Pro Kicker une marque de commerce
de Yves Archambault

Je me présente: Yves Archambault alias ”Yevez”. J’ai développé une grande passion pour le Aki depuis 1981. J’espère que je pourrai vous faire partager un peu cette flamme par le biais de ce site.

J’ai été plusieurs fois champion québécois de Aki au filet autant en simple qu’en double.

Mon meilleur résultat au Championnat Mondial a été une 1ère place en double à San Francisco, Californie, en 2001. Ce fait a été accompli avec l’aide de mon partenaire Alexis Deschênes. Après 20 ans de kicking il était plus que temps de mettre la main sur ce titre majeur. J’ai eu la chance de récidiver à Prague, en 2003.
En simple j’ai réussi à me classer au 2ème rang en 2002 à San Francisco.
Par contre, l’accomplissement dont je suis le plus fier est d’avoir réussi à gagner un tournoi, en simple ou en double, pendant au moins 20 années de suite sur le circuit.
Je vous offre, par le biais de mon site, une grande variété de Akis de haute qualité en plus d’autres excellents produits de sports alternatifs. De plus j’offre des ateliers en milieu scolaire au Québec et dans l’est de l’Ontario.

Here’s a short Footbag history

• John Stalberger and Mike Marshall “invented “the first footbag in 1972 in Oregon city, Oregon.( Stalberger subsequently marketed the “Hacky Sack” brand.)
• The first official competitions took place in 1978, still in Oregon
• The first recreational Footbag steps took place around 1981 in Quebec
• I began to market the AKI brand of footbags in Quebec in 1982.
  

  Premier document sur le Aki au Québec 1982 par Yves Archambault

  Premier document sur le Aki au Québec – datant de 1982 – Par Yves Archambault

• In 1985, after participating in the “National” in Golden, Colorado, I brought back a net and a lot of inspiration and we started to train players in Montreal. Birth of the Pro Kicker trademark
• 1986 First World Championship to officially bear the name “World Footbag Championships”, still in Colorado
• 1989 First Montreal Footbag Championship, victory for Yves Archambault in singles and doubles with Martin Côté.
• 1991 Montreal’s first winter tournament, The Windchill
• 1996 The first World Footbag Championship to be staged outside of the United States, you guessed it, it was in Montreal. Sébastien Verdy became the first Quebecer to win singles net and repeated his feat in the doubles event with the help of Manu Bouchard. Tournament organized by Pro Kicker.
• 1998 The World Championship is back in Montreal and it’s Bouchard’s turn to shine as he takes the triple crown. He won the singles, doubles and mixed doubles to crown a year of total domination. Again this tournament is a Pro Kicker production.
• 2001 First World Footbag Championships victory for Yves
  Archambault, in doubles net and in the Pro Kicker colors.
• 2002 The Montreal International Footbag Championship took place at Parc Jeanne-Mance on July 19-20 and 21. This year again our tournament served as preparation for Worlds. The World Championships were held in San Francisco from August 5 to 11. Yves Archambault took second place in singles.
• 2003 The Montreal International Footbag Championship was held on July 11-12 and 13, at Parc Jeanne-Mance, once again the Montreal players dominated. As for the World Championship, it took place in Prague in the Czech Republic from July 28 to August 3. Note that this was the first time that the World Footbag Championship took place in Europe. Note the performance of Manu Bouchard who managed to win a sixth straight net singles title. In addition, he won the double with your host Yves Archambault, as well as the mixed double with the help of Amy Westberg (United States). Rock on Quebec. Rock on Pro Kicker.
• 2004 It is the return of the World Footbag Championship in Montreal which is once again organized by Yves Archambault and Pro Kicker. Manu Bouchard continues his Footbag net domination in singles, a 7th title in a row for the prolific Montreal player. Montreal players attract the spotlight in the women’s doubles. Geneviève Bousquet and Maude Landreville make history by becoming the first women outside the United States to win the world doubles title. Geneviève also distinguished herself by taking an honorable 2nd place in singles. In freestyle, it’s the Czech Vaclav ” Vasek ” Klouda who flew away from the crowd by winning a 3rd world title in a row in the singles routines, at 17 years old.
• 2005 The Montreal International Footbag Championship took place at Parc Jeanne-Mance from July 8 to 10. Yves Archambault wins the doubles at the French Open in Paris. The World Footbag Championships move to Helsinki, Finland. More titles for Aki Quebec
• 2006 Yves Archambault (Pro Kicker) wins the French Open with Florian Götze for a second year in a row and finishes third in doubles at the World Championships in Frankfurt. Germans Florian Götze and Patrick Schrickel win doubles net at the same tournament honoring the home turf. It’s a historic moment because they are the first Europeans to win this event. 18th edition of the Montreal Footbag Championship.
• 2007 Yves Archambault finished fourth in singles net at the World Footbag Championships, he also won the New-Jersey Spike and Shred in doubles net with John Leys and, therefore, made sure to continue his streak of years with at least one victory in a tournament in the open category (19th consecutive year). It was also the 19th edition of the Montreal Footbag Championship.
• 2008 Singles victory at the 2nd South American Footbag Championship which was presented in San Cristobal, Venezuela, that’s it Yves Archambault managed to win at least one open event for a 20th year in a row … on December 21, phew. Yves beat Californian Jeremy Mirken in the singles net grand final. Gilles Demers and Jean-François Lemieux’s team reach the finals of the World Championships in doubles net.
• 2009 The World Footbag Championships were in Berlin and a Quebecer stole the show. Maude Landreville achieved a hat-trick in the women’s net singles, the women’s doubles (with Geneviève Bousquet) and the mixed doubles (with Jean-François Lemieux). To our knowledge, this is the first time that a woman has achieved this historic shakedown in the history of Footbag Net. Vasek Klouda wins the freestyle once again. Yves Archambault launches the concept of Kick Volley, an attempt to change the name of the sport of Footbag Net for all kinds of good reasons. The French version becomes Aki Filet. For now, it’s only a series of annual tournaments that will be based in Montreal. In the first edition of Kick Volley Gilles Demers and Luc Legault are victorious at the expense of Jean-François Lemieux and Benjamin Rochon. Aki Quebec is launched and creates a summer tournament in Montreal: The Akisphere.
• 2010 Geneviève Bousquet wins singles at the World Footbag Championships in Oakland. As well, she is a finalist in mixed doubles (with Luc Legault). François Depatie-Pelletier and Gilles Demers put on a good fight in one of the most contested doubles finals in history against Florian Götze and Patrick Schrickel. The german team add a fourth world title to their record. In men’s singles, Tuomas Karki becomes the first Finn to win a World Championship. In the second edition of the Kick Volley tournament, François Depatie-Pelletier and Benjamin Rochon win.
• 2011 Geneviève Bousquet wins again in Helsinki where the 32nd World Footbag Championship took place. She wins the singles final and is a doubles finalist with Maude Landreville, who’s back in the game after the birth of her first child. François Depatie-Pelletier goes to the men’s singles final but loses against Tuomas Karkii who keeps his title gleaned in 2010. François wins the final of KICK VOLLEY 03 with Sébastien Perron.
• 2012 The World Championships went to Poland for the first time. Marilyn Demuy won the women’s singles for the Montreal team and Pro Kicker.
• 2013 The 2013 World Footbag Championship takes place in Montreal from July 27 to August 3. Montrealers do us honor once again. Geneviève Bousquet wins the net singles against Marilyn Demuy in addition to garnishing her harvest in the women’s doubles with Maude Landreville. In mixed doubles, Demuy wins with François Depatie-Pelletier who also teamed up with Luc Legault in the men’s doubles final won by Germans Florian Götze and Patrick Schrickel.
• 2014 This time the World Footbag Championships take place in Paris. France is hosting the biggest Footbag tournament for the first time and its representatives take the opportunity to grab a first major title for their country. Indeed, Greg Lima and Arthur Ledain beat one of our representatives, François Depatie-Pelletier who receives help from Karim Daouk (Switzerland) to climb to second place. On the women’s side, Geneviève Bousquet did it again by winning the singles reach the top of the podium with Maude Landreville, her 2013 accomplice, in the women’s doubles.
• 2015 This time we migrate to Denmark and have the chance to visit Copenhagen. The best Quebec result is signed by Marilyn Demuy who reaches the final of the women’s singles. To be highlighted, the flawless performance of Piia Tantarimäki (Finland) who won footbag net women’s triple crown, singles, doubles and mixed doubles.
• 2016 The World Footbag Championships bust out in Slovakia, more exactly in the friendly little town of Trnava. We are witnessing the return of the dynamic duo of Geneviève Bousquet and Maude Landreville who once again rule in the women’s doubles. Genveviève also made it to the singles final where she lost to Finland’s Piia Tantarimäki. At least one title for Aki Quebec, well done girls. Yves Archambault receives an honorary plaque from the organizers to underline his participation in a 31st World Championship.
• 2017 It’s a return home for the World Footbag Championships. We are heading to Portland, Oregon (United States) to play another installment of the most prestigious tournament in our discipline. Geneviève Bousquet is joined by veteran Julie Symons, many times world champion. The bet succeeds and the two sidekicks make their way to the top of the women’s doubles bracket. Geneviève also managed to reach the mixed doubles final with Luc Legault. They bow to Lena Mlakar (Slovenia) and Wiktor Debski (Poland). Wiktor is therefore the first Pole to win a major title in Footbag Net. In men’s doubles, François Depatie-Pelletier reaches the final.
• 2018 Back to Eastern Europe, in Sofia, Bulgaria, that Footbag’s best players are invited. Once again, women obtain the best results for Aki Québec. Marilyn Demuy and Maude Landreville perform a sweep of the three categories. They win the women’s doubles; Marilyn also wins the singles title and Maude joins forces with Arthur Ledain (France) to beat Marilyn and Luc Legault (Aki Quebec) in the mixed doubles.
  The Montreal Akisphere is back for its 10th edition
• 2019 The 2019 Championship is being held in Warsaw, Poland. There are still three names of Aki Quebec members at the top of the Footbag Net podium. These names would be familiar to you by now. Geneviève Bousquet and François Depatie-Pelletier win in mixed doubles. For her part, Maude Landreville wins the women’s doubles with Lena Mlakar (Slovenia). More glorious moments for our club. Check out the 2019 Akisphere, filmed and edited by Pro Kicker.
• 2020 The World Championship which was to be in Colombia is canceled for reasons that we all know of. Even though there is a blanket travel ban (for alternative sports to be clear), the freestyle tournament is still being held online. As for Footbag Net, it’s obvious that we can’t meet our opponents virtually. Luckily our restrictions were a lillte lighter in Montreal and we could hold the 2020 Akisphere.
• 2021 It appears that according to the information available there will be no face-to-face world tournament again this year. Freestyle will be featured online just like last year.
  We have to mention that the Akisphere, Montreal’s annual Footbag Net tournament happened in July and that Yves Archambault (Pro Kicker) and his partner Russ Arsenault took 3rd place in the doubles event. Yeah! Videos coming soon.

Historical additions

Obviously Footbag’s history is a much larger horizon than what is portrayed here. There are a few sites that provide additional interesting information.

• FootbagArchives.com A site produced by Pro Kicker which is mainly interested in World Championships and Montreal tournaments. It is peppered with videos and analyzes of these events.
• Footbag.org
  The reference site for tournament results and announcements. We do not know if this site will be in operation for a very long time, but we wish it a long life.