Social innovation and fitness sports: A case of the crossfit movement innorth america

This chapter focuses on footbag freestyle (more widely known as 'hacky sack'). The aim is to investigate the socially innovative aspects of footbag freestyle as a novel and largely uncommercialized lifestyle sport. Empirically, the chapter is based on qualitative interviews with 17 skilled footbag freestyle players from around the world. The analysis shows how the players describe footbag freestyle as an anti-mainstream, unprofessionalized and uncommercialized sporting space, in which social cohesion and creativity is valued above competition and sporting performance-thereby providing an alternative to traditionally organized sports. However, the chapter also draws attention to on-going sportification processes, which pose a threat to some of these defining features and, hence, the social innovativeness of footbag freestyle.