The steady growth that the sport of footbag has enjoyed during its relatively short lifetime can be ultimately credited to the collaborative efforts of many people who are committed to nurturing the game's progress. Individual players, local clubs, and event organizers all contribute to the shared goal of insuring the continued success and popularity of Footbag. The IFPA, as the international governing body dedicated to advancing the sport worldwide, advocates every aspect and level of footbag play, whether social or competitive.

The sanctioning program (which denotes authorization, approval, and support) is overseen by the IFPA as one means of unifying the sport and strengthening the footbag events that are conducted around the world. Sanctioning guidelines serve purposes. First they assure participants and organizers that a degree of conformity exists among the many events held. Second, they promote a professional image for the sport, the players, and footbag organizations -- an image that, in turn, is a positive factor in cultivating sponsors, encouraging player participation, and attracting media attention. Finally, they assure that each event receiving recognition as being IFPA-sanctioned is conducted in a uniformly professional manner.

Players competing in the Open/Pro category of an IFPA Sanctioned event are required to be IFPA members in good standing and will have their results officially recorded and used to determine worldwide player rankings. Event organizers are required to register non-IFPA members and submit to the IFPA on completion of the event.

      1. Provide IFPA with a completed Event Sanctioning application and fee (if applicable) a minimum of 30 days prior to the event. Note: Before applying for sanctioning, tournament organizers must be valid "tier 2" organizer members of IFPA.

      2. Ensure that all registered players receive a 1-year "tier 1" player's membership to IFPA as of the first date of the sanctioned event, regardless of their category or prior membership.

      3. Abide by the IFPA's IFC Official Rules of Footbag Sports, unless prior approval is given by the IFPA Event Sanctioning Committee. Significant deviations from the rule book shall be announced through footbag.org and/or direct communication to players a minimum of 20 days prior the event.

      3. Collect the information required from each registered player to properly implement their 1-year IFPA membership. This information includes:

            a) Full Name: The player's correctly-spelled first and last names. Organizers should make every effort to avoid errors in data collection, starting with consistently recording every player's first and last name on any and all official event rosters.

            b) Footbag.org member ID or alias: Most players will already have a footbag.org membership (tier 0) or a prior or existing tier 1 membership. The organizer of a sanctioned event must ascertain if this is so, by requiring each player to correctly identify their current footbag.org membership. This may be either via their numeric membership number (shown in the footbag.org profile) or via their footbag.org member name (also known as "alias").

            c) Current e-mail address: Unfortunately, players change e-mail addresses quite often. To ensure the IFPA membership roster is up to date, we ask all organizers to collect the latest e-mail address from each player and to record it very carefully to avoid errors. In addition, organizers may ask for other e-mail addresses (past or present) that might help in identifying their footbag.org membership should they not know their member ID or alias.

            d) Optional date of birth: To further ensure the IFPA membership is correctly attributed to players who may have the same name as other players, we recommend collecting birth dates from all players and recording them carefully in the roster. If players are uneasy about giving their private information, they may leave this information blank or provide only a portion of the information (for example, only their birth year, or only their birth month and day, but no year). However, if it is possible to get birth month, day, and year, please do so.

      4. Provide IFPA with all the information collected above within 7 days of the end of the sanctioned event. This may be done by e-mail to sanctioning at ifpa dot footbag dot org or via an online tool that enables event organizers to upload the information themselves.

      5. Produce all printed material for the event in a professional manner (type set of typed), such material to include the logo and/or name of the event sponsors and IFPA. Handwritten fliers are unacceptable.

      6. Use the standard Liability Waiver for Player Participation on all entry forms (see example).

      7. Abide by all applicable legal provisions regarding permits, insurance, etc., required by the relevant governmental entity in which the event is being held.

      8. Video tape all potential world record attempts in singles timed footbag consecutive.

      9. Provide to IFPA a list of all event results within 7 days of the event's completion. Such results should include, minimally, all final rankings for every player competing (down to last place, even if there are many "ties"). For net events, detailed head-to-head results per team per round are preferred. Contact the IFPA statistician prior to the even to determine what is required and what formats may be used for results submission.

      1. Permit the use of the IFPA name, logo, and mention of official IFPA sanctioning in all promotional material for the event.

      2. Provide an electronic copy of the Official Rules of Footbag Sports suitable for printing and distributing as appropriate to players at the event.

      3. Send IFPA banners for use at the event, upon request and availability.

      4. Promote your event on footbag.org's event list (though you are responsible for creating and maintaining the listing yourself) as well as on the home page of footbag.org within the week or two leading up to the event. This also includes the ability for you to market your event using footbag.org's announcements mailing list which has well over 5,000 active subscribers, as well as the footbag.org member forum.

      5. Assist with sponsorship possibilities, when possible.

      6. Provide an electronic version of the IFPA logo for use on flyers, posters, programs, websites, and other marketing and solicitation materials.

      7. Use and publish event results on footbag.org, including allowing you to send your results to our announcements list of over 5,000 qualified subscribers, and posting on the footbag.org member forum.

      8. Officially include the results for all competitions run according to the current Rules of Footbag Sports in the IFPA rankings, as appropriate, for seeding at major tournaments such as Worlds.

      9. Provide your event with a customized online registration form at footbag.org, linked from your event listing, and including options for players to pay online with credit card, PayPal, and/or bank transfer. To request online registration, see <http://www.footbag.org/reference/-/Groups:Sanctioning>.

I, ______________, hereby wish to enter NAME OF YOUR EVENT at its set and agreed-upon entry fee. I understand that this entitles me to participate in events entirely at my own risk and cost. I also vow to conduct myself in such a manner that is within the guidelines set forth by the NAME OF YOUR EVENT. I understand and hereby authorize the NAME OF YOUR EVENT and its directors to use any and all film and video tape taken of me, during this event, for any purpose. In consideration of your accepting my (my child's) entry, I hereby, for myself (my child), my heirs, executors and administrators, waive and release any and all rights and claims for damages I (my child) may have against the NAME OF YOUR EVENT, and its representatives, the International Footbag Players' Association, the Internation Footbag Committee (IFC), the NAME OF YOUR TOURNAMENT FACILITY, successors and assigns, for any and all injuries suffered by myself (my child) at any activity sponsored by these groups.

____________________________         _______________________________
Signature of entrant                 Signature of parent or guardian
                                     (if under 18)

Event Dates:

From _________________ to ________________
     Month, Day, Year     Month, Day, Year

Check If:

_____ Prize Money Event          Annual Event: _____

Event Name: _________________________________________

City, State/Province, Country: ___________________________

Contact Name(s): _____________________________________

Contact Phone #(s): ___________________________________
(above information is optional, and only used by IFPA staff if at all)

Name: _____________________________________________

Address: ___________________________________________

City: _____________ State/Province: _____ Zip Code: _______

Home Phone: (____) _________ Work Phone: (____) ___________

IFPA Member Number or Alias: ___________

      Sex: M ___ F___    Date of Birth: ___________

Specific location of event (name of park or indoor facility):

___________________________________________________

Number of participates expected: _________________________

Number of spectators expected: __________________________

Sponsors of Event:

_________________________________________________________________________________

List of events and divisions offered: Note sub-categories on lines, E.g., S=singles, D=doubles, Xmins=timed, Xft=distance, etc.: Open Women's Intermediate Novice Under 12 Junior Masters Other Footbag Net Footbag Freestyle Footbag Golf Footbag Consecutive Other: Other: Other:

List any intended deviations from the rules as set forth in IFC's Official Rules of Footbag Sports (http://www.footbag.org/rules):

_________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Have you acquired all necessary permits (e.g., facility, food and product concessions, sound, etc.) Yes ____ No ______

Will food concessions be available at event site: Yes ___ No ___

Will product concessions (e.g., footbags, t-shirts, etc.) be available at event site: Yes ____ No ______

Will a sound system be available at event site: Yes ___ No ____ If yes, please describe:

_________________________________________________________________________________

Have you acquired the necessary insurance's : Yes ____ No ____

If yes, please describe:

_________________________________________________________________________________

Please list entry fees and what the entry fees include:

_________________________________________________________________________________

Give a brief description of awards:

_________________________________________________________________________________

How do you plan to advertise and publicize your event:

_________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Please describe your past history in footbag or any promotions (footbag or otherwise) in which you have been directly involved:

_________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________  ________________
Event Organizer's Signature         Date