The Green at lunch is a lively place filled with students chatting and playing games like Spikeball and cornhole. This year, a new activity has joined the mix: hacky sack. Groups of students can be found forming circles and juggling the small ball back and forth.
Hacky sack’s roots go back hundreds of years to East Asian civilizations, such as Japan’s Kemari. Its modern version was invented in 1972 in Oregon City, Oregon, by Mike Marshall and John Stalberger. Marshall introduced the game to Stalberger, who used it to help recover from a knee injury. Once his knee healed, the two began manufacturing and selling their own “hacky sacks,” coining the name “hack a sack.”
The game gained popularity in the 1980s, particularly among young people drawn to the counterculture movement. The Bay Area became a hub for hacky sack enthusiasts, especially around the Grateful Dead’s music scene, where fans played outside concert venues in San Francisco, Palo Alto, and Menlo Park. Over time, however, hacky sack’s popularity has faded—until recently.
Now, the game is experiencing a revival at M-A. Juniors Connor Heinz and Cole Genauer are co-presidents of the unofficial Hacky Sack Club, which meets a few times a week during lunch on the Green. They began playing at the start of this school year after Genauer picked up the hobby over the summer. “I just saw some kids playing hacky sack. I was like ‘yo I need to play that,’” Genauer said.
“He [Genauer] brought it back to us,” Heinz said. “We all just fell in love with the game. Haven’t stopped, haven’t looked back.” Their games often draw a crowd of students who stop in to join a few rounds. The atmosphere is relaxed, social, and filled with conversation and laughter.
Senior Bruno Szollar is another regular player. Szollar started playing hacky sack when his friend brought a sack to class one day and they played together. This inspired Szollar to buy one of his own a few days later and pick up the hobby.
Szollar’s favorite aspect of hacky sack is the social atmosphere it creates. “It’s something to do socially during school. There’s not a whole lot of things to do during the school day to pass the time, so it’s something fun,” he said.
Szollar also believes the hacky sack game became popular this year because of how approachable it is. “Somebody brought one to school at some point, and everyone realized it was fun so it caught on quickly,” he said.
Szollar believes M-A’s students have greatly benefited from the introduction of hacky sack to the Green. “You can just get into any of these groups and play Hacky Sack, and it’s just no big deal,” he said.
Heinz’ favorite part about hacky sack is gaining mastery of the game. “Learning new tricks and getting good rallies with people because that’s just so fun, that’s what we play for,” Heinz said.
“My favorite part is the community that it brings together,” Genauer said “Sack for life, go join the sack club.”
