Henry's Physical Education

[Henry's PE] How to make Ddakji / 딱지 만드는 방법

Chicken Fight! (Korean Traditional Game)

Grade: all

1. Have each players balance on one leg while holding the other leg in a circle.

2. Each player will stand or hop around and try to push the opponent off balance.

3. A player will be eliminated if both feet touch the ground at any time.

4. The player left standing is the winner.

https://youtu.be/h1I98JI83oU

Jegichagi - 제기차기

Jegichagi is a Korean traditional outdoor game.

It requires the use of people's foot and Jegi. Jegi looks like a badminton shuttlecock, which is made of a small coin (quarter size) and paper. In Korea, children usually play alone or with friends in winter seasons, especially on New Year's day.

Rules

Briefly explaining the rules, the player kicks a jegi up in the air and keeps on kicking to prevent from falling to the ground. In a one-to-one game, a player with the most number of consecutive kicks wins. In a group game, the players stand in a circle, and take turns kicking the Jegi. Players who fail to kick the Jegi upon receiving it and let it drop to the ground lose. As a penalty, the loser tosses the jegi at the winner so that he can kick it as he wishes. When the loser catches the jegi back with his hands, the penalty ends and he can rejoin the game. This has developed, and people combined two or three materials and made new ways of playing jegichagi. Though Jegichagi used to be a game mostly played in winter, it has become a year-round game.

Easy way to make Jegi

Things to prepare: plastic bags or wrapping tissue paper, 2~3 coins, string, scissors, and scotch tape.

1. Pile the coins and tape them together
2. Prepare the plastic bag by cutting into a square about ~25 cm wide
3. Place the coin at the middle of the plastic bag
4. Hold the coin inside the plastic bag and tie it using a string
5. Cut the untied part of the plastic bag into thinner strands(~1.5 cm) using scissors.

Rules and Kinds of Jegichagi

Basic Rule

Players kick the jegi (paper shuttlecock) into the air using instep of the foot. The winner of the game is the player who kicks jegi the most times without letting it fall.

Kinds of Jegichagi

According to Korean Jegichagiai Association, there are 6 kinds of single or multiplayer jegichagi game: Putting into the target, kicking jegi farther, putting in a basket, running while kicking, jegichagi with performance, and jegi volleyball.

1. Putting into the target: On a 1.6m diameter circle on the ground, draw four smaller circles 20 cm each like archery target. Keep distance from the target at least 5m. Within 30 seconds, the player kicks the jegi into the air at least 3 times, then hit the target with the jegi. From the center, the score is given 120, 90, 60, 30 and if the jegi is not hitting the target, 5 points is given. Players try 3 times with switching the foot each time, the winner is the one who scored the most.

2. Kicking far: Kick the jegi into the air 3 or more times within 30 seconds, then kick the jegi as far as the player can to the front. Repeating 3 times with switching the foot each time, the winner goes to the player with the most score in sum.

3. Putting in a basket: On a pillar with height of 150 cm, set a 20 cm x 20 cm x 20 cm basket. The player kicks the jegi into the air 3 or more times and then kick the jegi into the basket.

4. Running while kicking: 40m single or round trip can be played. For each 10m player runs, the player should switch his foot. If the player drops the jegi, he should go back to the last 10meter-line and continue playing.

5. Jegichagi with performance: In a 5m x 5m square on the ground, each player kicks the jegi with performance. At least 3 judges should watch and the score is given in average of them.

6. Jegi volleyball: 3 to 5 players make a team. Set a net with 120 cm height. Each team players should kick the jegi upon the net to the opposite side. For 3 players' game, the squre should be 5m by 5m, (7m x 7m for 5 players) The rule is very similar to common volleyball. When the player is in defence position, he can use any part of his/her body except hands. The first team who earn 7 points wins each set, and there are 5 rounds in a game.

Different Ways to Play Jegichagi

1. Hullangyi(헐랭이): Use of the inner side of the foot to kick 'jegi' while the other foot balances the body. The foot used to kick jegi should remain in air without touching the ground.
2. Ddangganghji(땅강아지): Similar to #1; however, the foot kicking jegi touches the ground each time before kicking again.
3. Left-right foot(우지좌지): Similar to #2, but both feet are used to kick Jegi alternatively with either the inner surface of both feet (or one inner and the other outer)
4. Appchagi(앞차기): Use of the top of the foot to kick jegi.
5. Ditbalchagi(뒷발차기): Use of the top lateral side of the foot to kick jegi.
6. Kigeegi(키지기): Each lift of Jegi must be higher than one's own height.
7. Mulgeegi(물지기): Continuously kicking jegi and catching it with your mouth.

How to Select Jegi and Practice

What is a good Jegi?

The most important factor of good Jegi is its weight. If it is too light, it is very hard to control Jegi since it falls to the ground before the next kick is ready. However, if it is too heavy, it is hard to kick the jegi high enough. Thus, a good Jegi should be the one of proper weight. (About 10g)

Practice using a tied Jegi.

Because it is difficult to do Jegichagi at a first try, it is very helpful to use a tied Jegi. Simply you tie one end of the string to a jegi and the other end to somewhere high enough to hold the jegi in the air. In this way, you can continue hitting it without having to pick up the jegi every time it falls to the ground. Although you fail to kick, the Jegi will always come back to the good position.

Practice while holding your pants.

Beginners have a habit of placing the arm towards the front while kicking Jegi with the thought that the arm helps balancing the body. However, it does not. Thus, if you are using the right foot to kick jegi, it is better for your right hand to hold the right side of your pants when doing Jegichagi.

Effects of Jegichagi.

1. Improves leg's muscular strength.
2. Improves agility.
3. Improves concentration.
4. Prevents obesity.
5. Improves patience and stamina.

The fact that Jegichagi uses muscles you rarely use stimulates the brain coordinated to those rarely used parts. Especially, the movement of right and left side of the body equally uses the right and left brain. Also, which side of the foot you use to kick jegi gives various health benefits to your body. When you use the inner part of your foot, it benefits your kidney, liver, and spleen. Further, when you use the outer part of foot, it benefits your bladder and stomach.

Jegichagi Today

In 2000, Korean Jegichagi Association was founded to make new rules in order to fit this traditional game well into today’s generation. Although Jegichagi is well known as many of other famous traditional games in Korea, the game is losing its popularity. In effort to keep traditional Jegichagi alive within children’s mind, the Board of Education in South Korea ordered Jegichagi as one of the required activities in physical education courses in school, usually 3rd or 4th grade.

In August 2011, an American company released a children's toy called Kikbo based on the Jegichagi.

Ddakji is part of a family of games that include Milk Caps, Menko, Tazos, and POGs. In all these games the idea is to flip one item over using another. It must flip only once, so it would flip from side A to side B. It doesn’t count if it flips twice, or multiple times, and lands on A, it only counts if it lands on the other side to what it started on.

Ddakji are fairly easy to make and in theory the game is easy to play. But in reality in order to make the Ddakji flip you need to hit the one on the ground in just the right place with the right amount of power.

To make Ddakji you need 2 squares of paper. You can use printer paper, cardstock, origami paper, cardboard etc. I used construction paper for the examples here. Ddakji can be of various sizes, but I find the 3×3 inch Ddakji I end up with when starting with a 12×9 inch piece of construction paper works well for kids and those with smaller hands. If you want to make larger ones  a 12×12 inch square would make a 4×4 inch finished Ddakji.

Construction paper is a rectangle so first you have to make a square. Take the bottom right corner and fold it so that the bottom edge lies against the left side of the paper. Press down on the fold to get a nice crease. Cut the remnant piece of paper off the top and you are left with a square. You will need 2 squares to make 1 Ddakji.

Fold each square into thirds. You might have to use a ruler, or you can just eyeball it, but the more even all your folds are the stronger and neater your final Ddakji will be. Once it is folded into 3, fold the bottom right corner over so the bottom edge lies neatly against the left edge. Make a similar fold at the top like in the photo. The paper clips are just to help show what it should look like at this stage.

Place one on top of the other as shown in the photo. Then fold the left one in.

Do the same with the others. The last one is a little tricky.

Tuck the last one under, and then push all of it together a little to make it tight. Now you’re ready to make at least one more and then a game of Ddakji can begin. It is a nice idea to make a few in different colors so a few people can play. You can also put a sticker, or draw something, on the other side. Be inventive and have fun.

Jegi Chagi is a traditional Korean game in the hackysack/shuttlecock family. 

Traditionally the construction of the jegi would have been much more basic. Originally slightly flattened cloth balls were filled with clay, ashes, or even horse dung. A feather, typically a long tail feather from a pheasant, would be stuck into the flattened ball.

In order to get a playable result there has to be a balance between weight, because you need it to fall, and drag, because you want a slow fall so you have time to kick it back up into the air. The drag also somewhat lessens the effect of something falling and hitting your foot, so while you could play with just a large pebble or small rock, it wouldn’t be much fun. When coins with holes in the middle became easily available jegi started to be made with said coins being wrapped with cloth or korean paper.

The game was once associated with winter and the Lunar New year in particular. Nowadays it is mostly played by children, with Korean schools teaching it in third or fourth grade. Jegi Chagi provides many health benefits as well as increasing strength, agility, concentration, patience, and stamina. It also shows up in K variety shows as a challenge, mission, or just for laughs. It looks like an easy game but it is actually much harder than it looks and takes practice to become good at it.

The basic idea is to use the side of your foot to keep the jegi in the air.

If you put your foot down to the ground between each kick it is a version called Ddangganghji, but if you keep kicking the jegi up into the air without letting your kicking foot touch the ground it is called Hullangyi. You can also alternate feet, play with a partner or group, or even play using your heel instead of the side of your foot. It is also a game which is open for you to invent house rules or methods of play; maybe you have to kick it through a hoop or into a bucket after a certain number of kicks. You lose if the jegi touches the ground or your hand.

It is quite easy to make your own jegi, the simplest way is to use some coins, a plastic grocery bag, and a twist tie. Cut a large square from the grocery bag and place 4 or 5 coins in the center.

Then gather up the plastic bag and twist the plastic to enclose the coins. Wrap the twist tie firmly around the twisted plastic just above the coins. Cut the plastic bag off at about 4 to 6 inches above the coins.

Now carefully cut the bag down towards the coins. The goal is to make strips that flutter and help add drag.

It is that easy. You can change things up by using paper or cloth instead of the plastic, or you can change the number and size of the coins you use.

This is great traditional game that is lots of fun and is good for you too. I was told that to help beginners tie the jegi to a piece of string and hang it from a branch, that way while you are practicing you don’t have to bend down to the ground to pick it up each time you miss. Let me know if you play Jegi Chagi or have any hints or other methods of play in the comments below.