By Ashley Pavlakis and Menka Suresh
LI Kick’s cornhole league playoff tournament will start next week, with 26 teams competing to win the championship at Great South Bay Brewery in Bayshore, NY. LI Kick launched its first cornhole league on Long Island in 2017.
“I started a kickball league in 2013 and I got really lucky that I got off the ground. It was fantastic and we had a lot of fun,” Sal Farruggia, Founder of LI Kick, said. “It grew, so we added soccer, and that grew as well. We just looked to add more sports and cornhole was the third sport we added. We’re currently at 10 sports.”
Great South Bay Brewing Co. hosts LI Kick cornhole at their facility in Bayshore, NY on Mondays and Thursdays each week. The two leagues at this facility range from 14 to 26 teams respectively. Playoffs are on the horizon for next week as teams look to perfect their tosses.
“It’s fun for me and it’s more fun when I win and people are like ‘you are hustling’ and I could be like, ‘why do you have low expectations? Because I’m blonde and sound like a chipmunk?’ Liz Boylan, a fifth-year cornhole player, said. “It’s fun when it gets competitive. A lot of people who are [competitive], it’s fun to surprise them when you do well so they look at you and they’re like, ‘Oh, she’s not gonna win.’
Cornhole is accessible to people of all ages. Tossing a bean bag for points, or for fun, is the only requirement needed to be able to play.
“I was just googling fun ways to meet people and I came across LI Kick, I like it,” Carly Lange, a first year cornhole player, said.
A study done in 2018 indicated that sports were seen as a quality way for people to experience socialization, a skill necessary for being able to adequately survive.
“It’s really fun. I’m helping them run it and it’s an enjoyable experience to both play and be a part of it,” Bobby Schoen, a multi-sport player for LI Kick, said. “I think since I started playing social sports after college it’s because I have a good time, being competitive goes hand-in-hand but I think a good time usually comes first.”
There has been evidence of cornhole originating back to the early 1300s in Germany, according to Mark Muller from Cornhole Canvas. The game underwent various renovations in both name and structure over time to get to where it is today.
Cornhole is largely centered around strategy and a little bit of athleticism. Two teams toss bean bags at a 48×24 inch board with a hole to earn points, the first team to 21 wins. As simple as that sounds, there’s more to it.
“The key is to be able to own the center of the board, ‘control the hole’ is what I always say,” Michael Walter, a lifetime member of the American Cornhole Organization, said. “If you can get it up the middle then you can figure it out from there. If you’re throwing it just straight, and you can keep your arm kind of straight, in that same motion and muscle memory, you’re going to be in great shape.”
