Tuan Vu

Tuan Vu has had one of the longest careers in footbag history, both in freestyle footbag and footbag net.

Tuan’s first tournament was the 1992 Funtastik Summer Classic, a prestigious footbag event for many years. There, he met iconic players such as Kenny Shults, Peter Irish, Greg Nelson, Eric Wulff, Yves Archambault, Eric "Bart" Bartholomay, Joe & Brenda Solonoski, Vince Bradley, and Kirk Gibbons, who taught him elements of team freestyle (doubles freestyle).

With this strong inspiration, Tuan pushed his skills back in Virginia over the next year. He attended his first World Footbag Championships in Golden, Colorado in 1993 and quickly made a name for himself as an up-and-coming freestyler. His style focused on pushing technical elements of freestyle, popularizing many tricks and concepts still used today.

At the 1993 World Footbag Championships, Tuan also met his future wife, Hall of Fame member Lisa Monte.

In 1995, Tuan was inducted into the Big Add Posse (BAP), a group of the best freestyle footbag players in the world. His BAP nickname was ‘Disco Ninja’. His fellow inductees that year were Eric Wulff, Greg Nelson, Paul Munger, Steve Kremer, Josh Casey, and Scott Davidson. Tuan’s younger brother, Tu Vu, would later be inducted into the Big Add Posse in 1997.

A few years later at the Funtastik Summer Classic, Tuan performed his ‘farewell to the East Coast’ tournament run, where he won the Freestyle Triple Crown of Open Singles Freestyle, Open Doubles Freestyle, and Open Shred. He then moved to San Francisco, California and joined the Bay Area Footbag League (BAFL), as well as the illustrious First Family of footbag, a collection of top players at the time, most of which lived in the Bay Area.

Tuan’s noted inspirations are many, including footbag co-creator John Stalberger, Kenny Shults, Rick Reese, Peter Irish, and Eric Wulff, Sam Conlon, and Scott Davidson, to name a few. He went on to develop lasting friendships with many of them.

Tuan competed in singles and doubles freestyle for many years, eventually switching to singles and doubles net in 2006. Tuan’s list of accomplishments is voluminous, including;

-1995 World Doubles Freestyle Champion (partner Greg Nelson)

-1997 World Doubles Freestyle Champion (partner Greg Nelson)

-1999 World Doubles Freestyle Champion (partner Eric Wulff)

-2023 World Doubles Freestyle Champion (partner Scott Davidson)

-Three US Open Doubles Net titles in a row with partner Kenny Shults (the Threepeat)

-11 World titles in Masters Net, with various net partners from North America and Europe

-Competed in the Open division of the World Footbag Championships for 25 years in a row, the record for the most consecutive Worlds of any player. This was in both freestyle and net, teaming up with some of the best players in the United States, Canada, Venezuela, France, Poland, Germany, and Finland.

Tuan Vu created many freestyle footbag tricks, including;

-Voodoo (Paradox Symposium Blur)
-The Backside Symposium concept
-GoGo Butterfly
-Pogo Paradox Barrage
-Shooting Torque
-Shooting Butterfly
-The Rubberman combo
-Tapping Torque
-Backside Symposium Blur
-Tapping Same-Side Double Legover
-Tapping Double Legover
-Shooting Symposium Mirage
-Blurry and Pogo Scary Monster
-Leaning Inspinning Torque (Leaning Jowler)

Tuan has traveled the world promoting footbag for over three decades. With his connections to various industries including MMA and boxing, he introduced footbag to the following sports icons and celebrities;

King Mo Lawal, Anthony Bourdain, Jeff Mayweather, Stevie Richards, Floyd Mayweather, Sr., DeMarcus "Boogie" Cousins, Sergio Penha, Rickson Gracie, Rener Gracie, Royler Gracie, Ryron Gracie, Reyson Gracie, Charles Gracie, Renzo Gracie, Ralph Gracie, Henry Akins, Carlson Gracie, Jr., Igor Gracie, Rhalan Gracie, Ryan Hall, JT Torres, Keenan Cornelius, Marcelo Garcia, Eddie Bravo, Kron Gracie, Rigan Michado, Jean-Jacques Machado, Carlos Machado, Romero Jacare Cavalcanti!, Jeff Curran, Marcos da Matta, André Galvão, Matt Thornton, Jeff Glover, Rubens Charles "Cobrinha" Maciel, Baret Yoshida, John Crouch, Alan Marques, Marcus Soares, Nick Diaz, Nate Diaz, Chris Leben, Ed Herman, Matt Lindland, George St. Pierre, Rashad Evans, Nate Marquardt, Frank Shamrock, Ken Shamrock, Gilbert Melendez, Firas Zahabi, Jason Miller, Jake Shields, Mark Muñoz, Cung Le, Hershel Walker, Dave Camarillo, Scott Coker, Daniel Cormier, Phil Baroni, Matt Hume, Tim Boetsch, Demetrious Johnson, Carlos Newton, Maurice Smith, Kimbo Slice, Chael Sonnen, Chris Weidman, Uriah Faber, Israel Adesanya, Alistair Overeem, Ryan Quinn, Conan Silviera, Matt Hughes, Mark Coleman, Chuck Liddell, Roy Nelson, Frank Trigg, Rafael Cordeiro, Jacob Duran, Joseph Benavidez, Vinicius de Magalhães, Ryan Martinez, Joey Villaseñor, Roxanne Modafferi, Cain Velasquez, Marius Žaromskis, Luke Rockhold, Big John McCarthy, Anthony "Showtime" Pettis, Phil Davis, Renato "Babalu" Sobral, Antonio McKee, Bobby Lashley, Robbie Lawler, Dominick Cruz, Rory MacDonald, Josh "The Punk" Thomson, Douglas "the Phenom" Lima, Dan "Hendo" Henderson, Junior dos Santos, Ben “Killa B” Saunders, Aleksandar Rakic, Thiago “Pitbull” Alves, Mike Thomas Brown, Will Brooks, Din Thomas, Andrei Arlovski, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Don “The Predator “ Frye, Dan Insanto, Curtis Duffy, Santiago Umpad, CM Punk, Lei'D Tapa, Ron Simmons, Tommy Dreamer, Chavo Guerrero, Jr, "The Franchise" Shane Douglas, "Badd Ass" Billy Gunn, Barry Windham, Lilian Garcia, Ronnie "the Truth" Killings, Scott Hall, Val Venis, Jake "the Snake" Roberts, Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva, and Fedor Emelianenko.

Tuan has been highlighted in many footbag videos and media, including the classic footbag video Raw Shred by Paul Munger, and Tricks of the Trade 2 by Kenny Shults. He was also highlighted in an episode of the comedic Blackie Sack series. He has appeared in a variety of news segments and articles over his many years in the sport, including a Spike TV segment that aired nationally.

For all of this and more, Tuan Vu was inducted into the Footbag Hall of Fame at the World Footbag Championships in Orlando, Florida in 2007.

Tuan Vu segment from Spike TV

Tuan Vu