Every few years, a new activity captures the interests of our students. Pickleball was hot for a minute, Spikeball was visible in every park and beach. Cup Stacking blew up for a while, and for a short period, each of these activities had their moment. If your community is anything like mine, it would appear that hacky sack, or footbag, if we’re being formal, is having a renaissance.
Now, I’m happy to see students coming together, without cell phones, but what fascinates me is not just that students are playing it, but how they’re playing it. Before class. After class. In the hallway. In circles that appear organically and dissolve naturally. There aren’t officials, the rules are loose and agreed upon by the participants, there aren’t winners and losers but shared success, and creativity is applauded.
If we applied the features of Meaningful PE to what’s happening in these circles right now, hacky sack might be the most meaningful activity that we need to harness while student interest is at peak levels.
Social interaction
Completely unavoidable. The entire activity depends on awareness of others, encouragement, communication, shared rhythm, and collective success. Nobody “wins” unless everyone participates. When I observe hacky sack circles I see diverse groups of students. Athletes, and non-athletes, working together. This week I have hears so many versions of “hey, do you want to join our circle?” that I’ve lost count.
Challenge
Participating at a ‘just right’ level of challenge is available to all. Beginners can contribute after a few tries, while skilled students can spend weeks refining tricks, timing, and control. While the ceiling is incredibly high, the entry point remains welcoming.
Motor competence
Can I get a “heck yeah!”?. Balance, coordination, touch, anticipation, body control, spatial awareness, reaction time. To the casual observer this might look like kids wasting time, being unproductive, but this activity allows participants to refine all of those elements and make gains pretty quickly.
Fun and delight
Watch a group hit their PR for consecutive touches and try telling me delight isn’t present. Shout out to my 8th period who lost track of time, reaching a group PR of 6 touches, and didn’t even notice that the bell for the end of class had just rung. In a world competing endlessly for their attention, flow still means something, and I’m convinced that this is the true definition of delight.
Personally relevant learning
Pickleball has become huge in our community, and as such, student buy-in has increased. Students see their parents being active, and want to understand why the game is so popular. Nobody had to convince students that hacky sack was worthwhile (although I’m sure social media might have played a role). No unit introduction slide was required. No “real-world connection” needed to be manufactured. The relevance emerged socially and culturally on its own, and we need to harness that.
All things 90’s are cool right now, and embracing hacky sack provides students with an opportunity for self-directed learning. Students teach one another constantly. They modify rules, adjust spacing, offer tips, and restart naturally after failure. They persist because they want to improve, not because improvement is attached to a grade. That feels meaningful, and perhaps it’s also a chance for students to learn a new skill before the fad fades away, only to return years later when their future selves discover that all things 2026 are cool again.
My initial forays into meaningfulness felt forced. My planning felt unnatural. Perhaps I needed to appreciate that sometimes students reveal what meaningful movement already looks like before we ever design the lesson. Perhaps PE teachers do not always need to manufacture engagement from scratch.
This microblog post was a featured post in #slowchathealth’s #microblogmonth event. You can search for all of the featured posts here. Please do follow each of the outstanding contributors on social media (including Andy Milne, the author of this post) and consider writing a microblog post of your own to be shared with the global audience of slowchathealth.com
Pair this post with the following:
Why Patintero Belongs in Your PE Curriculum
Embracing the Meaningful PE Approach
Hacky Sacks seem to have sold out, everywhere. These, on Amazon might be available right now. I had one student have success finding some at the used sports good store – what a lucky find!
#slowchathealth 