He bowled with a bowling ball and met the 16-time world darts champion. That’s Jan Weber

He’s an eight-time world footbag champion, and has tried his hand at juggling many things. What would he never juggle? And how did he get into hosting darts exhibitions, for example? Find out in an exclusive interview with Jan Weber for Ruik.

Mr Weber, you are a very successful footbag player. What led you to this interesting and unconventional sport?

It was an injury, until then I was catching as a goalkeeper and when I broke my wrist after one impact I was looking for more opportunities to develop my technique. I discovered footbag (hacky sack), which was very popular at the time, started training and became so absorbed that football subsequently went a bit by the wayside. I have to say I was pretty good at it, so that was a big motivation to start with.

You have been involved in footbag for 20 years and have competed in over 250 races. How much time do you still spend training?

Still quite a lot, a big chunk of training is preparation and warm-ups before performances, but now the World Championships are coming online during August, so there is a lot of training again. Definitely not like it used to be, like 6 hours a day, but it’s like 2 hours.

You’re also an eight-time world champion. How much do you need to push yourself with trends and new tricks so that you keep picking up golds?

I’m fighting the 3rd next generation of players at competitions, so it’s more about tweaking old tricks into the hardest possible combinations and above all trying to surprise with unconventional routines. I also manage to get new tricks in occasionally, but it’s not so easy to incorporate them at a contest because of their challenging difficulty.

You are known to have tried juggling with, for example, a cobblestone or a candy bar. Is there anything you haven’t tried?

I try to avoid sharp objects like knives etc. But other than that, I’ve done a lot of things. Bowling balls, a laptop, a trash can, a half-million dollar watch, a light bulb, and many other objects. I’m happy to be inspired if anyone has any interesting and original ideas.

Now, let’s move on from footbag. What did you think of the Czech footballers’ performance at the European Championships?

It was great, I saw the game against the Netherlands and Denmark live and I really enjoyed it, even though the latter didn’t have a winning ending. I honestly didn’t understand the changes in some positions, in particular Pavel Kadeřábek was great against the Netherlands and I don’t understand why he didn’t play in the next game.

You yourself took part in several matches, including the eight-final match against the Netherlands. The atmosphere on TV was electric, so I suppose there will still be a spark from you now and then. So how was the experience?

It was unbelievable, the stadium in Budapest has an atmosphere that, when it’s full, you will enjoy the Jihlava vs Opava game. We cheered until a few beers came flying at us from the upper stand. But probably from the home fans, the Dutch ones were very polite and after the game they congratulated us and wished us good luck against Denmark.

The subsequent match in Baku was also a huge experience. The organisers left the middle of the main stand empty so there would be no conflicts, so we took it over and cheered from the centre of the action, but the Danish fan club was massive.

Of course you have several other interests besides football and footbag. For example, you’ve been a presenter at darts events a few times. How did you get into darts in the first place?

I’m not very good at machine announcements etc., I moderate events very much with emotion and naturally, but that suits the organizers of events like darts exhibitions, so I got the opportunity. I proved myself and have always been there ever since. Moderating in English is also a big advantage, foreign players have already got used to me.

Michael van Gerwen, for example, I also encouraged him to do classic football juggling. He was good with the ball, but he didn’t want to bowl with the bowling ball. When I threw it off his foot behind his head, he looked puzzled.

To put it in perspective for readers, you’ve mainly hosted exhibitions, one of which even featured 16-time world champion Phil Taylor. Did you manage to have a few words with him?

Yes, but Phil’s not a very nice guy. He’s not getting any younger, and I guess he wants to keep his cool. At the show, he disappeared to his hotel after his fights and didn’t even say goodbye to the crowd. It was quite disappointing, but then you get players like Simon Whitlock or Wayne Mardle who have the exact opposite attitude and care about the fans having a good time.

Finally, you are also a fan of motorsport and its queen F1. Who is your favourite driver?

I follow Formula One probably even more than football and I’ve been a McLaren fan since I was a kid, specifically Mike Häkkinen and later Lewis Hamilton, who I’ve followed since GP2. I’ve also read his book, I have a lot of scale versions of his formulae and he’s a great sporting role model of mine and someone I’d like to meet and chat to for a while one day.

At the recent British Grand Prix, the two main title contenders – Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton – collided. What did you make of that collision and how do you think it will shuffle the championship cards?

Max is a very aggressive driver, Lewis has been dodging him a bit all season and now he hasn’t. I don’t think he’s going to get away this season either, so it’s likely that more collisions will come if Max keeps a similar approach. The key races will be in Belgium and Monza, so we’ll see, it’s going to be nerves! At least for Formula One fans.

What do you have planned for the future? An assault on a 10th world championship? Or, for example, a position as a darts commentator?

As long as I’m healthy and my body is still working, I’d like to compete, especially when it’s online and you don’t have to travel halfway around the world like I did from 14 to almost 30. I stopped eating meat a few years back and performance went up a lot, so hopefully I can hang on for a few more years. I’d be afraid of commentating, it’s a tough profession when the audience can’t see the person and only hear them, then mistakes are hard to mask. I would probably dare only on formula, but such an offer hasn’t come yet.