KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. (WLVT) - You’ve probably seen it at tailgates or barbeques, but not at this level.
“Cornhole is an easy game to learn and to get the rhythm and to get the idea of the game, but it’s super hard to excel at the highest level and compete with our ACL pros,” said Trey Ryder, media director for the American Cornhole League (ACL).
Nearly 1,000 cornhole players are competing this week in the fourth annual
American Cornhole League National Championships. The tournament began Wednesday and runs through Sunday at the Valley Forge Casino. It’s getting some serious attention; ESPN is airing competitions all five days on ESPN2 and ESPN3.
“People are like, ‘You play cornhole? That’s a thing?’ I hear that a lot and I’m like, ‘Yeah, it’s actually bigger than people think,’” said ACL professional Harlee Culpepper.
Versions of cornhole have existed since the 1800s.
“Nobody knows the true origin of the sport,” Ryder said.
It became an official sport in 2015, when the American Cornhole League was founded.
The rules are pretty simple:
“For every bag that you put in the hole, you’re going to get three points. For every bag that you put on the board, you’re going to get one point,” Ryder said. “But then we use cancellation scoring, so if I was playing against you and you scored nine points and I scored eight points, you would earn one point toward your overall score. You play to 21 or over.”
Teams came to the championships from all over America, as well as from several other countries. The longest journey was made by a team from Australia, playing for their employer, Multiplex.
“[The flight] was around 22 hours,” said Hanna Brown, Multiplex’s team manager.
They got to see some of Philadelphia’s history.
“Already did a tour yesterday,” Brown said. “We went and saw the liberty bell. We also went to see the prison. It’s a beautiful area.”
Brown said she was impressed by Philly’s landmarks, but even more blown away by the American players’ skill.
“We’ve got a lot to learn, but we’re really lucky that everyone’s been super welcoming and been teaching us a lot of tricks of the trade,” she said.
Experts do have some tips to up your cornhole game:
“You just always have to be in present,” said Jay Kavanaug, a cornhole player from Glastonbury, Conn. “You can’t think about what just happened because it will hold you back. You can’t think too far in the future because you need to be in the moment.”
“Focus. Don’t let things get in your head,” Culpepper said. “That’s why I listen to music when I play.”
At just 15, Harlee Culpepper is the youngest pro cornhole player ever. She balances training, sponsors and competition travel with school, since she’s going into 10
th grade this fall.
“I’ll bring my homework to weekly tournaments at cornhole and sit in between games and do homework,” Culpepper said.
She’s in the running to win some of the championship’s $180,000 in payouts.
“My goal is to win a championship title, whether it’s women’s, singles, doubles, anything,” she said.
ACL officials said the beauty of the sport lies in its motto: “Anyone can play, anyone can win.”
“We really believe that when people see us on TV, they’re going to watch it and their first reaction is, ‘Hey I can do that,’” Ryder said.
“Sometimes you’re going to have a teammate that underperforms. But don’t let that pull you back,” Kavanaug said. “It’s all your perspective. You have to push forward, do your best, never give up. There are a lot of life lessons you can learn from this.”
League officials said this is just the beginning for cornhole. They see it growing more and more in the coming years.
“Our ultimate goal is to make cornhole an Olympic sport in six years,” Ryder said.
Ryder said he hopes the exploding popularity of the will help make their Olympic dreams a reality.
