Foxtail Sport

"I have owned one of these for 15 years (the same one - they really are durable) and it is still one of my favorite outdoor toys, tied with my Aerobie. Whipping the Foxtail around by its tail to throw it is a lot of fun and is more interesting than the simple pitch of a ball - and catching it is even more entertaining, especially when playing a game like 500 where one pitcher throws to a mob of catchers. Whomever catches the Foxtail gains points of differing amounts, depending on which section of the tail they catch it by - no points for catching by the ball.

You can get pretty creative with both pitching and catching though I have to say the velocity you can generate with this thing makes getting hit by a Foxtail a bit worse than some types of balls though the leather-covered soft core is just soft enough to make it all okay. ;)

The *only* cons I have for the Foxtail are the fact that the tail can really get tangled in trees and the fact that throwing something sling-style basically REQUIRES more space to play in. Obviously this isn't an issue if you don't have trees and have a very large field to play in - I just go out of my way to have a suitable place to play.

This version of the Foxtail is the "original" version and can be purchased along with a book of ideas for Foxtail tricks and games published by Klutz Press which is kind of nifty and certainly gave my sister and I some good ideas when we first got our Foxtails as kids."