Jay Rubin
ACL Pro for Great Lakes Conference
I am Jay Rubin aka Jaybirdie Bird ACL Pro from the Great Lakes Conference and this is my story of how and when I started playing cornhole and worked my way up to an ACL Pro. I started playing cornhole in backyards, alleys, and bars here in Chicago 10-11 years ago. For about 2 years I would play in a local country station tournament but usually got destroyed in the sweet 16. Took 6 years off due to not having a partner. I showed up at a local tournament in Villa park back in 2015, and beat a really solid team that was well known. That victory opened up all the avenues I needed when it came to finding a partner. My first 2 years I would go to 5-10 local type of tournaments a year to get a sense of what I was really up against. During that time frame, I realized I had a lot of work to do if I wanted to be considered one of the best. 2 years ago I figured out how to throw a flat bag, which immensely helped my slide game. After that I started working on pushing, step outs, covering/blocking, airmailing, and the strategic side of the game. Once I had a good feel for all the tools needed to be successful, I decided to give the ACL a shot. In my first season I finished 25th in singles, and 36th in the overall rankings. During the summer of 2018 I elevated my game even more by winning several $1000-$3000 tournaments, while taking down some of the best players in the game. Some of my biggest accomplishments so far this season is 13/13 in regional singles, won a conference doubles, and a National in advanced doubles on ESPN. I'm currently competing for the $10,000 devour player of the year title, and also for player of the year in the ACL season. Still have a lot of work to do in order to accomplish either. Looking forward to seeing what the next 10 years brings me in my career!
