Václav "Vašek" Klouda (born 1986) is a Czech competitive

freestyle footbag Freestyle Footbag is a footbag sport where players demonstrate their abilities by performing sequences of acrobatic tricks. The ending position of the bag on one trick becomes the starting position of the bag on the next trick. Tricks are created ...

player. Raised and resident in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

, in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

, Klouda started playing footbag when he was 13. He won his first Footbag World Championship in 2002 in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, beating the two-time defending champion Ryan Mulroney in the most tightly contested finals ever. He completed a clean sweep by taking first place in the three major freestyle disciplines: 2 Minute Routines, Shred30, and Sick 3. Klouda has since successfully defended his title five times, in Prague in 2003,

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

in 2004, in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

in 2005, in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

in 2006, and in

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...

in 2007. He holds the record for most consecutive World Titles (6), as well as total World Titles (7). In the 2008 IFPA Footbag World Championships, held in Prague, Klouda was beaten by Damian Gielnicki of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, ending his bid for a 7th straight world championship. Bouncing back from 2008, Klouda reclaimed the world title in Berlin, Germany. At the tournament Klouda's first book was launched. The Vašek Klouda Manual: How to Play Footbag is an eBook downloadable from the Czech Footbag Association's homepage. In Klouda's autobiography he mentions tennis, boxing and tae kwon do. He also talks about his time learning chess and says, "I also had a chance to play against the then world champion

Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born 13 April 1963) is a Russian chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist and commentator. His peak Elo rating system, rating of 2851, achieved in 1999, was the highest recorded until ...

Freestyle Footbag Events

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS * San Francisco, 2002 Winner: Singles Routine * Prague, 2003 Winner: Singles Routine, Shred 30, and Doubles Routine * Montreal, 2004 Winner: Singles Routine, Shred 30, and Doubles Routine * Helsinki, 2005 Winner: Singles Routine, Shred 30, Big 3, and Doubles Routine * Frankfurt, 2006 Winner: Singles Routine - 3rd Place: Shred 30 * Florida, 2007 Winner: Singles Routine, Shred 30, Circle Contest, and Doubles Freestyle * Prague, 2008 Winner: Doubles Routine - 2nd Place: Singles Routine - 3rd Place: Request Contest * Berlin, 2009 Winner: Singles Routine * Oakland, 2010 5th Place: Singles Routine * Helsinki, 2011 Runner Up: Request Contest - 5th Place: Singles Routine * Warsaw, 2012 4th Place: Singles Routine * Paris, 2014 Winner: Request Contest - 2nd Place: Shred 30 and Sick 3 - 3rd Place: Singles Routine - 5th Place: Circle Contest * Copenhagen, 2015 Winner: Sick 3and Circle Contest - 2nd Place: Shred 30, Request Contest, and Sick Trick - 3rd Place: Singles Routine * Trnava, 2016 2nd Place: Singles Routine EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS * Prague, 2001. 1st Place * Budapest, 2002. European champion Footbag * Frankfurt, 2003. Champion European Footbag * Copenhagen, 2004. Champion European Footbag * Warsaw, 2005. Champion European Footbag * Lausanne, 2006. Champion European Footbag * Vienna, 2007. Champion European Footbag * Montpellier, 2008. Champion European Footbag * Madrid, 2011. Champion European Footbag * Moscow, 2013. Champion European Footbag * Turku, 2014. Champion European Footbag * Sofia, 2015. Champion European in circle, shred, sick3 and request

References

External links

Footbag tournament victories

Vašek Klouda's Website

Klouda's book

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klouda, Vasek 1986 births Living people Footbag players Sportspeople from Prague