Lon Skyler Smith

Lon Skyler Smith began his footbag career in the early 90s, casually kicking for many years before he entered into the world of freestyle footbag. Because of this, Lon developed a very unique and natural style that has rarely been replicated. He mixed employed form which changed the way freestyle was looked at. Instead of approaching the game as an athlete, Lon viewed footbag more as an artist. He executed single tricks multiple ways, proving there were many routes a player could take in freestyle footbag. Much of Lon’s style employed unpredictable and offbeat combinations with a vast trick selection. He is considered one of the most natural, if not the most natural freestyler of all time.

Lon started playing footbag in Grass Valley, California. His mentors at the time were local players Toby Robinson (future BAP member), Dave Hillis, and Rubin. Smith attended his first Western Regionals footbag tournament on the Stanford campus in 1997. At the time, his shred partner, Rubin, drew more attention due to his technical ability, but this would change quickly over the next year as Lon’s skills rose.

He met many BAP members (a group of the best freestyle footbag players in the world) at Western Regionals, as well as many up-and-comers and future BAP members. Lon was part of the 90s generation of freestyle footbag, mainly known for advancing guiltless combos (all 3 ADD moves) into more tripless combos (all four ADD moves), pushing the technicality of the sport. Unlike many of his peers, however, Lon did not push heavy technicality first, but instead focused on the more creative aspects of freestyle. He incorporated many ducks and dives (circling the footbag with your head) and spinning moves. Lon is heavily credited for advancing both these concepts to new heights in freestyle footbag.

Lon continued to attend footbag events, returning to Western Regionals in 1998, where he made a name for himself as a leading up-and-comer, alongside Ryan Mulroney, Ahren Gehrman, and Brian McKenzie. While Ryan, Ahren, and Brian pushed the ADD system with impressive technical combos, Lon chose to play a looser free-form style dedicated to variety over technicality. This made him stand out among the new generation, and in 2000 at the World Footbag Championships in Vancouver, Canada, he was inducted into the Big Add Posse with fellow shred partner Toby Robinson and Jonathan Schneider. His BAP nickname is ‘Shred-on-Lon’.

From here, Lon’s technical level increased greatly. Finally choosing to enter into the world of harder technical combos, Smith’s abilities exploded. While others in his generation peaked in late 90s or early 2000s, Lon hit a new stride that would last for the next twenty five years. He broke many records in this time, including ducking and spinning records, and fearless records (all five ADD moves). His style motivated the Millennial generation, but was hardly emulated due to his unique and natural ability. A few players that followed his style were Ricky Moran, Luis Monhollon, and Nate Linscott. Lon is also credited as motivating his long-time shred partner Jim Penske, who would go on to be one of the greatest freestyle footbag players of all time.

Lon’s inspirations were Eric Wulff (for flyers ducks, and spins), Peter Irish (for smoothness), Tim Kelly (for dynamic play), and Daryl Genz (for technicality).

Smith won many tournaments including the popular Colorado Shred Symposium (multiple times) and the US Open Footbag Championships. His style of mixing creative variety and technical moves allowed him to compete with players much younger than him. Even when Lon did not compete, he was still considered one of the best players in the world, thanks to his unique style that could not be replicated easily.

In 2007 Lon starred in the Modest Mouse music video Invisible, in which he is the main character and center of the video.

Lon highlighted many footbag videos in the 90s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s. Along with Jim Penske, he had one of the longest runs as a top player in footbag history.

Smith lived for a brief time in the Bay Area, schooling with fellow BAP members Sunil Jani, Ahren Gehrman, and Ryan Mulroney. For various stints in his career, Lon did not attend tournaments, but continued to play on his own in Grass Valley. In 2017, he moved to Boise, Idaho to join the Boise Footclan alongside Jim Penske, Daryl Genz, Sunny Freeman-Genz, Red Husted, Bob Green, Nick Landes, Evan Gatesman, and Nathan Pipenberg, and more. He won the 2024 US Open Footbag Championships for routines, over 30 years after he began playing.

In 2023, Lon Smith was inducted in the Footbag Hall of Fame for his excellence in the sport of freestyle footbag.

Lon Smith video by Fourkast

Lon Skyler Smith