SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
You might think the game of cornhole - that summertime sport where players toss bean bags onto slanted boards with holes - is just for backyards or bars, or maybe while listening to BJ Leiderman, who does our theme music. But thousands of players compete this week in a high-stakes tournament with TV cameras, live announcers and serious prize money. From member station WFAE, Nick de la Canal takes us to the American Cornhole League World Championships now underway in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: All right, everybody. Make some noise. Let's get loud.
(CHEERING)
NICK DE LA CANAL, BYLINE: Cheers fill the Rock Hill Sports & Event Center arena, where four college-age guys in jerseys are on the court, bean bags in hand.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: Players, let these bags fly.
DE LA CANAL: A timer starts, and the players begin to toss.
(SOUNDBITE OF BEAN BAG LANDING ON BOARD)
DE LA CANAL: Around them, television cameras capture every throw. A teammate waves a giant stuffed corn cob with googly eyes - you know, for support. This is the scene at the annual World Championships of Cornhole, where the backyard game gets a big-league treatment.
TREY RYDER: Yeah. This weekend, we're going to give away over $200,000 in prize money.
DE LA CANAL: That's Trey Ryder with the American Cornhole League. It started in 2016 to promote and professionalize cornhole, which, in fairness, isn't the most athletic sport. But Ryder says that's kind of the point.
RYDER: I see Patrick Mahomes throw a 60-yard touchdown pass, I'm not saying, I can do that. But when you watch our pros on TV, you go, oh, I see them throw a four-bagger. I think I could do that.
DE LA CANAL: A four-bagger means you get all four bags in the hole in a single turn. That thrill, Ryder says, draws nearly 5,000 people from 10 countries to the tournament. One of them is Katarina Belac from Croatia. She first played cornhole at a party.
KATARINA BELAC: I just started playing for fun, and now I'm here.
DE LA CANAL: She says her parents still don't really get it.
BELAC: They don't understand cornhole. They're asking me, why are you throwing that bag so much?
DE LA CANAL: But, says her teammate, EJ VonDran from Germany...
EJ VONDRAN: Then they see it on TV and they see us, and I think they know it's real.
DE LA CANAL: Some players are chasing prize money and rankings. But many, like Ricky Godfrey from Lafayette, Louisiana, have just come for the camaraderie.
RICKY GODFREY: It's like just a big, big family. There's people here from Europe, Canada, you know, all across the U.S. You don't get to see them all the time, but then when you get to the Worlds, it's like a reunion.
DE LA CANAL: The finals air on ESPN Sunday, showing this backyard pastime may be landing in the world of pro sports.
For NPR News, I'm Nick de la Canal in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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