Noah Pare ’26, Rowan Leckerling ’26, Jaylen Edmonds ’27, Shock Ingram ’26 sack on the Great Lawn.
With the advent of warm weather, a new form of competition has quietly taken over the minds of Andover students. Between classes, on the Great Lawn (Lawn), and during free periods, circles of students can be found fixated on a tightly knitted bag kept suspended in the air. Hacky sack, associated with 1990s culture, has made a national comeback and has now emerged as one of Andover’s casual activities.
One avid enjoyer, Kieran Kolar ’28, described his switch from Spikeball to hacky sack. He cited its accessibility and easygoing nature as the activity’s greatest strengths.
“Right now, I like hacky sack more, but maybe that’s because it’s very popular at the moment. If you asked me before this month, I probably would’ve said Spikeball… I’d say hacky sack is more accessible. You can do it wherever, whenever, but with Spikeball, you need the net and that’s big to carry around. I’d say they’re pretty even, though, because hacky sack is about spreading sack, not hate, whereas Spikeball is more team-based and can get pretty intense,” said Kolar.
Another player, Kaden McNeice ’28, similarly pointed to hacky sack’s accessibility as a strength. He remarked that it wasn’t difficult to get the hang of the game’s adaptable techniques.
“I don’t think you need to be super athletic to play hacky sack. After you play a couple times, you start to pick up the fundamentals. Once you have the fundamentals down at hacky sack, then you’re already good at the game and basically everyone can play. That’s what makes it such a unique game. That’s how it differs from games like Spikeball and other beach games, is that you don’t necessarily need to be the fastest or the strongest or even the most athletic,” said McNeice.
Fatima Bah ’29 is one regular player who plays hacky sack three to four times a week. Her preferred location is the Lawn. She recalled one of the many moments that hacky sack has brought the community together.
“A funny moment was when we were playing with someone else’s sack, and then we broke it. Then we had to go to the makerspace and stitch it back together. It was funny, and then we were talking to this woman in the makerspace and she makes a lot of clothes. It was interesting because we got to meet her because of the broken hacky sack, and she was a really interesting person and she taught us about sewing,” said Bah.
Kolar noted that Andover might benefit from a hacky sack ranking system. Nevertheless, whether that can be implemented or not remains to be seen.
“It’s also not super competitive, so you don’t need to get worked up about [hacky sack]. They should get Andover ranked, though. Why is Andover not ranked yet?” said Kolar.
With summer quickly approaching, the question of hacky sack’s future has risen. Will the game catch on next year, or will it fade into memory? McNeice compared the two games and gave his advice.
“I would absolutely recommend [playing] hacky sack to somebody who hasn’t played. It’s an easy enough game to pick up and get good at, once you get good with the fundamentals. Everyone’s out there playing for fun, so no one’s going to like to make fun of you for being bad or not being good at it. It’s a stress-free game, and it’s all for fun. I would absolutely recommend it. I also recommend Spikeball too, it’s really fun as well. They’re both two very good summer games to be able to play,” said McNeice.
