t know, but it’s not awkward if you’re not talking.”
Mann said she remembers one particularly special hacky sack session from last spring.
“There was one circle at the end of last semester that was magical, there was something in the air,” Mann said. “It was finals week, everyone was stressed out and we were outside the library and the circle got really big at some point, and then people left and then a high schooler joined, and then one of my old professors joined.”
According to Mann, hacky sacking can be seen as a quintessential snapshot of college life, and that it is for good reason.
“We meet as often as we can, or whenever we think about it: after class, before class, during work, on the quad, or anywhere you are, honestly,” Mann said. “I know [hacky sackying] is so cliche, but then when you’re doing it, it doesn’t feel like that, it feels like it is this novel thing, like no one’s ever done it before.”
After one of the first sack sessions, Ray said she quickly ordered a sack for herself, and although the group hit the limit for members in their hacky sack iMessage chat, they are always eager to welcome new people.
“It is something that anyone can join, and I am always happy to see the community it creates,” Ray said. “So, if you’re interested, come join us.”
*Magdelene Selin-Williams is the Business Manager for The Occidental.
Contact Nora Youngelson at youngelson@oxy.edu
